Free to Be, a Collective Virginia Landscape (an Immersive Installation) Reception

FREE TO BE, A COLLECTIVE VIRGINIA LANDSCAPE (AN IMMERSIVE INSTALLATION) with Maria Villanueva, Assistant Professor of Digital Art :: 2025 recipient UVA Arts and Art in Library Spaces Prize

On the second floor of Shannon Library, two massive mixed-media collages hanging side by side are catching the attention of passers-by. The art installation, titled “Free to Be, a Collective Virginia Landscape,” is the work of Maria Villanueva, an Assistant Professor of Art who arrived at UVA in August. Using layered transfers of photographs, gouache and watercolor paints, and colored pencils, Villanueva mixes Charlottesville’s urban spaces with the lush landscape of the Blue Ridge Mountains, interspersing local birds, people, and texts into the visual narrative, all presented on giant scrolls.

“Ever since I was a child, I’ve known that I was an observer, and not so much the center of anything,” Villanueva said. “I’m always thinking about the landscapes around us and our place in them.” When she arrived in Charlottesville last summer, Villanueva immediately began documenting the area, taking photographs each day. In the fall, she saw a call for proposals from UVA Library’s Art in Library Spaces Committee for art to be displayed in Shannon’s second floor gallery. “I was really excited when I saw the opportunity to start something new after moving here,” she said. “I had all these images I had been collecting. The creative process happened quickly and the timing aligned perfectly.”

Image: One of the scrolls in Maria Villanueva’s “Free to Be, a Collective Virginia Landscape” installation. 

These events are made possible by the generous support of donors to the Aric Lasher Art Fund at the UVA Library and UVA Arts. Visit our website to learn more about Art in Shannon Library, or if you would like to support the fund.