February 21–April 10, 2022
Landman Library
Arcadia Exhibitions presents “Student Biennial 2022”, opening February 21 and running through April 10, 2022. This exhibition is the ninth in a series at Arcadia featuring works by current students juried by an esteemed visiting arts professional.
This year’s juror is Kajette Solomon ‘06, the Social Equity and Inclusion (SEI) Program Specialist at RISD Museum (The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design), Providence, Rhode Island, and the New England Regional Director on the board of the American Association of Museum Volunteers (AAMV). Solomon is the first Arcadia alum invited to jury the exhibition.
New this year, the 49 works selected by Solomon and created by 32 students will be presented in locations on all three floors of the Landman Library, including the Judith Taylor Gallery.
Solomon will lecture on March 3, 2022 at 4:30 PM in the University Commons Great Room. The Space Between will chronicle Solomon’s career trajectory since graduating from Arcadia in 2006. She will share milestones that helped reveal her purpose and passion for equity and inclusion in museum work, focusing on how students and alumni interested in a career in the arts can carve out their own unique paths. Exhibition awards will be presented immediately following Solomon’s lecture. The event will be free and open to the public.
According to Exhibitions Coordinator Matthew Borgen, “it was an absolute pleasure to have Solomon return to campus in this role. Her feelings for Arcadia are strong, and walking into the Spruance art office, or the gallery, or the Library would illicit some treasured memory. I believe her excitement for the place permeated her selections for the exhibition. This year’s show is quite eclectic, reflecting the variety of mediums and approaches in which students are encouraged to experiment in our department.” The exhibition includes drawings and illustrations undertaken in various media, both analog and electronic; paintings in oil and acrylic; digital prints, silkscreen prints, monoprints, and etchings; sculptural and functional ceramics; cut paper and found object assemblages; a variety of chemical photographic processes, as well as brand identity design. The students’ approaches to the work range from formal to metaphorical and surreal. There are strong examples of scientific analysis of the observable world, but also a thread of personal investigations into identity, gender, mental well being, and current social and cultural conversations.
Prior to 2006, Department of Art and Design faculty selected works for this biennial exhibition. The current practice of inviting an outside juror began that year when independent curator Julie Courtney was invited to make the selections for the exhibition. Subsequent jurors included Elyse Gonzalez, Assistant Curator, ICA, Philadelphia in 2008; Sue Spaid, Independent Curator, Philadelphia in 2010; Charles Ritchie, Artist/Associate Curator, Department of Modern Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. in 2012; Judith Tannenbaum, Curator, RISD Museum (Rhode Island School of Design in 2014; Andrea Wohl Keefe and Colin Keefe, Co-Directors, Mount Airy Contemporary, Philadelphia; and Carrie Robbins, Curator of Art and Artifacts, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania; and Melissa Maddonni Haims, Independent Curator and Artist, Philadelphia.
The artists in this exhibition include Gianna Bates, Riley Britt, Harley Canella, Jetline Cadeau, Alika Cramer, Anaiah Cupe, Autym Dahlam, Julia Doyle, D Dutko, Sarah Fisher, Alana Gadola, Micah Gordley, Autumn Loughery, Ireland McGuigan-Good, Jewel Miller, Amelia Opshinsky, Sarah Orvis, Trinity Peters, Emily Renee, Al Rose, Caitlyn Rudolph, Elexa Sauls, Charlie Smirga, Jessica Smith, Sarah Strong, Helaina Toth, Bella Tullio, Mary Vaihinger, Svea Williams, Lena Wilson, Mia Woo, and Hanna Wu.
Juror’s Lecture
The Space Between
March 3, 2022
Solomon will lecture on March 3, 2022 at 4:30 PM in the University Commons Great Room.
The Space Between will chronicle Solomons’s career trajectory since graduating from Arcadia in 2006. She will share milestones that helped reveal her purpose and passion for equity and inclusion in museum work, focusing on how students and alumni interested in a career in the arts can carve out their own unique paths. Exhibition awards will be presented immediately following Solomon’s lecture.
The lecture is free and open to the public but advanced registration is required. This in-person event will also be available for remote audiences via Zoom.
About the Juror
The first Arcadia alum to jury the Student Biennial, Kajette Solomon returns with an impressive resume.
In addition to her BA in Art History from Arcadia University, Solomon holds an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the State University of New York at Purchase College. She began her professional career at the Studio Museum in Harlem and is currently RISD Museum’s first SEI Program Specialist.
In this role, Solomon manages the institution’s efforts to build equitable, diverse, and inclusive educational and exhibition experiences for visitors, and develops and leads programs for staff, volunteers, students, and board members related to anti-racist pedagogy, teaching, research, and interpretation of the museum’s collection.
