Stanford Arts:Stretching the canvas
Stanford’s visiting artists are introducing art—and a new flow of ideas—across the campus.
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Stanford visiting artists Sarah Rosalena, Janani Balasubramanian, ’12, Christine Wong Yap, and Sabelo Mlangeni.
It was a warm spring evening at Stanford Memorial Church and visitors were pondering an age-old question: What can we learn about ourselves and each other by observing the stars?
That question is at the core of The Gift, an immersive installation that consists of an all-ages illustrated book and an enveloping musical score, the latter played live at Memorial Church by the School of Medicine Orchestra.
As immersive art pieces go, the scope of The Gift is wide. Its three creators—Denning Visiting Artist Janani Balasubramanian, ’12; Colorado College physics professor Natalie Gosnell, and creative producer Andrew Kircher—use the phenomenon of stellar death to explore human experiences of loss and change. But at a deeper level, the installation of The Gift and the connected cross-disciplinary symposium sought something more: a new way of engaging with ideas at Stanford.
“The academic environment involves so many silos,” says Ellen Oh, director of interdisciplinary arts programs in the Office of the Vice President for the Arts.
“Artists have a way of bridging different perspectives, different ideas, different fields. And doing that has the effect of bringing the campus together.”Ellen Oh
With these benefits in mind, a steadily growing number of visiting artists has filtered across Stanford in recent years. The Gift and other pieces represent a university-wide effort to bring art out of traditional art spaces, and into the crosscurrents of broader intellectual life.
“Artists bring a creative approach to any field or practice or discipline,” Oh says. “When it comes to making new technologies, for example, they can pose human-centered questions about how those technologies ought to be developed. It’s really about sparking new ideas, and encouraging interdisciplinary practice.”
As she explains, there isn’t one visiting artist program so much as a swath of them, from the Denning Visiting Artist Program to the Holt Visiting Artist Program to the Mohr Visiting Poets Program.
“My hope is that in 10 years there will be artists working in every school and department,” Oh says.
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Kim Ye
Social art)
Mark Baugh-Sasaki, MFA ’17
Installations)
Karina Gutiérrez, PhD ’20
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Isaiah Phillips
Music
Meet visiting artists Janani Balasubramanian, ’12, Christine Wong Yap, Sabelo Mlangeni, and Sarah Rosalena, and see the work they did during their time at Stanford.
Balasubramanian was hosted by the Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford Compression Forum, the Physics Department, and the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, with funding from the Stanford Visiting Artist Fund in Honor of Roberta Bowman Denning. Video: Office of Development and Stanford Arts.
ChristineWong Yap
As a visual artist and social practitioner, Christine Wong Yap works in community engagement, drawing, printmaking, publishing, and public art to gather and amplify grassroots perspectives on belonging, resilience, and mental well-being.
As a Neighborhood Visiting Artist at Stanford, she collaborated with the Office of the Vice President for the Arts and Residential Education on a project designed to promote social cohesion. At its center was a giant jigsaw puzzle featuring a map of students’ favorite places on campus. The final product was unveiled and assembled by students last spring.
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Wong Yap was hosted by Residential Education and the Office of the Vice President for the Arts.
Christine Wong Yap shares about her work at Stanford and how students like May-Jann Wong, '28 get to take part in workshops that bring art into the community.
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The hand-painted puzzle pieces will create a giant Stanford community map.
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These painting sessions allow participants to engage with each other and create a sense of connection.
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The finished puzzle was unveiled and assembled in community-building events around campus this past Spring.
SabeloMlangeni
The South African photographer Sabelo Mlangeni rose to prominence with “Country Girls,” depicting queer rural life in the Mpumalanga province. As Stanford’s Denning Visiting Artist last year, he collaborated with Stanford historian Joel Cabrita to research and document Black churches in San Francisco’s Western Addition neighborhood.
The photos below come from Mlangeni’s exhibition Imvuselelo: The revival, a series of portraits from the African Zionism movement. The Cantor Arts Center hosted the show in 2023.
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Mlangeni was hosted by the Department of History in collaboration with the Center for African Studies, with funding from the Stanford Visiting Artist Fund in Honor of Roberta Bowman Denning.
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Bhutiza from the series UmlindelowawaKholwa, 2016. Hand-printed silver gelatin print
Abaprofethi, Mamelodi from the series Umlindelo wawaKholwa, 2008. Hand-printed silver gelatin print
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Isimakade from the series Umlindelo wawaKholwa, 2015. Hand-printed silver gelatin print
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The late Sweetmama Mathebula from the series Umlindelo wawaKholwa, 2007. Hand-printed silver gelatin print
Umthandazi from the series Umlindelo wawaKholwa, 2008. Hand-printed silver gelatin print
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UMkhumbi KaNoah, Sgonyela, Thembi, Ntongo, Nkosi, Enkampane from the series Umlindelo wawaKholwa, 2011. Hand-printed silver gelatin print
Experience the full exhibit here.
SarahRosalena
The work of interdisciplinary artist and researcher Sarah Rosalena has ranged widely, from exploring the Los Angeles River’s history to a pottery series drawing on research from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
As a Stanford visiting artist, she literally wove indigenous traditions into Western digital tools, such as machine learning and 3D printing. She used Stanford’s TC2 computer-controlled loom at the Product Realization Lab to weave textiles using indigo, cochineal-dyed yarns, and pine needles.
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Rosalena was hosted by the Stanford Arts Institute and the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.
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During her residency, Sarah used Stanford’s TC2 computer-controlled loom at the Product Realization Lab to weave two of her signature textile pieces using indigo and cochineal-dyed yarns as well as pine needles.
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