VMFA reopening weekend schedule of events

After 10 months, it's (finally!) time to take a look around.

All of the mystery surrounding the massive construction and closed galleries and hints at something spectacular at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts comes to an end at 8 a.m. Saturday, when the doors open to the public.

They'll stay open like never before.

On the first day, the museum will be open till midnight, with activities throughout the day and into the night to show off collections and spaces old and new. After that, the museum will be open seven days a week.

Here's a look at the activities scheduled for the grand reopening this weekend:

Exhibitions on View

10 a.m.-midnight Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, "American Art from the McGlothlin Collection": "German Expressionist Art: Selections from the Fischer Collection"; and "Matisse, Picasso and Modern Art in Paris."

Mary Morton Parsons Plaza

Saturday: 8-10 a.m., coffee and doughnuts

10-10:30 a.m., ribbon-cutting ceremony with VMFA donors, government officials and current and former VMFA trustees, with music by the Huguenot High School Marching Band.

11 a.m.-noon, performance by the Bucket Drums.

Sunday: noon-1 p.m., performance by the Bucket Drums.

1-4 p.m., roving performance by Paperhand Puppet Intervention, a group that performs varied styles of puppetry and artistic expression, including giant puppets, masks, stilt dancing, rod puppets, shadows and silhouettes.

Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane Atrium

Saturday: 11 a.m.-5 p.m.Lego art project recreating artist Barry Flanagan's "Large Leaping Hare," a 20th-century sculpture from the VMFA collection, with public participation.

Noon-12:45 p.m., Ezibu Muntu African Dance Company presents dancers, drummers and entertainers.

1-1:45 p.m., Greek folk dancers.

2-2:45 p.m., Latin Ballet of Virginia dancers.

3-3:45 p.m., Indian dancers.

4:30-4:45 p.m., dancers from the Tai Yim Kung Fu School in Kensington, Md., will perform the traditional Chinese Lion Dance, a 1,000-year-old expression of joy and happiness.

5-5:45 p.m., Women of Selket belly dancers.

6-7 p.m., music by Mariachi Las Americas, an eight-piece ensemble performing traditional mariachi music from Jalisco, Mexico, and more-modern mariachi music.

7:30-8:30 p.m., music by Mariachi Las Americas (see above).

9 p.m.-midnight, music by Marionette, a six-member collective from Richmond that includes art students, jazz musicians and friends.

Sunday: 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Lego art project (see above).

noon-1 p.m., Indian dancers.

2:30-3:30 p.m., Cheick Hamala Diabate with Hotel X; Diabate, a modern-day griot and master of the n'goni (a West African stringed instrument made from a calabash), will perform with Hotel X, Virginia's world-music ensemble.

4-5 p.m., Cheick Hamala Diabate with Hotel X (see above).

Richard S. and Julia Louise Reynolds Lecture Hall

Saturday: 1-2 p.m., lecture: "Affairs of the Heart: Love and Romance in Masterpieces of Art," by art historian Mary Sweeney Ellett.

2-4 p.m., screening: "Avant-Garde Short Films Through the Ages," including films ranging from "Emak-Bakia," a 1926 work by Man Ray, to "Tower Bawher," a 2005 film by Théodore Ushev.

4-5 p.m., lecture: "The Positive Image: Early Photographic Processes," by award-winning photographer Phil Nesmith.

Sunday: 1-2 p.m., lecture: "Mystery of 'The Night Café': Hidden Key to the Spirituality of Vincent van Gogh," by Dr. Cliff Edwards, professor of philosophy and religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.

2-4 p.m., screening: "Avant-Garde Short Films Through the Ages" (see above).

Conference Center

Saturday: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., artist demonstrations of glasswork and painting in oil by VMFA Studio School instructors Jude Schlotzhauer and David Tanner.

Founder's Conference Room

Sunday: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., artist demonstration by VMFA resident potter and Studio School instructor Steven Glass, who will make pitchers, platters, cups and bowls, and answer questions.

Best Café

Saturday: 10:30 a.m.-noon, coffee and doughnuts.

Noon-3 p.m., picnic fare.

3 p.m.-midnight, coffee bar and other beverages.

Sunday: 10-11 a.m., coffee and doughnuts.

11 a.m.-2 p.m., picnic fare.

3-5 p.m., coffee bar and other beverages.

Amuse Restaurant and Claiborne Robertson Room

Saturday: 3-5 p.m., tea and cookies.

7-10:30 p.m., wine tastings and small plates.

Marble Hall

Saturday: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., lemonade and tea.

4-7 p.m., Kentucky Derby and hat-making party.

8:30-11:30 p.m., Jazz Café featuring the Quiet Steps Trio.

Sunday: 11 a.m.-5 p.m., lemonade and tea.

Exhibition Gallery East Lobby

11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Tibetan monks from the Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, N.Y., will be in residence at VMFA for one week to create a sand mandala titled "Avalokiteshvara (Wheel of Compassion)"; the art of painting with colored sand is called dul-tson-kyil-khor (mandala of colored powders) in the Tibetan language.

E. Claiborne and Lora Robins Sculpture Garden

Saturday: 8-9 a.m., tai chi.

Sunday: 1-4 p.m., roving procession by Paperhand Puppet Intervention.

Galleries

Saturday: 10 a.m.-11 p.m., VMFA gallery highlights tours, departing from the Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane Atrium on the hour 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 7-10 p.m.

Sunday: 11 a.m.-4 p.m., VMFA gallery highlights tours, departing from the Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane Atrium on the hour.

Education spaces

Saturday: 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m., family art activities, including creating prints and T-shirts.

Sunday: 1-5 p.m., family art activities, including creating a miniature sketchbook and artistic buttons.

VMFA Gift Shop

Saturday and Sunday: 10-a.m.-5 p.m., trunk shows by Littala and Fabergé (featuring the debut of the museum's reproduction of the Czarevitch Imperial egg), plus the debut of exclusive VMFA chocolates and wine-filled Bacchus chocolates.