Art and Design Gallery
The exhibition space showcases the work of students, faculty, and distinguished alumni, as well as invited guest artists.
Exhibitions
The Art and Design Gallery is open from 9 am until 5 pm, seven days per week. The gallery is located at the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and West 27th Street.
<<Rewind Play> Fast Forward>>
Animation and Game Design at FIT and Beyond
Rewind, Play, Fast Forward celebrates animation and game design work by Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) students, faculty, and alumni of the School of Art and Design and School of Graduate Studies.
The exhibition surveys works created in NYC and beyond, showing how storytelling appears in animation, where a storyline can take on a linear structure, and in game design, where players shape the story themselves. On display are a wide variety of game and animation art, concept and character designs, and games to play, along with a special guest exhibition of world-class work from Hornet, an NYC-based animation studio that produces all forms of commercial work, including stop-motion and computer-generated animation.
At FIT, students in the Illustration BFA program can specialize in design for animation and games, where they learn about concept art and character design to understand how characters and sets work together to create worlds and tell stories. Students in the Animation, Interactive Media, & Game Design BFA program take the process from design to completion, adding movement, sound, and/or gameplay. Alumni of both programs have gone on to work for renowned studios, including DreamWorks, NBC Universal, Disney, and Titmouse, where they continue to create character designs, concept art, and animation for popular shows. Others have formed their own game and animation companies.
<<Rewind Play> Fast Forward>> is curated by Dan Shefelman, chair, Illustration and Interactive Media, and organized by the Department of Illustration and Interactive Media.
Opening Reception:
January 29, 2026 5–7pm
Evolution: Fashion Design AAS
Evolution is the fall/winter Fashion Design AAS exhibition, exploring the natural cycle of fashion through a floral lens. For this showcase, students delve into the theme of evolution—from the seed of a concept to the buds of growth, from the blossoms of creativity to the final bloom of completion. Each phase of their process reflects change, transformation, and renewal.
In the spirit of collaboration, students from the Illustration Department interpret transformation through fashion illustrations, while students from the Photography Department capture moments of becoming—documenting their peers in the Fashion Design AAS program as they bring new visions to life.
Conception, iteration, and creation—Evolution celebrates fashion’s continual, ever-unfolding movement forward, shaped by growth and renewal.
This exhibition is organized by the Fashion Design AAS Exhibition Committee, in collaboration with Dan Shefelman, chair of Illustration, and Allison Wade Wermager, chair of Photography.
Gift of Making:
A Whimsical Celebration of Art, Design, and Creativity at FIT
Art and Design Gallery Windows
The Gift of Making transforms the Art and Design Gallery’s windows into a whimsical celebration of creativity and craft. Inspired by the enchantment of holiday displays, the installation invites viewers into a “winter tale” about the joy of designing and making.
Each window unfolds as a chapter in this story, featuring student artwork from all 17 majors in the School of Art and Design. Stacked, open-fronted gift boxes serve as cabinets of curiosity, framing the inventive objects, garments, and images that represent the many facets of art and design at FIT. Interwoven with playful ribbons, floating snowflakes, and maker's tools, the displays evoke the shared spirit of creativity and the community of makers behind it.
Recently Past
NURTURING THE ARTIST:
Student Life From the FIT Special Collections
November 1 - December 1, 2025
NURTURING THE ARTIST:
Student Life From the FIT Special Collections
FIT Special Collections, part of the Gladys Marcus Library, is known for its fashion documentation through rare periodicals, fashion plates, monographs detailing all aspects of the industry, and unique manuscript collections. These materials provide entrance into often unpublished behind-the-scenes processes critical to fashion design, marketing, forecasting, and research.
The College Archives, a lesser-known part of the Special Collections, documents the history of the college, our evolving programs, and the student body over eight decades. At this momentous time, on the cusp of ushering in new leadership when longstanding President Joyce F. Brown retires, we delved into the College Archives to explore documentary evidence of how students, their work, and campus life in general has been recorded since the college’s inception in 1944.
Nurturing the Artist is curated by FIT Special Collections and College Archives, Gladys Marcus Library.
