The Department of Fine Arts sponsors the Art Gallery Series in the Hyman Fine Arts Center’s Adele Kassab Art Gallery, hosting varied shows of two and three dimensional works showcasing local and regional artists.
The Art Gallery Curator selects exhibitions that support and enhance the academic goals of the visual arts program at Francis Marion University, providing a non-profit institutional setting in the service of both students and the wider community.
Interested in having your work (or another artist’s work) considered for exhibition? Please use the Adele Kassab Gallery Submissions Form.
Information about previous exhibits may be found in Kassab Art Gallery Archive and additional exhibitions are displayed downtown at FMU’s University Place Steven F. Gately Gallery.
Two Materials
by Ray Im and Jin Namgoong
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
May 6 – August 27, 2025
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Thursday
Two Materials is a two-person show unveiling the distinctive artistic approaches of two artists, each employing different materials to craft compelling narratives. One artist works with organic clay, while the other ventures into the industrial landscape of metal, yet both demonstrate a striking dedication to repetition in their artistic processes. Through their skilled manipulation of these materials, they creatively communicate profound insights into the human experience, involving themes of identity and presence in physicality.
Coalescence
Leigh Sabisch & Allison Koch as:
Sardine Press
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
September 2 – November 6, 2025
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
Sabisch graduated in 2017 from the College of Charleston, where she met Koch who was working as a printmaking technician for the college. In 2019, the duo founded Sardine Press.
Since then, they have made and exhibited art collaboratively, including a 2022 residency and exhibition at the Gibbes Museum of Art. Their goal is to eventually “cram their love of printmaking and teaching” into a mid-sized RV, which they have converted into a printmaking studio (hence the name, Sardine Press).
Coalescence is a homecoming. It’s a show of work made by two friends in a rare moment when their career paths were able to meet and intertwine in an enviable way.
Only in retrospect do you see and feel the impact working with another artist has on work you make for yourself. The colors, movement, tension- all in conversation with one another. Our worlds consumed each other’s, and we made it out on the other side.
It is a blend of oil painting and monotypes, both soft and tense in their own rights. The collaborative work has been subject to the same level of criticism, defense, questioning, and overworking as the two people that created them. The pieces are like the artists – friends yelling at each other for five minutes before settling into the realization they are saying the same thing in different ways. They are searching in their collaborative works for the soft, quiet moments that must exist somewhere between the crashing, pulling, grabbing of it all.
Metal Sculptures
by Roger Halligan
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
September 2 – November 6, 2025
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
Roger Halligan has been creating sculpture professionally since the mid seventies. After graduating with an MFA with honors in Studio Arts from the University of Georgia in 1977, he moved to North Carolina where he became an exhibit designer for the North Carolina Zoological Park. As part of a team of artists, they developed award winning design/build naturalistic habitats for a variety of species of wild animals. He left the zoo in 1992 to devote his time to his fine art work.
In 2007, he was awarded an ArtsMove Chattanooga Grant and relocated his studio and home to downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 2019, he and his wife, the artist Jan Chenoweth relocated their home and studio to Lake City, SC.
“My present sculpture is strongly influenced by the megalithic stone constructions that existed in many parts of the prehistoric world but most specifically those found in the British Isles, France and Ireland. I am drawn to these structures not only because they are some of the earliest large scale sculpture and architecture but also they continue to have a strong impact on the modern viewer. They are a real part of our mysterious Neolithic origins and continue to fascinate us. For many, including myself, they initiate a strong emotional response.”
Senior Shows and works by Ceramics
and 3-Dimensional Design Classes
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
November 11 – December 13, 2025
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
Senior shows are required of all students majoring in Visual Arts. These shows give students hands-on experience in selection and installation of artworks, publicity of exhibition, and external review by the University community and the general public.
Students in ceramics classes learn processes and techniques in both wheel-throwing and hand building in the art and craft of pottery. Throwing leads progressively toward stoneware clay tooling, decorating, glazing and firing. As they advance through the curriculum, students add ceramic fabrications methods of slab-work, modeling from solid masses, and press molding. Multi-part forms and porcelain formula clay bodies are created as artistic discipline develops along with the individual’s philosophy, critical awareness and aesthetics.
Students taking Three-Dimensional Design classes investigate organization techniques, with special emphasis on the plastic controls of form and space. They learn to use a variety of tools and various sculptural media, including wood, plaster and clay.
Always Flourishing
by Rebekah Alviani
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
January 6 – February 19, 2026
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
Rebekah Alviani is an award-winning, published, and internationally exhibited lens-based artist whose work explores the relationship between images, objects, and memory, offering diverse perspectives of the subjects she documents. In 2012, Alviani graduated from Oakbridge Academy of Arts, earning an Associate in Specialized Technology degree with a focus in Photography. In May 2015, she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in Graphic Design and minors in Art History and Marketing from Clarion University of Pennsylvania. In May 2021, she received a Master of Fine Arts degree with a focus in Digital Art from Bowling Green State University.
CeramicSea
by Hayley De González
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
January 6 – February 19, 2026
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
Hayley De González studied art as an undergraduate at Francis Marion University, followed by an MFA in Ceramics from the University of South Carolina. She is currently Chair of the Department of Art at North Greenville University.
“This exhibition marks a significant personal and professional milestone: twenty years since I changed my major to art and began the journey of becoming a professional artist. It is a privilege to return to my undergraduate alma mater to present a solo exhibition that reflects not only my growth as an artist but also the enduring presence of oceanic inspiration throughout my practice.
“My ceramic practice explores forms, textures, and palettes found in the ocean and along the shoreline. Fish scales, shells, tidal patterns, sandy textures, and muted hues inform the surfaces of these pieces. Rather than literal representations, these elements serve as evocative decorations on the works. Like the sea, ceramics is transformative. It demands patience, discipline, and a willingness to surrender to forces beyond control.”
Tic: Exploring Tourette Syndrome with
Analog Photography
by Katelyn Lux Brewer
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
February 24 – April 2, 2026
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
Katelyn‘s work is deeply personal and thought-provoking, as exemplified by her award-winning thesis, Tic: Exploring Tourette Syndrome with Analog Photography, which earned her the Research and Creative Achievement Award in 2024. Through her art, Katelyn delves into the complexities of identity and experience, using analog techniques to create poignant narratives that resonate with audiences. Her unique perspective and dedication to her craft continue to shape her evolving body of work.
Ceramics+ by Ashley Daniela Garcia
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
February 24 – April 2, 2026
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
Ashley Garcia discovered her passion for art after taking an introductory ceramics class at sixteen. “That foundational experience led me to Lander, where I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 3D,” she shared. Garcia’s work explores the intersection of reality and imagination, yielding dream-inspired, surrealistic pieces that often incorporate spiritual symbols and animal motifs.
“Dreams are a fascinating mystery that serves as a wellspring of inspiration to ignite my creative mind. I find myself captivated by the vivid imagery, symbolism, and emotions that accompany dreams. When we dream we generate entire worlds of conscious experiences but why do we do it? What stories are those dreams trying to reveal to us? These are the questions that run through my mind when I begin to translate these dream-inspired visions into clay. With my most recent body of work, I have been examining my own dreams and bringing them to life. What my work aims to communicate is that inspiration can be found in our dreams and is worth exploring to help us uncover a deeper sense of self and understanding of who we are. Clay is the most fundamental material that I use because I find that clay is symbolic of creation.”
Senior Shows and Works by Ceramics
and 3-Dimensional Design Classes
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
April 7 – May 1, 2026
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
Senior shows are required of all students majoring in Visual Arts. These shows give students hands-on experience in selection and installation of artworks, publicity of exhibition, and external review by the University community and the general public.
Students in ceramics classes learn processes and techniques in both wheel-throwing and hand building in the art and craft of pottery. Throwing leads progressively toward stoneware clay tooling, decorating, glazing and firing. As they advance through the curriculum, students add ceramic fabrications methods of slab-work, modeling from solid masses, and press molding. Multi-part forms and porcelain formula clay bodies are created as artistic discipline develops along with the individual’s philosophy, critical awareness and aesthetics.
Students taking Three-Dimensional Design classes investigate organization techniques, with special emphasis on the plastic controls of form and space. They learn to use a variety of tools and various sculptural media, including wood, plaster and clay.
Reverie
by Charity Jules
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
May 5 – August 26, 2026
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Thursday
Charity Jules is an artist, educator, and innovative arts administrator based in Eastern North Carolina. She serves as the Chair of the Fine Art and Music Departments at Pitt Community College, where she has helped grow the Associate in Fine Arts program into a strong university transfer pathway for emerging artists. With an MFA in Photography from East Carolina University and a background in both analog and digital photographic processes, her studio practice has expanded to include mixed media, metals, glass, and wood.
“Reverie is a body of work born from a season of deep renewal. Composed of photographs and found-object sculptures – seashells, whale bones, and other treasures gathered through years of beachcombing, the series is a meditation on love, memory, and the quiet power of place.
“Reverie is not only a reflection on a place, but a practice of presence. It is an attempt to hold onto the ephemeral, to gather beauty, and offer it back.”
