From open studios to outdoor exhibitions, this month at SVA invites audiences to engage with art that explores sanctuary, identity, and interspecies connection.
Antía Iglesias, Family album. On view at “There’s a leaf in my hand.”
Antía Iglesias, Family album. On view at “There’s a leaf in my hand.”
June at the School of Visual Arts offers a vibrant start to summer with exhibitions and events that celebrate emerging voices and experimental practices. Highlights include “Sanctuary,” a residency alumni exhibition exploring spaces of refuge and renewal, and “There’s a leaf in my hand,” an interactive installation reimagining our relationship with nature. Thesis showcases from the MFA Computer Arts and MA/MAT Art Education programs feature boundary-pushing projects in new media, education, and design. The i3 lecture series returns with photographers who center on queer and diasporic narratives, while Artist Residency Open Studios invite the public into the creative process across disciplines.
EXHIBITIONS
“Sanctuary” is a group exhibition featuring the work of seven alumni from the School of Visual Arts Artist Residency Programs. Showcasing a range of disciplines—including painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and interdisciplinary media—the exhibition reflects not only on sanctuary as a subject in the world but also on the residency itself as a sanctuary: a temporary, intentional space for creative risk, reflection, and renewal.
Steve Danielson, Binging (Sunday Night), 2024, oil on canvas, 22 x 28 inches. On view at “Sanctuary.”
Steve Danielson, Binging (Sunday Night), 2024, oil on canvas, 22 x 28 inches. On view at “Sanctuary.”
BFA Visual and Critical Studies presents “There’s a leaf in my hand,” an exhibition by Spanish Fulbright Postdoc Scholar Dr. Antía Iglesias and curated by Ana Isabel Galván García de las Bayonas premiering an interspecies and interactive transmedia installation around nature, relations, and memory.
SVA presents “Nick of Time,” an exhibition showcasing select thesis projects by more than 20 students from the MFA Computer Arts class of 2025, curated by Caroline Taylor Shehan (MA 2023 Curatorial Practice).
MPS Digital Photography presents the exhibition, “Long Distance,” at New York City’s 2025 Photoville Festival, located at Brooklyn Bridge Park, which features three projects by three community members: a current student, an alumnus, and a faculty member. All three projects are, in different ways, about travel, distance, and connection.
Wednesday, June 11 – Wednesday, June 25 | All-Staff Art Show 2025 | SVA Gramercy Gallery
School of Visual Arts (SVA) presents the 13th annual All-Staff Art Show, an exhibition of works in various media by administrative staff members at the College.
SVA presents “sea change,” an exhibition of artwork by 11 graduating MA/MAT Art Education students, curated by Dr. Cathy Rosamond, chair of the MA/MAT Art Education department.
Yiqi Yan, Long Lin, Rishale Zou, and Jiake Yin, Once Upon a Fish, 2025, video and interactive installation. On view at MFA Computer Arts Thesis Show: “Nick of Time.”
Yiqi Yan, Long Lin, Rishale Zou, and Jiake Yin, Once Upon a Fish, 2025, video and interactive installation. On view at MFA Computer Arts Thesis Show: “Nick of Time.”
EVENTS
Tuesday, June 10, 7:00 – 8:30pm | i3 Photo Lecture: Shravya Kag | 136 West 21st Street, room 418f
MPS Digital Photography presents a talk with photographer Shravya Kag (MPS 2016 Digital Photography). Kag (she/they) is a photographer and director with a focus on queer and South Asian stories around themes of identity, community, and solidarity. Her practice is observational and archival, stemming from the belief that queer existence in itself is legacy.
Wednesday, June 11, 6:00 – 9:00pm | Artist Residency Programs Open Studios | BFA Fine Arts
SVA Artist Residency Programs presents an open studios event for the Bio Art and Sculpture, Installation, and New Media programs.
MFA Art Practice presents a conversation with artists and writers Gregg Bordowitz and Pamela Sneed.
Tuesday, June 24, 6:00 – 8:00pm | Katya Grokhovsky in Conversation with Anna Khimasi | Graduate Center
MFA Art Practice hosts a conversation between artist and curator Katya Grokhovsky and curator Anna Khimasi.
Tuesday, June 24, 7:00 – 8:30pm | i3 Photo Lecture: Lucien Samaha | 136 West 21st Street, room 418f
MPS Digital Photography presents a talk with photographer and artist Lucien Samaha. He considers himself a “post-conceptualist” artist where he relishes the adventure of photographing and gathering materials from the real world and then finds inspiration from them in a finished project.
Wednesday, June 25, 5:00 – 8:00pm | Artist Residency Programs Open Studios | BFA Fine Arts
SVA Artist Residency Programs presents this year’s first open studios event for the Fine Arts: Painting and Mixed Media, Fine Arts: Contemporary Practices, and Illustration and Visual Storytelling programs.
Shravya Kag, Vellostha, 2025. On view at the exhibition “Long Distance,” taking place at New York City’s 2025 Photoville Festival.
Shravya Kag, Vellostha, 2025. On view at the exhibition “Long Distance,” taking place at New York City’s 2025 Photoville Festival.