You don’t have to be a student to enjoy the stunning artwork spread across the University of Georgia’s many galleries. Check out the fall preview of shows below, and remember to check Flagpole’s weekly Art Around Town listings to find out about exhibitions on and beyond campus.
GEORGIA MUSEUM OF ART: The officiate art museum of the state of Georgia is located right on East Campus in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex and will present several exhibitions this fall. The museum is free to visit and open to the public.
Currently on view, “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris,” showcases 65 portraits in various mediums that show how American women in Paris reshaped modern womanhood and used portraiture to express a new sense of self. The exhibition features figures such as Josephine Baker, Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and Anna May Wong, capturing their bold contributions across art, literature, music, fashion and more. Organized by the National Portrait Gallery with support from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, the exhibition runs through Nov. 2.
Visitors can watch art conservation in action this fall as Joan Mitchell’s abstract painting “Close” undergoes restoration in the museum’s temporary exhibition galleries. A longtime piece in the museum’s permanent collection, the large-scale painting—known for its expressive brushstrokes and layered color—will be cleaned and stabilized on site by conservator Larry Shutts, who will share insights with visitors. Watch as Shutts touches up the work Tuesdays and Thursdays through Nov. 2, during scheduled sessions in a viewable, open-access conservation lab.
Currently on view through June 28, “Three Thousand” is a work by filmmaker, video artist, photographer and curator asinnajaq. The film combines archival videos from the National Film Board of Canada with animations, soundscapes and contemporary footage, inviting viewers to reconsider their ideas and preconceptions of Inuit communities and histories.
“Looking Through a Sewn Sky: Rachel B. Hayes” (Aug. 23–July 30, 2027) transforms the museum’s Jane and Harry Willson Sculpture Garden with a commissioned installation that blends craft, painting and sculpture. Inspired by quilts, weavings and color field painting, Hayes’ fabric canopies play with shifting light and color, encouraging viewers to move around, beneath and through the work.
Visit georgiamuseum.org for additional details and a calendar of events.
DODD GALLERIES: The Dodd Galleries, a collection of five exhibition spaces within the Lamar Dodd School of Art, showcase contemporary art through rotating exhibitions and programs.
In the Lupin Gallery, “Mountain Tongue” (Aug. 28–Nov. 14) by Aidan Koch reimagines her short story “Man Made Lake” as a hand-drawn wall work that positions the mountain—not humans or animals—as the story’s protagonist. Curated by Lindsey Reynolds, the installation blends sculpture, animation and text into a deconstructed comic accompanied by a fable-like book. Also on view is the original manuscript of her comic Stone Blue Sky, a graphite, gouache and pastel narrative exploring interspecies communication. Supplementing the exhibition will be a display of environmental comics curated by Koch in the Art Library. There will be a visiting artist and scholar lecture on Aug. 26 at 5:30 p.m.
In the Margie E. West Gallery, “The Body Politic” (Aug. 28–Nov. 14) surveys two decades of work by Kristine Potter. Her work explores the American landscape as a stage where masculinity, mythology and national identity are both constructed and dismantled. From West Point cadets during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to reimagined cowboy figures in Western Colorado and the haunting terrains of the American South, her photographs reveal the tensions, violence and longing embedded in place when cultural myths begin to erode. There will be an artist talk on Sept. 4 at 4 p.m.
In “NEOLOGISMS” (Aug. 28–Nov. 14), Ukraine-born artist slinko transforms a New York Times investigation into the disappearance of certain words from federal language into a site-responsive installation in the Plaza Gallery. Addressing the current cultural and political moment, she reimagines this act of censorship as an opportunity to invent an entirely new vocabulary, rearranging the letters of banned terms into playful neologisms.
Located in the Suite Gallery, “Slowing Down” (Aug. 28–Sept. 26) pairs new watercolors by Alexandra Stover with ceramics and photography by Jordan Winiski, inviting viewers to linger and reflect. Presented together for the first time, their works create a shared space for slow looking and introspection as a counterpoint to fast-paced contemporary life.
In the Bridge Gallery, Gabrielle Gagné presents “The Grid Made Human” (Aug. 28–Sept. 26). The installation weaves natural and manmade fibers into both a literal and social fabric. Using foraged and repurposed materials—ranging from invasive species to agricultural compost and trash—Gagné explores the emotional ties between people and their environments, viewing fibers as records of human activity with an innate muscle memory.
A fall exhibit opening for all five exhibitions will take place Sept. 4, 5–7 p.m. For more information, visit art.uga.edu.
ATHENAEUM: Located at the edge of downtown on West Broad Street, Athenaeum opened in fall of 2021. The gallery is free and open to the public, providing a space for exhibitions, workshops, lectures and more.
Two exhibitions on view Sept. 3–Nov. 22 explore the boundaries between drawing, sculpture and space through abstraction and material inquiry. In the main gallery, Krista Clark’s “assembly” presents a site-specific installation informed by the politics and poetics of the urban built environment. Her layered, stacked and erased forms prompt questions about how interruptions in architecture shape our movement, sense of place and relationship to the constructed landscape.
In the second gallery, Steven Thompson’s “Ever Loyal, Ever True” features recent work that merges handmade pigments, rococo color and symbolic structures to investigate materiality as a metaphysical force. A fall opening party for both exhibitions takes place Sept. 13, 4–6 p.m. Head to athenaeum.uga.edu for hours and additional details.
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARIES: On the second floor of the Special Collections Libraries building are three main galleries—the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Gallery, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library Gallery, and Richard B. Russell Library Gallery—each of which presents rotating displays of photographs, artifacts, publications and other historical memorabilia.
“The Golden Age of Broadway,” on view through August, offers a glimpse into the vibrant era of American musical theater from 1942 to 1972 through original posters, playbills and ephemera. Curated by UGA students in George Contini’s Musical Theatre and American Culture class, the exhibition draws from the university’s Samuel Golden Theatre Collection to highlight the bold visuals and big creative swings that defined the era—from “My Fair Lady” and “Cabaret” to “Hair” and “The Pajama Game.”
Currently on view through December, “From Farms to Fast Fashion: Unraveling the Need for Sustainable Style” examines how mass-produced clothing transformed American consumption and uncovers the environmental and human costs behind fast fashion’s convenience.
Also through December is David Zeiger’s photography project “Displaced in the New South,” which explores the cultural collision between Asian and Hispanic immigrants and the suburban Atlanta communities in the 1990s. A screening of Zeiger’s documentary by the same name will take place Sept. 18 at 5:30 p.m. at Ciné.
On view through May 2026, “Captain Planet: The Power Is Yours” explores the origins and impact of the animated series created by Ted Turner and executive producer Barbara Pyle. Airing for six seasons starting in 1990, “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” introduced young audiences to environmental issues through storytelling and action. The display also highlights the ongoing work of the Captain Planet Foundation, which continues to empower global communities to care for the planet.
Visit libs.uga.edu/scl/exhibits for more information.
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