Arts & Culture
The University of West Florida Department of Art and Design opens Altered State this week, a group exhibition built from the department’s BFA Summer Studio class. The show is already up and will run through October 1 at The 52 World’s Inspire Apartments, 8511 Myslak Way, part of the master-planned Pensacola community that also houses the Living Art Museum.
The public is invited to a reception on Thursday, Sept. 17, from 6 to 8 p.m. Admission is free, but Eventbrite reservations are required.
What’s on the walls. The exhibition brings together oil paintings, clay work and mixed media built around identity, emotion, nature and personal transformation—themes the students spent the summer working through under close mentorship rather than in isolated class assignments.
Who’s behind it. The BFA Summer Studio was led by UWF Art and Design instructor Marzia Ransom, an Italian artist based in Pensacola who earned her MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2010. Her own practice spans large-scale oil painting and wet-process photography, alongside research into the feminine as depicted through history, religion, mythology and literature, and into how meaning in Medieval reliquaries and devotional objects shifts and erodes over time.
“This class gave students the time and structure to move beyond isolated assignments and begin thinking like artists building a sustained practice. The work in Altered State shows artists taking risks, responding to one another and allowing their ideas to evolve through material, process and critique.” —Marzia Ransom
Why the location matters. The show is the result of a growing partnership between The Art Gallery (TAG) at UWF and The 52 World. TAG Director Stasha Willis said the collaboration is about expanding where students’ work can be seen—pulling it out of the studio and into a residential arts community built around creative living. A second, related UWF exhibition is running concurrently at TAG on campus.
Participating Artists
- Angela Boyce
- Jasmin Busbee
- Coco Campus
- Rhea Candemeres
- Caroline Davidson
- Cheyra Flowers
- Darby Gallagher-Adams
- Ashley Gallagher
- Cademon Galloway
- Tessa Harris
- Brianna Ismalej
- Ivan Kidder
- Evelyn Mosley
- Lam Nguyen
- Morgan Petersen
- Emanuela Serra
- Maliya Tilley
- Heather Velez
- Hannah Whitlock
If You Go
What: Altered State—BFA Summer Studio Exhibition
Where: The 52 World, Inspire Apartments, 8511 Myslak Way, Pensacola
On view: Now through Oct. 1, 2026
Reception: Thursday, Sept. 17, 6-8 p.m. CT
Cost: Free, RSVP required via Eventbrite
