The Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery is pleased to present Irwin 2022: Emulsion, the 36th annual Irwin Scholarship exhibition, which showcases the work of a select group of UC Santa Cruz’s accomplished young artists from the Art Department. This year marks the return of the annual Irwin exhibition back on campus in-person!
Opening reception
June 1, 5pm-7pm
Remarks at 5:30pm
With the Dean of the Arts Celine Parreñas-Shimizu, Associate Professor in Print Media Enrique Leal, and the 2022 Irwin Scholars
We find ourselves in a moment of immense change: shifts in politics, the impending climate and mental health crisis, and the rapid acceleration of technology. Now, relationships between humans and the physical space meet an unprecedented complexity. As emerging artists, “how can we make sense of our position in the natural world and a society that is constantly evolving? The Irwin Scholars ask, “How can we bridge the gaps between deeply intertwined subject matters alienated in threads, yet tightly fabricated into one world?”
Emulsion features twelve artists whose works examine, reevaluate, and process the nuances of these questions brought about by living in a turbulent moment of change. With a focus on, but not limited to, the interaction between subject matter and material; humans and their mental states, the natural environment, and the socio-economic and political landscape, Emulsion explores the results and possibilities of these convergences. By facing the confusing, and at times opposing, amalgamations, the show aims to confront disjunctions to carve space for new harmonies.
Showcasing a variety of approaches, the exhibition includes animation, photography, immersive installation works, printmaking, painting, sculpture, and more.
The 2022 Irwin Scholars are:
Aja Bond
Marceline Cyrus
Brennan Elliott
Thomas Goldie
Nico Gu
Elena Ibbetson
Valerie Jackson
Lucien Jacobs
mari mafnas
Amelia Smyth
Elijah Solow Ohashi
Christy Yee
About the Irwin ScholarshipThe William Hyde and Susan Benteen Irwin Scholarship Fund was established in 1986, with a modest donation by Sue Irwin, and now generates 12 annual merit scholarships to further the education of selected UC Santa Cruz students for proven excellence in the arts. The William Hyde Irwin and Susan Benteen Irwin Scholarship is our most prestigious student scholarship in the Art Department. The scholars are nominated by faculty to submit a portfolio of work and then are selected by an all faculty vote. This annual, professionally organized exhibition has become a tradition in the art department and for the Sesnon Gallery for 36 years. This scholarship shows the far-reaching effects of support for the arts.