These planned upcoming exhibitions and dates may include working titles. All exhibitions and dates are subject to change.
Click a museum name to jump to the upcoming exhibitions for that museum.
Brunnier Art Museum
Christian Petersen Art Museum
Farm House Museum
Anderson Sculpture Garden
Brunnier Art Museum
Scheman Building, second floor
50 Years of Collecting
August – December 2025
In celebration of University Museums 50th anniversary, the Brunnier Art Museum will travel through time and memories with a presentation of Fifty Years of Collecting. Included in the exhibition will be examples from the collection of Ann and Henry Brunnier, whose foundational decorative arts objects continue to be used in curricula across campus and in unique exhibitions. Over the last fifty years many donors have added greatly to the permanent collection with a wide variety of decorative arts, works on paper, paintings, and more. These gifts have strengthened the Museums core collection, while also expanding and allowing further development of several other areas of collecting. Today, the permanent collection continues to grow with new acquisitions made through donor funds and designated gifts, but each is tied to the legacy began by the Brunniers and is purposefully made to fulfill the mission of University Museums and Iowa State University.
Preserving the Past
August – December 2025
Throughout University Museums' fifty years, many works of art have been rediscovered, relocated, and conserved to connect the important history of art made on and for Iowa State’s campus. When the Museums came into existence, there was a concerted effort to present the story of the aesthetic campus and how the arts have long been a key part of the campus. This has led to many works of art being found through deep investigations or out of the blue conversations with faculty and staff. By finding, conserving, and caring for these objects, University Museums is now able to communicate to students today the incredible importance of art at Iowa State University, while also continuing to add contemporary art that will inform future generations. Preserving the Past celebrates these amazing stories and hopefully inspires new discoveries of art tied to the history of Iowa State.
Single Object Focus
August 2025 – July 2026
Ann Brunnier Decorative Arts Gallery
Fairytales from the Permanent Collection
Co-curated by Dr. Michèle Schaal, ISU Professor of French and Women’s and Gender Studies
January – July 2026
Although all major artforms may be found in cultures across the globe, storytelling remains one of the oldest and most universal artistic expressions. Whether through reciting, creating, listening to, or reading tales, stories, old and new, impact everyone’s lives. From childhood on in, humans are told or make up their own stories. Some of these tales are transmitted from generation to generation and even date back to early human times. Many have also endured, albeit always transformed and adapted to their context.
The purpose of the exhibition “Tell Me a Story” is to explore the enduring impact of folk, fairy, mythological, spiritual, and other tales, whether old or new, on humans across the globe, as well as these enduring global stories’ specificities and commonalities. This exhibition will feature objects from the University Museums Collections, highlighting both national and global tales and stories. The exhibition will demonstrate that despite cultural specificities and differences, storytelling shapes who we are and help humans understand themselves and the world around them. In short, tales are a pathway to human and global understanding.
Norwood Viviano
January – May, 2026
Beautiful Black
August – December 2026
Christian Petersen Art Museum
Morrill Hall, first floor and lower level
Beth Lipman
August – December 2025
Campbell Gallery, first floor
An exhibition of Beth Lipman's studio work to celebrate new public art sculpture installed in April 2025.
Unknown Political Prisoner, Christian Petersen
August – December 2025
Neva M. Petersen Gallery, lower-level hallway
In connection with the installation of sculpture in the Anderson Sculpture Garden, an exhibition of Christian Petersen’s Unknown Political Prisoner maquette and related drawings will be shown in the Neva M Petersen Gallery. This exhibit will shed light on this unique sculpture by Christian Petersen and reveal the context behind these works, exploring Petersen’s changing depictions of war and its victims throughout his career. This exhibition will celebrate the recently pointed and enlargement of Unknown Political Prisoner installed in Anderson Sculpture Garden in 2025.
Farm House Museum
Yuletide: Glad Tidings
November – December 2025
The Farm House Museum has a certain twinkle this time of year, making it the perfect place to kick off the holiday season with friends old and new. Join us as we gather in the beauty of ISU campus’ oldest building to share glad tidings, merriment and good cheer.
America 250: Prairie, Plows, and the People's College
February – October 2026
On July 4, 2026, the United States will commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding. The Farm House Museum, built in 1860, has been central to the development of campus, Iowa State heritage, education, innovation, and national policy.
“The journey toward this historic milestone is an opportunity to pause and reflect on our nation’s past, honor the contributions of all Americans, and look ahead toward the future we want to create for the next generation and beyond.” - U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission
America 250: Prairie, Plows, and the People’s College will honor the key people, moments and experiences that have been centered within the Farm House Museum, campus’ first building. This exhibition will explore America’s 250th through 250 primary source objects from honoring the land of the original indigenous people to the plowing of the prairie, campus development and the fostering of generations of democratic and innovative citizens.
Yuletide + America 250: History for the Holidays
November – December 2026
To celebrate the culmination of the 250th founding year of the United States, the Farm House Museum presents History for the Holidays. This exhibition explores the holiday traditions that were brought to the United States by immigrants, decorations that are uniquely “American”, and festivities that have brought Iowa State campus together in merriment year after year since the 1860s. The Farm House Museum has a certain twinkle this time of year, making it the perfect place to honor the history of the holiday season with friends old and new.
Anderson Sculpture Garden
Hive Mind
May 2025 – May 2027
Celebrate the new sculpture commission Hive Mind by Beth Lipman, plus complementary sculptures from the permanent collection.