Here, we blend the bold and the in-between — milestones, insights, and sparks of what’s next. It’s the creative space where ideas unfold in real-time.
MTSU Art and Design | April 12, 2025
A Lecture Presentation by Sara Abdoh, Spring 2025 Visiting Professor
MTSU Art and Design | August 16, 2025
A Quick Reference Guide to the Department’s Student Scholarships
MTSU Art and Design | April 10, 2025
The Town of Lexicon Lane Welcomes You @mtsuseniorshow | April 10, 2025 MTSU Graphic Design Capstone, the town of Lexicon Lane, welcomes you! April 19–26 | MTSU Todd Art Gallery, Todd Hall, Room 224A Opening April 19, 2025, 1–4 p.m. See the artwork of Quinn Allen • Bri Anderson • Joy Blohm • Luke Byrum…
Graphic Design students meet creative industry professionals at The Department of Art & Design’s Portfolio Review. (above) Students work independently in studio space and collaboratively in a variety of methods and media to gain career-building skills and experience. (below)
2024 Award of Excellence Recipient
During the Tuesday, March 19, Awards Dinner of the Tennessee Association of Museums, the MTSU Department of Art and Design’s Todd Art Gallery was awarded a 2024 Award of Excellence for the collaborative effort involving the traveling exhibition, Crafting Blackness: Black Bodies Making Form. As a cooperative, East Tennessee State University’s Curators Karlota Contreas-Koterbay and Karen Sullivan and the Tipton and Slocumb Galleries share this award with Tennessee Craft, Tennessee State University’s Hiram Van Gordon Gallery, and MTSU. We are most grateful for this special recognition to our Curators, fellow exhibition spaces, the artists of Black Bodies Making Form, and the Tennessee Association of Museums!
presented by the Middle Tennessee State University Department of Art and Design
This lecture series, presented by Middle Tennessee State University’s Department of Art & Design, highlights specific voices from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and life experiences. MTSU instructors handpick all guest lecturers, and although topics vary, content is always art-related.
Castillo investigates themes of intimacy, queerness, archival history, and the body using various media, including printmaking, drawing, installation, sculpture, and video. His most recent imagery is drawn from photographs and documents, seeing the ordinary as a site for transformation.
Sonia Dixon is a Doctoral Candidate in Art History at Florida State University, focusing on visual culture and identity in the late antique eastern Mediterranean. An MTSU alumna, she holds a BA in Art History and an MA in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies. Sonia is also a Major in the Army, serving as a Battalion Executive Officer and Heritage and Preservation Officer, specializing in cultural heritage preservation.
Questions: Douglas.Dabbs@mtsu.edu
Wednesday, February 5 – As a concluding event to the department’s Biennial 2024, faculty from the various areas of Art and Design reflected on their work from the exhibition and, more broadly, on their artistic motivations and philosophy with a strong component of Q&A for an invigorating and educational exchange between students and faculty. Among those faculty members who spoke were Paige Medlock, Art Education; Kate Kinder, Studio Art; Doug Dabbs, Graphic Design and Illustration; and Jake Wells, Foundations.
Images of Artwork Left to Right, Top to Bottom – Kim Dummons, Kelsey Duncan, Kathleen O’Connell, and Tony Rodriguez
Biennial 2024 Poster, Images, top to bottom, left to right: Ambrose Prince, The Sheep Man; Joshua Lynn, Bubble; Nick Satinover, Time is a Distance 8; Sisavanh Phouthavong-Houghton, Fields of Red Anemone Blooming; Kim Dummons, A Conversation Across Time, Posthumous Collaboration with John T. Scott; Kathleen O’Connell, Character Flaw: Denial, Blissful Ignorance, Worrier; Kelsey Duncan, Roxana; Tony Rodriguez, The Andy Warhol Diaries; Background, Staff.
Join Assistant Professor Tony Rodriguez and Illustration legend, John English for 2 hours of conversation over Zoom. John English is an illustrator and the founder of Visual Arts Passage and the director of the ever-prestigious Illustration Academy, the birthplace of many of today’s modern day illustration masters.
In this Zoom session, John will walk us through his career as an illustrator and inform students of the various opportunities available for young and emerging illustrators to engage via the Illustration Academy and Visual Arts Passage.
When? Friday August 30, 2024, at 11 am. Where? Contact Tony.Rodriguez@mtsu.edu for the Zoom link.
Join Assistant Prof. Tony Rodriguez and Justin Benford for a character design talk and LIVE digital painting demonstration over Zoom (or attend in-person in room 337)
When? Monday October 7, 11:30am
Where? Todd, room 337
Email Tony.Rodriguez@mtsu.edu for Zoom Link
Benford’s credentials:
– Character designer and illustrator at Ripple Effects
– Art director and artist on a short film titled ‘Lucid’
– Book cover illustrator on Chance Calloway’s ‘Pretty Dudes’
More on Instagram at MTSU Illustration
Please join us this Monday – Wednesday, April 8 – 10, 15, 2024, Todd Hall, Room 204. Complete schedule and times available at MTSU Senior Symposium – Schedule (google.com)
The MTSU Department of Art and Design’s Research Practicum and Symposium are essential components of the academic evaluation process for Art & Design majors studying Studio Art, Graphic Design, and Art History. The Spring 2024 Symposium involves students presenting their research to faculty, campus, fellow students, and the public, allowing for discourse, feedback, and evaluation.
Don’t miss this opportunity to witness these promising artists and art historians as they showcase their research insights and best work of their Junior and Senior years.
For further information, visit: www.mtsuartanddesign.com.