Past Exhibitions
Under the Umbrella
March 21 - April 11, 2022
The exhibition, Under the Umbrella, was a curriculum-based project. Students worked
with the umbrella concept to highlight a sustainable solution that eliminates tons
of umbrellas from reaching landfills each year.
The exhibition called for action and focuses on reuse, recycling, and lifestyles that support sustainability. The exhibit included sensory elements that will made it "rain" in the lobby via sound components.
The Soul of Frank T. Fraley: Health and Wellness Through the Power of Gems, Jewels, and Stones
February 9 - March 8, 2022
The Soul of Frank T. Fraley: Health and Wellness Through the Power of Gems, Jewels,
and Stones is an installation of Frank Fraley's work handcrafted jewelry and waist
beads.
Special thanks to Dr. Ronald A. Milon, FIT's chief diversity officer, for his curatorial assistance.
Journal and Pattern
December 13, 2021–February 27, 2022
The work on display included crocheted installations, fibrous stitchery, handmade books, collages, theatrical garments, costumes for dogs, sketches from the COVID-19 lockdown, illustrations of an extraordinary shoe collection, a gigantic moss-like sculpture, and a quilt from students, faculty, alumni and invited guest artists.
Participating artists: Chloe Apostle, Fine Arts student; Anabella Bergero, Fashion Design MFA '20 and inaugural SUNY Performing Arts Creation and Curation Prize winner; Jacyln Burke Fine Arts '22; Slavko Djuric, book artist and technologist, Fine Arts and Photography; Bil Donovan, adjunct associate professor, Illustration; Thomas Leach, exhibition installer; Esther Li, Fashion Design ’21; Melanie Reim, artist and educator and former associate dean, School of Art and Design; Tom Scott, assistant professor, Fashion Design; Lauren Zodel, assistant professor, Fashion Design; and invited guest artists Woolpunk and herbalist and artist Donna Cleary.
Virtual Artist Talk with a group of artists who participated in the "Journal and Pattern" exhibit
Thursday, February 17, 1 pm
A virtual presentation and discussion with Jaclyn Burke, Fine Arts '22; Slavko Djuric, book artist and staff technologist, Fine Arts and Photography; Bil Donovan, adjunct associate professor, Illustration; Thomas Leach, exhibition installer; Lauren Zodel, assistant professor, Fashion Design; and invited guest artists Woolpunk and herbalist and artist Donna Cleary.
The Journal and Pattern exhibition in the Art and Design Gallery was on view until February 27. All the work on display is by students, faculty, staff, alumni, and invited guest artists.
Image shown here: Bil Donovan, Travel Journal, Pen and Watercolor
Virtual Artist Talk with Anabella Bergero on Constructing Identities
Thursday, February 3, 1 pm
A virtual presentation and discussion with Anabella Bergero, Fashion Design MFA '20, and Tanya Melendez-Escalante, senior curator of Education and Public Programs from The Museum at FIT. Bergero won the inaugural SUNY Performing Arts Creation and Curation Prize for her exhibition proposal, which is on view as part of the Journal and Pattern exhibition in the Art and Design Gallery December 17–February 27.
Image shown here:
Anabella Bergero, Fashion Design MFA ’20.
Style Journey
October 18 - November 21, 2021
An exhibition of contemporary kurtas, hand-embroidered and collaboratively designed by FIT Textile/Surface Design students and Fashion Design students from Pearl Academy, India, with an installation by N'Ketiah Brakohiapa, a textile artist and FIT alum, taking inspiration from his native Ghana. Using traditional hand-printed techniques and a range of colors and patterns, Brakohiapa's cloths and garments speak to a very long tradition of textile design that is more than just fashion. Brakohiapa's designs are rich in symbolism and expert in their execution.
Also on view in the Art and Design Gallery was an installation by Emily Omesi, recent alumna (FD' 21) and award-winner (winner of the Real Leather International Design Competition ) and current Fashion Design student Anthony Cruz. Special guest artist Sharmistha Ray exhibited conceptual works on paper that involve modes of automatic writing and intuitive geometries.
Journey, Journal, Joy
August 30 - October 10, 2021
The works in this exhibition opened the mind and told stories. They represented discoveries made through photographs, garments, journals, poetry, and sculpture. This joyful and reflective yet nuanced show was personal and thought-provoking—jumpstarting the collaborative learning process for fall semester 2021 at FIT.
Juneteenth, Love and Resilience
August 30 - October 10, 2021
A selection of paintings from Juneteenth 2021, “Love and Resilience,” were displayed in the gallery lobby. Organized and curated by Joi Berry, Natasha Bwalya, Khyla D. Walters, and Rukaiah El.
Virtual Artist Talk Series
Journey, Journal, Joy
Thursday, September 23, 2021
A Virtual Artist Talk for Journey, Journal, Joy, with designer Nicole Benefield, student curator Joi Berry, artist Jon Cowan, artist Tamera Dorcinville, and FIT's staff photographer Smiljana Peros.
Virtual Artist Talk Series
Mimi Prober: History, Process, and Handcraft in Fashion in conversation with Colleen Hill, Curator of Costume and Accessories, The Museum at FIT
Mimi Prober graduated from FIT with honors and received the Critics Choice Award in 2012. Prober creates sustainable modern heirlooms through textile narratives, preservation, and process. She dedicated herself to the sustainable practices of natural dyeing and design with a focus on handmade details and textile narratives of the 1700s-1920s.
Virtual Artist Talk Series
Roberta Smith, the co-chief art critic of The New York Times --Looking, loving, and writing about art, a global conversation.
Globally Connected @ FIT and the Virtual Artist Talk Series presents, Roberta Smith, the co-chief art critic of The New York Times: looking, loving, and writing about art, a global conversation. Cohosts: Dr. Helen Gaudette, Assistant Dean for International Education at FIT and Professor Alexander Nagel, PhD, Assistant Chair, Art History and Museum Professions. This program is a collaboration between the Virtual Artists' Talk Series and Globally Connected @ FIT.
Virtual Artist Talk Series
New York City: Pandemic, Resilience & Hope
Professor of Political Science, Praveen K. Chaudhry, in collaboration with Assistant Professor Souzeina Mushtaq, discussed his experience as a photographer during the COVID pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and last year's election. He shared his images of the past year's salient events, their unfolding, and the intense overlapping of issues during the talk. Link to view the Virtual Exhibition: https://www.artsteps.com/view/604a7f54ffdaae24fd1f5231
Virtual Artist Talk Series
Take Me to the River
Take Me to the River is a digital series of photographs taken by VPED Professor Anne
Finkelstein on her Hudson River walks early in the pandemic. She talked about how
she uses photographs in her work and creates digital composites from many photographs
of the same subject – a contemporary form of Cubism.Link to view the Virtual Exhibition:
https://www.artsteps.com/view/60467f21ba690923392106a8
Back To The Present
"Back to the Present,” sourced from an open call organized by FIT’s Black Student Union, discusses Black pop culture, poetry, and fashion precisely from 2020's #BlackLivesMatter movement, within a historical context, particularly looking back to the civil rights movement, its influences, and outcomes.
Who is Hippy Potter?
Thursday, January 28, 2021
Virtual Artist Talk with our guest FIT Alumnus Thaddeus Coates, Founder of the design company Hippy Potter, model, illustrator, dancer, roller skater, and puzzle maker. The discussion was about his journey after graduating from FIT and being a multifaceted artist and social change agent.
Chalk That Talk
Juneteenth – December 31, 2020
A public art exhibition of murals on the exterior walls of FIT organized by our Black Student Union. The project included over 40 artists and students. The goal of this exhibition was to express issues and highlight injustices going on within the Black community and promote the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Students and artists worked to promote healing within the community through art, responding to the existing climate of racial violence and social injustice, emphasizing the importance of Black and Brown lives, with messages of empowerment.
Conversations: Artworks in Dialogue
March 17 – April 7, 2020
Curated by FIT alumnus Lobsang Tsewang, Fine Arts ’17, this exhibition brings together a group of 23 artists whose works are both visually and conceptually diverse, but when the works are intentionally placed in relation to each other and in conjunction with the architectural space, it created a new relationship that demands engagement and conversation.
Black in Time
January 31 – March 8, 2020
In honor of Black History Month, FIT’s Black Student Union presented an exhibition that celebrated the evolution of Black culture by going beyond the narrative of slavery and back to the rich heritage of culture and tradition in Africa and its expansion worldwide. Black in Time cast a light on creativity, resistance, celebration, self-expression, and Black pride.
Picturing Space:
Artists & Designers Imagine Architecture
November 26, 2019 - January 5, 2020 
An exhibition which brought together artists, exhibition designers and interior designers who responded to the constructed city.
Cross-POLLINATION
November 7 - 18, 2019
Student and faculty work inspired by the Museum at FIT's exhibition minimalism/MAXIMALISM. Participants included the Fashion Design Program at FIT, the Dance Wellness Minor at FIT, and LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore.
Michael Katz, Art as Fashion
October 10 - November 15, 2019
A presentation of the late fashion designer and artist's one-of-a-kind, hand-painted silk and silk-screened fabrics collection, featuring original patterns and documentation. Organized by Anne Kong, Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design faculty.
75 Years of Fashion on 27th Street
October 14 - 27, 2019 
Curated by Danielle Paterson, BFA Photography, 2020, images and objects sourced from
the Gladys Marcus Library's Special Collections and College Archives.
Re: Rooted, Cultivating Creatives of Color
October 17 - 31, 2019
Working across many different disciplines, artists came together to celebrate the
theme of identity as inspiration. Curated by Guillermo Marrero, Visual Presentation
and Exhibition Design, 2020, and Taj White, Fashion Business Management, 2020.
Disney on Broadway
September 19 - October 6, 2019
Disney on Broadway celebrated its 25th anniversary in partnership with the Fashion Institute of Technology by creating a unique design challenge for students to reimagine contemporary designs for some of Disney on Broadway’s iconic female characters.
Jahnkoy - Crafting Evolution
August 15 - September 11, 2019
10 Years of Fashion Study.
Modeling the Future
June 13 - July 21, 2019
An exhibition featuring the work of Professor Chris Spollen alongside students, alumni, and other faculty members.
The Future is Immersive
March 15 - May 2, 2019
Highlighting a unique partnership between FIT and Montefiore Medical Center.