GROUNDBREAKING FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT EXHIBITION OPENS AT THE ASHLEY GIBSON BARNETT MUSEUM OF ART AT FLORIDA SOUTHERN COLLEGE

LAKELAND, Fla., June 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art is thrilled to announce the opening of its exclusive original exhibition, Frank Lloyd Wright & the College of Tomorrow. The exhibition, developed in collaboration with MCWB Architects of Albany, NY and Florida Southern College, will be on view June 7 through November 16 and is free to the public.

This large-scale Smithsonian Affiliate museum exhibition offers a comprehensive and previously unseen look at architect Frank Lloyd Wright's 20-year effort to design a visionary campus in Lakeland, Fla. Featuring original renderings, architectural plans, correspondence, furnishings, and archival materials — including loans from the Art Bridges Foundation and Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library at Columbia University — the show also includes a centerpiece 3-D printed scale model, designed and fabricated by the team at MCWB, showcasing Wright's full campus plan, with both completed and unbuilt structures, taking visitors behind the scenes and into the archives. 

"Frank Lloyd Wright & the College of Tomorrow is not just a visual and intellectual experience — it is also the result of years of collaboration," said Dr. H. Alexander Rich, executive director and chief curator at The AGB. "The scale and detail of this show reflect the same spirit of innovation and partnership that defined Wright's original work at Florida Southern."

The exhibition occupies three of the Museum's main galleries — the Dorothy Jenkins Gallery, the Harper Family Gallery, and the Perkins Gallery — and marks the most expansive original exhibition in the institution's history. It was conceptualized and developed over the course of eight years by Museum staff and project architects from MCWB. 

Jeff Baker, architect and partner at MCWB and a longtime steward of Wright's legacy at Florida Southern College, said the exhibition offers the public a first-ever look at the architect's complete vision for the site. 

"As wonderful as Wright's achievements are here, it is nevertheless an unfinished symphony," said Baker. "This exhibition gives the public a sense of what that symphony might have looked like had Wright and Ludd Spivey — president of Florida Southern College from 1925 to 1957 — been able to fully realize their dream."

Even for those familiar with Florida Southern's campus, the unbuilt designs revealed in this exhibition will be eye-opening. While the focus is on architecture, the exhibition reinforces the Museum's broader mission and commitment to art in all its forms.   

"Like many of our shows, it is homegrown—meaning we, in partnership with MCWB, produced it as an original exhibition. However, this exhibition's focus on architecture may seem like a bit of a departure from our typical 'art history' content, both for us and for our audiences," added Rich. "Importantly, though, this is not a departure at all. There can be no doubt that architecture is a form of art and that Wright was a polymath artist-architect of profound genius and profound aesthetic talent." 

In addition to exploring Wright's broader artistic vision, the exhibition also delves into the evolution of his "textile block" system — the innovative method used to construct the buildings at Florida Southern College. Large wall panels illustrate how this system developed over time, offering insight into Wright's design thinking and aesthetic sensibilities.

"There are many things that will surprise visitors, even those who have deep and long experience with Florida Southern College. Encountering the designs in person that only lived in Wright's mind is an eye-opening experience," said Baker. "This, coupled with seeing Wright's most iconic drawings, prepared throughout his long and storied career, will be stunning."   

The Museum invites visitors to explore the exhibition in tandem with the surrounding Florida Southern College campus, steps away from The AGB, which features the largest single-site collection of Wright buildings in the world. Daily guided tours of the campus are available through the Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center. 

"Frank Lloyd Wright & the College of Tomorrow" has been organized and made possible by the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art, Joel & Kelly Adams and Family, MCWB Architects, Art Bridges Foundation, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library at Columbia University and The Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay, Jr. Archives Center at Florida Southern College.

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SOURCE Florida Southern College