Jacob Lawrence Gallery’s “artists & poets” exhibition is not the traditional art viewing experience. There, you will find no people standing stiffly or quietly viewing a single type of art from a distance. Instead, the exhibition encourages active participation with the art and the cultivation of a community.
The exhibition, which opened Feb. 13, focuses on the collaboration of Black artists in the past and present, and seeks to honor Jacob Lawrence as an artist.
Having grown up in Harlem during the height of the Harlem Renaissance –– a moment of immense Black cultural and artistic expression –– Lawrence witnessed the collaborative culture between different types of artists, which influenced his later work.
“I think the show is coming out of a real desire to recreate some of that moment that Lawrence had access to where there was this sort of sense of great collaboration and interdisciplinary creative space,” director and curator of the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Jordan Jones said.
Gallery visitors are first invited to step into a space of tranquility with dim lighting and comfy furniture spaced apart. Gallery A showcases Calueen Smith’s “The Wanda Coleman Songbook” which highlights the work of poet Wanda Coleman through a multisensory experience.
In the center of the room lies an island with a record playing “The Wanda Coleman Songbook.” Gallery visitors are encouraged to play the album or flip to play the other side. A specialty fragrance, inspired by a park in Coleman’s home city, circulates the room as videos are projected onto the walls. Coleman’s books, pulled from the UW Libraries, are laid out for people to flip through.
“Being surrounded by students, I want to make sure that they know that these are ways of working that they have access to,” Jones said. “They don’t have to be alone in a studio or alone in a rehearsal room or alone at their desk writing.”
Visitors attend the “artists & poets” exhibition in the University of Washington’s Jacob Lawrence Gallery on Feb. 21, 2025 in Seattle.
The next gallery is dedicated to honoring Broadside Press, the publishing company influential to the Black Arts Movement founded by Dudley Randall. The gallery has comfy chairs nestled in the corner with books along the wall for viewers to peruse.
“I feel like we have tried to make this an educational experience [and] inform you about the history and what was going on,” Jones’ graduate research assistant, Kailani Wright said. “Especially things, art movements, that you might not have known about”
The small room off Gallery B displays, along with other examples of artist collaboration, a book written by Langston Hughes and illustrated by Jacob Lawrence. Available for browsing are a collection of UW library books elaborating on the themes showcased in the exhibition.
Gallery C contains an opportunity for artists of all kinds to potentially take the spirit of collaboration into practice with small sheets for artists to fill out and post to a message board with their project description and contact info.
“I’m hoping that maybe, fingers crossed, there will be some collaborations that come out of the show,” Jones said.
In addition to the message board, the gallery will host activities throughout the exhibition’s run such as an open mic night March 6 and a letterpress poetry workshop April 17. Since the show elicits internal reflection and curiosity, Jones wanted to expand it into a group setting through additional community activities.
“I wanted there to be moments where we could actually gather as a community and use the show as a prompt for getting together and doing things that are a little bit more engaging in a sort of community sense,” Jones said.
Jones also wants the gallery to be a place for community gathering and collaboration and encourages people to come, even to just hang out and talk.
“It’s a third space,” Jones said. “I feel like that’s something we all need now more than ever.”
The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturday noon to 5 p.m. The exhibition will run until April 19.
Reach Contributing Writer Mary Andolina at arts@uwdaily.com. X: @mary_andolina
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