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From Thesis to Oscars® Shortlist: Xindi Zhang’s AI-Driven Film Wins the Golden Award
When Xindi Zhang, Acting Assistant Professor in the College of Design, Art & Performance's School of Art & Art History at the University of South Florida (USF), set out to create her thesis film The Song of Drifters, she wanted to explore how memory, self-discovery, and belonging could be expressed through both human emotion and artificial intelligence. The film recently advanced to the Oscars® shortlist in the Alternative/Experiential category, following Zhang’s Golden Award win at the 2025 Student Academy Awards®, one of the most prestigious honors for emerging filmmakers worldwide.
November 6, 2025Art & Art History, Faculty
When the Lights Came Up: SPOTLIGHT Festival Marks a Bold New Chapter in Creative Education
It didn’t just showcase art. It made a statement. On Friday, April 25, the University of South Florida’s College of Design, Art & Performance launched the first-ever SPOTLIGHT Festival, an ambitious, campus-wide celebration that transformed performance and exhibition spaces into a living, breathing showcase of creative energy. Designed to illuminate the force and vision powering the college, SPOTLIGHT didn’t just open its doors to the public—it invited them into the heart of the work.
May 1, 2025Architecture, Art & Art History, Community Outreach, Music, Theatre & Dance, USF CAM
This Is Not a Final Project: Inside the 2025 MFA Thesis Exhibition at USF
Six artists. Six distinct practices. And one shared instinct: push everything further. This spring, the College of Design, Art & Performance’s School of Art & Art History MFA artists aren’t just presenting work – they’re building worlds. Each piece on view at the USF Contemporary Art Museum feels like a portal: into memory, into ritual, into systems that need to be dismantled and reimagined.
April 16, 2025Art & Art History, USF CAM
SPOTLIGHT 2025: A Festival Bringing Design, Art & Performance to Life
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April 14, 2025Architecture, Art & Art History, Community Outreach, Music, Theatre & Dance
Meet the Next Generation of Artists: “Thank You in Advance,” the 2025 MFA Thesis Exhibition
From April 4 through May 10, 2025, visitors to the University of South Florida’s Contemporary Art Museum can experience "Thank You in Advance," a bold and thoughtful exhibition showcasing the work of six emerging artists completing their Master of Fine Arts degrees. More than a thesis show, this annual exhibition is a launchpad—a first look at the voices shaping what’s next in contemporary art.
April 4, 2025Art & Art History, USF CAM
This Is ArtHouse XXV
On the evening of April 4, the School of Art & Art History at the College of Design, Art & Performance isn’t just opening its doors — it’s blowing the roof off. This is ArtHouse XXV, and it is pure creative voltage.
March 31, 2025Art & Art History, Community Outreach
USF Alum Richard King’s Sonic Mastery Strikes Gold – Again
Five Academy Awards. Three BAFTAs. A legacy that runs through the very fabric of modern cinema. Richard King’s name isn’t just etched into Hollywood history – it pulses through every frame of the films he touches. This year, the University of South Florida alum took home his fifth Oscar for Best Sound Editing on Dune: Part Two, cementing his place among the most decorated sound designers of all time.
March 6, 2025Art & Art History, Students & Alumni
USF students and MOSI spotlight new era for digital dome planetarium
The Museum of Science & Industry is set to redefine immersive learning and entertainment with the unveiling of America’s second-largest digital dome planetarium, as announced in a recent press release from MOSI. Students from USF’s College of Design, Art & Performance were invited to explore the space to imagine the real possibilities this groundbreaking technology holds for their art.
January 17, 2025Art & Art History
Graphic arts students work with clients to elevate their brand
A senior research course is giving graphic arts students the opportunity to produce real-world design work for local clients. This semester, students in the class collaborated with the USF College of Marine Science to design branding for the Tampa Bay Surveillance Project. The project combines skills and knowledge of the region’s fishing captains with scientists from the University of South Florida and Eckerd College to investigate contaminants in local waterways for human and environmental health.
December 2, 2024Art & Art History
Associate Professor of Art & Art History Jason Lazarus to host a two-day, open call exhibition, HOW TO WATCH A SOLAR ECLIPSE: A Symphony and a Score
Heiress Gallery is pleased to announce, A Symphony and a Score (HOW TO WATCH A SOLAR ECLIPSE), a two-day, open-call exhibition (Friday April 5th and Saturday, April 6th) hosted by artist Jason Lazarus, in collaboration with the gallery, to prepare for and celebrate the upcoming solar eclipse on April 8th, 2024.
April 1, 2024Art & Art History, Community Outreach, Faculty
Associate Professor Noelle Mason's work featured in Oxford American Magazine
Ground Control is a series of wool tapestries ranging from eight to twelve feet tall that depict satellite images of the U.S./Mexico border at current and historical places of conflict. The electromagnetic images used in this project are collected by U.S. government satellites used for “remote sensing” of the earth’s surface. Unlike photography that attempts to mimic the function of the eye, remote sensing collects data and constructs images through a process antimemetic to human experience.
March 20, 2024Art & Art History
New Exhibition: Ezra Johnson, Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing, at the Mindy Solomon Gallery
Mindy Solomon Gallery is pleased to present Sunday Morning Coming Down. Ezra Johnson’s fourth solo exhibition at the gallery. In this group of new paintings, Johnson has been inspired by what he calls the “tropical noir” atmosphere of Tampa, engaging with objects, spaces and scenes that are built up with many layers of oil paint, applied in sheets of color often showing the residue of earlier layers.
February 29, 2024Art & Art History, Faculty