A multidisciplinary showcase from the artists and scholars of the full-time faculty and staff at the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design.

A Gift In Motion loosely draws from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book The Serviceberry which uplifts Indigenous frameworks of the natural world to advance the possibilities in collectivity, reciprocity, and the mindset of abundance. These are anti-capitalist models and theories that provide insight into the systems of power we negotiate, but also offer a lens on how we individually move through our daily lives—together—through historically fraught landscapes. A keen reminder that working with, for, and because of each other remains the most human motivation, even while we are inundated with narratives that suggest otherwise.

Within the walls of the academy, frameworks of artistic and creative knowledge are often dismissed, as are Indigenous methodologies and community-focused perspectives that center human engagement, oral and craft-based practices, and unquantifiable research. A personal experience. A feeling. Abstraction. And yet, for centuries, within the walls of art schools exist myriad economies of imagination that are anchored in the sharing of diverse creative knowledge and articulated in what we make, write, perform, dance, build, conserve, collect, display, speak, and think. We do this all—in small and grand gestures, every day— in service of learning with and for each other in the crafting of the world we wish to see. Perhaps we are articulating the world we already see, even if no one else will.

This showcase brings together the creative, academic, and applied research of the full- and part-time faculty and staff from all seven programs that make up the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design. We—students, staff, and faculty—thrive in the abundance nurtured here, despite the outside world. In a moment when delight and despair are offered in the same breath, we continue to serve as each other’s audiences, toughest critics, and loudest cheerleaders. We ask difficult and sometimes scary questions about our lived experiences, and by default of each other, turning our questions into form and voice and movement again, and again.

This place is a harbor for the gift of imagination and critical thinking that is the act of creating the world we wish to see, together. To give. To live—in motion.

Contributors are faculty and staff of the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design: Elise Adamson, Clement Akpang, Isaiah Aladejobi, Suse Anderson, Stephen Arnold, Becca Balton, Kara Braciale, Joe Bradley, Travis Xavier Brown, Malik Burnett, Michele Carlson, Mary Coughlin, Douglas Crawford, Andrea Dietz, Alex Donahue, Brendan Drake, Alessandra Echeverri, Joey Enriquez, Ben Harvey, Maren Henson, Wes Holloway, James Huckenpahler, Kamille Jackson, Kaitlin Jencso, Daniel Jonas, Scott Jones, Sharmila Karamchandani, Dean Kessmann, Anna Jayne Kimmel, Taylor Knight, Kirk Kristlibas, Kevin Kwon, Alma Laprida, Jung-Sil Lee, Kerry McAleer-Keeler, Melina Misri, Eugene Montague, Dumisani Ndlovu, Bibiana Obler, Em Petro, Davide Prete, Ryan Rakhshan, Nidhi Singh Rathore, Astrid Riecken, Siobhan Rigg, Kiara Rivera, Laura Schiavo, Sam Shelton, Alexandra Silverthorne, Jihyun Song, Heather Stebbins, Susan Sterner, Benjamin C Tankersley, Anna Thompson, John Traub, Maurice Tyree, Bella Varela, Paloma Vianey, Jamille Wallick, and Ning Yu.

A Gift in Motion was organized by Michele Carlson, Program Head, Studio Arts and Associate Professor, Printmaking.

Special thanks to: Em Petro, Joey Enríquez, James Huckenpahler, Laura Schiavo, Natasha Bailey, and Sam Shelton.

Additional thanks to: Eric Bonilla, Marvin Flores, Andrea Dietz, Gabi Maldonado, Alex Didizian, and Ella Rufo.