About the Galleries
The Merwin and Wakeley Galleries are located in The Ames School of Art and Design and Design at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, IL. We are a non-profit university gallery committed to presenting a wide range of contemporary and historical artwork. Illinois Wesleyan University has two outstanding gallery spaces.
The Merwin Gallery is a large exhibition space, 35'x70', uninterrupted by columns or windows, with 12' walls and wood floor. The Wakeley Gallery serves as a counterpoint at 17'x27', and is a more intimate space ideal for smaller works and/or a smaller groups of work. Both galleries have standard white walls, drywall over plywood. We usually run two solo shows concurrently, and host eight exhibitions each academic year as well as a summer show that runs June-August. The Ames School of Art and Design and Design offers a BFA program that includes studios in painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, graphic design, sculpture, glass, and ceramics. Bloomington, Illinois is situated just off I-55, essentially halfway between Chicago and St. Louis. Up the street in Normal, IL is Illinois State University and we are not far from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign as well as a number of community colleges and an active local arts center in downtown Bloomington. All this to say that our gallery programming serves a wide audience in central Illinois!
Artist Submissions
The Gallery Selection Committee reviews materials in early January for the following academic year's exhibition schedule. You can expect to hear back from the selection committee at the end of February. If you would like to submit materials, please follow the below application process.
January 15 - February 22
Merwin Gallery- organized and curated by Elizabeth Resnick- Women’s Rights Are Human Rights: International Posters on Gender-based Inequality
Wakeley Gallery- Claire Hedden - Line Drawings
February 26- March 22
Merwin Gallery- Aaron Wolf-Boze & Helen Tegeler- Transitions/ Transformations
Wakeley Gallery- Justin Kronewetter- Seen While Looking
March 26 - April 22
Merwin Gallery- Annual Student Show
Wakeley Gallery- Annual Student Show
May 9 - May 31
Merwin Gallery- Stephen Linksvayer- I Gather the Wings of Osiris
Wakeley Gallery- IWU archives collection - Black Water Press
September 4 - October 25
Merwin Gallery- Dorothea Bilder- Brazilian Experience
Wakeley Gallery- Grace Sheese- Red Thread
October 29 - December 10
Merwin Gallery- Heather Brammier, Lori Nix, Kathleen Gerber- City and Empire
Wakeley Gallery- Leslie Speicher, Lindy Ihrman- Strata
January 14- April 3rd
Merwin Gallery- Tom Rice- Extinguishing the Fire
April 3- 24th
Merwin Gallery- Annual Student Show
January 14 - February 21
Wakeley Gallery- Delicious Design League- Posters on Parade
February 25- April 24th
Wakeley Gallery- Don Kyu Kim- American Stitches
September 3 - October 17
Merwin Gallery- Biennial Faculty Show
Wakeley Gallery- Dr. Timothy Garvey- Drawings
October 21 - December 8
Merwin Gallery- Mobutu Smith- Uprock
Wakeley Gallery- Monika Meler- Invisible Distance
January 20 - March 4
Merwin Gallery- Nathan Gorgen, Molly Jo Burke- Existential Byproduct
Wakeley Gallery- Kirsten Valentine- Ranch Style House
March 23 - April 21
Merwin Gallery- Annual Student Show
Wakeley Gallery- Annual Student Show
August 30 - October 7
Merwin Gallery- Pattie Chalmers- Imperfect Ramblings
Wakeley Gallery- Sculptural Prints (A selection of artists' books from IWU archives)
October 11 - December 3
Wakeley Gallery- Bilinniel Faculty Show
Merwin Gallery- Spencer Sauter, Kari Sandhaas, Herb Eaton, Archana Shekara, Kevin
Strandberg, Megan Kathol Bersett, Lisa Lofgren, Claire Hedden, Erin Furimsky, Julie
Johnson, Connie Estep, Mel Hunter & Nicolas Africano, Joshua Lowe, Morgan Price,
Dustin Springer- Boundaries
January 17 - March 3
Merwin Gallery- Stacey Robinson- Future Spaces in Community Places
Wakeley Gallery- Celebrating Blackness (Student artwork). Organized by Associate Professor
of Art & Design Carmen Lozar and Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts Michelle Gibbs
Press from show: Celebrating Blackness and exploring practical Afro-futurism at IWU art exhibits
Celebrating Blackness | IWU | SIPT | Feb 2022
March 28 - April 20
Merwin Gallery- Annual Student Show
Wakeley Gallery- Annual Student Show
September 12 - October 13
Merwin Gallery- Curtis C. Trout- Design/ Development/ Process
Wakeley Gallery- Power of Place: Painting Myanmar in a Time of Transition
Info on show: Myanmar Paintings, Stage Design Showcased in IWU Galleries
October 17 - December 11
Merwin Gallery- Sarah Edmands Martin - When All Things Could Speak
Wakeley Gallery- Lisa Lofgren - In the Foothills of the Endless Mountain, Vol 2
January 23 - March 3
Merwin Gallery- Joshua Lowe- Delight: Digital Motion Storybooks
Wakeley Gallery- Santiago Cal - Incomplete and an Earlier Version
March 27 - April 26
Merwin Gallery- Annual Student Show
Wakeley Gallery- Annual Student Show
September 11 - October 11
Merwin Gallery- Daniel Hud- Arrival
Wakeley Gallery- Joseph Ivacic- Vocabulary
October 16 - December 8
Merwin Gallery- Aya Nakamura, Steven Kostell, Courtney Cross, Karen J. Spiering, Megan
Diddie, Quinn Ferris, Eric Benson, E. Ainsworth, Veronica Pham, Claire Reynes- Regather: A 10 Year Retrospective of Paper Art at Fresh Press
Wakeley Gallery- Albion Stafford - Scattered Lives: Utilitarian Ceramics in Blue and White
January 22 - March 5
Merwin Gallery- Chicago Print Collaboration- Power of Place: 35 years of Chicago Printmakers Collaborative
Press release: Art Celebrating the Power of Place and the Human Figure on Display at IWU Galleries
Wakeley Gallery- Dustin Springer - Celestial Bodies
Exhibition Photos
March 25 - April 24
Merwin Gallery- Annual Student Show
Wakeley Gallery- Biennial Faculty show
September 9 - October 15
Merwin Gallery- Chilean Arpilleras collection from poet Marjorie Agosin- Embroidering Histories
Wakeley Gallery- Tim Kowalczyk - Too Familiar
October 21 - December 5
Merwin Gallery- Fred Brian - Lake Gogebic Memories and Myths
Wakeley Gallery- Sara Sally LaGrand- She/Her
January 20 - February 28
Merwin Gallery- Bobbi Meier - Beautiful Family Living
Wakeley Gallery- Ludvig Perés - Tender Gradations of Life
March 24 - April 28
Merwin Gallery- Annual Student Show & Senior Show
Wakeley Gallery- Annual Student Show
CONTACT
Amy Wilson - Assistant Professor of 2-D Art & Gallery Director
Department - School Of Art