In case you haven’t looked up during your late-night library lock-ins, Gallery Dupont is dazzling the second floor with student-led art exhibitions. The Gallery Dupont is a space where students, faculty, staff and alumni can display their visual art and even curate exhibits. Although the gallery has been around since 2021, students may have noticed its frequent exhibits this year.
Curator Sierra Rouse ’25 talked through some of the exhibitions run during the Spring ’25 semester. “We’ve done one solo exhibition with Arnold Shakirov, a Computer Science and Digital Arts major,” Rouse said. “I was able to co-curate, because it was his first time curating an exhibition.”
The exhibit, which was titled “Elizabeth Hall: Reimagined,” was on display from Jan. 28 to Feb. 7. It featured images of a 3D rendering of the iconic Elizabeth Hall, but instead of its usual sunny atmosphere Shakirov gave it a wintery glow, meant to highlight the coziness of the building and its classrooms.
“Then there was Heritage in Color,” Rouse continued. “That was the second part of the Heritage in Color series for Black History Month, and that featured alumni, faculty, and current students.” For this exhibition, Rouse collaborated with the African Students Union, Black Student Union and the Marchman Program to create the first Black History Month exhibit hosted by Gallery Dupont. The different pieces in the exhibition carried themes of resilience, beauty, injustice and faith. Stetson alumna Jodi-Ann Taylor ’24 performed original music at the artist talk, combining the visual and auditory to create a multidimensional experience.
The third exhibition for the Spring semester is “She Creates, She Inspires: A Celebration of Women’s History Month.” Rouse curated this exhibit in collaboration with Stetson’s chapter of Tri Alpha and the Stetson Women’s Basketball team. The different pieces on exhibit, such as a portrait of Stetson’s women’s basketball coach Lynn Bria, are meant to celebrate and inspire women on campus.
If you find yourself interested in the exhibits but lacking the artistic skill, there are other ways to get a piece of the action. After Rouse talked through the exhibitions, she underlined a key feature of Gallery Dupont: galleries are more than just the art. As curator, Rouse undergoes a long series of tasks behind the scenes to make things happen.
“You first have to create a timeline of when an exhibit will be aligning with the Hand Art Center’s current schedules and the library’ schedule, then I pick partners to collaborate with,” Rouse explained. “Then I reach out to people that I know may be interested in participating in an exhibit. So, there’s a lot of back and forth with emails, then creating a flyer, booking the gallery, booking the place where the artist talk will take place, and making sure that all stakeholders are well informed of where to be, what time to be at the reception.”
Museum curation is a growing interest at Stetson, with the new Museum and Curatorial Studies major opening last year. In this small but dedicated community, students are encouraged to gain hands-on experience through courses such as Collection Management, Museum Theory and Practice and Curating Visual Culture.
Even if you are only interested in viewing the wonderful art on display, Gallery Dupont offers a cultural credit opportunity for its exhibits. Just head on over to the second floor of the library and scan the QR code to participate.