WJB Gallery

The great feature of the Gallery is its multivalence. In this situation it becomes a classroom, and not only a classroom but a laboratory for the creative process, and then on top of that it serves its function as an exhibition space where the students’ work is on display for public engagement.

The WJB Gallery is an 1100-square-foot exhibition space shared and managed by the departments of the College of Fine Arts: Art, Art Education, Art History, Interior Architecture & Design, Dance, Theatre, and the Museum of Fine Arts.  The 24 x 46-foot glass-walled gallery stretches the length of the central five-story atrium in the Johnston Building, providing rich natural lighting and secure but vivid public exposure for exhibitions.

All exhibitions in the WJB Gallery are curated by or display works by students of the College of Fine Arts. Faculty and students develop exhibitions in consultation with a gallery committee of representatives from each department and the Museum of Fine Arts.  The scope and timeline of exhibitions varies with the needs and resources of the host department. Previous shows have included extended displays of student-designed furniture, short-term one-artist openings, semester-long curatorial projects, and one-night dance performances.

Currently on Display

Professor Mona Bozorgi (middle) with students, Luke Meunier, Cobie French, Kaylee Sibelle, and Leanna Overbeck (left to right)

“Photographs Were Never 2D!”

This exhibition is curated by Professor Mona Bozorgi of the Department of Art and features the work of undergraduate students who were enrolled in her advanced photography workshop, Materials & Methods.

“Photographs have always been sensory objects of fascination and inquiry that need to be understood as more than merely flat surfaces. In our digital era, with the idea of dematerialization dominating public perception, challenging the binary of physical and digital materiality is crucial. The exhibition echoes alternative approaches in contemporary image-making in which artists collaborate with material and explore how material(s) lead them into new concepts/ideas/works. Uncovering the entanglement of concept and materiality, the students’ works engage in critical investigations of issues around identity, consumer cultures, and the environment.”⁣

Previously on Display

“Art and Abolition”

Abolitionists agree that repairing harm requires looking at the roots of that harm and responding with tools other than prisons and jails—mental health care, jobs, substance support, access to services, and community accountability. And what about artists? Poet Elizabeth Alexander argues, “Artists have the tools and superpower to imagine and give form to the things we cannot see”. Dance activist Brianna Mims adds, “Art doesn’t really tell you what’s right or wrong”, but “teaches so much” about the “possibilities within the unknown”. This exhibition invites you into that unknown so that you ask real questions, draw real dreams, and reflect in real time on our day-to-day reliance on hundreds-year-old logics that say jails and prisons keep us safe. After all, and as abolition artists remind, when it comes to imagining a world without prisons, who better to visualize, activate, and embody a present-future than those who practice creativity every day?

Presented by Professor Hannah Schwadron of the School of Dance, “Art and Abolition” is a symposium on the subject of jail and prison abolition in scholarly research and “activist” practice.

“Choose Your Own Adventure”

This past spring 2023, Department of Art Education students in Visitor-Centered Exhibitions designed an exhibition highlighting the importance of children’s literature. Featuring titles from FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives’ Marsha Gontarski Children’s Literature Collection.

“Do It With Love!”

Do it with Love features photos, videos, costumes, and other artifacts chronicling the School of Dance’s 90 years of offering dance classes, 60 years as a degree granting program, and 20 years as the home to the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC).

The exhibition features a timeline that spans the entire history of SoD with notable moments and people who have made the School of Dance one of the top dance departments in the United States. Other highlights include a video detailing the history of the internationally acclaimed Dance Sciences program, and a collection of photographic and video clips that share the impact of MANCC being the first National Choreographic Center in the US to be within a University setting.

Student Resources

College of Fine Arts faculty and TAs may submit exhibition proposals for review by the gallery committee. We encourage you to check the upcoming timelime and contact your department representative on the committee, in planning your exhibition. Once you are ready to formally propose an exhibition, please submit through our online Proposal Form.

The Gallery committee approves proposals, arranges the schedule, allocates a small budget for supplemental equipment or materials, and supervises a staff of interns who may assist with installation, marketing, and some supervision/guided tours. Requests for staff assistance with installation should be directed to Meredith Lynn, Director of Galleries. In designing your installation, please refer to the Floorplan and Exhibition Guidelines.

WJB Gallery Committee Members

Meredith Lynn (MoFA)

Grace Ali (Art)

Tenley Bick (Art History)

Irvin Gonzalez (Dance)

Kellen Hoxworth (Theatre)

Yelena McLane (Interior Architecture & Design)

Ann Rowson Love (Art Education)