EXHIBITIONS
Florence Thomas Art School presents temporary exhibitions featuring artwork of all media.
Weight
Kelsey Merreck Wagner
March 25 - May 3, 2025
At a relentless pace 5 trillion plastic bags per year—1 million every hour—these whisper-thin conveniences accumulate into an unbearable burden. Seemingly weightless in our hands, these plastic bags amass an estimated 27.5 million metric tons of waste annually—a crushing force and a mere statistic in the ever-growing impact of consumerism on our environment.
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Kelsey Merreck Wagner’s trash weavings transform this staggering weight into something tangible, something undeniable. The discarded plastics are not just refuse but artifacts of our collective impact. Each warp and weft is a memory we can not discard, intertwining individual moments of consumption into artworks that are both physically heavy and emotionally inescapable—beautiful and repulsive in equal measure.
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But the weight of these weaving—and the weight of plastic pollution—is more than a statistic. Weight is a reckoning. It is the mental toll of witnessing environmental degradation, the anxiety of knowing our convenience gambles against our future. Kelsey Merreck Wagner’s work invites us to feel this weight, to carry it, and perhaps, to rethink the burdens we leave behind.
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Join us on Saturday, April 12 for a community trash weaving workshop from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm and a reception with the artist from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.
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Image: Image: Kelsey Merreck Wagner, Detroit Landfill #1, 2020, 11 inches x 53 inches, weaving made from plastic bags, wires, product wrappers, and cotton warp. Photo by shauna caldwell.
Three Artists, Three States, Three Styles
May 8 – June 21, 2025
Three Artists, Three States, Three Styles is a retrospective exhibition celebrating nearly three decades of artistic collaboration between Addren Doss, Amy Evans, and Julie Hayes–collectively known as “Three Who Paint.” Over the past 25 years, these three artists have journeyed across the county, united by their shared passion for plein air painting, which blossomed into a deep friendship and creative partnership. This bond has propelled them to achieve national recognition and win numerous awards, a success they attribute to their collaboration. The exhibition features 45 works, including painting created on location and studio pieces inspired by their plein air experiences.​
Florence Thomas Art School will host an art talk–part of the Mixed Palette Series–with all three artists on June 10, 2025 at 6:00pm (register here). They will each discuss their work and share stories of their plein air adventures.
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Additionally, Florence Thomas Art School will offer a two-day plein air workshop with “Three Who Paint” on during the exhibition. The dates for the workshop June 12 and 13, 2025. Learn more about the oil workshop here, the pastel workshop here, and the watercolor workshop here.
Image: Addren Doss, Up Ahead and on the Right, oil on panel. © Addren Doss
Check back soon for more additions to our exhibition calendar!