Gallery | Art & Design | College of Liberal Arts
Hiram Van Gordon Gallery
Hours:
Monday – Thursday 10:00am – 4:00pm
Location:
TSU Main Campus, 1108 37th Ave N
Elliott Hall, Room 118
About the Gallery
The Hiram Van Gordon Gallery offers approximately six exhibitions yearly that highlight the works of Tennessee State University students, faculty and alumni in the visual arts, African American and African artists, social and civic engaged work along with conversations regarding sustainable environmental practices in art.
The gallery is named after former Professor and Chair Hiram Van Gordon (1918-1979). Artist, Military cartographer and longtime chair of Tennessee State University’s Art Department was a graduate of Pearl High School and enrolled at Tennessee A&I in 1940. He enlisting in the Untied Sates Army in 1942, returning to attain his bachelors and Masters Degree in Art. He began his teaching in 1951, while still a student. In 1958 he began his twenty-one tenure of head of the department.
Virtual Artist Talks
in Space for New Media (unless noted otherwise)
Our artists’ talks and lectures are geared at creating forums for artists and students to talk about their work in a supportive open environment. In the process of creating a line up of artists and speakers that relate back to our exhibit schedule in the Hiram Van Gordon Gallery, Space for New Media, and M-SPAR, connecting what is learned in classroom courses and seminars to real-world applications. We will invite organizations and artists from a variety of perspectives to talk about their work. You can view previous lectures on our YouTube channel TSU Art and Design.
Past Exhibitions
- The Embodiment of Our Manifestations, 2025 Senior Show, April – May 3 2025
- The Classes, Feb – March 2025
- As We Speak by Cymone Wilder, Jan- Feb 2025
- The School of Basquiat the South (Nashville Edition), Oct – Dec 2024
- What’s Found, Around, &Scronged by Nieko McDaniel, Sept – Oct 2024
- La Pinta by Jay Sanchez, August – Sept 2024
- 72 • 69 by ZIM, MAY 13 – MAY 30 2024
- Identify Thyself, 2024 Senior Show, April – May 2024
- Inside Blackness: Illuminating the Black Psyche in the Interior Landscape, February 26 to March 28 2024
- The Olympian by Jane Allen McKinney, NOV 6 – DEC 7 2023
- Band of First, SEPT 25- OCT 26 2023
- HUMAN NARRATIVE(S), AUG-SEPT 2023
- Woven Wind, MAY-JUNE 2023
- Senior Show 23, APRIL-MAY 2023
- Crowning Glory, FEB-MAR 2023
- IMAGE Faculty Triennial, JAN-FEB 2023
- “Our Friend, Jean” Early Works By Jean-Michel Basquiat, HBCU Tour presented by The Bishop Gallery in collaboration with Hennessy, Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), and Group Black. Nov 2022
- Call and Response and Other Black Technologies, Rick Griffith Sept – Oct 2022
- 2022 Spring Graduating Seniors, Senior Art Exhibition A Guiding Light April – May 2022
- A Hidden Legacy Feburary – March 2022
- Light Of The Truth: Student Exchange And Exhibition University of Tennessee, Tennessee State University, and Fisk University January – Feburary 2022
- StudentPrize (Based on Grand Rapids’ ArtPrize) October – November 2021
- SPECTRUM: A show about gender identity (Supported by TSU GSA) September – October 2021
- Collection Connection: Tennessee State University’s Department of Art and Design Art and Artifact Collection August – September 2021
- Graduating Seniors SPRING 2021, Game Changer/s: April 2021
- We Shall Overcome: Civil Rights and the Nashville Press, 1957–1968 from Frist Art Museum: March – April 2021
- People to People: Men-dong Daily Photograph from Nanjing, China by Zhengwen Xiong: January – February 2021
- Graduating Seniors FALL 2020, Renovations through Self-Reflection: November 2020
- I’M SO GLAD: An exhibition of Tennessee State University memorabilia and artifacts highlighting the university’s legacy, culture, and history. – October 2020
- What Matters…A Collection of Portraits and Stories from UM and TSU Art Departments: August 2020 – September 2020
- Graduating Seniors SPRING 2020, We Are Hue: March 2020
- Just Imagine by Samuel Dunson: January 2020 – February 2020
Space for New Media
The Space for New Media gives students and artists a place to produce and display digital, experimental, and performance-based work, using our state of equipment to bring innovative ideas and images to campus.
Tennessee State University’s Department of Art and Design Art and Artifact Collection
We promote African and African American art along with relevant issues that face our campus, community, and world. Over the years, the Department of Art and Design has amassed a permanent collection of African and African American art, an Alumni and Student Collection, The Art Eubanks Collection, The Ruth Witt Collection, and Dr. Richard and Sharon Edwards Collection. The Art and Artifact Collection provides exhibition and educational opportunities for undergraduates and the community to approach contemporary concerns in fine art and art education.
Directions
1108 37th Ave N
Elliott Hall is locate on the back side of Tennessee State University main campus. From I-40 East, take a Right on 28th Ave/Ed Temple then Left on Walter S Davis. Left on 39th Ave N, Left on John L Driver Ave, past the guard station, Left on 37th Ave N.
From I-40 West, turn left of Jefferson St. take a Right on 28th Ave/Ed Temple then Left on Walter S Davis. Left on 39th Ave N, Left on John L Driver Ave, past the guard station, Left on 37th Ave N.
From C
harlotte Ave, take a Right on 28th Ave/Ed Temple then Left on Walter S Davis. Left on 39th Ave N, Left on John L Driver Ave, past the guard station, Left on 37th Ave N.
Parking is lots K and L. Enter Elliott Hall from front of building and proceed to back right side, enter Hiram Van Gordon Gallery.
Contact Us
Donna Woodley
Interim Gallery Director
dwoodley@tnstate.edu
615-963-5921