Class of 2026 First Year MFA Exhibition

March 30–April 13, 2025
Curated by Amy Sadao

Exhibition Information
The Columbia University School of the Arts Visual Arts Program presents the Class of 2026 First Year MFA Exhibition in collaboration with the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery at the Lenfest Center for the Arts. This exhibition encompasses work by the 28 artists who will complete their first year of the Visual Arts MFA Program in May 2025. Curated by Amy Sadao.

Participating Artists

Sound Artists
Miguel Gallego
Alek Green
Ása Önnu Ólafsdóttir

Visual Artists

Venue
Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery
Lenfest Center for the Arts
615 West 129th Street
New York, NY 10027
(enter on 125th Street, west of Broadway)

About the Curator
Amy Sadao is an independent curator and consultant focused on the strategic development of contemporary art and community-based organizations. She is a partner at Sadao Ghosh. With Susette Min, she is organizing a two-season exhibition project for the Manetti Shrem Museum at UC Davis on abolishing the category of Asian American art (2027-2028), and is co-authoring a book with Caitlin Butler on social movements and public art for Temple Press.

Before founding her business, she served as the Interim Director of Denniston Hill, a queer, POC-led artist-led residency and platform for experimentation. Prior to that she was the Daniel W. Dietrich, II Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. From 2002-2012 Amy was the Executive Director of Visual AIDS in New York City.

She is dedicated to making nonprofit working cultures sustainable and to operationalizing power-sharing and equity. She is currently working towards ICF-certification as a coach and continues to train in restorative justice processes with an emphasis on conflict-resolution, preserving long-term relationships across difference, and maintaining principled disagreement. She is the co-chair of Leeway Foundation, supporting Philadelphia area women and trans artists engaged in social change art, a member of the Advisory Circle of Denniston Hill, and a Director Emeritus of Visual AIDS. Amy is a queer sansei (third generation Japanese American) and lives in Providence, RI and Philadelphia, PA.