Palmer Museum of Art

Palmer Museum of Art Free-admission art museum at Penn State, serving the University and Central PA!
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The new building for the Palmer Museum of Art is nearing the end of construction and will open to the public in spring 2024. Located on Bigler Road at the Arboretum at Penn State, the new state-of-the-art facility will replace the 51-year home on Curtin Road. The much larger building will feature first-time education and study spaces, flexible event spaces, and nearly twice as much gallery space,

allowing for expanded student, faculty, and public access to Penn State’s growing collection of 10,500 works of art. With its world-class collection and programs, the free-admission Museum will be a welcoming, inclusive, and vibrant forum for authentic arts experiences, cultivating meaningful dialogue about today’s most potent ideas and pressing concerns.

🖌️Come on out and see our newest exhibition, "Out of the Shadows: Drawings and Watercolors by American Women"🎨This colle...
09/08/2026

🖌️Come on out and see our newest exhibition, "Out of the Shadows: Drawings and Watercolors by American Women"

🎨This collection features a selection of works on paper by American women artists from the 1820s to the 1950s.

🖼️Curatorial interns Apollo Barron and Emma Knisely worked on this exhibition with guidance from our Curator of American Art, Janine Yorimoto Boldt and we are so pleased with how it came together.

🔍 On view now

"Where are all the women artists?" 🎨A large part of the Palmer's collection is works on paper, and most of our art by wo...
09/05/2026

"Where are all the women artists?" 🎨

A large part of the Palmer's collection is works on paper, and most of our art by women lives here. Light-sensitive and rarely on view, these pieces spent years in the dark. Likewise, these same women artists were cast to the shadows by society simply because of their gender.

✨ Drawing and watercolor were once dismissed as "lesser" mediums compared to oil painting. That lower status is exactly what made them two of the few art forms widely accessible to women.

🖼️ Out of the Shadows brings together works on paper by American women artists from the 1820s–1950s, pulled from the Palmer's permanent collection, including many from the John Driscoll American Drawings Collection.

📍 Greider Family Gallery, Level 2
🗓️ Sept 5 – Dec 6, 2026
🎟️ Free and open to the public

You are invited to come and view this exhibition and we encourage you to consider the relationships between access, medium, and gender that this exhibition brings to light.

Curated by interns Apollo Barron and Emma Knisely, with guidance from Janine Yorimoto Boldt, Curator of American Art.

Looking closer, together. 🔭✨ At the Palmer, sometimes the best way to see a work of art is through a whole new lens...li...
09/04/2026

Looking closer, together. 🔭✨ At the Palmer, sometimes the best way to see a work of art is through a whole new lens...literally. Bring the whole family and discover something new!

Color & Connection Date Night is one week away! 🎨 Bring your person: partner, best friend, sibling, whoever you love spe...
09/03/2026

Color & Connection Date Night is one week away! 🎨 Bring your person: partner, best friend, sibling, whoever you love spending time with, for a tour of Out of the Shadows: Drawings and Watercolors by American Women, followed by a hands-on watercolor workshop for two. Thursday, September 10, 5:30–7 p.m. 18+, $45 per couple. Registration required => find more information on our programs page (link in bio)

09/02/2026

Penn State University Libraries in collaboration with Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), temporarily installed a portable MISHA (Multispectral Imaging System for Historical Artifacts) system on Penn State campus. Palmer Museum Staff were invited to bring items for scanning and research. MISHA takes photographs of an object in 16 bands of light including wavelengths that are visible and some invisible to the human eye that can help can help to read faded, damaged, or hidden text on historical items. Palmer Museum Preparatory and Registration Team members took several works on paper with faded text and a variety of paintings in the hopes to uncover what lies below the top paint layers.

🖼️Works featured🖼️

Hendrick Goltzius
The Circumcision, 1594
Engraving
Museum Purchase (2026.016.0001)
Elbridge Ayer Burbank

Portrait of Gi-aum-e Hon-o-me-t'ah, 1898
Oil on canvas
Bequest of Alvin L. and Jean Y. Snowiss (2025.79)

🍃 🍂 September is here and we have a plethora of events and programs for you to enjoy! For more information, visit our pr...
09/01/2026

🍃 🍂 September is here and we have a plethora of events and programs for you to enjoy! For more information, visit our programs page at the link in bio or at our website, https://bit.ly/4cgJC9r

🌻 The colors of late summer, drawn from our collection. As August fades into fall, this palette captures that in between...
08/31/2026

🌻 The colors of late summer, drawn from our collection. As August fades into fall, this palette captures that in between light 🍃🍂

Works Featured

🖼️ Violet Oakley (American, 1874–1961), Venus Rising from the Sea, 1940, oil on canvas, 40-1/4 x 30-1/4 inches. Gift of Bette and Arnold Hoffman, 2017.114

🖼️ Manierre Dawson (American, 1887–1969), Minerva, 1912, oil on wood panel, 32-1/4 x 23-3/4 inches. Gift of Obiarts, Inc., in recognition of Dr. Randy Ploog, 2003.33

🖼️ Heidi Theresa Manfred, Secure and Moving Forward, 2024, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches. Collection of the artist, L2026.50

🖼️ Ernest Lawson (American, b. Canada, 1873–1939), Boys and Canal Boat–Spuyten Duyvil, 1911–1914, oil on canvas, 25-1/8 x 30-1/8 inches. Bequest of James R. and Barbara R. Palmer, 2019.78

Join us on a bus trip to Pittsburgh! ✨ On Thursday, September 24, we're heading to the Steel City for a day of art and c...
08/29/2026

Join us on a bus trip to Pittsburgh! ✨ On Thursday, September 24, we're heading to the Steel City for a day of art and connection. Highlights include a guided tour of the 59th Carnegie International, lunch at Café Carnegie, and a guided tour of Sharif Bey's Homecoming exhibition at The Andy Warhol Museum. Spots are limited, see the link in bio for more information and to reserve your seat!

The Palmer Print Club is back. 🖨️Spend select Friday afternoons this academic year up close with woodcuts, etchings, lit...
08/29/2026

The Palmer Print Club is back. 🖨️

Spend select Friday afternoons this academic year up close with woodcuts, etchings, lithographs, and works on paper from the Palmer's collection, led by senior curator Patrick McGrady.

Participants get curator-led tours of special exhibitions and occasional visits with print dealers bringing rare pieces to share.

The Print Club meets 1–2 p.m. on select Fridays, September through April. Space is limited!

The first meeting is September 18 from 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Email Becky Harris at [email protected] to register.
$250 annual fee ($200 for Palmer Museum members).

Payment can be provided either through cheque or the Palmer Museum’s online payment portal; instructions will follow registration.

One week! Come join us while our special exhibition Constellations: Celebrating the Legacies of Betye Saar is explored t...
08/28/2026

One week! Come join us while our special exhibition Constellations: Celebrating the Legacies of Betye Saar is explored through an interdisciplinary gallery conversation with Joyce Robinson, assistant director, and Nashormeh N. R. Lindo, doctoral candidate in art education and African American and diaspora studies.

Friday, September 4

12:30 p.m.

Barbara and Lee Maimon Teaching Gallery | Level 2

Address

650 Bigler Road
University Park, PA
16802

Opening Hours

Wednesday 11am - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 8pm
Friday 11am - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm
Sunday 12pm - 5pm

Telephone

+18148657673

Website

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