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.
Lecture Presentation by Sara Abdoh
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…
A spirit of giving that defines an initiative. @MTSUArt | April 9, 2025 Join the MTSU Department of Art and Design for our bi-annual event each fall and spring semester. Explore a collection of donated artwork at Todd Hall, perfect for personal use or gifting. Contributions are encouraged with suggested donation amounts for each piece. Proceeds…
Here’s a glimpse of the exceptional work on view!
At the 2025 Tennessee Association of Museums Annual Conference in Knoxville, MTSU’s Todd Art Gallery was honored with a Certificate of Commendation during the March Awards Dinner. This special recognition celebrates Perceptions of Reality, the Department of Art and Design’s most recent annual collaborative exhibition, curated by Dr. Barbara and Mr. Leroy Hodges. The exhibition…
Graphic Design BFA Seniors complete a Capstone Thesis Project
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…
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,…
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
Join us for this 12th annual event that celebrates works from the department’s students. faculty, alums, and staff.
The Graphic Design scholarship created by Ollie Fancher is the only private scholarship for Graphic Design majors. With the majority of our students receiving some form of financial aid and working to pay for their college education, the need for private scholarship support is crucial in the success of our students.
Over $5,000 in matching dollars have been received in support of the Ollie Fancher Scholarship allowing you to double the impact of your gift. In addition, any contribution will help the scholarship reach the permanent endowment level.
Support future Graphic Design majors today by making a gift to the Graphic Design scholarship created by Ollie Fancher.
To donate, visit Give to the Ollie Fancher Scholarship or scan the QR Code below with your phone camera.
Sell your work and make some money! Or, shop from local artists as we roll into the holidays!
2–5:30 p.m., Wednesday, October 27, 2021, MTSU Student Union Commons
Follow the event as it unfolds @FallArtFestival
Summer Noise Exhibition: Paintings by Jered Sprecher – Todd Art Gallery, Todd Hall, Room 224A
Professor of Painting, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, School of Art
Exhibition Dates: August 23 – September 11, 2021
Visiting Artist and Reception Date: Thursday, September 2
Jered Sprecher – Visiting Artist Itinerary
“My work is based in an eclectic aesthetic. My paintings extract elements from the high and low of visual culture. This culture and crush of images is in constant flux. My paintings hold no single allegiance but are constantly shifting from one form of representation to another. The paintings function as sources of both inductive and deductive image-making processes. In our day-to-day life, one is seldom afforded the time to comprehend what one is viewing under the barrage of images produced by humankind. I try to grasp a single moment, a glance, a small epiphany. The paintings are haptic documents of these remnants of communication as each one follows its trajectory.”
9 – 11 a.m. – Meetings with upper-division studio students *(15 minutes each)
11 – 11:45 a.m. – Lunch
11:45 a.m. – Noon – Set-up for Todd Art Gallery Keynote Talk with Q&A and PowerPoint Presentation
Noon – 12:45 p.m. – Todd Art Gallery Talk, Todd Art Gallery, Room 224A
12:45 – 1 p.m. – Q&A portion of Talk
1 – 2 p.m. – Artist Reception, Todd Art Gallery, Todd Hall, Room 224A
Artist Statement
As an artist, I make paintings that exist in the sliver of space between abstraction and representation. I look to the lived daily experience of the present coupled with the artifacts of the past. My work compresses time into the surface of painting, that old technology. Increasingly flora, fauna, and natural phenomena hold my attention as I wrestle with this imagery that we daily experience through our technology. Birds, plants, flowers, stones, and fires dissolve into the light of the screen, the digital lens, and the glowing tablet. There is something elegant and tragic about the evanescent light of the screen pressing the image of a delicate flower into one’s memory. Light, flower, and technology are here and also fade away.
Questions: Sisavanh.Houghton@mtsu.edu
MTSU’s first 15-hour challenge in partnership with Nashville’s Mythos Pedals
The Challenge will revolve around the creation of an original illustration that will be printed on a Mythos guitar pedal and then sold as a limited run of pedals to guitar players all over the globe. Students will produce their illustration submissions within a 15 hour window for a shot at victory! We’ll watch movies, listen to music, and hang out for the day and into the evening as we finalize our submissions.
All participants will reconvene the following morning for winner announcements. The winner will receive $200.00 and a free guitar pedal with their artwork printed on it. Paper flyers with more information are available outside Professor Tony Rodriguez’s office in Todd Hall, Room 215.
Details:
Work Time: 8 a.m–11 p.m.—Friday, November 5, 2021
Winner’s Announcements: 11 a.m.—Saturday, November 6
Where: MTSU, Todd Hall, Room 337
Eligibility: All MTSU Students are Welcome
Questions: Tony.Rodriguez@mtsu.edu
Magic happens when nature and the imagination combine into something that lightens your heart and brings a sweetly soft joy. Whether it’s the little nook in the tree that could hide a baby dragon or fairies dancing on a brook, the design and beauty of nature can be found in every corner of our world and it drives our imaginations. Jennifer’s work is focused on that wonder and draws attention to the beautiful details of life through visual storytelling.
Jennifer is an award-winning, published fantasy-based illustrator. Her work has been used in advertising for New Mexic BioPark’s Run for the Zoo and has received accolades for her team projects in marketing and animation.
Demo Location: Todd Hall, Room 343
When: 12 p.m., (Noon), Friday, September 17, 2021 CDT
See more of Jennifer’s Work
Examples: 
Held in Todd Art Gallery, April 19–30, 2021, CARRY ON was a compilation of senior capstone projects for the B.F.A. Graphic Design class of 2021. Art and Design faculty members for Carry On included Assistant Profeesors Sheri Selph and Stefanie Cobb.
April 17-May 1, 2021
210 Gallery, Todd Hall, Room 210
This exhibit showcases the illustrated works composed by Art and Design’s current senior class. You’ll see works ranging from surface design, editorial illustration, logo design, book illustration, and more!
Participating Seniors include Marianna Ford, Morgan Gill, Bethany Dillon, Manny Martinez, Austin Davis, Sara Davis, Kierra Colquitt, and Amber Puls.
Additional students involved are Maggie Strahle, Sylvia Lee, Ellen Everett, John Puryear, and Taylor Lane.
Art 4940 | Special Topics: Gallery Practicum
A museum studies course that combines the classroom study of exhibition practices with hands-on experience in Todd Art Gallery and area museums.
Questions: Nancy.Kelker@mtsu.edu
Register: Detailed Class Information (mtsu.edu)
