The trip itself helped crack open the mysteries of the art world for the nine student participants, who visited galleries in Chelsea, the East Village, and Harlem, as well as museums and auction houses last spring. They engaged in private, behind-the-scenes tours and met artists, curators, appraisers, and other art professionals, including several alumni.

“I am very appreciative of this trip because it made me have a further, deeper connection to art,” said senior Leanna Morris, who spoke at the art reveal along with 2026 alum Taylo Harris and sophomore Ryder Drake. “Before this trip, I didn't really understand how artwork is selected for a collection.”

Lampe initiated the annual spring break trip three years ago shortly after taking her position at the University of Richmond. She had launched similar programs in her other positions, including at the University of Chicago and Stanford University.

“I designed the trip because I wish that I had had opportunities like this when I was an art history major,” she said. “Students have no idea what a career in the art world can look like, so they tend to shy away from it. People around them tend to ask, ‘Well, what are you going to do with an art history degree?’”

Before the trip, Lampe and visiting assistant professor Kymberly Newberry vetted works for the students to consider for purchase for the Harnett Museum of Art within a specified budget.

It’s showtime

After visiting seven galleries, students chose their favorite pieces, researched them, then crafted and delivered presentations with recommendations on the last day. They explained what stands out about the piece, what kinds of conversations can be had around it, and how the artwork will benefit the university, Harris said.

“Their presentations are all brilliant,” said provost Joan Saab, who has joined the trip for all three years and spoke at the event. “Honestly, I want to buy every single work they pitch.”

Elsa Waterhouse, an exchange student from University of Edinburgh in Scotland, presented the Audu painting. She connected it to the African diaspora lineage charted in “Black Work: Absence/Absorption,” an exhibition at the Harnett in spring 2026. Kymberly Newberry, one of the chaperones of the trip, curated the show.

“The energy and charge that you feel from this piece is very different than the other pieces that we presented … because it lacks all of the color and the rhythm and everything else that you expect when you think of African art,” said Harris.

“When this was first put in front of me, I was almost in a trance because it’s just so enthralling,” Drake added.

Lampe beamed as Morris explained her greater appreciation for art, and the other student speakers said the trip let them see possibilities for a career in the arts.

“We went to the Studio Museum in Harlem, and that's when it clicked that I wanted to be an artist,” said Harris.

Drake wanted to pursue an art history degree but, like Lampe in her college years, was inundated by questions that gave him doubts about it.

“Seeing all of these different careers and pathways that art history can take you, it was like my sign from God that you can do this,” he said. “You can do what you love but also have a career.”

The alumni he met on the trip played a big role in this realization, he added.

“Seeing that alumni from the University of Richmond ended up at all of these different places in New York City, I was like, ‘OK, they were me just years ago, and they are here now.”