

# Event Details

- **Event Name**: We Dream of Life opening
- **Event Start and End Date**: Fri, 30 Jan, 2026 at 05:00 pm
- **Event Description**: The Department of Art at UVA invites you to join us on Friday, January 30 to celebrate the new year with the opening of a new exhibition by the UVA Department of Art's 2026 Ruffin Distinguished Artists-in-Residence, iris yirei hu and Paula Wilson. 

Exhibition on view January 30 - March 20, 2026
Artist talk: Jan 30, 3:30-5:00pm, Campbell Hall 160
Opening reception: Jan 30, 5:00-7:00pm, Ruffin Hall

Ruffin Gallery presents We Dream of Life, a 56-foot long textile installation by New Mexico-based artist Paula Wilson and California-based artist iris yirei hu. Born from the artists’ close friendship, shared dreams, and exploration of the natural world, this newly commissioned artwork limns a journey of night and day, embodied relation, and devotion to the creative path.
Made from painting, collage, and monotype, a monumental blue deity stretches across the sky, hands and feet planted in the earth, body flowing through the cosmos. Flowers, moths, teeth, and bones scatter like seeds, linking humanity to the infinite mysteries of time and space. The deity is a marriage of each artist’s personal iconographies as seen in their oeuvres: Wilson’s towering, multivalent forms and hu’s fluid and floating figures. The deity also echoes Nut, the Egyptian god who swallows the sun each night and births it anew each morning.

Wilson and hu often share their nightly dreams with one another, which they view as source material for their creative practices. The gallery’s deep blue walls evoke night itself—a space where subterranean wisdom, transformation, and the freedom of being alive come to light.

We Dream of Life is organized by Elena Yu, Ruffin Gallery Program Manager. The exhibition will be accompanied by a limited edition exhibition pamphlet designed by Leah Koransky, featuring an essay by curator and researcher Aurora Tang.

This exhibition is supported by the UVA Department of Art, the Peter B. and Adeline W. Ruffin Foundation, and an Arts Enhancement Grant from UVA Arts &amp; the Office of the Provost &amp; the Vice Provost for the Arts.
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/charlottesville/we-dream-of-life-opening/200029580513912
- **Event Categories**: art, exhibitions, fine-arts
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 2

## Ticket Details

- **Ticket URL**: http://facebook.com/200029580513912?utm_source=AllEvents.in&utm_medium=event-discovery-platform&utm_campaign=charlottesville-events

## Event venue details

- **city**: Charlottesville
- **state**: VA
- **country**: United States
- **location**: Ruffin Hall
- **lat**: 38.03908145
- **long**: -78.50296533
- **full address**: Ruffin Hall, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States

## Event Organizer details

- **affiliate_id**: 2
- **organizer**: UVA Department of Art (https://allevents.in/org/uva-department-of-art/26675626)

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: banner
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events4/banners/59cb0372fd8598d53b86513b30d3aa9362dbc45301198d93907a6cf74813ee7c-rimg-w1200-h1800-dc2a67a5-gmir?v=1769567111
- **Alt text**: thumbnail
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events4/banners/4a7a7330251e41c5745afd8de14b244c2570cb0e337a8cc446ec4959f9ff1cd5-rimg-w300-h300-dc4c7490-gmir?v=1769567112

## FAQs

- **Q**: When is the event happening?
  - **A:** Fri, 30 Jan, 2026 at 05:00 pm
- **Q**: Where is the event happening?
  - **A:** Ruffin Hall, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
- **Q**: Who is organizing the event?
  - **A:** UVA Department of Art
- **Q**: What type of event is this?
  - **A:** art, exhibitions, fine-arts
- **Q**: Where can I find ticket details about We Dream of Life opening ?
  - **A:** You can find ticket details about this event on AllEvents.

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