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Spring 2025 Exhibition
Rhyme and Reason
February 13 - May 16, 2025
The Sacramento State Art Collection cultivates inquiry, learning, and critical dialogue by connecting faculty, students, and community members with firsthand experiences of art. Comprised of over 1,000 artworks, the collection includes paintings, prints, works on paper, sculpture, ceramics, and public art situated around our campus. The University Galleries serves as steward for the collection and is committed to preserving and growing this important teaching resource.
The Sacramento State Art Collection was established by Art Department faculty in the late 1960s with the goal to acquire works to use in teaching environments for studio and art history classes. Professors Irving Marcus and Ruth
Rippon had the foresight to collect works of the time - work by artists who are now recognized in the art historical canon. Prints by Frank Stella and Andy Warhol and a significant early ceramic by Jun Kaneko were some of the first works to come into the collection. Over the last sixty years, our collection has expanded to include works by former faculty and students, well-known regional artists, as well as generous donations from our community.
But is there any rhyme and reason to this collection? The core of our collection reflects the energetic artmaking of Northern California in the 1970s and 80s. It also features some of the many artists associated with Sacramento State who have achieved notable acclaim regionally and nationally. There are also works that are the foundation for a new focus-artworks by women artists and artists of color.
The selections in this exhibition reveal poignant connections within the breadth of the Sacramento State Art Collection. Julia Couzens, Frank Stella, Cathy Stone and Mark Emerson explore line and color to distinct effect.
Rajkamal Kahlon, HC Westermann and Jimi Suzuki offer vastly different perspectives on globalism and colonialism.
Rick Bartow, Margarete Bagshaw-Tindel, and Fritz Scholder assert their Indigenous identities to shape their work where Celia Rodriguez explores the folklore of her Mexican heritage. Rather than a hodge podge of artworks, we find just the opposite- surprising rhyme and reason.
—Kelly Lindner, Curator
Exhibition Reception:
Thursday, February 13, 5-7PM
University Library Gallery
Building A Collection:
Kelly Lindner, Curator and Elaine O'Brien, PhD
Thursday, March 13, 4:30PM
University Library Gallery
