The Gallery's new curated exhibition, on view through April 19, features artist Cauleen Smith's The Wanda Coleman Songbook and an array of programs fostering creative collaboration

In this April 2024 Newsletter, our students, staff, faculty, and alumni continue to be fully involved in their passions and actively making a difference for themselves and others. 

Simon Benjamin presents short films at the Wa Na Wari gallery. REDEFINE magazine.

IVA senior Rosaline Dou shares how her experiences as a curatorial assistant at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery and Henry Art Liaison at the Henry Art Gallery, have informed her artistic practice translating meaning through gestures.

Save the dates for the 2024 series of graduation exhibitions featuring the work of Art and Design students graduating with BA, BA Honors, BDes, MFA, and MDes degrees. 

Jones will provide curatorial, programming, and administrative leadership and oversight in a newly renovated state-of-the-art exhibition space within the School of Art + Art History + Design at the UW Seattle campus

The exhibition is part of Simon Benjamin's 2024 Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency organized by Guest Curator Berette S Macaulay. Please join us for the opening reception on Wednesday, April 3, 5-7pm.

The Jacob Lawrence Gallery is hosting a series of introductory workshops open to anyone on campus, with Tuesday classes changing every week and open drawing instructions each Thursday from 5 – 7.

Simon Benjamin is a Jamaican multi-disciplinary artist and filmmaker based in New York who will be in residence at the University of Washington School of Art + Art History + Design from March 24 through April 9, 2024. 

Gifts helps us sustain the growth and cultural impact of our gallery. 

Thank you to all those who attended the Jacob Lawrence Gallery Reopening Celebration on November 14. It was a wonderful evening celebrating the legacy of Jacob Lawrence, and we were so glad to share it with you. 

The UW School of Art + Art History + Design unveiled a portrait of Jacob Lawrence created by Seattle-based artist Barbara Earl Thomas (MFA 77). Featured on UW Magazine. 

A full-time opportunity for an experienced and innovative art leader to carry through the legacy of artist and former University of Washington professor, Jacob Lawrence. Priority deadline is December 11, 2023. 

Announcing Seattle-based interdisciplinary artist and writer, Berette S Macaulay as the Guest Curator for the 2024 Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency.

Featuring the work of Kristine Matthews, What Do You Make of This? is an exhibition and lecture as part of the promotion process.

The Jacob Lawrence Gallery's Promotion and Tenure Exhibition and Barbara Earl Thomas’ newly installed paper-cut portrait of Lawrence highlighted in a Crosscut article. 

Commissioned by Allan and Mary Kollar, Barbara Earl Thomas’ Portrait of Jacob Lawrence installed near the entrance of the gallery at its new home within the recently renovated UW Art building.

Following the completion of the building renovations earlier in the year, the Jacob Lawrance Gallary has been filled with special moments commemorating its new space.

The School and the Jacob Lawrence Gallery are joining local art organizations to support and promote the growing art community in Seattle and beyond at the Seattle Art Fair 2023. 

The Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency project is among 1,130 projects across the country  selected during the second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2023 funding.

As we enter the second half of spring quarter and seniors inch closer toward graduation, the School of Art + Art History + Design begins a new set of exhibitions called “Material Latitudes” in the Jacob Lawrence Gallery.

Each year the School proudly celebrates graduating Art and Design students with a series of exhibitions at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery and the Henry Art Gallery. Join us for one or more of these in April, May, and June.

With a renovation, the Jacob Lawrence Gallery in the UW Art Building will better reflect its namesake, whose paintings about the Black experience have inspired generations.

The Jacob Lawrence Gallery is pleased to host Seattle artist Miha Sarani. This exhibition is a broad survey of Sarani's work, focusing on portraiture while also reflecting his Slovenian heritage. It runs October 27 through November 23 with a reception on November 2.

While the Jacob Lawrence Gallery is undergoing renovation, this exhibition of MFA student work will be on view at SOIL Art Gallery. It opens on the evening of October 6 and runs through October 29.

The Black Embodiments Studio (BES) has a new, limited edition collaboration from artist Nikita Gale and writer Mandy Harris Williams — and you can be one of the lucky few to get a physical copy.

Each year the School proudly celebrates graduating Art and Design students with a series of exhibitions at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery and the Henry Art Gallery. Join us for one or more of these in April, May, and June.

After five years as the director + curator of the Jacob Lawrence Gallery at the University of Washington, Emily Zimmerman will depart her post April 8, 2022. The School will soon launch a national search for her replacement.

The Jacob Lawrence Gallery is pleased to present Lauren Williams: Wake Work*, an exhibition that asks, what happens in the wake of state violence, particularly against Black people in the United States? Wake Work*, created as part of Williams’ 2022 Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency, will be on view from February 8 through March 5.

Oh how grateful I am that we humans are known for being an adaptive species. Returning to campus in person at the start of the school year was so joyful and reminded us of how much learning happens during the non-scripted moments between fellow students and colleagues...

MONDAY is an arts journal produced by the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. Titled “Lux Aeterna,” volume 6 extends the themes and inquiries of the gallery’s 2021 exhibition of the same name.

The Jacob Lawrence Gallery presents the Pacific Northwest premiere of Asian futures, without Asians, an illustrated lecture by artist and curator Astria Suparak on November 30.

The Jacob Lawrence Gallery and The Black Embodiments Studio (BES) are pleased to present Katherine Simóne Reynolds: A Warning Resting in the Distance. The exhibition is on view November 16 – December 11, 2021.

The Jacob Lawrence Gallery and Wa Na Wari are thrilled to announce that Lauren Williams will be the 2022 Jacob Lawrence Legacy Resident. Williams is a designer, researcher, and educator based in Detroit.

The Jacob Lawrence Gallery presents The Reordering of Things, a group exhibition showcasing works in a variety of media by nine second-year MFA students. It runs October 19 through November 6.

The Arts Capital Campaign, to fund renovations in the Art and Music Buildings, is progressing. Work in the Art Building begins in late June 2022. Join us in supporting this important project.

This exhibition in the hall outside the Jacob Lawrence Gallery focuses on the work of UW custodians. It is curated by Evalynn Fae Taganna Romano and runs from September 28 – December 10, 2021.

The Jacob Lawrence Gallery is pleased to present Audrey Desjardins: Data Imaginaries, featuring the work of Audrey Desjardins, Assistant Professor of Interaction Design. The exhibition runs from September 21 through October 9.

The Black Embodiments Studio (BES) proudly presents Notes from the Panorama, a new video collaboration between multidisciplinary artist Carolyn Lazard and writer/performer Amber Rose Johnson.

As we await the return of the Seattle Art Fair in 2022, we celebrate the second year of SDAF. Several galleries are showing the work of retired faculty and/or alums of the School, including the Jacob Lawrence Gallery.

The Jacob Lawrence Gallery and Northwest Film Forum proudly present Lux Aeterna, an exhibition featuring 16 artists exploring the mutability of media made and consumed using ever-evolving platforms. It runs July 29 through September 7.

Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, written by adrienne marie brown, has had a resounding impact on strategies for collaboration and tools for organizing since it was published in 2017.

The Jacob Lawrence Gallery proudly presents a group exhibition curated by Brittney Frantece, recipient of the gallery’s 2021 Curatorial Fellowship for BIPOC Graduate Students. It is on view June 3 through July 8, 2021.

May brings the launch of Murmurations, a new Seattle-wide arts collaboration spearheaded by six cultural institutions: Frye Art Museum, Henry Art Gallery, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Northwest Film Forum, On the Boards, and Velocity Dance Center.

James Allister Sprang brings his work to On the Boards in Seattle on May 15 + 16 with the premiere of Aquifer of the Hum, a newly commissioned 10-minute sound meditation as part of Lux Aeterna hosted by the Jacob Lawrence Gallery.

Multidisciplinary creators and community builders adrienne maree brown and Prem Krishnamurthy come together on April 23, 2021, for an online conversation exploring ways artists contribute to community and propel structural change.

Each year the School proudly celebrates graduating Art and Design students — both undergraduate and graduate — with a series of exhibitions at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery and the Henry Art Gallery. We have a combination of online and in-person exhibitions this year.

The 2020 Neddy at Cornish award finalists are featured in this exhibition at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, which is curated by Satpreet Kahlon. It runs March 10 through March 27, 2021.

An idea born six years ago will become a reality in the next two years. The result will be a more visible location for the Jacob Lawrence Gallery and upgrades for other spaces.

Join the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Northwest Film Forum, and On the Boards for this event on Thursday, February 25, starting at 8pm. It includes a screening of Ilana Harris-Babou’s LONG CON.