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Shining a light on forgotten designers
The New York Times

Shining a light on forgotten designers

ICA Director Zoë Ryan spoke about the legacy of Anna Russell Jones, the first African American graduate of Moore College of Art & Design. Jones designed rugs and wallpaper and went on to become a graphic designer for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in World War II and illustrated medical procedures at Howard University College of Medicine. “Though she was accomplished, her path was not easy,” Ryan said.

Exploring monuments of trauma in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Black Atlantic
Stephanie Gibson

Stephanie Gibson, a doctoral candidate in the history of art. (Image: OMNIA)

Exploring monuments of trauma in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Black Atlantic

Stephanie Gibson, a doctoral candidate in the history of art, explores in her dissertation how museums and monuments interpret sites with painful histories to help people move past the trauma that occurred there.

From Omnia

Artist and professor David Hartt is ‘of the moment’
Artist standing in museum gallery with his artwork installation

Artist David Hartt with his installation “The Histories” (Crépuscule) at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the exhibition “New Grit: Art & Philly Now.” (Image: July 2021 when masks were not required.)

Artist and professor David Hartt is ‘of the moment’

This year alone four museums and two galleries are featuring work by artist David Hartt of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, including currently at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Accessing an artistic archive as an ICA summer intern
student standing outside with large sculpture behind

Rising senior Min Park, an art history major in the College of Arts and Sciences, is a curatorial intern at the Institute of Contemporary Art through Penn's Summer Humanities Internship Program. (Photo: Wendy Qian)

Accessing an artistic archive as an ICA summer intern

Rising senior Min Park, an art history major from South Korea, is organizing the book and image archives as the summer curatorial intern at the Institute of Contemporary Art, and helping plan a September reopening with two new exhibitions.
In Zoë Ryan, a collaborative new leader for the ICA
Zoë Ryan in front of brick wall ICA Director Zoë Ryan pictured on campus in July 2021.

In Zoë Ryan, a collaborative new leader for the ICA

Zoë Ryan began her role as director of the Institute of Contemporary Art in November. Here, a look at Ryan’s time at the ICA so far and what’s ahead for the institution.
New Arthur Ross Gallery exhibition focuses on introspection and contemplation
woman standing in doorway of art exhibition with paintings on the walls

The Arthur Ross Gallery’s new exhibition features 17th-century Dutch genre paintings paired with rare books from the Penn Libraries collection. On display until July 25, “An Inner World,” co-curated by Gallery Assistant Director and Curator Heather Gibson Moqtaderi, focuses on contemplation.

New Arthur Ross Gallery exhibition focuses on introspection and contemplation

The Arthur Ross Gallery’s new exhibition features 17th-century Dutch genre paintings paired with rare books from the Penn Libraries collection. On display until July 25, “An Inner World” focuses on contemplation.
Mystics and visionaries: A fine arts seminar
Image taken from above of people in an art museum taking photos and looking at large abstract paintings.

(Pre-pandemic image) Exhibition view of Hilma af Klint's 'The Ten Largest' at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, 2018. (Image: Courtesy of Ryan Dickey)

Mystics and visionaries: A fine arts seminar

The Weitzman School’s Jackie Tileston’s seminar looks at the ways in which alternative forms of knowledge have fed artistic practices, both in the past and for contemporary artists in cultures around the globe.

Kristen de Groot

National myths and monuments
Cartoon depicting Black Lives Matter images, a black fist, NO JUSTICE NO PEACE, and a statue of a horse.

National myths and monuments

Season two, episode four, of the OMNIA podcast “In These Times” features three faculty discussing the movement to reexamine monuments and the history and myths they symbolize, and how the public should think about the artworks in public squares.

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw on the future of Cuban politics, economy, and art
A larger building flies the Cuban flag. A sign in front says "Cuba"

The Hotel Nacional, owned by the state-run chain Gran Caribe, is a tourism anchor in the el Vedado district of Havana, Cuba. (Image: Yuting Gao, Pexels)

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw on the future of Cuban politics, economy, and art

On April 19, Raúl Castro stepped down from his role as the head of Cuba’s communist party. Penn Today talked with Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw of the School of Arts & Sciences about the future of Cuban politics, the economy, and art after the close of the Castro era.

Kristina García