Current Exhibitions

Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence

September 17–December 12, 2020
Sarah K. Newberry Gallery

The story of women's suffrage is a story of voting rights, of inclusion in and exclusion from the franchise, and of our civic development as a nation. Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence, a poster exhibition from the Smithsonian, celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment and explores the complexity of the women's suffrage movement and the relevance of this history to Americans' lives today. 

Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery. This project received support from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative.

Image: Equality Is the Sacred Law of Humanity, c. 1903–1915 Lithograph by Egbert C. Jacobson Courtesy of Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University

New Histories: Gadsden Farm Project

September 5 - October 24, 2020
Munroe Family Community Gallery

New Histories: The Gadsden Farm Project is an installation part of a larger project collaborating with Quincy farmers, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, and the State of Florida to bring awareness about rural farming communities in Gadsden county. Artists Michael Austin Diaz and Holly Hanessian worked with the State of Florida Folklorist and Photographer to interview and document the agricultural histories of 12 people from Gadsden County. The project demonstrates the combined power of community and contemporary practice. The installation features interviews and photographs of the farmers along with a table with commemorative plates made by Hanessian to be gifted to the Quincy farmers.

Read the transcript to the video

Gadsden Arts Artists Guild

September 5 - November 28, 2020

Bates Community Room

Enjoy the last of four 2020 exhibitions from Gadsden Arts Artists Guild, now numbering over 60 members! On display is work by Deborah Bullock, Kathy J. Ferrell, Salvador Guastella, John R. Isaacs, Willie C. Jones, Rob Lombardo, Janice "Ecinja" McCaskill, Hui Chiu McClure, Richard Meister, Linda Pelc, Fred SanGuiliano, Chuck Stannard, Mary Liz Tippin-Moody, and Tim White.

Learn more about the Artists Guild

Recent Acquisitions:
Permanent Collection

February 1, 2020 - January 31, 2021
Bates Permanent Collection Gallery

The 2020 Collection Exhibition, Recent Acquisitions, highlights some of the works donated to Gadsden Arts over the last couple of years, including work by Beth Appleton, Mose Tolliver, Dean Gioia, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Edgar Tolson, and Purvis Young. Thanks to the generosity of nine donors, the Collection grew substantially in 2019. Sixty works of art were accessioned, a record number, bringing the total collection up to 172 objects. A new artist was added to the Permanent Collection, a sculptor from Kentucky named Edgar Tolson, who like other Vernacular artists in the collection such as Mose Tolliver, took up wood carving full-time after an accident left him unable to work.

Learn more about the Permanent Collection

Generous support for this project provided by Art Bridges. Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. Funding for this program was provided through a grant from the Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.