Department News & Events

News

Lela Pierce, Assistant Professor of Art in Sculpture, has a solo exhibit, blueblack at Bockley Gallery, Mpls., April 28-June 13, 2026. She will be dancing in a Rosy Simas piece, Rosy Simas: A:gajë:gwah dësa’nigöëwë:nye:’ (i hope it will stir your mind), at the Walker Art Center May 13-16 2026 and later in NYC. Her work will be in Spirit Tree, a group show at Rochester Art Center April 29-August 29, 2026. She had work in a group show, “In a Dark Time the Eye Begins to See” at Andrew Edlin Gallery, NYC, Sept. 2025. She received a prestigious Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, which supports early-career Minnesota and New York City-based artists “who generate new work that takes creative risks in expanding, questioning, experimenting with, or reimagining conventional artistic forms.” See an interview with the artist.

Dr. Serdar Yalcin, Associate Professor of Art History, received a premier Getty Residential Scholar Grant to support research at the Getty Villa in Los Angeles, Fall 2024. He led an archaeological dig at the Tarsus-Gözlükule Excavation Projects in Turkey, Summer 2025.

Professor Megan Vossler, Dep’t. Chair, organized a 4th incarnation of Ekphrastic Drawing at SooVAC in Mpls, Summer 2024. Several Macalester faculty members, art alumni and current students participated in the collaborative multi-panel storytelling drawing experiment, later interpreted by writers.

Ruthann Godollei, Wallace Professor of Art, has work in Continuum, a group show at NE Sculpture Gallery Factory until May 30, 2026 and in Resilience, a Highpoint Center for Printmaking exhibit until May 16, 2026, in Mpls. She had work published in The Siren News, Vol. 3, a NYC satiric political magazine Sept. 2025. She had 2 works in the SGCI Juried Members Exhibit, TX, Feb. 2026. She is featured in Deacon Warner’s new documentary, Every Day is a Parade, premiered at the 2025 MSP Film Festival.

Macalester College professors Don Celender, Jerry Rudquist and Ruthann Godollei were included in the book, An American Outpost: The Minnesota Art Scene 1840-1989, by Katherine Goertz, published by Afton Historical Society Press 2024.

Summer Hills-Bonczyk, Assistant Professor (NTT) in Ceramics, will present Ancestress, a performance project on May 30, 2026 at 825 Arts Theater in St. Paul, MN.She was the recipient of a 2025 Arts Experiences grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Dr. Joanna Inglot, Edith M. Kelso Associate Professor of Art History, has had her research on artist Magdelena Abakanowic heralded by the Tate Modern as the foundation of their 2023 exhibit Magdalena Abakanowicz: Every Tangle of Thread and Rope. See an interview with Prof. Inglot.

Events

---

Macalester’s Law Warschaw Gallery presents the Senior Studio Art Major Exhibition, May 2026, on display through graduation.

Dr. Basia Śliwińska gave a public lecture Feb. 17, 2026, in Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center –“Arts Activism for Reproductive Healthcare.”

Macalester’s Law Warschaw Gallery presented a solo exhibit by Kainai First Nations artist Faye HeavyShield, titled aisopoiw/ the wind is a messenger, Spring 2026.

The Art & Art History Department hosted a winter Aurora Borealis themed party, Dec. 4, 2025, 4:30-6pm, in the Sculpture Studio.

Macalester’s Law Warschaw Gallery presented Electrospiritology, a solo exhibit by Fernando Orellana, 8/22-10/31, 2025.

Angela Two Stars (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Dakota) a public artist with work at the WAC Sculpture Garden, gave a talk for 3D Design and other students and faculty, Oct. 24, 2025.

Carlos Barbarena gave a talk for the Printmaking II class and they helped print his posters in support of immigrant communities, Nov. 2025.

Julia Bryan Wilson (PhD, UC Berkeley, 2004) gave a public lecture on her groundbreaking 2024–25 exhibition Queer Histories at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, in the JBD Lecture Hall of the Campus Center,  Wednesday, October 1 2025. Sponsored by the Art History Lecture series.

---