As the 2025–2026 academic year comes to a close and the final graduating student exhibition has concluded, the Jacob Lawrence Gallery is taking a moment to reflect on a year of exhibitions, partnerships, and programs that deepened connections across the University of Washington and beyond.
Rooted in the values of education, social justice, and experimentation that define the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, this year our work has been anchored by two central pillars: the Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency and our student and faculty exhibitions. Together, these programs created opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, supported emerging artists, and fostered meaningful engagement with contemporary art.
The Residency welcomed indira allegra, whose time on campus included collaborations with Oceanography, Physics, UW Medicine, DXARTS, Music, Landscape Architecture, and the School of Art + Art History + Design. These cross-disciplinary partnerships informed the creation of The Book of Zero, an exhibition composed of choreographed environments that invited reflection on cycles of death and rebirth and their relationship to the systems of power that shape our lives. This year your support gave students the opportunity to work directly with our artist in residence as studio assistants. As Sadaf Sadrii, a graduate student in DXARTS, shared:
“Being a student, even at the graduate level, can impose limitations on one's experience of the art scene and exposure to how work is done professionally. Collaborating with indira offered me rich conversations about my research and a unique perspective that I otherwise would not have had access to.”
Gallery student employees also reflected on how working at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery shaped their research and creative practice. Read Spaces of care and Following curiosity through Art History to learn more about the experiences of Chave Pichardo (MFA '26) and Veronica Markey (MA '26).
In the fall, we hosted Professor Rob Rhee’s tenure promotion exhibition, Crossings, a presentation that traced his research in partnership with the UW Farm from his work to enrich the soil to fully realized bricolage sculptures. Seven second-year MFA students participated in the 2025 Fall MFA show, The Veil Is Thin Here, a cross-media exploration of narrative, memory, and loss. Complementing these ongoing programs, the inaugural Liberation Book Club emerged as an innovative and exciting new program, building community through shared exploration of texts, art, film, music, conversation, and workshops. The series invited students to consider the idea of liberation from a wide range of perspectives.
Next year, we will continue strengthening our community through a range of exhibitions and programs. The Fall MFA exhibition will once again foreground the next generation of artists shaping contemporary practice. Building on the momentum from last year, the Liberation Book Club will expand its reach as a space for shared reading and critical conversation. We are also planning an intervention in the gallery that centers Black designers and space-making strategies, reimagining how the space itself can function as a site of learning and community. In addition, we are exploring the development of our own version of Look at Art. Get Paid., a program adopted by several institutions to welcome individuals historically underserved by the art community into the gallery.
We are proud of what is accomplished here each day, and we are profoundly grateful to you for helping make this work possible. We look forward to welcoming you back to the gallery for the opening of the 2026 Fall MFA show on September 30th and hope you will continue to engage with our exhibitions and programs throughout the academic year. Thank you again for investing in the arts and in the educational mission of the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. Your partnership strengthens our ability to foster creativity, scholarship, and community connection.