University of Washington School of Art

Become part of our faculty! The School of Art + Art History + Design is excited to announce an opportunity for three tenure-track faculty appointments. These positions are based on a nine-month service period and will start in September 2025. The School invites applications from those who value original research, cutting edge technology, unique modes of artistic inquiry, and fresh approaches to pedagogy. As per the University of Washington’s Diversity Blueprint, the institution prioritizes attracting and retaining faculty that reflects our diverse student population. Full job descriptions and applications at https://art.washington.edu/news/2024/08/21/faculty-searches-2025

/

Happy August 1st! We’re catching up to our social media posting…

Back in June we gave outgoing Director Jamie Walker the “ultimate” sendoff complete with a wonderful set of frisbees created by some faculty and techs. The frisbees are made from paper (recycled from Jamie’s trashcan), a 3D print highlighting all the faculty hires Jamie has made in ten years (19!), wood, metal, glass, paint, clay and even a sundial! Many thanks to the expert craftsmen who made these happen. And cheers to Jamie for his tireless leadership over the past ten years. We hope you can enjoy many more ultimate games now — though perhaps not with any of these frisbees…

/

Two UW Design alumni are Core77 Design Award honorees: Claire Weizenegger (MDes 2023) for her thesis project “Polyphonic & Ecoversea”, and Cobi Stancik (BDes 2024) for his project “Hidden Kitchen”. The later was also recognized by The National Student Show and received an Indigo Design Award and a UxD Design Award.

Congrats , and project team members and faculty support:

Polyphonic & Ecoversea:
• Wyatt Olson (MDes, 2024) / .jpg
• IxD Professor Dr. Audrey Desjardins / .design
• IxD Professor Dr. James Pierce

Hidden Kitchen:
• Cameron Lee (BDes 2024)
• Christopher Pile
• Michael Reese (BDes 2024)
• IxD Professor Dr. James Pierce
• IxDLecturer Dr. Cayla Key

More about the projects in bio.

A few wide shots from last night’s opening reception of “Another Day at the Office: MFA Thesis Exhibition” at .seattle. Thank you everyone who joined us to celebrate our MFA Grads! Can’t wait to share more photos.

The exhibition is open daily 2-7pm through June 6, and June 7-9 by appointment. If you missed the opening, you can still celebrate with the grads at the closing reception during the First Thursday Art Walk on June 6, 6-9pm. more info link in bio.

Meet the MFA Grads: Ali Meyer (They/ them/ theirs) was born in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1999. They received their BFA in Film at the University of Central Florida in 2021 and will be receiving an MFA in the Photo/Media at the University of Washington . Their current practice explores the limitations and delineations of identity from an autobiographical perspective through photography, video, and film. ‘s practice is visually defined by sterility, physical mark making, digital disruption, and intentional obscuration to find or hide parts of their true self for their audience.

View Ali’s work at the MFA Thesis Exhibition, May 28 - June 9 .seattle .Opening reception tonight is Thursday, May 30, 7-9pm. All info @ link in bio.

Artwork photos courtesy of the artist.
info @ link in bio.

Image 1-2: Ali Meyer, ID Photo (Self-Portrait), 2023, single channel video, dimensions variable
Image 3: Ali Meyer, 503 E Thomas Street, 2023, archival prints, 12 x 12 inches
Image 4: Ali Meyer, Untitled 16mm Film, 2024, digitized 16mm film

・・・
Spotlight on second year Painting and Drawing graduate student: Rachel Dorsey (b. 1992, Yonkers, NY) makes intimate paintings, drawings, artist books, and other sculptural flirtations looking at pain, pleasure, illness, care, and interdependence. Dorsey holds a BFA in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently completing an MFA in Painting + Drawing from the University of Washington, Seattle. They have exhibited and completed residencies both nationally and internationally, most recently the Tropical Lab residency with the Lasalle College of Art and Design in Singapore.


/

Technology ethicist and interaction designer, Cennydd Bowles, comes to the University of Washington for a guest lecture on May 13. Learn more below.

Cennydd Bowles: What could go wrong? Monday, May 13, 2024, 6 - 7 p.m. Communications Building (CMU)

Full open house! Thank you to the ~300+ guest who joined us for the 3D4M Open House at the CMA last week! It was wonderful to see the love, energy and excitement from our community of students, alumni and faculty.

A huge shoutout to the real MVPs: The 3D4M faculty, staff and students for their leadership and hard work in making this happen. From the volunteers welcoming and hosting, technicians, demonstrators, the band and food truck, to the MFA grads who opened their studios and shared their work and process with guest: Thank you! We appreciate you.

🙏 to and for their support.

Photos by

S/o to Latin American Art Professor Jennifer Baez who was invited to present at the Museum of Latin American Art (.art ) in March. The title of the presentation was “Kilombo: A Coming Together”, where they discussed Alexandre Arrechea’s Intersected Horizons show at MOLAA, and the role of U.S. museums as liberatory spaces where Afro-Latino/a/x art is increasingly enjoyed, collected, and cared for.

Enjoy these photos of Arrichea’s work taken by Prof. Baez during her visit last month. Thanks to MOLAA and Marleen Arenivar from for organizing the presentation.

/ /

We are excited to announce that Jordan Jones has been appointed as the new Director and Curator of the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. She will begin working on the senior capstone exhibitions during the spring quarter alongside Web Crowell, who has served as the Interim Director since the fall of 2023. Jordan’s appointment is timely, as her first day on the job on April 3 is the opening of “Simon Benjamin: A Bolt from the Blue”, the exhibition created as part of Simon Benjamin’s 2024 Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency, organized by Guest Curator Berette S Macaulay. We will be officially welcoming and introducing Jordan to the School community at the opening reception tomorrow, Wednesday, April 3, 5-7pm. Join us!

BIO: Jordan Jones is an arts worker that was living and working in New York prior to her recent move to Seattle. Before accepting the position, she was the Exhibitions Coordinator at Independent Curators International (ICI), working across all of ICI’s traveling exhibitions. Previously, she was a joint Curatorial Fellow at The Studio Museum in Harlem and The Museum of Modern Art. While at Studio Museum, she worked with the permanent collection and co-organized Harlem Postcards Winter 2020 and Hearts in Isolation, the 2020 Expanding the Walls exhibition. At MoMA, Jones worked in the Department of Drawings and Prints. She has participated in the Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program (IATP), the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Museum Education Practicum, and the Center for Book Arts’ Creative Publishing Seminar for Emerging Writers. She has also completed residencies at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Arts Center on Governors Island and The Vermont Studio Center. Jones received a B.A. from Williams College in Studio Art and Comparative Literature.

We are excited to share that Assistant Professor and Chair of Interdisciplinary Visual Art, Whitney Lynn, is an Artist Fellow with Black Cube Nomatic Art Museum. .museum recently shared the news on their website with this incredible portrait by .

Swipe left to see installation shots of Professor Lynn’s work from a group exhibition in Autumn 2023 at .lawrence.gallery

Congratulations Professor Lynn!

Congratulations to Chair of Visual Communication Design and Associate Professor Kristine Matthews for being chosen as a juror for the Society for Experimental Graphic Design (SEGD) Global Design Awards this year.

First photo is from her recent trip to DC with fellow jurors Vijay Mathews, Norman Lee, Emilie Baltz, Niloufar Maleki, Nu Goteh, Anna Crider, Germane Barnes, and Nick Kapica.

Last year, , the design studio run by Professor Matthews received a SEGD Global Design Award for the Seattle Convention Center project wayfinding and placemaking. The same project also received a Core77 award in 2023. Swipe left to see a few photos of the project.

Congratulations Prof. Matthews!

Here’s the first monthly round up of recent alumni news, including a few from Fall 2023 we didn’t have the chance to share here. Plus exciting upcoming alumni local events + exhibitions worth checking out this month.

We are excited to learn about and highlight the incredible accomplishments of our art + art history + design alumni on a ongoing basis as we build capacity. We’re aware there’s much more happening locally, nationally and internationally than what we hear about, please help us by sending your news through our website alumni update form or via email to [email protected]. If you have recently received an award, were featured on a publication, got into a residency or academic program, anything - we want to hear about it. We specially want to hear stories from Art history and Design alumni.

/

Alden Mason was an alum (BFA 1945, MFA 1947) and beloved art profesor at the School. Throughout his career, he was a generous teacher, mentor and supporter of younger artists whose work he felt deserved respect and recognition. The Alden Mason Foundation is honoring his legacy by supporting Washington artists, including a recently established endowed fellowship for MFA in Painting + Drawing graduates at the School – the first round of awards will be made later this year. This past fall, the foundation also announced the inaugural Alden Mason Foundation Award for artist working in Painting. We highly encourage alumni to apply. Application is due Wednesday. Find link in their bio .mason.foundation

We thank the Alden Mason Foundation for their commitment to emerging artists, their generous support to the School, and the opportunity to honor the legacy of our dear Alden.

/

Exciting Art Faculty news! Assistant Professor in Painting + Drawing, Sangram Majumdar, and Lecturer in Painting + Drawing, Kuldeep Singh, are part of the 11th edition of the Mumbai Gallery Weekend, which begins tomorrow.

"somewhere elsewhere" at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke is Sangram Majumdar’s first solo exhibition in India and includes works that draw from people and memories from Majumdar’s lived experience, and place them against a backdrop of indistinct picture fragments.

"Nakhra: Towards sacred sensuality" at Chemould CoLab is Kuldeep Singh’s first solo exhibition in Mumbai. The works being exhibited were created at the space during Singh’s summer residency in 2023, combined with an Odissi performance titled “Love that never told can be”.

Read more about the two exhibits on Architecture Digest India. https://www.architecturaldigest.in/story/11-art-exhibitions-not-to-miss-at-mumbai-gallery-weekend-2024/

/

Congratulations to PhotoMedia alum, Jenny Irene Miller (BFA 2013) who made the 2023 Silver List organized by Silver Eye . The 2023 Silver List includes 24 photographers selected by nearly 100 curators, educators, publishers, and researchers working in photography in North America.

Jenny Irene Miller (Inupiaq, b. Sitŋasuaq / Nome, Alaska) is an artist working primarily with photography. Her work focuses on identity, community, place, refusal, and access. The poetics found in what is seen, unseen, or refused in Jenny’s images make important contributions to her work. Jenny lives and works in Dgheyay Kaq' / Anchorage, Alaska. Jenny holds an MFA in Photography from the University of New Mexico, a BFA in Photomedia and a BA in American Indian Studies from the University of Washington. She is a past Beaumont Newhall/Van Deren Coke Photography Fellow at UNM, SITE Santa Fe Scholar, Elizabeth Furber Fellow, and Fulbright Canada Killam Fellow.

Come work with us! The UW School of Art + Art History + Design has a unique opportunity for Director + Curator of the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. The new Director + Curator will lead the re-emergence and visibility of the gallery locally and nationally, providing curatorial, programming, and administrative leadership and oversight in the newly renovated exhibition space at the UW Seattle campus. Priority Deadline: Dec 4, 2023

Job description:
https://art.washington.edu/news/2023/11/20/hiring-director-curator-jacob-lawrence-gallery

The UW School of Art + Art History + Design is pleased to invite you to celebrate the official reopening of the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. Join us for this special occasion as we bring our community together to commemorate the renovated .lawrence.gallery in its new home within the Art building. Free + open to the public.

This is also the perfect opportunity to check out the original Jacob Lawrence portrait by installed in the display case near the gallery entrance. See you next week!

-
Dedicated to Professor Jacob Lawrence, the Jacob Lawrence Gallery is a space for education, social justice, and experimentation, honoring the memory of one of the School's most beloved faculty. The newly transformed gallery was made possible by the generous supporters of the UW Art + Music Capital Campaign.

Come work with us!

https://linktr.ee/uwsoa

/ /

The School’s Autumn 2023 Newsletter went out today! Read these and a few more featured stories on our website.

Make sure you sign up to the School’s mailing list so you don’t miss future newsletter and announcements. Link will be in the comments.

Autumn 2023 Newsletter | School of Art + Art History + Design | University of Washington Featured Stories

Great alumni story published in UW Magazine September Issue featuring five influential industrial designers who were in the School's industrial design (ID) program between 1956 and 1972. ID alum and author of the piece, Steve Kaneko sat with Harold Kawaguchi, Dell King, George McCain, and David Smith to catch up on life and discuss their shared interest on the state of ID and design education. They got together for a group photo in the UW art building. Some may think these are paid actors in the picture, but it's just five long-time pals geeking out on material design and reminiscing about their experiences in the building. It was almost like they had been students together despite being three different generations, which makes the moment even more special.

The design landscape is ever shifting in order solve present problems; and so are the design programs within the School. What remains, is the valuable learning experience and relationships students build. In the words of Steve, "The fact that these pioneers studied design in the UW School of Art + Art History + Design, where exploration and experimentation reign, is a key point. They were trained to create things that make others think, feel, or simply admire for their ingenuity. Could it be that art, and the exposure to the humanities, remain central to what makes us human? I emphatically say, “Yes.”

Link below for full story.

Design Division, School of Art, University of Washington
University of Washington College of Arts & Sciences
University of Washington
UW Alumni Association

In the hands of UW’s influential industrial designers, form and function make art UW Magazine | University of Washington

Welcome to the School Victor, Henry and Chad!

Three faculty appointments and one new search - e-flux Education Open faculty search 2023 and three new appointments at the University of Washington School of Art + Art History + Design.

[Reposting due to a glitch aka spelling error]

If you were excited with the new faculty announcement, wait until we tell you we have another opportunity for someone to become part of the School’s mighty team. We are seeking applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Interdisciplinary Visual Art to start in September 2024. This position is 100% full-time and has a nine-month service period. Candidates from underrepresented communities are especially encouraged to apply.

OPEN UNTIL FILLED. Priority will be given to applications received by November 1, 2023.

https://ap.washington.edu/ahr/position-details/?job_id=120548&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

(3/3) Last but not least, please welcome Chad P. Hall! Chad is is joining the Division of Design as Assistant Professor in Visual Communication Design.

Chad P. Hall (he/him) practices as a Design Director at which uses research, strategy, and design to envision better futures. With over 10 years of consulting experience, Hall has collaborated with clients in global health, biotechnology, and technology, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Exemplars in Global Health, Google, Meta, and Samsung, among others. Hall specializes in transforming abstract ideas into tangible, accessible, and actionable insights through visualizing datasets, mapping systems, designing frameworks, and envisioning futures.

Hall co-hosts the podcast "This is Design School" alongside Jp Avila. The podcast features interviews with a diverse range of designers, exploring their journeys into the design field and how they practice design in their current work.

Prior to joining the Division of Design, Hall served as an Affiliate Instructor in Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington. He holds a Master of Design from the University of Washington’s School of Art + Art History + Design and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Pacific Lutheran University.

Welcome to the School, Chad!

(2/3) Next up, please help us welcome Henry Jackson-Spieker! Henry is joining the Division of Art as Assistant Professor in 3D4M Glass and Dale Chihuly Endowed Chair of Glass.

Henry Jackson-Spieker is a multidisciplinary artist based in Seattle, focusing on sculpture and site-specific installations. His work combines glass, bronze, steel, wood, fiber, and light. His sculptures explore tension, balance, and reflection through the merging of contrasting materials. Jackson-Spieker’s installations examine and question how social and cultural norms shape the way we perceive and utilize space. By disrupting his viewers’ perceptions of depth and volume, Jackson-Spieker’s work challenges ingrained assumptions about our physical environments and the cultural codes they contain. Jackson-Spieker received his BFA from Western Washington University and his MFA in Sculpture and Dimensional Studies from Alfred University. He is the recipient of the MAC Fellowship and the Chihuly Garden and Glass Award, and currently has public artwork at Seattle’s Midtown Commons and the Bellevue Art Museum. Jackson-Spieker has exhibited at Wa Na Wari, Method Gallery, the San Juan Museum of Art and others, and teaches glass blowing and bronze casting at Pratt Fine Arts Center, where he first started working with glass. Most recently, he was an Amazon Artist in Residence in the spring and attended the Cité Internationale des Arts Residency in the summer.

Welcome Henry!

(1/3) We are excited to introduce our three new tenure-track faculty members joining us this autumn quarter.

First up, please help us welcome Victor Yañez-Lazcano! Victor is joining the Division of Art as Assistant Professor in Photo/Media.

Since 2009, Victor Yañez-Lazcano has shaped an interdisciplinary body of work that chronicles his family’s history in the U.S. as it transitions from immigrants to first-, second-, and third-generation Mexican Americans. His artworks explore his family’s collective identity at the intersection of race, language, class, and labor to further grapple with notions of assimilation. Yañez-Lazcano received his MFA from Stanford University and his BFA from Columbia College Chicago. He has been a visiting art lecturer at various institutions including Stanford University, San Francisco State University, and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. His work has been exhibited at numerous spaces including Royal Nonesuch Gallery (Oakland), Natalie & James Thompson Art Gallery (San Jose), Perspective Gallery (Milwaukee), and The Chicago Design Museum. His published works are included in various collections including Yale University’s Haas Arts Special Collections, Indiana University’s Wells Library Fine Arts Collection, and Harvard University’s Fine Arts Library Special Collection. Yañez-Lazcano arrives to the UW community after a year-long artist residency via the RAiR Foundation in Roswell, New Mexico.

Welcome Victor!

Photo: Livien Yin

Exciting opportunity for artists and designers!

Apply for the 2023-2024 Soft Data and Common Waresartist Residency, an ongoing interdisciplinary collaboration between the DXARTS Softlab (e-textiles and wearable technology lab run by Afroditi Psarra in DXARTS) and Studio Tilt (interaction design research studio run by Audrey Desjardins in Design). Two 4-week residencies will be hosted at the University of Washington, Seattle in Spring 2024. The residency includes an honorarium, travel funding and accommodations.

Application is open to both local and international artists, designers, performers, creative researchers with project proposals that explore the creation of artifacts, materials and processes of any medium (multidisciplinary practices encouraged).

Proposals due on October 1st, 2023.
Visit link for details and application.

Soft Data and Common Wares — THE RESIDENCIES —We invite artists to join us in our conversations on diverse topics such as: the non-neutrality of data, algorithmic bias, digital labor, the invisible infrastructures of data collection, gender and the body, networks, methods, sonic technologies, interpretative nature of data...

Congratulations to this year’s HUB Director's Art award winners: Neylan McCormick (BA, 2023), Leah Matsumoto ( BA Honors, 2023) and Jai Sallay-Carrington (MFA, 2023).

Though the HUB officially announced the winners earlier in the summer, we are excited to share the work of this three artists is now displaying at the Husky Union Building (HUB).

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 BA and BA Honor exhibitions at Jacob Lawrence Gallery and the MFA + MDes Thesis Exhibition at the Henry Art Gallery to select a finalist. This year there was not one, not two, but THREE graduating students selected for the award!

Next time you find yourself on campus, stop by the HUB to check out the installations irl.

.lawrence.gallery

“Since I arrived, I knew [the School's community] was something unique that I couldn't find anywhere else, and I just couldn’t let it go.”

After spending 26 years dedicated to supporting students achieve academic and professional success, Academic Advising Director, Judith Clark retired in Spring of 2023. We wish Judith the best in a much-deserved retirement, and we thank her for all her contributions to make the School of Art + Art History + Design what it is today.

Before her departure, she shared with us her journey and reflection on her nearly three-decade tenure in an interview.

Read full story here:
https://art.washington.edu/news/2023/06/25/judith-clark-reflects-her-nearly-three-decade-tenure