Theresa Pollak was instrumental in founding the Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts and taught painting there for 41 years. Known to paint scenes that she viewed outside her studio window, Pollak captures campus life on the Grace Street corridor in Richmond, Virginia with her bold use of color and thick, painterly brush strokes. In 1971, four years before this painting was made, the newly erected Arts School building was dedicated as the Theresa Pollak Building.