Featured Stories
Director's Notes – October 2023
The new academic year already seems well underway, and the autumn colors have transformed our beautiful campus once again into an amazing palette of yellows, oranges, and reds complementing the ubiquitous greens that our state is named for.
Jacob and the Builders
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.
Three faculty appointments
The School is pleased to announce the hiring of three faculty – two for the Division of Art and one for the Division of Design.
Staff + Faculty Transitions in 2022-2023
A list of employees who departed or joined the School in October 2022 through September 2023.
UW Scholars meet Howardena Pindell
Hosted by the LAB, the acclaimed artist shared her perspectives on life and art in an illuminating conversation with the students, faculty and staff who attended.
Featured on King 5: Kim Van Someren
Watch Van Someren's process of creating the work for her exhibition in this Behind the Scenes look from Evening Magazine
Donors: October 2022 – September 2023
Gifts from our generous donors — individuals, foundations, and organizations — are critical to the success and morale of the School. We are deeply grateful for their support.
Student Voices Stories
Meet the Incoming Graduate Students
We are excited to introduce sixteen new graduate students to the School community. The School of Art + Art History + Design officially welcomed this year’s new staff, faculty and incoming class of graduate students to their peers and colleagues at our annual BBQ Welcome Back reception on the first day of Autumn quarter.
2023-2024 Scholarship Recipients
The School of Art + Art History + Design is proud to share its 2023–2024 scholarship recipients. Thanks to the generosity of donors, $218,000 is being awarded in scholarships this year: $101,000 to incoming students and $117,000 to current students. There are always more students who would benefit from support like this. Make a gift to one of the School’s funds towards student scholarships or you may email us if you would like to discuss the right fund for your gift.
2023 HUB Director’s Art Awards
To foster the intellectual and creative strengths of our students, the HUB Director’s Art Award rewards excellence by purchasing and displaying student artwork in the HUB Permanent Art Collection. Each spring quarter, members of a Husky Union Building (HUB) committee visit the undergraduate graduation exhibitions at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery and the MFA + MDes Thesis Exhibition at the Henry Art Gallery to select finalist(s).
Alumni Stories
Artist Patti Warashina finds playful edge to world’s problems
Artist, alum (MFA, 1964; BA, 1962) and Emeritus Faculty Patti Warashina is featured in the Seattle Times in advance of her show The World Upside Down
at Seattle’s Traver Gallery on Aug 3 — Sep 2, 2023.
Made There: A Yakima printmaker crafts impressions of unsung labor
“I began creating these pieces that reflect my heritage, but also continuing to work on culture, identity, including the people around me as well. So I began to create pieces that reflect the many realities of people that live here in Yakima, in particular a lot of our farmworkers in this community.” - Christie Tirado, Yakima printmaker and educator
2023 Graduate Showcase
The School of Art + Art History + Design is pleased to announce publication of the 2023 Graduate Showcase. This website includes the culminating thesis work of the graduate students in all fields receiving Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Master of Arts (MA), Master of Design (MDes), or Doctorate in Art History (PhD) degrees.
Jacob Lawrence Gallery Stories
Featured on Crosscut: Jacob Lawrence Gallery and three faculty
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.
JLG 2023 Highlights
Jacob Lawrence was a renowned artist when he joined the faculty of the University of Washington School of Art + Art History + Design (the School) in 1971, at age 54. Lawrence had a profound impact on students at UW—where he taught until 1986—and on the broader arts community in the Pacific Northwest. Recognizing his impact, The School’s faculty chose to name the Art Building’s first floor gallery in honor of Lawrence in 1993.
Other News
Congratulations to Assistant Professor Caitlin Earley for the publication of her first book, The Comitán Valley: Sculpture and Identity on the Maya Frontier.
Kathy Liao (BFA 2008) wins the prestigious Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship. Lios is one of 5 artists from across the United States who will each receive $60,000 in unrestricted funds.
The Art Zone features Camila Patha and her exhibit Camille Patha: Passion, Pleasure, Power showing at Tacoma Art Museum through Sept. 3.
Restauranteur, alum and Advisory Board Member Renee Erickson featured in the NY Times.
ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY on UW Magazine features Nathan Vass (BA 2009). Vass talked about why he loves film photography as a medium, buses as a model for their cities and finding beauty in everyday things.
Ellen Lesperance is featured as one of three contemporary artists in Exemplary Modern, a special exhibition at Hauser & Wirth New York honoring Sophie Taeuber-Arp
ArtSEA: A playful barrage of collage at Seattle arts spaces on Crosscut features Seattle artist Cathy McClure.
Jerred Mace (BDes 2023) along with his co-founding collegues of OneCourt were named to Forbes 30 under 30 Local Seattle list. Mace is also a 2023 Husky 100.
In July, Photo/Media Professor Rebecca Cummins gave two talks: one at the international conference FEMeeting: Women in Art, Science and Technology, Taos Center for the Arts and another at the Harwood Museum of Art during a session on “Gender and ArtSci in the America.” In October, Professor Cummins will participate in the conference "Arts of Fugitivity" on the panel “Recursive Fugues: The Technical Image in a Digital Age” and will be exhibiting Annularity at Praxis Gallery at Oregon State University.
Contacts
Leo Carmona, Media Relations Specialist, soanews@uw.edu