The GVSU Art Collection brings together artwork from local and international artists as well as GVSU students and faculty. The collection includes a wide range of media (meaning the material from which an artwork is created). This webpage highlights artwork in the collection from five major categories: photography, works on paper, sculpture, paintings, and video. These categories are then broken down even further by both the raw materials with which the artwork was made and the history of the art form. It also features decorative arts, a collection of historic and contemporary functional art made from a variety of materials, including metals, glass, and ceramics.

The GVSU art collection includes early photographic objects like tintypes, daguerreotypes, and real photo postcards. It also includes contemporary photography by local and international photographers exploring both color and black-and-white imagery.

Explore photography in the collection

Work on paper refers to all artworks that are created on paper as a medium, whether the paper is drawn on with pastels, pencils, ink, or charcoal. Works on paper also include prints and collage. Over 3,000 works of art on paper are housed in our Print and Drawing Cabinet, a special sub-collection of artwork begun in 2001 with a donation from English-born, Dutch artist Cyril Lixenberg. 

Explore works on paper in the collection

The GVSU art collection includes a wide range of painted media, including oil, acrylic, and watercolor. 

Explore paintings in the collection

Sculpture in the GVSU art collection includes small-scale and monumental works in ceramics, metals, stone, glass, mixed media, and textiles.

Explore Sculpture in the Collection

Many works in the GVSU Art Museum Collection don’t fit under one category. Mixed media art is any artwork that combines two or more different materials or media.

Explore Mixed Media in the Collection