William Johnston Building Gallery

Jan 15 – Feb 16, 2026

Curated by Estefania Vallejo Santiago and Sara Rodriguez

Place-Within, a collective exhibition by Art History and FSU Studio Art students, explores home, memory, and identity through the lens of diaspora. Each artwork—painted, installed, or woven—speaks to belonging, displacement, and cultural resilience. Personal narratives of migration reimagine borders as barriers and bridges, exploring how home is carried within. Beyond an exhibition, Place-Within fosters community engagement, inviting visitors to share their migration and belonging experiences. Interactive components and artist talks encourage dialogue, creating a sense of connection and mutual understanding. Loss and longing intertwine with transformation, shaping belonging through movement, memory, and reimagined connections.

Nov 6 – Dec 5, 2025 

Curated by Professor Meghan Mick and Sabrina Iverson 

Sponsored by FSU Native American and Indigenous Studies Center (NAIS)  

One with the (Changing) Land honors Indigenous ecological knowledge and its enduring relationship with place, as reflected in design. The exhibition contrasts these living traditions with conventional Western design approaches, inviting reflection on how we continue to shape and are shaped by the land 

The exhibition includes student work illustrating examples from around the world, as highlighted In Julia Watson’s book Lo-TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism. What follows are from a familiar landscape closer to home, captured in artifacts and examples from the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes of Florida. They similarly employ design and construction methods that exemplify living with the land rather than on it. Finally, students from Responsible Design (IND 2620) share their connections to the land through images and stories of places that hold meaning for them.

Sept 25 – Oct 24, 2025 

Featuring research from Diana Bradley, Zoe Hume, Adrey. Jacobs, Ashley Williams, and alumni Catherine Usewicz, Ph.D, this exhibition discusses the various steps in the Ph.D process. Each artist has created an interactive station to symbolize their research and engage visitors in the various steps of the Ph.D process.

Aug 25 – Sept 22, 2025

Curated by Isabella Daou and Neda Izadi in collaboration with Janet Bauer, Ph.D., Zeynep Su Oğuzer, Yael Rubin, and Roo Xing

Journey of Memories is a heartfelt tribute to the cherished moments and cultural treasures these women carried as they rebuilt their lives in Hartford, Connecticut. Though unable to bring all of their belongings, they preserved the essence of their experiences through evocative, handcrafted artworks. Each piece serves as a window into the vibrant tapestry of their past: every stitch and brushstroke embodies treasured memories of home, family, and community. 

The exhibition highlights the power of art as a medium for storytelling and expression, emphasizing memory as a vital part of identity and heritage. By sharing their stories through art, these women honor their past while inspiring us to appreciate the beauty and resilience of immigrant communities worldwide. 

The  Journey of Memories project was hosted by Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) in partnership with the Dodd Center for Human Rights at the University of Connecticut, Trinity College, and Heartbeat Ensemble. The project was guided by the compassionate leadership of Neda Izadi and Isabella Daou, with support from Trinity College students. 

Since its creation,  Journey of Memories has toured widely in Connecticut, with exhibitions at Connecticut College, Trinity College, Heartbeat Ensemble, Hartford Public Library, and Otis Library, reaching diverse audiences before arriving at Florida State University. 

When thinking about Jim’s work and how to pair it with work from beginning art students there were a few things that stood out as opportunities. Because of the way that Jim worked on this series – painting outdoors, directly from nature – he was working quickly to respond to the shifting light and particular weather conditions. This plein air technique lends itself to careful observation of color and a type of abstraction where certain elements are given more detail and presence while other elements are gestural. In response, Jim and I developed a project where students in 2D Foundations, working from images, used hard-edge abstraction to simplify descriptive elements and focus on matching the dominant colors in their chosen landscape.

Another aspect of Jim’s work is that he is returning over and over to a particular location and documenting a specific environment. These works are both homage to the beauty of backwater estuaries while also serving as testament to a slowly shifting landscape. Jim and I talked about how Florida is a bellwether state and how vulnerable it is to climate change. After talking about the precious ecology of our state, students were asked to consider and respond to the impact of climate change from a personal standpoint. We chose silverpoint both because it is an archaic technique but also because by drawing with silver they are creating a surface that is susceptible to change over time – through oxidation and patina.