Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell Mural Unveiling Set for Sept. 24 in Terrell Library Atrium

WSU Libraries will unveil a new mural featuring British author Virginia Woolf and her sister and artist, Vanessa Bell, at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24, in the Terrell Library Atrium, on the ground floor next to Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC).

Jiemei “Mei” Lin, an assistant professor in the WSU Department of Art, painted the Virginia and Vanessa mural over the summer to celebrate the creative lives and lasting influence of two remarkable women in the history of literature and art.

“This mural is inspired by the Virginia Woolf library collection at the WSU Libraries, a space that holds not just books, but traces of the sisters’ labor, imagination, and deep connection,” Lin said. “It honors their collaboration, their individual practices, and the powerful relationship that went beyond sisterhood.”

WSU Libraries have the most extensive collection of books previously owned by Virginia Woolf and her husband Leonard, as well as rare editions from the Hogarth Press, which the Woolfs started. Vanessa Bell designed many of the press books.

As part of the unveiling, items from the Woolf Library and Hogarth Press Collections will be on display in the MASC reading room. Lin and WSU Virginia Woolf scholar and English professor emerita Diane Gillespie will speak, and WSU Libraries’ conservator Linnea Rash will set up the MASC letter press so visitors can hand-print a Woolf quote.

To learn more about the mural, please read the earlier story on the WSU Libraries website.