UAB Visual Arts Gallery
The UAB Visual Art Gallery was an art gallery operated by the UAB Department of Art from 1974 to 2014. It was located on the ground floor of the then newly-constructed University College Building No. 3 (now the UAB Humanities Building) on 13th Street South.
As a "student gallery" and as custodian of works of art belonging to the University, the gallery was founded to provide, "instructional, research, and service to the school, university, and community." It was operated under the direct supervision of the chair of the Department of Art, with unpaid assistance from faculty, staff and students. In 1977, as the gallery hosted its first juried art exhibition, students were assigned as work-study staff on a part-time basis.
The gallery's first major acquisition was a collection of 20th century artwork donated by a community supporter in 1974. It made its first purchases of artwork for the university's collection in 1978 and published the first of a series of Visual Arts Gallery Papers in June 1979.
In 1985 the newly-created bachelor of fine arts degree included a requirement for a public exhibition of completed work, comprising a "thesis". The Visual Arts Gallery was the venue for those exhibitions.
When the UAB Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts opened in January 2014, the Visual Art Gallery was closed and its functions were transferred to the new facility. The former space in the Humanities building was reopened in 2015 as "Project Space", an "adaptive space that cultivates and supports meaningful creative investigation, interdisciplinary collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship."
Directors and curators
- Virginia Pitts Rembert, chair/director (1974-1975)
- Edith Frohock, interim chair/director (1975-1977)
- John Schnorrenberg, chair/director (1977-1990)
- Patricia Phelps, curator (1977-1978)
- Toni Johnson Nordan, curator (1986-2001)
- Brett Levine, director/curator (2001-2011)
- John Fields, director (2011-2014)