Patricia A. Hobbs Senior Curator of Art

540-458-4321
phobbs@wlu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Patricia Hobbs is senior curator of art at the Museums at W&L. Recent exhibitions that she has curated include: The Root of the Matter: Works by Sharon Norwood (2022); My Art Speaks for Both My Peoples: Selected Prints by Elizabeth Catlett (2021); and Inscapes: Paintings by Evelyn Dawson (2021). Hobbs joined the university in 1998, working with the Museums’ collections in several capacities, including developing ARTH 398: Seminar in Museum Studies, which she taught for over a decade. Previously, she served as curator of collections for several history and historic house museums, including what is now the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, where she curated Valley Collects, a series of pioneering exhibitions on material culture of the Shenandoah Valley. She also co-curated Ellen Axson Wilson: First Lady – Artist, accompanied by a catalog. That experience was the catalyst for her continuing interest in American Impressionism and art colonies and her current research and two exhibitions (2021) on the artist Louise Herreshoff Eaton: Capturing Color and To See Color First, the latter accompanied by a catalog.

Among her professional affiliations, Hobbs has served on the Virginia Association of Museums Council, including as president; as Virginia State Representative for the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries; and on student conference programs for the Southeast Museums Conference. She was an adjunct professor of art at Mary Baldwin College, and is one of the founding board members of the Beverley Street Studio School in Staunton. She is also an award-winning practicing artist.

Education

M.A. University of Virginia, Art History
B.A. Mary Baldwin College, Studio Art and Art History