News and Events

Upcoming Events

Jupiter String Quartet

Oct. 4, 2026, 3:00 p.m.

The Jupiter String Quartet performs works by Clarice Assad, Alban Berg, Juri Seo and Franz Schubert.

This event is free and open to the public.

“What Do People See in that Guy?” The Strange Power of Charisma in American Politics and Religion

Oct. 6, 2026, 5:00 p.m.

Molly Worthen, Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will present this year’s annual Frederic C. Wood Lecture.

This event is open to the public.

A person stands beside an open grand piano, wearing a full-skirted, off-the-shoulder white dress with lace-trimmed pantalettes and dark boots. The individual poses with hands clasped in front against a plain wall and patterned rug.

The “Walkűre of the Piano:” Teresa Carrreño (1853-1917) and the Carreño Collection at Vassar College

Oct. 7, 2026, 4:00–6:00 p.m.

Lecture by Professor Emeritus of Music, Brian Mann.

This event is free and open to the public.

Photo of a quilt that is also a map with countries and borders.

Agnes Rindge Claflin Lecture: Joyce Kozloff

Oct. 7, 2026, 5:00–7:00 p.m.

Joyce Kozloff is an internationally recognized artist and feminist who was an originating member of the Pattern and Decoration movement. Maps are the foundation for her recent paintings which employ mutations to raise geopolitical issues and chart the sites of current wars and conflicts.

This event is free and open to the public.

Luke Soucy, with dark hair, a neat beard, and black-framed glasses, wearing a grey quarter-zip sweater over a blue collared shirt against a soft teal background.

An Evening of Queer Roman Verse with C. Luke Soucy

Oct. 7, 2026, 5:30 p.m.

Luke Soucy is an award-winning translator of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Samuel Issacharoff with grey-white hair, a light grey mustache, and a slight smile and wearing a grey tweed-patterned blazer over a light blue collared shirt. The background is a gently blurred green and brown park setting with tree foliage.

Pre-Midterms Guest Speaker Series with Professor Samuel Issacharoff

Oct. 7, 2026, 6:00–7:15 p.m.

Interested in learning more about the midterm elections? Listen to the Department of Political Science’s latest guest speaker event, featuring a talk and Q&A with Professor Samuel Issacharoff on the role of the courts in the upcoming midterms.

Digital art collage on a warm terracotta background featuring a monochrome photo of a woman in sunglasses painting a yellow bird at an easel. Brightly colored illustrations surround her, including a multi-toned bird in foliage, a potted plant, a patterned blue-and-yellow butterfly, a white lily, and oversized buttons.

Still (After) Life Drawing

Oct. 8, 2026, 4:00 p.m.

Everyone is welcome to drop in and sketch a still-life scene featuring plants from the Olmsted Greenhouse and unique College artifacts from the Vassar College Artifacts Project (VCAP) at your own pace.

Detail of a painting depicting person serving a drink.

The C. Mildred Thompson Lecture Series: “Adelaide Zaire's Catholic Journey: Slavery, Sexual Violence, and Salvation in a French Eighteenth-Century Port City”

Oct. 8, 2026, 5:30–7:00 p.m.

Professor Julie Hardwick will deliver the lecture this October at Vassar College.

This event is free and open to the public.

A black-and-white photograph taken by the artist Jas Leon. In the picture are three children playing in a spray of water while sitting in a city street.

Portfolio & Practice: A Guest Lecture by Photographer Jas Leon

Oct. 8, 2026, 5:30–6:30 p.m.

NYC-based photographer Jas Leon discusses her photographic practice and shares black-and-white prints in a guest lecture hosted by PHOCUS.

This event is free and open to the public.

Ongoing Events

The Patient Looks Back: Portraits of My Therapist—Solo Exhibition by Joyce Polance

Sep. 17–Oct. 10, 2026

In The Patient Looks Back: Portraits of My Therapist, Catskill-based painter Joyce Polance reverses therapy’s usual direction of attention by turning the patient’s gaze toward the therapist. Painted in oil entirely with her fingers, the three-year series moves between likeness and disruption, testing how much close looking can—and cannot—reveal.