Graphic Design BFA Seniors complete a Capstone Thesis Project
Graphic Design BFA Students participate in a Professional-to-Student Portfolio Review
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)
Special Recognition for MTSU Department of Art and Design and TODDartgallery
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!
Common Grounds Artist Lecture Series
presented by the Middle Tennessee State University Department of Art and Design
Find Past Lectures on our Common Ground YouTube Channel
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.
Ruben Castillo via Zoom
Artist and Educator
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 via Zoom
MTSU Alumna, U.S. Army Major, and Cultural Heritage Preservation Specialist
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.
Sketch to DeStress
A Special MTSU Department of Art and Design, Todd Art Gallery Saturdays At Todd event.
Presented by the College of Liberal Arts!
For complete details and to join Zoom, visit,
Questions: Douglas.Dabbs@mtsu.edu
Biennial Symposium
Department of Art and Design Faculty
#MTSUart @MTSUart
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: A Department of Art and Design Faculty Exhibition
#MTSUart @MTSUart
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.
Biennial 2024
MTSU Art and Design proudly presents Biennial 2024: An MTSU Art and Design Faculty Exhibition. This showcase resides in the Todd Art Gallery in Todd Hall, room 224A, and is open until December 14, 2024.
John English
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.
Justin Benford
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