Gordon Galleries Past Seasons

2020 - 2021 Season

Jennifer Little: Divided States of America

 Jennifer Little: Divided States of America

August 29, 2020 - May 8, 2021

Jennifer Little's collage of the American Flag features real, appropriated political slogans being used in the 2020 Presidential election cycle. The flag is made up of 390 different T-shirts which feature alternating liberal and conservative political messages about gun rights and gun control.

Alone|Together: Fall 2020 Senior Exhibition

 Alone|Together: Fall 2020 Senior Exhibition

October 30, 2020 to November 22, 2020

Alone Together manifests the diverse ways that we respond to our surroundings and the difficult situations in which we find ourselves. Through our work in painting, illustration, and sculpture, we hope to encourage viewers to connect with one another through art even if we can't physically be together. Participating artists are Brooke Benham, Sherkayla Buskey, Lauren Hagood, and Ali Montgomery.

Andy Harris: Bikes, Brands, Words, and Wheels

Andy Harris: Bikes, Brands, Words, and Wheels

January 9, 2021 - February 21, 2021

Scooters, drug tests, lips, Acne boots, seltzer water, palm trees, Xanax bars, fire, public transportation, jungle leaves, smoke and sparkles.

The call of the void is that fleeting curiosity of what it might be like to jump from an unrecoverable height. I fantasize about making paintings in a similar way. Anything can be attractive and interesting when you set it on-stage and aim a beaming light into its face at just the right angle.

These are my scissor paintings. Collaging painted paper gives me the freedom to work at whatever speed my body is dialed into on any given day. I can be quick and messy or meticulous and tight - both produce trash and treasures. A pair of sharp scissors in my hand give me the finesse I could never find using a brush, yet they also allow me to be loose and sloppy at a moment's notice.

- Andy Harris

Born in Durham, North Carolina and living in Norfolk, Virginia, Andy Harris earned a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a visual arts educator for Virginia Beach City Public Schools.

2021 Juried Student Exhibition

2021 Juried Student Exhibition

March 5, 2021 - April 10, 2021

"As a graduate and former art student, I was thrilled at the opportunity to select works for this strong showing and layered narrative on living and creating during the most obscure time of our lives.

I've often said that instead of asking, 'What is art,' ask, 'Why do we continue to make art,' and you will get a much more interesting discussion. This question carries more weight now because of the lives we have lived over the past year.

We have seen the US experience a racial awakening, division among friends and family, and traditions and routines turned on their heads in order to have a better chance of survival. In the face of all of this, why make art? The selections in this exhibition are the answers to that question. They are personal, biographical, helpful, honest, intimate, and most of all, human.

An artist doesn't always make things for other people—I suggest most artists make what they like and invite others to like it if they choose. However, this body of work is longing for connection, much like the rest of the world.

It's a connection in the form of fun animation to make someone laugh, or through recreation of a beloved monument. It's figures of larger women because that's how they are. It's a comforting pillow because you're tired. This showing is not just a representation of what creating during this time was like, it is a roadmap of what it means to be human and of what kind of humans we can be."

- Carl Medley

2021 Graphic Design Exit Review

2021 Graphic Design Exit Review

The Graphic Design program at Old Dominion University provides a solid foundation of traditional art experiences and design practices and principles to build students' ability to create dynamic visual solutions. The core graphic design curriculum stresses essential competencies in conceptual problem solving, research, analysis and articulation, aesthetics, design theory, productivity, and the application of technology, necessary for both advanced exploration and entry into professional practice.

The Graphic Design Senior Exit Review provides graphic design students with an opportunity to present their graduating portfolio or thesis project to local professionals, family, friends, and the community. The event also celebrates the accomplishments and recognition each graduating class has accumulated on their way to graduation and employment. This site showcases the students who participated in the 2021 review.

* This year's poster was designed by Caroline Foster.

  • Danielle Bauer
  • Kayla Everett
  • Hannah Parker
  • Alexis Blizzard
  • Caroline Foster
  • Robin Weise
  • Aysia Brown
  • Bethany Holdcroft
  • Breton Spangler
  • Steph Buckley
  • Avis Keeling
  • Amber Wilson
  • Anthony Evasco
  • Gabriela Magana
  • Chi Zimmerman
Sanguine Senior Exhibit Image

Sanguine: Spring 2021 Senior Exhibition

April 30, 2021 - May 15, 2021

The Baron and Ellin Gordon Galleries present Sanguine, an exhibition of works by the Spring 2021 graduating class of Bachelor of Fine Arts majors in studio art at Old Dominion University. Follow @Sanguine_ODU on Instagram for information on upcoming virtual events.

sanguine
adj.- optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation.
noun- a blood-red color.

This has been a time of change, learning, rediscovery, and immense creativity. We all have different outlets and methods of persevering. This too shall pass, but not without leaving its mark. In times of fear, tension, and uncertainty, we remain sanguine.

Jennifer Little: Divided States of America

 Jennifer Little: Divided States of America

August 29, 2020 - May 8, 2021

Jennifer Little's collage of the American Flag features real, appropriated political slogans being used in the 2020 Presidential election cycle. The flag is made up of 390 different T-shirts which feature alternating liberal and conservative political messages about gun rights and gun control.

Alone|Together: Fall 2020 Senior Exhibition

 Alone|Together: Fall 2020 Senior Exhibition

October 30, 2020 to November 22, 2020

Alone Together manifests the diverse ways that we respond to our surroundings and the difficult situations in which we find ourselves. Through our work in painting, illustration, and sculpture, we hope to encourage viewers to connect with one another through art even if we can't physically be together. Participating artists are Brooke Benham, Sherkayla Buskey, Lauren Hagood, and Ali Montgomery.

Andy Harris: Bikes, Brands, Words, and Wheels

Andy Harris: Bikes, Brands, Words, and Wheels

January 9, 2021 - February 21, 2021

Scooters, drug tests, lips, Acne boots, seltzer water, palm trees, Xanax bars, fire, public transportation, jungle leaves, smoke and sparkles.

The call of the void is that fleeting curiosity of what it might be like to jump from an unrecoverable height. I fantasize about making paintings in a similar way. Anything can be attractive and interesting when you set it on-stage and aim a beaming light into its face at just the right angle.

These are my scissor paintings. Collaging painted paper gives me the freedom to work at whatever speed my body is dialed into on any given day. I can be quick and messy or meticulous and tight - both produce trash and treasures. A pair of sharp scissors in my hand give me the finesse I could never find using a brush, yet they also allow me to be loose and sloppy at a moment's notice.

- Andy Harris

Born in Durham, North Carolina and living in Norfolk, Virginia, Andy Harris earned a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a visual arts educator for Virginia Beach City Public Schools.

2021 Juried Student Exhibition

2021 Juried Student Exhibition

March 5, 2021 - April 10, 2021

"As a graduate and former art student, I was thrilled at the opportunity to select works for this strong showing and layered narrative on living and creating during the most obscure time of our lives.

I've often said that instead of asking, 'What is art,' ask, 'Why do we continue to make art,' and you will get a much more interesting discussion. This question carries more weight now because of the lives we have lived over the past year.

We have seen the US experience a racial awakening, division among friends and family, and traditions and routines turned on their heads in order to have a better chance of survival. In the face of all of this, why make art? The selections in this exhibition are the answers to that question. They are personal, biographical, helpful, honest, intimate, and most of all, human.

An artist doesn't always make things for other people—I suggest most artists make what they like and invite others to like it if they choose. However, this body of work is longing for connection, much like the rest of the world.

It's a connection in the form of fun animation to make someone laugh, or through recreation of a beloved monument. It's figures of larger women because that's how they are. It's a comforting pillow because you're tired. This showing is not just a representation of what creating during this time was like, it is a roadmap of what it means to be human and of what kind of humans we can be."

- Carl Medley

2021 Graphic Design Exit Review

2021 Graphic Design Exit Review

The Graphic Design program at Old Dominion University provides a solid foundation of traditional art experiences and design practices and principles to build students' ability to create dynamic visual solutions. The core graphic design curriculum stresses essential competencies in conceptual problem solving, research, analysis and articulation, aesthetics, design theory, productivity, and the application of technology, necessary for both advanced exploration and entry into professional practice.

The Graphic Design Senior Exit Review provides graphic design students with an opportunity to present their graduating portfolio or thesis project to local professionals, family, friends, and the community. The event also celebrates the accomplishments and recognition each graduating class has accumulated on their way to graduation and employment. This site showcases the students who participated in the 2021 review.

* This year's poster was designed by Caroline Foster.

  • Danielle Bauer
  • Kayla Everett
  • Hannah Parker
  • Alexis Blizzard
  • Caroline Foster
  • Robin Weise
  • Aysia Brown
  • Bethany Holdcroft
  • Breton Spangler
  • Steph Buckley
  • Avis Keeling
  • Amber Wilson
  • Anthony Evasco
  • Gabriela Magana
  • Chi Zimmerman

Sanguine Senior Exhibit Image

Sanguine: Spring 2021 Senior Exhibition

April 30, 2021 - May 15, 2021

The Baron and Ellin Gordon Galleries present Sanguine, an exhibition of works by the Spring 2021 graduating class of Bachelor of Fine Arts majors in studio art at Old Dominion University. Follow @Sanguine_ODU on Instagram for information on upcoming virtual events.

sanguine
adj.- optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation.
noun- a blood-red color.

This has been a time of change, learning, rediscovery, and immense creativity. We all have different outlets and methods of persevering. This too shall pass, but not without leaving its mark. In times of fear, tension, and uncertainty, we remain sanguine.

  • Geometric Aljamía: A Cultural Transliteration
  • Recent Acquisitions: Works by Yuki Hiyama
  • The 22nd Annual Banjo Gathering
  • Let Them Eat Cake: A Second Helping
  • Eye to Eye: ODU Portraits by Glen McClure
  • Fall Senior Exhibition
  • To Life! Works by Lorraine Fink
  • Juried Student Exhibition
  • Graphic Design Exit Review
  • Spring Senior Exhibition

  • Art Department Faculty Exhibition
  • Black Gods of the Metropolis: The Drawings of J. Alan Cumbey
  • Shift, Sift, Swoosh Bods: Levester Williams
  • Fall Senior Exhibition
  • Drifter History: Works by Chris Mahonski
  • Juried Student Exhibition
  • Graphic Design Exit Review
  • Spring Senior Exhibition
  • Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Artmobile
  • Banksy's Haight Street Rat
  • Graphic Design Exit Review

  • Antiquary: Works by Morgan Herrin
  • The Art of Trains
  • Transit: The Art of Revelation in the Paintings of Susanna Coffey
  • Fall Senior Exhibition
  • Flux: Works by Colleen Toledano
  • The Jules Olitski Project
  • Graphic Design Exit Review
  • Spring Senior Exhibition
  • Juried Student Exhibition

  • Encore: Alumni Exhibition
  • PRESSing Matters: Cross-Collaborations and Explorations in Literature, Art, and Politics, in conjunction with the 39th Annual Literary Festival: Strange Bedfellow: Politics and Literature
  • Landscapes of the Collector: The Best of the Baron and Ellin Gordon Collection of Self-Taught Art
  • Affairs of State: Photography by Tim Davis and Michael Mergen
  • Fall Senior Exhibition
  • Continuum: Works by Anne Smith, Melissa Hill, and Sarah Irvin
  • Broken Land | Still Lives: Eliot Dudik
  • Graphic Design Exit Review
  • Spring Senior Exhibition
  • Glass &
  • Juried Student Exhibition

  • Faculty Exhibition
  • Canvas of My Soul: Paño Drawings by Chicano Prisoners
  • House not a Home: An Installation by John W. Ford
  • The Orthodox Icon: A Variety of Ways to Depict a Sacred Image
  • Fall Senior Exhibition
  • Water Stories: Conversations in Paint and Sound - Paintings by Anne Neely, Soundscape by Halsey Burgund
  • Juried Student Exhibition
  • Shakespeare and the Americas: A Look Back to the World of "The Tempest"
  • The Art of Derek Webster: Selections from the Marilyn Houlberg Collection
  • Graphic Design Exit Review
  • Spring Senior Exhibition
  • Slavocracy

  • Borderland: Works by Kent Michael Smith
  • Food, Family, and Feelings in the Book of Sarah: The Visual Autobiography of Sarah Lightman, in conjunction with the 37th Annual Literary Festival: The Hungry Heart is Telling You
  • Out of the Vault: Seldom-Seen and Unseen Treasures from the Self-Taught Collection
  • Shaped Polarities: Works by Fiona Ross and Alan Rosenbaum
  • Fall Senior Exhibition
  • The World Outside
  • Visions of the Sacred and the Profane
  • Juried Student Exhibition
  • Spring Senior Exhibition
  • Passerby: An A.B. Jackson Retrospective
  • Summer Senior Exhibition

2013 - 2014

  • The Big Story: The Art of Levent Isik, Ronald Sloan and Derek Webster
  • Kindred Spirits: ODU Art Faculty in collaboration with the Chrysler Museum of Art
  • Fall Senior Exhibition
  • Between Lagan and Derelict: Sculpture by David McQueen
  • Fire and the Resurrection of Mr. Imagination
  • Juried Student Exhibition
  • Spring Senior Exhibition
  • Adjunct Faculty Exhibition
  • Unclassified: The Military Kid Art Show
  • Summer Senior Exhibition

2012 - 2013

  • The Combat Paper Project
  • Mother, Maiden, Courtesan: Woman and Her Image in Art
  • Photographs With Teeth, in conjunction with the 35th Annual Literary Festival: Words With Teeth
  • East/West: A Survey of Contemporary Printmaking
  • Fall Senior Exhibition: XVI
  • David Page: God and Lunchmeat
  • Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books
  • The Big Story: Work by Levent Isik, Ronald Sloan, and Derek Webster
  • Juried Student Exhibition
  • Mount
  • Spring Senior Exhibition: Amalgamation
  • Making and Meaning: ODU Art Department and Chrysler Museum Collaboration

2011 - 2012

  • Into the Mainstream: Chrysler Museum Collaboration
  • Lebende Bilder: New Photography by Yola Monakhov
  • Faculty Exhibtion
  • Katie Hudnall: The Texture of Imperfection
  • Issues of Style in Self-Taught Art
  • Fall Senior Exhibition: Spectrum
  • Juried Student Exhibition
  • 30 Americans
  • The Face of the Ghetto: Pictures of Jewish Photographers from Lodz Ghetto 1940 - 1944
  • Andrew Breitenberg: SELAH

2010 - 2011

  • Robert McCullough: A Retrospective Exhibition
  • Lori Nix: The City and Other Stories
  • War: Armed Conflict and its Legacy in Contemporary Self-Taught Art
  • The Green Canvas: The Artist as an Environmental Activist - Posters by Hoseob Yoon
  • "Magic Dirt" National Juried Exhibition
  • Big Print Show
  • Self-Taught Artist in Context: Influences of American Culture
  • Juried Student Exhibition
  • Beyond the Veil: New Work by Domenica Arcuri Webb
  • Now and Zen: Recent Work by Lorraine Fink and Janet Shaughnessy

2009 - 2010

  • Michel Ryan: On the Road at the Water's Edge
  • Faculty Exhibition
  • Wild Things: The Outrageous, Wonderful, Hilarious, and Untamed
  • Dormitorium: An Exhibition of Film Decors by the Quay Brothers
  • Recent Acquisitions
  • String Monuments: An Installation by Annette Lawrence
  • Margo Blank
  • Repurposes
  • Book of Daniel
  • Juried Student Exhibition
  • One Hundred Birds in Homage to the Phoenix: Chinese Screen

2008 - 2009

  • Stories from the Earth: Voices of Contemporary Ceramic Artists
  • Interrupted Life: Incarcerated Mothers in the United States
  • Uncommon Power: The Eye of the Self-Taught Artist
  • Stefan Sagmeister
  • Graduate Student Thesis Exhibition
  • Tannaz Farsi: Echomaker
  • Nikki Blair: Recent Works
  • In-Depth: The Hand of the Self-Taught Artist
  • World War II International Posters
  • Juried Student Exhibition
  • Jogakbo: Traditional Korean Patchwork
  • Vetri//Alt: Glass Alternatives

2007 - 2008

  • Faculty Exhibition
  • Collective Wisdom
  • Stephen Cartwright: Perigree
  • Greta Pratt: American Identity
  • Kenneth FitzGerald: The Kenneth FitzGerald Album (Extended Play)
  • First Annual Juried Student Exhibition
  • Virginia Governor's School Exhibition
  • Origins: Select Paintings by Fay Zetlin