“Every story I create, creates me. I write to create myself.”
—Octavia Butler“All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you. The only lasting truth is change.”
—Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower
The Jacob Lawrence Gallery proudly presents the work of the University of Washington School of Art + Art History + Design’s 2020 BA graduates in Art as they celebrate their achievements and embark on the next steps in their creative journeys. a world becoming with draws inspiration from writers such as Octavia Butler and Donna Haraway to think about interdependency, co-authorship, and the mutual influence of making and being. Featuring the work of 53 students graduating with a BA in Art, a world becoming with highlights artworks created through adaptation, experimentation, and innovation.
CREDITS
CURATORIAL TEAM: Emily Zimmerman, Elizabeth Calvillo, Anh Nguyen, Julia Powers, Raziah Ahmad
GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Raziah Ahmad
WEB DESIGN: Sufiah Ahmad, Zackary Davis
VIDEOS: Elizabeth Calvillo
Jacob Lawrence, Panel 1. …Is Life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? – Patrick Henry, 1775, 1955. From Struggle Series, 1954–56. Egg tempera on hardboard. Collection of Harvey and Harvey-Ann Ross. © The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photography by Bob Packert/PEM.
The following is a letter co-authored by the curatorial team for a world becoming with in light of the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee, Manuel Ellis, Tony McDade, and too many others, and the uprisings against police brutality and systemic racism across the country.
Read Letter Here
Situated in the University of Washington’s Art Building, the Jacob Lawrence Gallery is a vital center for social engagement and critical dialogue about the roles of art, art history, and design within the broader context of intellectual life on campus. Through an ambitious and compelling program of contemporary exhibitions, lectures, performances, screenings, and discussions, the gallery is a site of knowledge production and advancing discourses that serves over 8,000 visitors each year.
In 1994, the gallery was dedicated to one of the School’s most renowned faculty members, Jacob Lawrence, who taught at the University of Washington from 1970–1985 and served as Professor Emeritus until the end of his life in 2000. The gallery is a tangible, living legacy of Lawrence’s exemplary life and practice.
Of the twelve exhibitions presented each year, eight feature student work. In addition to these exhibition opportunities, the gallery hosts an internship program where students learn curatorial methodologies, exhibition design and production, and act as docents for the exhibitions on view.
In 2018, the gallery became a W.A.G.E. Certified Institution in recognition of its ongoing commitment to equitable compensation for artists and writers.
The School of Art + Art History + Design is the center for creative innovation and study at the University of Washington, one of the world’s leading public research institutions. The School’s commitment to diversity extends to the recruitment of faculty, staff, and students who exhibit a dedication to creative and academic excellence and who demonstrate the ability to work with a diverse spectrum of populations. The School’s focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and the development of new practices enhances both studio and classroom learning as well as fostering dynamic engagement and critical discourse. Our students are inspired to learn through a rigorous and creative academic experience, competitive internships, and international opportunities. Learning from influential faculty, alumni, visiting artists, designers, and scholars, students of our undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs investigate and create in an environment of possibility.
To learn more, visit art.uw.edu.
The University of Washington acknowledges the Coast Salish People of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip, and Muckleshoot nations.