‘Artistic Expressions’ Kicks Off MTSU Todd Gallery Season
MTSU’s Department of Art and Design’s Todd Art Gallery (TAG) will open its Fall 2026 season with “Artistic Expressions: Let Your Voice Be Heard.” Featuring the work of 34 artists, the exhibition explores a wide range of themes and artistic media.
The exhibit will be on view Aug. 8-29 at TAG, located in Room 224A of MTSU’s Todd Art Building. A public opening event will be held on Saturday, Aug. 8 at 2 p.m.
On Thursday, Aug. 27, an artists’ panel will be held for the benefit of the MTSU campus and the community as a whole. This panel currently includes Dalia Garcia, Jairo Prado, Fred H. Reaves, and Carlton Wilkinson. A brief, informal gallery conversation between artist Carlton Wilkinson and Dr. Paige Medlock, president of the Tennessee Art Education Association and an art education faculty member at MTSU, will follow.
Through media including painting, collage, sculpture, photography, mixed media, graphic design, and digital processes, this exhibition explores how visual art can convey ideas and experiences that extend beyond language. Each artwork will address subjects such as memory, environmental change, cultural hybridity, identity, social realities, and the expanding presence of data and artificial intelligence in contemporary life.
Some works offer social commentary, uplift, or critique, while others envision futuristic possibilities and realities. Throughout the exhibition, traditional techniques are extended into experimental, innovative, and hybrid practices.
“Artistic Expressions asks us to consider not only what artists have to say, but how their choices of material, imagery, and process lend form to that voice,” said Eric Snyder, Coordinator of Exhibitions and Engagement for Todd Art Gallery. “The exhibition allows distinct perspectives to exist beside one another, creating connections, contrasts, and opportunities for meaningful conversation.”
Among the works receiving special attention is the return of Carlton Wilkinson's “Crucifixion,” a participatory photographic and mixed-media work centered on the image of a Black male figure in a cruciform pose. The central image is surrounded by handwritten names, signatures, and remembrances that accumulated through audience participation, allowing the work to evolve as individuals contributed memories and personal connections to its surface.
When “Crucifixion” was exhibited at TAG in 2025, Medlock studied the many inscriptions and unexpectedly recognized the full signature of her late father among them. Her father—a Kentucky resident who had lived in Lexington—had died only months earlier.
The discovery created a connection between Medlock, Wilkinson, and an internationally recognized artwork concerned with remembrance, participation, sacrifice, and the ways individual lives continue through collective memory.
“Paige's discovery reminds us that an artwork's meaning does not necessarily end when the artist completes it,” said Jimmy Mumford, chair of the Department of Art and Design. “A work can continue gathering associations, experiences, and relationships as it moves through the world. In this instance, TAG became the place where an artwork and a family memory unexpectedly met.”
For more information, be sure to visit the Todd Art Gallery’s website and social media.
