July 2, 2025

In the 2024-25 academic year, the UCF Art Gallery served as a vibrant cultural hub for contemporary art, fostering intellectual and creative inquiry among students, faculty and the broader Central Florida community. Through eight exhibitions, the gallery welcomed more than 8,000 visitors, offering a dynamic space for inspiration, dialogue and engagement.  

In fall 2024, the gallery presented Pathways 2024: The Carlos Malamud Prize Exhibition, featuring six artists working across a range of media, themes, scales and approaches. The exhibition was held jointly at the UCF Art Gallery and the Rollins Museum of Art. This collaborative partnership allowed artists to showcase their work at both venues and be juried by an external panel of three professionals from diverse areas of the art world.  

Teneé Hart was named the winning artist, receiving a $10,000 cash prize, a solo exhibition at the UCF Art Gallery in 2025, and the opportunity to serve as a juror for the next edition of the Pathways exhibition.  

“With Pathways, Central Florida will be home to a startling new project that may finally help, along with other universities, put to rest the old lone-wolf, starving-artist trope and mentor artists into the networked, financially savvy and fast-moving 21st century,” says Richard Reep, Orlando Weekly 

Pathways 2024: The Carlos Malamud Prize Exhibition. Photo Credit: Jessica Abels

In October, the gallery presented Memento Morididdle by Charles Clary, an immersive exhibition that transformed the space with Rococo salon-style walls densely packed with hundreds of frames, each containing a low-relief paper sculpture. Clary’s work subverted the traditional associations of domestic picture framestypically representing joyful, nostalgic memories, like cherished family portraitsby instead revealing layers of trauma, grief and raw truth. Through this visual narrative, Clary invited viewers to confront collective pain and loss, embracing them as symbols of resilience and growth. The gallery hosted an exhibition reception and artist talk with Clary, who also led a hands-on paper workshop for SVAD’s Mixed Media class and participated in studio visits with MFA Studio Art and Design students.  

Memento Morididdle by Charles Clary. Photo Credit: Rhianna Horner

Later in the fall, the gallery showcased the annual SVAD Faculty Exhibition, featuring work by 24 nationally and internationally recognized faculty members from UCF’s School of Visual Arts and Design. The exhibition highlighted a diverse range of creative practices and research by Chuck Abraham, Bobby Aiosa, Jason Burrell, Owen Buffington, Larry Cooper, Lindsay Deifik, Brooks Dierdorff, Lorna Ruth Galloway, Kevin Haran, Nicholas Kalemba, Njeri Kinuthia, Shannon Rae Lindsey, Theresa Lucey, Justin Nolan, Carla Poindexter, Roberts Rivers, Philip Ringler, Ericka Sobrack, Steven Spencer, Debi Starr, Michael Tole, Megan Thomas, Ashley Taylor and Laine Wyatt. 

Fall 2024 SVAD Faculty Exhibition. Photo credit: Rhianna Horner

The semester concluded with Atmos: Fall 2024 BFA Exhibition, spotlighting the work of senior undergraduate students specializing in book arts, ceramics, drawing, animation, illustration, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture. The opening reception coincided with SVAD’s annual Art Knight! event, drawing over 1,400 guests – the largest attendance in the event’s history and double that of its inaugural year in 2022.

Atmos: Fall 2024 BFA Exhibition. Photo Credit: Rhianna Horner

To open the spring semester, the gallery hosted Out of Order | Let Down, a two-person exhibition by Kristen Letts Kovak and Grace Mikell Ramsey. The show explored the visual language of abstraction, naturalism and fantasy, addressing themes related to the female body, gender roles, societal expectations and cultural bias. Kovak attended the opening reception, delivered a public artist talk and met with MFA Studio Art and Design students during studio visits.  

Out of Order | Let Down by Kristen Letts Kovak and Grace Mikell Ramsey. Photo Credit: Kenyari Gil Rosario

In March, the gallery presented Haunt: 2025 MFA Exhibition, featuring the thesis work of MFA Studio Art and Design candidates Stella Arbeláez Tascón, Brittani Brown and Janessa Douds. Each artist’s thesis defense was hosted in the gallery, offering faculty, students and community members the opportunity to engage directly with the artists and explore the research behind their work.

Haunt: 2025 MFA Exhibition. Photo Credit: Kenyari Gil Rosario

The gallery then launched Mercurial: Spring 2025 BFA I Exhibition, the first of two spring BFA shows. This exhibition highlighted the work of senior undergraduate students specializing in book arts, ceramics, drawing, illustration, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture

Mercurial: Spring 2025 BFA I Exhibition. Photo Credit: Kenyari Gil Rosario 

The academic year concluded with Kaleidoscope: Spring 2025 BFA II Exhibition, which featured work by senior students in Animation and Visualization. The opening reception welcomed more than 400 attendees for an evening of community celebration and artistic achievement 

Kaleidoscope: Spring 2025 BFA II Exhibition. Photo Credit: AJ Braddock