SEATTLE, WA.- This spring/summer, the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington presents a group of exhibitions reflecting the museum’s commitment to being a catalyst for artists and a space for inquiry, connection, and change. Bringing together recent and newly commissioned work, Eric-Paul Riege: ojo|-|ólǫ́́ engages Diné cosmology, histories of exchange, and questions of authenticity in Indigenous art. The annual University of Washington MFA + MDes Thesis Exhibition highlights emerging artists and designers at a pivotal moment in their practice. Exploring the relationship between printmaking and painting, “Every Picture Somewhat of an Experiment”: Helen Frankenthaler Prints foregrounds the artist’s expansive print practice, alongside works by Analia Saban. Day-to-Day: Rhythm, Routine, Resistance considers how ordinary experiences and materials become sites of reflection on—and resistance to—structural forces. Joiri Minaya examines the artist’s versatile use of textiles to deconstruct stereotypes and weave new mythologies about the Tropics.

Eric-Paul Riege: ojo|-|ólǫ́́
March 14–October 25, 2026

ojo|-|ólǫ́́ is an exhibition of recent and newly commissioned work by Diné artist Eric-Paul Riege (b. 1994, Na’nízhoozhí [Gallup, New Mexico]), including sculpture, textile, collage, and video activated by moments of performance. Riege combines customary Diné practices—such as weaving, silversmithing, and beading—with contemporary cultural forms to explore Diné cosmology, histories of trade, and the notion of “authenticity” in Indigenous art and craft.

Developed in partnership with The Bell Gallery at Brown University, the exhibition draws on Riege’s material research with Navajo collections at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of Washington. Featuring museum collection objects alongside items from the artist’s studio and home, the presentation blurs boundaries between past and present, private and public, and the real and fake as value markers of Indigenous art. Through tactile, modular sculptures and layered displays, ojo|-|ólǫ́́ reflects on how institutions shape knowledge about Indigenous cultures while advancing a call for Indigenous cultural resurgence.

2026 University of Washington MFA + MDes Thesis Exhibition
May 15–June 16, 2026

The Henry presents the University of Washington’s School of Art + Art History + Design Master of Fine Arts and Master of Design Thesis Exhibition. Developed in close collaboration with Henry staff, this annual exhibition marks a milestone for graduating students as they refine their practices and present new work.

Day-to-Day: Rhythm, Routine, Resistance
July 5, 2026–January 3, 2027

This exhibition brings together contemporary artworks across media that explore the poetics and politics of everyday life. Using the day-to-day as both material and subject, the works consider how ordinary experiences become sites for artistic inquiry and resistance to structural forces.

Featuring works by a diverse group of U.S.-based artists drawn primarily from the Henry’s collection, the exhibition highlights how personal routines and spaces intersect with broader social, economic, and historical forces. Everyday objects and gestures—rendered across media, from drawing and sculpture to moving image—reveal tensions between permanence and transience, belonging and alienation. Day-to-Day invites visitors to consider how acts of living can also be acts of resistance.

“Every Picture Somewhat of an Experiment”: Helen Frankenthaler Prints
July 5, 2026–April 25, 2027

By age thirty-two, Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011) had established herself as a leading figure in Abstract Expressionism. Her “soak-stain” technique introduced chance and fluidity into painting, while her work in printmaking extended these concerns into new material and collaborative contexts.

Beginning in 1961, Frankenthaler produced more than three hundred editions across etching, lithography, woodcut, and screenprint. Drawn from a major 2023 gift from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, this exhibition traces her print practice from early experiments to later innovations. Presented alongside two works by Analia Saban, it highlights the evolving relationship between painting and print and the enduring possibilities of abstraction.

Joiri Minaya
July 25, 2026–May 2, 2027

Joiri Minaya (b. 1990, New York City; raised in the Dominican Republic) is a multidisciplinary artist who examines the Tropics as a constructed place and identity. Through textile-based installations, performance, and photography, Minaya challenges colonial fantasies that reduce tropical geographies to sites of leisure and exoticism.

At the Henry, Minaya presents an immersive installation engaging the museum’s double-height gallery. Drawing on botanical forms, patterned fabrics, and the body, the exhibition reclaims Afro-Indigenous narratives and reimagines connections across the global South. Through concealment and revelation, Minaya invites visitors to consider how the false myths and grand narratives of place, identity, and history might be transformed.

Admission is free