The Samek Art Gallery organizes and presents an innovative program of exhibitions and lectures each academic year. Large solo exhibitions, thematic group exhibitions and smaller special projects include artists from around the globe, and are supported by interpretive publications and programming. The primary focus is the art of our time, but periodic historic exhibitions are organized as well. Programming is interdisciplinary, culturally and conceptually diverse, and supports the curriculum across disciplines.
Artists that have been the focus of solo exhibitions in the 21st century include Brian Alfred, Agnes Denes, Lewis deSoto, Öyvind Fahlström, Charles ‘Teenie’ Harris, Jin Soo Kim, William Lasansky, Nanne Meyer, Allen C. Topolski, and Carrie Mae Weems. Recent group exhibitions have focused on wide-ranging subjects such as contemporary Chinese art, American artists focusing on identity, Gutai Group and other 60s avant-garde Japanese artists, site-specific installations, and Bucknell alumni sculptors.
Recent permanent collection exhibitions include solo exhibitions of Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Richard Cramer, Shahzia Sikander, and the group exhibitions Exquisite Images, Historic and Contemporary Prints from the Permanent Collection, and James Gillray: Caricatures from the Gifford Collection.