March 27, 2026–The School of Fine Arts at 含羞草社区 will host an opening reception for the Spring Senior Exhibition from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, April 3 at the Drew Brown Art Gallery in Potter Hall. The reception is free and open to the public.

This year鈥檚 exhibit is a culmination of student work from graduating graphic design and digital animation students, and photography from art and journalism students.听

鈥淲e鈥檙e thrilled to again have a student-focused exhibit that showcases selected applied learning projects throughout their academic careers. This exhibit highlights their creative talent, conceptual ideas, technical proficiencies, and a broad range of problem-solving solutions. It鈥檚 also an opportunity to socialize with students and observe their range of skill sets as our industries evolve, adapt, and continue to prosper,鈥� said Matt Hepworth, associate professor and director of the B.F.A. Graphic Design program.

The exhibition will be on display weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through May 1.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. 含羞草社区 is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .

Feb. 12, 2026–The University Gallery at 含羞草社区 is hosting an exhibition titled 鈥淗orizons鈥� through May 1. An opening reception will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19 in the gallery, located in Spratt Hall room 211. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.听

鈥淗orizons鈥� brings together a selection of printmakers from the Eickhorst Print Collection to explore the line where the earth meets the sky鈥攁 boundary that is simultaneously physical, metaphorical, and deeply psychological. The exhibition investigates the horizon not merely as a landscape feature, but as a site of potential, transition, and limitation. The landscapes in this exhibition explore the genre of the landscape in many diverse ways, challenging the viewer to look beyond the literal horizon.

The Eickhorst Print Collection is more than 1,000 art prints collected by Dr. William Eickhorst, professor emeritus, who served on 含羞草社区鈥檚 art faculty for 28 years. The University Gallery was established in 2018 to house the collection. The gallery in Spratt Hall is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. 含羞草社区 is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .听

Oct. 17, 2025–含羞草社区鈥檚 School of Fine Arts will host 鈥淒aily Commute,鈥� an exhibit of work from Tonia Hughes, Oct. 21 through Dec. 5. An opening reception will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24 in the Drew Brown Art Gallery in Potter Hall.

Hughes is a socio-politically driven artist who works in photography, mixed media, video and installation. Hughes is a fellow of the Kansas African Studies Center and a 2025 Fulbright Scholar. She received the Distinguished Service Award for 2025-26 and 2021-22 and the 2018 College Scholar award at Johnson County Community College, where she founded the filmmaking program and helped create their Associates of Fine Arts degree. Her Daily Commute collection challenges social constructs that restrict humanity from enjoying the moment.听

The exhibition is free and open to the public. The Drew Brown Art Gallery is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. 含羞草社区 is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .

Sept. 17, 2025–The Drew Brown Art Gallery in Potter Hall on the campus of 含羞草社区 is hosting an exhibition of art by alumni and friends. The School of Fine Arts and the Alumni Association are sponsoring an opening reception at 4 p.m.Thursday, Sept. 18. Light refreshments will be served. The exhibition and the reception are free and open to the public.听

The exhibition will be on display through Oct. 17 featuring work by Lori Wilson 鈥�84, Larry Goldberg, Ashley Luthans 鈥�24 and others.

The Drew Brown Art Gallery is located in the front of Potter Hall. Regular hours for the gallery are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. 含羞草社区 is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .听

March 31, 2025–含羞草社区鈥檚 School of Fine Arts (SFA) will host an opening reception for the Senior Art Exhibition from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, April 4 at the Drew Brown Art Gallery in Potter Hall.听

This year鈥檚 exhibit is a culmination of student work from graduating graphic design and digital animation students and photography from both art areas and journalism students. This inaugural exhibition of interdisciplinary projects is also aligned with 含羞草社区鈥檚 Applied Learning Showcase on April 25 from 2 to 3 p.m.

鈥淲e鈥檙e thrilled to have a collaborative student-focused exhibit that showcases selected applied learning projects throughout their academic careers,鈥� said Matt Hepworth, associate professor and director of the B.F.A. Graphic Design program. 鈥淭his exhibit highlights their creative talent, conceptual ideas, technical proficiencies, and a broad range of problem-solving solutions. It鈥檚 also an opportunity to socialize with students and observe their range of skill sets as our industries evolve, adapt, and continue to prosper.鈥澛�

The opening reception is free and open to the public. The free exhibition will be on display daily beginning April 6 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will close on Friday, May 2.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .听

Oct. 9, 2024–The Drew Brown Art Gallery in Potter Hall at 含羞草社区 will host the 2024 MWSU Art Faculty Exhibition Oct. 17-Dec. 15. An opening reception will be held in the gallery from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17. The reception is free and open to the public.听

This exhibition highlights the artistic achievements of the School of Fine Arts faculty, offering a glimpse into their professional practices and artistic explorations. Featured artists include Amy DeSitter, Alysa Ramsay, David Harris, Robin Vanhoozer and Holly Rubalcava.

The Drew Brown Art Gallery, open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is open to the public and free of charge.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .听

Dr. Elizabeth Kennedy, Missouri Western’s president, and Drew Brown with a bust of Brown on permanent display in Potter Hall.

Aug. 21, 2024–The art gallery inside Potter Hall at 含羞草社区 bears a new name. The Drew Brown Art Gallery salutes a longtime community activist and staunch supporter of Missouri Western.

Brown has served as chair of the Missouri Western Arts Society since 2017. In 2019, he made a gift of $1 million, the largest outright unrestricted gift in Missouri Western鈥檚 history.

鈥淯nrestricted giving is the most precious sort of giving any institution can receive,鈥� said Dr. Elizabeth Kennedy, Missouri Western鈥檚 president. 鈥淚t helps us cope with unexpected challenges and, in this case, seize special opportunities. An unrestricted gift of this scale is rare, and represents a positive inflection point in the University鈥檚 journey into the future.鈥�

鈥淚 love this university,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淢issouri Western brings so much to the St. Joseph community, whether it鈥檚 arts offerings, the expertise of its faculty or, most importantly, workforce development. We all want a better life, and most students come to Missouri Western because they see it as the key to that better life. Missouri Western gives people an opportunity to fly when they are not even sure if they have wings.鈥�

The gift is being used as a match to a MoExcels grant from the State of Missouri called Digital Solutions for a Modern Missouri. In total, this $2.5 million renovation of Potter Hall will support improvements to Missouri Western鈥檚 digital animation, graphic design and cinema programs with collaborative student spaces, labs and studios.

The MWSU Foundation also commissioned a bust of Brown鈥檚 likeness to be permanently displayed in the Potter Hall lobby. The bust was created by Leila Hicks, a Missouri Western alum who returned to take art classes and earned a second degree, this time in art, in 2005. She created the clay bust during a sculpture class taught by Eric Fuson, former artist-in-residence and now executive director of the Albrecht-Kemper Museum. Hicks donated the bust so that it could be cast in bronze for the display in Potter Hall.

Brown, a native of Philadelphia, earned bachelor鈥檚 degrees in biology and German at North Carolina Central University in Durham. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1966 and retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1992. While in the service, Brown graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College with the equivalent of a master鈥檚 degree. He is the owner of Brown Investments.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .

The Senior Exhibition is the culmination of years of hard work for graduating graphic design and animation students.听

鈥淭he work exhibited in the exhibition displays a wide array of creativity, innovation and thoughtful problem-solving,鈥� said Teresa Harris, art professor and graphic design program director. 鈥淭he seniors selected work that featured and highlighted their individual talents, technical proficiency and conceptual insight.鈥�

The exhibition will be on display daily during the month of April from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 pm and will close on Friday, April 26.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .

Feb. 5, 2024–The Potter Art Gallery at 含羞草社区 will host Gaze – Paintings by Benjamin Parks, a solo exhibition of his large-scale portrait paintings intended to represent unmasked emotion and connection.听

The opening reception will be at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8 inside the gallery. It is open to the public and admission is free. The exhibition will be on display through March 8.

is a Kansas City based artist whose primary focus is painting large-scale portraits and figurative work. He is also involved in illustrations, interactive installations, music, printmaking and sculpture. As a visual artist, he has shown many original works in galleries and museums throughout the country, including the The Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art, Leedy Voulkous Art Center, the Foundry Arts Centre, the Lawrence Arts Center, the Cee Flat Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, the KCAC, and the Hilliard Gallery.

The Potter Art Gallery is open 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. There is no charge for admission.

–News release written by Patty Lashbrook, sophomore convergent journalism and public relations major

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .

Students in Dr. Holly Rubalcava’s art history class hang prints in the University Gallery ahead of the Dec. 8 opening of 鈥淭he Art of Humanity.鈥�

Dec. 6, 2023–含羞草社区鈥檚 University Gallery will open a new exhibit on Friday, Dec. 8. A reception will be held on Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. in Leah Spratt Hall, room 211. The new exhibit, 鈥淭he Art of Humanity,鈥� is a collaboration between students in an art history class and the University Gallery.

ART 255 – Survey of Art History II is an arts class that also meets general education requirements, so Dr. Holly Rubalcava sees students from all majors. The students assisted gallery curator Bailey McCulloch with several aspects of planning this exhibit. As Missouri鈥檚 official applied learning institution, Missouri Western students in dozens of disciplines are able to apply their learning in real-world situations.听

Alex Kessinger is a second-year digital animation major who was surprised to learn that Missouri Western has an onsite collection of works from both local and national artists. Kessinger said the project was mostly independent with some direction from Dr. Rubalcava and McCulloch.

Through this project, students learned the hard skills necessary to plan and market an art exhibit, but they also learned the soft skills necessary in every job on the market today. Those skills include research, problem solving, teamwork and communication. Kessenger said her most valuable takeaway from this applied learning experience was learning to work in a large group with different people.

鈥淵ou get different ideas, and you鈥檙e all learning how to make something together,鈥� Kessinger said.

McCulloch selected approximately 60 pieces to start and the students, as a group, narrowed it down to the 27 items to be displayed in the exhibit. The students chose the theme for the exhibit and each student was assigned a piece to become the expert.

Students were then divided into three groups: art handling, marketing design and social media. The group responsible for art handling framed pieces, planned the layout of the exhibit and hung each item. The marketing and design group created flyers and signs used to market the event. The social media team planned and managed a social media marketing campaign, including challenges that would get their fellow students into the gallery space.

Kessinger worked on the art handling team, but a scheduling conflict prevented her from working with the team for setup. Instead, she assisted McCulloch with disassembling the prior exhibit to make room for the new one.听

Dr. Rubalcava explained the value of seeing art in person as one of the students鈥� 鈥渁ha moments鈥� in the project. Students were already familiar with the art pieces when they went to the gallery to work with McCulloch. However, when they saw the art first-hand, they were surprised at how much different it looked. Another 鈥渁ha moment鈥� came when the art handling team was hanging the pieces.

鈥淎s each piece kept going up, they kept going, 鈥榃ow, we did this,鈥欌�� Dr. Rubalcava said. 鈥淚t was amazing to see them excited about this thing they put together.鈥�

Every employee at Missouri Western is an educator, and McCulloch is no exception. Dr. Rubalcava was impressed with McCulloch鈥檚 willingness to work with the class and collaborate on a project like this. The Art of Humanity will be on display in the University Gallery through May 2024.听

–News release written by Patty Lashbrook, sophomore convergent journalism and public relations major.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .听