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The Shadows of MTSU
The first in a series of three Halloween-inspired events we’re calling Artistic Encounters with the Unseen
An Always Be Creative (ABC) workshop series
Reimagining Advertisements through an Artistic Lens
You are invited to experience history in a new light.
Sourced from The Daily News Journal and The Murfreesboro Union collections at the Rutherford County Archive, this exhibition transforms vintage advertisements into powerful new narratives through painting, fiber arts, mixed media, and video installations.
Artists Frank Baugh, Chrissy Crater, Kelly Herbert, Devin Lamp, Victoria Richardson, and Hannah Weakley recontextualize archival fragments to reveal new meanings, examining everyday imagery and commercial design as mirrors of shifting ideas about identity, community, and cultural values. Each work blends memory, imagination, and aesthetics to breathe new life into the past.
The exhibition also features pieces created in archival arts workshops across schools and libraries, highlighting the power of collective storytelling and creative engagement with local history. Together, these works remind us that archives are not static records of the past but dynamic resources for questioning history, generating new narratives, and envisioning different futures.
Archives aren’t shelves for yesterday; they’re
springboards for tomorrow.
Art in the Archive, Buttons, Kelly Herbert
On the Campus of MTSU
Visit the Gallery | Driving Directions
Driving Directions–1512 Military Memorial, Murfreesboro, TN 37132
MTSU Art and Design Student Scholarships
Quick Reference Slide
Decoding a Civilization: Exploring Ancient Egyptian Life Through Art
Lecture Presentation by Sara Abdoh
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