2025-26 Ekard Artist-in-Residence Programming

2026 Spring Public Exhibitions & Lectures

Kirsten Stolle: Science for a Better Life
Exhibition: February 5–March 2, 2026, 103 Exhibition Space, Holmes Hall
Artist Talk and Q and A: February 11, 5:00 PM, Holmes Hall 116

Stolle presents text-based works, collages, and installations that examine how chemical companies use language and imagery to shape public perception while obscuring the long-term effects of their products on health, food systems, and the environment. Her work sits at the intersection of art, science, and culture, using research-driven methods to encourage critical awareness.

George Ferrandi: Remnants from a Supernova Ceremony
Exhibition: March 4–April 3, 2026, 103 Exhibition Space, Holmes Hall
Artist Talk and Q and A: March 25, 5:00 PM, Holmes Hall 116

This exhibition features material traces, studies, and documentation from Ferrandi’s ongoing Jump!Star project, a community-centered initiative responding to the slow shift of Earth’s North Star. Drawing on astronomy and the Japanese Nebuta tradition, her work explores how communities invent new rituals to mark change, passage, and collective re-orientation.

2026 Spring Student Workshops

Blackout Poetry and Visual Collage
Instructor: Kirsten Stolle, February 2026 Ekard Artist in Residence
Dates and Times: February 4 and February 9, 10:00–11:15 AM
Location: HOLM 346, Digital Art Lab

This two-session workshop explores blackout poetry, erasure, and visual collage using found texts such as books, newspapers, and magazines. No prior art experience is required.

Ritual and Reverie: Lanterns for a Changing North Star
Instructor: George Ferrandi, March 2026 Ekard Artist in Residence
Dates and Times: March 17 and March 19, 1:00–2:30 PM
Location: Art Barn Sculpture Lab

This two-session, hands-on workshop focuses on designing and building illuminated paper lanterns that reflect change, re-orientation, and ritual. Students will learn techniques adapted from the Japanese Nebuta tradition and develop symbolic or poetic content for their lanterns.

 

2025 Fall Public Exhibitions & Lectures

Andreas Rentsch: Lost and Found
Exhibition: Aug. 25–Sept. 26, 103 Exhibition Space, Holmes Hall
Lecture & Closing Reception: Sept. 24, 5 p.m., Holmes Hall 116, Hislop Family Auditorium

Rentsch’s work, rooted in his childhood on a Swiss prison compound, continues his exploration of justice, memory, and the human condition, transforming Polaroid prints with chemistry, light and pigment into a deeply personal meditation on humanity and justice.

Stafford Smith & Ritsu Katsumata: Ancestry in Progress
Exhibition: Nov. 5–Dec. 15, 103 Exhibition Space, Holmes Hall
Lecture & Opening Reception: Nov. 5, 5 p.m., Holmes Hall 116, Hislop Family Auditorium

Smith (visual art) and Katsumata (electric violin) present their collaborative practice, weaving image, sound, history, and memory. Smith draws from comic books, manga, surrealism, Ukiyo-e, anime, and pop culture to examine cultural narratives, while Katsumata creates vivid soundscapes blending classical training with experimental composition. Together, their work explores ancestry, cultural identity, and the stories that connect us.

2025 Fall Student Workshops

Visual Storytelling through the Magic of Lumen Prints
Date & Time: Sept. 17, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Instructor: Andreas Rentsch

Students will explore lumen printing — a camera-free process using sunlight, light-sensitive paper, and found objects — to create delicate, surreal images inspired by fairy tales. While fairy tales are often associated with children’s stories, they were originally intended for adults to communicate moral lessons and social commentary.

A Collaborative Storytelling Workshop
Date & Time: Nov. 5, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Instructors: Stafford Smith & Ritsu Katsumata

Students will pair up to craft narratives through words, images, and sound, guided by the Hero’s Journey and Episodic Storytelling structures.

Past Ekard Artist Residents:

2024 Fall: Maggie Cardelús and Carlos Barberena
2024 Spring: Voluspa Jarpa, Nina Chkareuli-Mdivani, Ayana Ife, Katya Grokhovsky, and LaToya M. Hobbs 
2023 Fall: Ashley Freeby and Odette England
2023 Spring: Anthony Cervino, Juana Estrada-Hernandez, Christian Viveros-Faune, Jefried Lotti and Krystal Rodriguez
2022 Spring: Annu Palakunnathu Matthew
2021 Spring: Le’Andra LeSeur '10
2019–20: Fredman (Elyla) Barahona
2019 Spring: Everest Pipkin
2018 Spring: Cara Lewis & Alejandro Diaz
2016 Spring: Shani Peters (Nesbitt Artist Resident)