Todd Jones smiling.
Meet Our Gallery Director
Todd Jones is an Assistant Professor and Gallery Director for the Art Department at Meredith College. Originally from Tallahassee in Florida, Todd earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree, with a double major in Studio Art and Psychology from Florida State University. He further obtained a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Studio Art, concentrating in Painting + Drawing, and a Graduate Certificate in Visual Arts Management from Ohio University.

Todd has worked for various non-profit art galleries and community arts organizations. He has been an artist-in-residence at several well-known creative arts centers, such as Wildacres in Little Switzerland, North Carolina; The Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap, Georgia; and Studio 209 in Thomasville, Georgia. He attended the Summer Painting and Sculpture Intensive at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His work has earned recognitions, including being a Finalist for the 2022 William and Dorothy Yeck Award from the Miami University’s Young Painters Competition; and a Finalist at the Fifth Edition of the Boynes Emerging Artist Award.

As a professor, he facilitates learning through active observation, experimentation, and critique. He actively encourages creativity in the classroom through conceptual thinking and materials, aiming to improve conceptual development, technical, and professional skills. He believes that art advances the development of learning about ourselves and those around us. He likewise believes creative problem-solving is necessary to navigate our constantly changing environment, and creativity could be applied in every facet of the professional world.

The Galleries

Frankie G. Weems Art Gallery

The Frankie G. Weems Gallery’s history is interwoven with the building history of Gaddy-Hamrick. The Gaddy-Hamrick Art Center currently houses the art department. Before there was a central location for the department, art classes and studios were spread all around campus; parlors, Jones Hall, Johnson Hall, the Beehive, Joyner, a house near Faircloth St., and a temporary studio between Brewer and Heilman resident halls. 

Swing doors leading into the Frankie G Weems gallery.Construction for this much needed central arts facility began in 1986 and was dedicated in 1987. The building was dedicated to honor Claude F. and Mary Lilly Duncan Gaddy and Fuller B. Hamrick and their families. In 1987, the 1500 sq. ft. gallery space within Gaddy-Hamrick was named to honor Frankie G. Weems, president of the Raleigh Fine Arts Society, advocate for local arts, and the wife of Meredith College’s president John Weems. 

Mrs. Weems was born in Chapel Hill, Tennessee in 1933. She attended Peabody College for three years striving for a degree in Elementary Education. This is where she met John Weems. Dr. Weems graduated from Peabody, then went onto teach at Atlantic Christian College. Frankie followed him and finished her degree in education at Atlantic Christian College. The two married in 1953. The couple and their family moved to Raleigh in 1971 and Dr. Weems became president of Meredith. Mrs. Weems was a teacher back in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. When she moved to Raleigh, she quit teaching so she could become more active within the community. Her love for the arts led her to the Raleigh Fine Arts Society where she later became president. She was also chairperson for the Wake County Artists Exhibit. Meredith’s Board of Trustees dedicated the exhibition gallery in the new Gaddy-Hamrick Art Center to her in recognition for her “identity and integrity” in the art community.

Plaque for the gallery reads

“The Frankie G. Weems Art Gallery / for her interest in the arts/ for her invovlement in educating students / for the arts / for her outstanding service to Meredith / and the greater Raleigh community / the board of trustees of / Meredith College / dedicate and name this exhibition gallery / in honor of and appreciation for / Frankie G. Weems / September 25, 1987”

Frankie G. Weems Gallery entrance

Support the Galleries!

Make a donation to help support the upkeep, artists, and display in our galleries. After inputting how much you’d like to donate, be sure to click “Designation”, “Other” and write in “Art Galleries”. This will make sure that your funds are allocated to the correct place.
Interior of Johnson Hall with a chandelier and staircase.
Exterior of Johnson Hall

Johnson Hall Rotunda Gallery

The Johnson Hall Rotunda Gallery is centrally located within the Administrative building and occupies the first, second and third floors, which can be accessed via stairs and/or elevator. The year 1964 marks the first mention of an exhibition featured within the Johnson Hall Rotunda Gallery. Annually, from April to September, the Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition is hosted in this space; the exhibition’s existence is thought to extend back to the early 1900s. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional artworks are frequently exhibited in this space; the French hanging system limits the display of other media. 

Bibliography

Carlyle Campbell Library. “Building History: Gaddy Hamrick.” Last Modified September 1, 2020. https://infotogo.meredith.edu/buildingshistory/gaddyhamrick.

Ianuale, Alexa. “Origins and Impact: Student Art Expo.” The Herald, April 8, 2016. 

Robinson, Carolyn C., ed. “Vintage Years and Better Names.” In The Vision Revisited: A History of Meredith College 1971-1998, 168-69. North Carolina: The Meredith College Press, 1999.

Works Exhibited by Art Students.” THE TWIG: Newspaper of the Students of Meredith College, December 16, 1964.

Willis, Melinda F. “Frankie Weems: Memories Live On.” The Meredith Herald, January 31, 1989.