Art Events and Exhibitions
Check our upcoming exhibits! Most are available in our Main Gallery (1st floor) or in the Clement Gallery (lower level) in the UToledo Center for the Visual Arts, immediately adjacent to the Toledo Museum of Art. Some are available online.
Spring 2025
BFA Thesis Exhibition
April 7–April 28th, 2025
Friday, April 25th from 5:00-7:00pm
The exhibition is open through Monday, April 28th with CVA Gallery hours Monday – Friday 8:00a-7:00pm.
Layers Exhibition
April 12–May 18th, 2025
ATTENTION-DATE CHANGE:
The reception will be held on both May 2nd and May 3rd, 6–8pm
Using mixed media and very different approaches to art practice, Deb A. Davis and Barbara Miner create artworks inspired by the resilience of nature, the practice of meditative observation, and scientific processes, human biology and behavior.
Their processes vary, yet they have a relatable coherence among their artworks. Shapes, textures, and mark making techniques push the visual elements through layers of revelation, camouflage, and concealment.
The exhibition will be held in the second gallery of the Secor Building. The event is free and open to the public. The Secor building address is 425 Jefferson Ave Toledo, OH 43604.
Juried Student Exhibition
February 26–March 23, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, February 28, 5–7 pm
Ghostmaking
January 22–February 16, 2025
Closing Reception: Friday, February 14, 5–7 pm
Ghostmaking, an exhibition by Sorrel Stone, Visiting Assistant Professor of Ceramics, will be on display from January 22 through February 16, 2025. Through evocative figurative installations, Stone interrogates the narrative of cultural erasure and identity loss in the context of America’s colonial history and its ongoing repercussions. The works critique dominant systems of power by exploring the body as a metaphorical territory, drawing connections between identity, place, and the dispossession inherent in colonial and patriarchal systems.
Integrating craft traditions historically dismissed as “women’s work,” such as quilt-making and weaving, Ghostmaking subverts these practices, reframing them as acts of resistance and dialogue within the gallery space. This powerful exhibition challenges viewers to reflect on how histories of erasure shape our modern identities and asks how we can foster accountability for these enduring legacies.
Annual Digital Billboard Exhibition
January 1–February 28, 2025
Greater Toledo Area
Each year, Lamar, a local outdoor advertising company, displays the work of several UToledo art students on its digital billboards throughout the greater Toledo area. Thanks to our community partner, Lamar, and the hard work of faculty member and organizer, Barry Whittaker (Department of Art), the work of our students receives well-deserved publicity and recognition. Watch for our students' work at the locations below.
Fall 2024
At the Secor
December 6
Join us for a special one-night-only event featuring artwork from seven classes, showcasing creativity across a variety of mediums. The event is Friday, December 6th, 2024, from 5–7 PM, on the second and sixth-floor galleries of the Secor Building. The event is free and open to the public. The Secor building address is 425 Jefferson Ave Toledo, OH 43604.
Free street parking is available after 6 PM. Paid parking is also accessible at:
- Glass City Parking Garage: 100-198 N St Clair St, Toledo, OH 43604
- Port Lawrence Garage: 227 N St Clair St, Toledo, OH 43604
Art Student Showcase
November 4–December 13
Carlson Library North Gallery
Barbara Miner, Chair of the Department of Art said:
"Students from the Department of Art submitted artwork for jurying into the 2024 Art Student Showcase. The chosen artworks included in this year's exhibition display a broad range of materials and concepts representing the diversity of voices across our programs.
We are so grateful to the Dean of the Library, Dr. Thomas Atwood, and the Carlson Library staff, Dave Remaklus and Judson Lohman, for creating this important opportunity for our students. The beautiful new gallery spaces in the Carlson Library allow so many people to view the shows and it is a wonderful real-world, professional experience for our students."
Why Do You Vote?
October 25–December 13
Opening Reception - Friday, Nov.1st, 5-8 pm
Center for the Visual Arts, Main Gallery
This show is the representation of a diverse group of twenty-five women who are passionate about their ideas and freedoms, and who have fearlessly agreed to answer, in their own personal way, the question of why they vote. The exhibit consists of sculpture, pottery, paintings, and conceptual pieces created by the invited artists, exemplifying personal concerns, whether it be reproductive rights, environmental issues, voter suppression, gerrymandering or other high interest issues. Throughout the exhibition there will be signage designed to ask the viewer to contemplate their own viewpoints. One of the goals of the exhibit is to remind visitors as well as the college students of the importance of casting a ballot. Our exhibition is designed to create a conversation, a debate, a reminder that every vote counts; that, for those societal issues that face us today, each one of us can make a difference. We hope that you, as an observer, will also answer the question of Why Do You Vote, and understand that every vote counts.
Story Teller
Center for the Visual Arts (CVA) Main Gallery
August 26–October 11
"Storyteller" is a retrospective exhibition that delves into the distinctive world of Holly Roberts, a renowned artist who combines photography and painting to create evocative mixed-media collages. This exhibition showcases Roberts' intuitive process, where paintings and fragments of her photographs form symbolic and dreamlike compositions.
Swan Song (Guest Installation)
Center for the Visual Arts Courtyard
Sept. 1-28
Swan Song features the individual and collaborative work of guest artists Halima Afi Cassells and Shanna Merola, combining their photo-based collages alongside sculpture and installation. This exhibition examines the cause and effects of colonization, resource extraction, climate crisis, and corporate domination. While Merola’s dystopian landscapes seem fractured beyond repair by free market deregulation, Cassells’ work manifests the collective liberation of both people and land from the grip of white heteropatriarchal systems of oppression.
The swan is a recurring figure, both aesthetically and metaphorically. As an archetype and motif, the graceful creature holds multiple meanings handed down through the centuries and across different cultures. According to ancient Greek mythology, the silent swan sings a beautiful song just before death. As we stand on the precipice of collapse, in the wake of a new paradigm shift, can we also learn to experience joy amidst the terror?
While part of the exhibition will be on campus in the CVA Courtyard, the main exhibition will be displayed at River House Arts. Below is the full schedule.
Exhibitions
- River House Arts (Sept. 1-28)
- University of Toledo Department of Art: Center for the Visual Arts Courtyard (Sept. 1-28)
Programing
Artist lecture: Toledo Museum of Art, Little Theater
Sunday, Sept. 22, 2-3 p.m.
Exhibition Reception: River House Arts
Sunday, Sept. 22, 3-5 p.m.
Alumni Opening
UToledo Art Alumna Opens New Pottery Studio within Huron Street Studios
Open House - Saturday, Sept. 14, 3-10 p.m.
Huron Street Studios, formerly known as Gathered Glassblowing Studio, is excited to announce its reopening under new ownership. Renowned glass blower Ryan Thompson and ceramic artist Kayla Kirk ('17) have acquired the studio from previous owners Adam Goldberg and Mike Stevens. To celebrate this new chapter, the community is invited to an open house on Saturday, Sept. 14 to experience the new business and enjoy live glass and pottery demonstrations.
Kayla Kirk, a BFA and BA graduate from The University of Toledo in 2017, has opened Charmed Ceramics, her own pottery studio within Huron Street Studios. Kirk has spent the last three years at Detroit’s historic Pewabic Pottery working as a production potter and educator. Kirk’s work is driven by a deep appreciation for nature and emphasizes the transformative magic of clay into fine art. She is passionate about sharing the joy of clay with others and is excited to offer quality handmade goods and public pottery experiences in her hometown.
Alumni Exhibit
Queer Chimera:
Fiber and Mixed media Art by Juniper Wolfenbarger
Aug. 30 - Sept. 29, 2024
Opening Reception - Friday, Sept. 13, 6-8 p.m.
A celebration of queerness and the process of building a chosen family.
Summer 2024
Faculty Virtual Solo Exhibition
June 1 - July 31, 2024
ARTIST - Barbara Miner
Chair, Professor of Art
Department of Art
Blue Koi Gallery, an online platform that hosts monthly juried art shows and exhibitions, is hosting a solo exhibition featuring the mixed media work of Barbara Miner in June and July.
Miner, professor and chair of the Department of Art at The University of Toledo, was awarded the solo exhibition through a national competition.
Miner used stencils, spray paint, markers and digital tools to create...Read more.