University Museums, Iowa State University

05/22/2026

I may have had little success, but our garden tour will hopefully be much warmer!
Come check out our other pollinators too at our “Bee-utiful Blooms” garden tour event at the Anderson Sculpture Garden on July 16☀️🐝🦋

05/22/2026

This photo from our 50th anniversary party captures quite aptly (and literally) this present, late-May moment of reflecting on the past and looking to the future: we wish all the best to our favorite Museums-event jazz guitarist, David Harper, who graduated summa cm laude in physics and math and will head to Austin, TX, for a PhD, AND we're preparing for a fall exhibition featuring Mary Herkel-Hess (American, b. 1949), whose "Autumn-Colored Basket" sculpture is foregrounded here.

How's your transitional May going? Hopefully a little jazzy. 🎸

Object # UM2016.366, Gift of Carmon Slater and Donald Randall. In the permanent collection, Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

05/19/2026

Memorial Day Weekend: All University Museums locations will be closed Saturday, May 23 - Monday, May 25 for the Memorial Day holiday. The museums will resume normal hours throughout the summer season, May 26-July 24. See you soon! 🌞

https://museums.iastate.edu/visit

05/13/2026

A new study gives museum-goers something to feel pretty good about. Researchers found that people who engaged with arts and culture at least weekly were biologically ~1 year younger than those who rarely did. The effect was similar in size to what regular exercise produces, and strongest in adults 40+.

Both making art (painting, photography, crafting, singing) and visiting it (galleries, exhibitions, museums, heritage sites, gardens) counted. Frequency and variety both mattered.

The Brunnier Art Museum, Christian Petersen Art Museum, Farm House Museum and Anderson Sculpture Garden are all part of University Museums at Iowa State. Admission is free for everyone.

🔗 Study: https://academic.oup.com/innovateage/advance-article/doi/10.1093/geroni/igag038/8669801
Published this month in the journal Innovation in Aging (Gerontological Society of America)

05/12/2026

The Ames Community Arts Council has named our director, Lynette Pohlman, the recipient of its 2026 Bill Pelz Arts Advocacy Award, recognizing her more than five decades of building the arts at Iowa State and across Ames.

The award will be presented at the Arts Awards Celebration on Sunday, May 17 at 1:30 p.m. at Reiman Gardens. It's free and open to everyone. We hope you'll go cheer her on as she receives this honor. 🏆

University Museums is a member organization of the Ames Community Arts Council.

Join us to celebrates those who celebrate the arts! The Ames Community Arts Council will hold its annual Arts Awards Celebration on Sunday, May 17 at 1:30 p.m. at Reiman Gardens [1407...

05/04/2026

With the June 3 retirement of Lynette L. Pohlman approaching after 55 years with University Museums, Iowa State University is searching for its next Warren and Beverly Madden Endowed Director and Chief Curator.

This is a rare opportunity to lead a nationally accredited teaching museum of a special caliber: a five-entity system that includes Brunnier Art Museum, Christian Petersen Art Museum, Farm House Museum, Anderson Sculpture Garden and the Art on Campus Collection, one of the largest campus public art collections in the country.

The Director and Chief Curator will steward a permanent collection of 30,000+ objects, shape bold exhibitions and programming and partner with faculty to expand object-based learning across disciplines.

🏛️ Full consideration is given to applications received by May 14, 2026. Learn more and apply: https://isu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/IowaStateJobs/job/Museums-Director-and-Chief-Curator_R19096

04/30/2026

Proud of Ames 🤩

Allison Sheridan, our Collections, Communications & Publications Manager, took John McGivern's Main Streets on a tour.

The segment starts at 15:30 in the full Ames episode, posted today on YouTube. She walks host John McGivern through what makes this campus unlike any other: a laaaaarge public art collection.

04/30/2026

The season is upon us! Wander in on weekday afternoons to connect with the legacy and tradition of being an Iowa Stater.

04/27/2026

The Farm House Museum is opening its doors for a rare ⭐Saturday⭐ experience as part of the "America 250: Along the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway" celebration. From Noon – 3 p.m. on May 2, visitors can explore "America 250: Prairie, Plows, and the People’s College," an exhibition that highlights deep roots in agriculture, innovation and education.

Located on Iowa State University’s campus, this museum is the oldest building, offering a unique glimpse into early campus life and the lifestyles of the people who helped shape Iowa State's identity. These limited Saturday hours (free and open to the public, as usual) are a chance to experience Ames in a new way, on a special day of the week.

Stop by for a solo stroll through our new exhibition or bring along the friends who can never make it during the work week. Either way, we hope you'll take advantage of these Saturday open hours.

📷 Picture at the Farm House with the Knapp Family, 1885. Including Mrs. Mariah (Seaman Knapp), Helen Knapp, age 7, Seaman Arthur Knapp holding a baseball bat, Seaman Asahel Knapp, Maria Knapp, age 14. Farm House has original front veranda.

04/23/2026

It's World Book Day! 📚 If you like to read or browse pages, you're in for a treat with this post.

While we don't *specialize* in books, we do have ~600 (particularly handsome) books or book-related objects in our collections.
https://emuseum.its.iastate.edu/search/book/objects/images?sort=Relevance

Two artists represented in our collections to "check out"? Christian Petersen and Harriet Bart.

1️⃣ We sell no fewer than 4 books about Christian Petersen: https://museums.iastate.edu/publications

2️⃣ And here's a very book-y digital publication from a past exhibition, "Harriet Bart: Material Alchemy": https://universitymuseums.pubpub.org/harrietbart

04/22/2026

Catch the livestream of the Lyrical Forms: Arts on Campus concert here (starting 7:30pm tonight), if you won't be making it to the hall:

Recital Hall Livestream The Department of Music & Theatre will only webcast selected Iowa State University related ensembles, student and faculty performances presented in the Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall in the Music building. We are not authorized to webcast outside groups presented by Ames Town...