Celia Pym "First One’s the Best" 2014
Future Tense 2025
August 19 – November 21, 2025
Joseph Gross Gallery
University of Arizona
1031 N. Olive Road, No.108
Tucson, AZ 85721
Join us for the reception, Thursday, September 25 from 4 – 7 pm
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
EXHIBITION STATEMENT
JUROR
ONLINE GALLERY
About the Exhibition
FUTURE TENSE 2025 celebrates the creative work of student artists, designers, and makers working with or inspired by fiber or textile materials or techniques, and offers a glimpse into the future of contemporary fibers by presenting the very best work being made by students in the field today.
Juried by Ann Morton and on view at The University of Arizona’s Joseph Gross Gallery in Tucson from August 19-November 21, 2025, FUTURE TENSE 2025 features 28 works by 22 artists who are eligible for awards recognizing excellence in artistic practice.
Joseph Gross Gallery hosts exhibitions intended to bring the vastness of contemporary art from outside the region to our students in the school of art to advance critical connections within their education, and to promote public discourse among University of Arizona students and faculty as well as the larger Tucson and Southern Arizona communities and beyond. The Gallery prioritizes co-created and experimental approaches to exhibitions.
For FUTURE TENSE 2025, Gallery Director + Joseph F. Gross Endowed Curator lydia see is curating collaboratively with Graduate Gallery Manager Dylan Hawkinson, who is entering his final year of MFA studies. This co-creative approach to gallery praxis is extended to undergraduate students as well, who will participate in the condition reporting and art handling process of the show, learning preparatory fundamentals and expanding their hands-on practice which will enable them to approach the professional landscape with confidence.
Exhibition Statement
“It was a pleasure to review so many new, yet accomplished artists who have gravitated to the use of textile processes in their fine art pursuits. Their diverse voices have adeptly used an array of fiber techniques, which I believe, are uniquely suited to convey important, potent and contemporary messaging through the very nature of this materiality and its rich history. It is affirming to see so many emerging artists carrying on the traditions of textiles, art and social commentary.” – Ann Morton, Future Tense 2025 Juror
Juror Bio
Ann Morton exploits traditional textile techniques as conceptual tools for aesthetic, social communication to examine a society of which we are all a part—as bystanders, participants, victims, and perpetrators. Having begun her professional career as an environmental graphic designer, she earned her MFA in 2012 from Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute School of Art. She currently is a practicing artist and instructor at Mesa Community College. Her work has been featured in numerous publications, including FiberArts, 1000 Artisan Textiles, American Craft, Surface Design Journal, Creative Placemaking (from the National Endowment for the Arts), and was included in the film documentary Violet Protest: A Creative Call for National Unity (2024). Her work has been exhibited at Arizona State University in Tempe, the Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, among other institutions. She is represented by Lisa Sette Gallery in Phoenix, Arizona.
