Exhibition Schedule

Spring 2024

Entanglements: Aaron McIntosh
January 25 – March 1 | First Friday Art Walk: February 2 and March 1, 6 - 9 PM

Aaron McIntosh interrogates the intertwined relationships between humans and plants—our interdependence, our co-evolution, and our history of hierarchies—across many artistic mediums. In Entanglements, the artist takes up the metaphoric potential of plant life where he finds speculative roots to scaffold and explore queer ecologies. McIntosh rejects colonialist and heteronormative paradigms that dominate botany in its perpetual “othering” of queer- ness. Instead, he asks how might we imagine queerness through the sexual and gender-variant dynamisms present in the plant world.

A fourth generation quiltmaker from the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee, McIntosh’s practice is deeply rooted in fibers. He employs this legacy as a language, form, and tool as it offers him both material comfort and a tactile trace of kinship. The quilts, sculptures, and collages on view in the exhibition draw upon images, objects, and stories from McIntosh’s own geographical, cultural, and familiar background, as well as his research in botanical and LGBTQIATS+ archives. Through participatory art making methods, he also draws in queer communities from the places he’s called home.

By embedding queerness into representations of nature, McIntosh envisions a world where diverse queer bodies across time and space are enmeshed with plant life —and where their quilted display envisions new futures for queer and botanical kinship.

Organized by Juliana Rowen Barton, Director of the Center for the Arts, with Madeline Camplese (’24), Gallery360 Manager and Curatorial Assistant (Spring 2023)

2024 Annual Juried Student Exhibition, juried by Steve Snell
March 25 – April 12 | First Friday Art Walk: April 5, 6 - 9 PM

The Annual Juried Student Exhibition features work from the breadth of our department’s undergraduate and graduate students. Juried by Kansas City-based artist, Steve Snell, we are also excited continue the legacy of Mark J Hall with the Mark J Hall Best in Show Award, in addition to many other monetary awards.

BFA in Design: The Professional Design Practicum
April 29 – May 10 | First Friday Art Walk: May 3, 6 - 9 PM

Every semester, the Carolla Arts Exhibition Center is pleased to host an exhibition of work by graduating students from the Department of Art and Design. The spring exhibition showcases the talent and skill of students who have spent years developing a design practice that will carry them into their professional careers.

Summer 2024

A Current State, a co-curatorial project with Jodi McCoy and Erin Tyler
July 1 – August 2 | First Friday Art Walk: August 2, 6-8 PM

A group exhibition including contemporary artists living and working in the state of Missouri.

Fall 2024

Stacey Holloway and Steve Snell
August 19 – September 13 | First Friday Art Walk: September 6, 6-9 PM

Legacy: Celebrating the Art + Design Department
October 4 – November 1 | First Friday Art Walk: October 4 and November 1, 6-9 PM

BFA in Design: The Professional Design Practicum
December 2 – 13 | First Friday Art Walk: December 6, 6-9 PM

Spring 2025

Radical Jewelry Makeover Project
January 27 – February 21 | First Friday Art Walk: February 7, 6-9 PM

Annual Juried Student Exhibition
March 7 – April 4 | First Friday Art Walk: March 7 and April 4, 6-9 PM

BFA in Design: The Professional Design Practicum
April 28 – May 9 | First Friday Art Walk: May 2, 6-9 PM

Carolla Arts Exhibition Center receptions

Opening receptions at the Carolla Arts Exhibition Center are scheduled in conjunction with the Downtown Gallery Association's First Friday Art Walk.

Admission is free and open to all.