"Art Department Triennial"
"Art Department Triennial"
Date: January 20, 2026Location: Kellogg University Art Gallery
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Art Department Triennial showcases artwork and graphic design by the faculty, staff, and students of the Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Art Department. Featuring a diverse group of participating artists, the exhibition explores themes of environment and nature through landscape, architecture, history, memory, spirituality, and contemporary culture reflecting the society and times in which we live.
This triennial exhibition showcases art and graphic work by the Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Art Department. 2026’s
participating artists include:
Anthony Acock • Michelle Emami • Melissa Flicker
Eva Grello-Nakas • Karlyn Griffith • Rebecca Hamm
Rory Hamovit • David Hylton • Alyssa Lang • Jian Lee
Sarah Meyer • Kevin Moore • Devora Orantes
Jeff Ray • Michelle Solorzano Medrano • Patch Wright
Environment and nature through the lens of landscape, flora and fauna, urban planning and architecture, language and history, travel and memory, spirituality, the psyche, and inter-personal relationships, storytelling, religion and mythology, pop, street culture and repurposing are the varied and all-encompassing themes and influences of, and on, the art faculty, staff and students of Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½.
These artistic themes are also concurrent and recurrent among the themes affecting our society today. Like a mirror, these artists are a reflection of the society and times in which we live.
Michele Cairella Fillmore, Curator
Kellogg University Art Gallery
Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½
2026
Tuesday, Jan. 20th, 2026 - Thursday, Mar. 12, 2025
Art Department Triennial Exhibit
The Art Department Triennial will be on display at the Kellogg University Art Gallery (Building 35A) beginning Tuesday, January 20th!
Anthony Acock
Artist Biography
Anthony Acock was born into the dual worlds of art and academia, with a parent
represented in each. In his early teens, he dedicated his life to graffiti and
skateboarding, drawn to their exploratory nature. This interest gradually evolved
into a focus on graphic design and the built environment, where communication,
environment, and the concept of permission intersect, asking how one can have a
voice and ownership in a world designed to deny both.
Acock earned his MFA in Communication Design from Pratt Institute in New York
City. His thesis, Empathy, Identity, and the Environment, explored how design can
support marginalized populations, an area that continues to shape his practice
today. In both academia and private practice, Acock focuses on collaborations
with nonprofit organizations and underserved communities. His areas of emphasis
include motion graphics, print design, environmental graphics, and visual
communication. As an artist, he remains drawn to the value of process over the
final product
Michele Emani
Artist Biography
Michelle S. Emami is a visual artist and educator based in Southern California. She earned her Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University in 2022 and her Bachelor of Fine Arts, Magna Cum Laude, from California State University, Fullerton in 2020. Emami’s work merges her Mexican and Iranian heritage through patterns, symbolism, and spatial installations that explore identity, memory, and cultural hybridity.
Her work has been featured in exhibitions at the Nicholas & Lee Begovich Gallery, Torrance Art Museum, Consulado General de Mexico in Los Angeles, and the Korean Cultural Center & Launch LA. She is the recipient of the Karl and Beverly Benjamin Fellowship Award (2022).
Emami currently teaches at Mt. San Antonio College and has also taught at ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½, ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½, where she shares her passion for drawing and design with emerging artists. Through her teaching and studio practice, she fosters inclusive creative environments that emphasize accessibility, cultural representation, and the transformative power of art.
Melissa Flicker
Artist Biography
Melissa Flicker is an educator and designer whose practice is shaped by the outdoors, from plein air watercolor sessions by the lake to exploring mountain trails to competing in endurance challenges. A deep affinity for community in natural spaces informs both her artwork and approach to visual storytelling for outdoor-focused clients. Recent design work spans the world of adventure experiences, with clients such as the IRONMAN Group, global operator of endurance sports events; the HOKA Kodiak Ultramarathons, a UTMB World Series Americas Major race; and HIGHLANDER Adventure, an international multi-day hiking festival. Her art and design work share a common thread, translating the feeling of being immersed in the landscape.
Eva Grello-Nakas
Artist Biography
Eva Grello-Nakas is an illustrator, printmaker, and art educator based in Southern
California.
Concerned with socioeconomic accessibility in the arts, Eva focuses on self-producing art
& art products in a way that makes them available for anyone and everyone. Her work is a
reflection of the many delights of life, both big and small. It is bright, mischievous, and
unendingly cute.
She is currently teaching at Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½, Cal State Long Beach and Chaffey College,
with a focus on Illustration and Foundations
Karlyn Griffith
Artist Biography
I developed my approach to photography beginning on archaeology digs where, as the only Art Historian, I was called upon to photograph structures and objects in situ, not just documenting but capturing the story of stones and objects as they were being rediscovered. Many of my art historical research projects revolve around mapping the reuse of the past in the present and I use this photographic approach to document the long lives of architecture through historical eras. In addition to archaeological and art historical photography, I taught an intro to photography summer intensive course for Concordia College in Santorini, Greece. While most of my work is used for research, publications, and teaching, several of my Santorini photographs were selected for juried exhibitions or featured in local Texas art shows. My full-time research is on medieval and Roman art and architecture, and my current book-project is an exploration of medieval popular culture and apocalypticism found in illuminated French Apocalypse manuscripts (ca. 1300-1400).
Rebecca Hamm
Artist Biography
Rebecca Hamm received her B.A. from California Polytechnic University, ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ and her M.F.A. from the Claremont Graduate University.
Hamm teaches university art courses and is an independent curator for community-based museums. She is a featured speaker nationally and her writings have been published internationally. Hamm for 33 years was Director of Arts for Tierra del Sol Foundation where she built studio programs and advocated for artists with disabilities to advanced their own professional careers in the arts.
Solo and selected exhibitions include the Carnegie Art Museum in Oxnard; Los Angeles County Museum of Art Sales and Rental Gallery; The Claremont Museum of Art; The Ontario Museum of Art and History; The Huntington Beach Art Center; The University of Houston, Texas; Los Angeles City College; Chaffey Community Museum of Art, Ontario, CA; Millard Sheets Art Center at Fairplex, ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½, CA; Claremont Graduate University; Manhattan Beach Creative Arts Center; Manhattan Beach, CA; Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA, and University of La Verne, La Verne, CA. Hamm’s work is included in private and corporate collections including Morgan Stanley, New York.
Rory Hamovit
Artist Biography
Rory Hamovit is an artist in Los Angeles working primarily in photography and video. He Received his MFA in photography from Yale School of Art in 2020 and his BA in photography from Bard College in 2013. He has had his work featured in PDN, Causette, Neon, Fisheye amongst others as well as having work exhibited internationally, most recently a solo show at PhotoAccess in Canberra, Australia. In 2021, he had his work featured in the British Journal of Photography’s “Ones to Watch” and Wallpaper Magazine’s “21 Rising Stars”. In 2024 he was shortlisted for the PhMuseum photo grant.
Hilton David
David Hylton is a Southern California–based multidisciplinary artist whose work delves into the intricate terrain of the human psyche. His creations invite viewers to travel through spaces of illumination and shadow, discovery and risk. Rooted in the transformative philosophy expressed by Walt Whitman in Leaves of Grass, Hylton’s artistic practice embraces the inevitability of change — a continual evolution that mirrors the shifting relationship between nature, technology, and human identity. Through layered surfaces, rich textures, and symbolic visual languages, he constructs immersive worlds that blur the boundaries between organic and digital, intimate and universal. His artwork has been featured in exhibitions including Passion for Knowledge at the Donostia International Physics Center in San Sebastián, Spain; Digital 10: Planet Earth at the New York Hall of Science; the Siggraph Traveling Art Show at the École du Louvre, the Salon d'Automne, and the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris, as well as the Cleveland Museum of Art. Hylton’s pieces are included in ACM Siggraph’s The History of Computer Graphics and Digital Art Project and the Carnegie Mellon University MoonArk project — the first museum planned for the moon, with a twin installation at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum’s permanent collection.
Alyssa Lang
Artist Biography
As a professional designer since 1994, Alyssa has worked in several professional environments, ranging from a small three-person advertising agency, to a large international consulting firm, culminating in the creation of her own design studios, Little Utopia Design and Studio Pienza. She has designed a range of printed marketing collateral, websites, logos, and books and book covers. Her art and design interests lie in typography, calligraphy, posters, book design, logos, papermaking, letterpress and block printing, ceramics, and watercolor painting.
After receiving a BFA in Studio Art, with a concentration in Graphic Design from West Chester University in Pennsylvania, she worked in the design industry for six years. In 2000, she began working toward an MFA in Graphic and Interactive Design at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Prior to Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ she had taught at American University in Washington, DC and Arcadia University outside Philadelphia.
Her work has been published in numerous books and magazines including PRINT Magazine’s Regional Design Annual and How Magazine, and twice she has received an AIGA (Re)Design Award.
Outside Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½, Alyssa enjoys spending time with her husband and son, watching soccer and tennis, playing with her two corgis, and doing all manner of art, craft, and design. In addition to the visual arts, Alyssa enjoys playing piano and guitar.
Jian Lee
Artist Biography
Jian Lee is an artist based in Los Angeles. As a teenager, she loved to draw comics and
share those with her friends. Her interest eventually expanded to drawing, painting, and
animation. She came to LA to study experimental animation at the California Institute of
the Arts (Cal Arts).
Her recent works use augmented reality to incorporate digital art into traditional art, and
she has been showing her works in galleries and art festivals. She also works
professionally as a character animator and a digital compositor in various films and
theatre projects.
Jian Lee currently teaches animation and drawing as an Assistant Professor at Cal Poly
ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½.
Sarah Meyer
Artist Biography
Born in the Midwest, in the city of St. Louis, Sarah A. Meyer is inspired by the empty spaces and the stories told by the folk in often overlooked places. Inspired by her mother who dropped her off on the north side of the Grand Canyon when she was 15 and picked her up three days later on the south side, she believes in serious Type II Fun1 and that everyone has a story to tell. We just have to do the hard work to get there and be still enough to listen. Her studio practice is based on quiet observation, writing, and documentation. Her medium varies from painting and photography, to book design and printing.
Sarah A. Meyer is a designer, artist, author, and educator. She is a Professor of Visual Communication Design at Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½’s Department of Art. She has a MFA in Visual Communications & Graphic Design from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a BS in Graphic Arts, Technology, & Management from from the University of Central Missouri.
Kevin Moore
Artist Biography
Kevin Moore is an Associate Professor in 3D Design at Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½. He received his Master of Fine Arts Degree from Claremont Graduate University. Prior to graduate school, he received his bachelor’s degree at California State University Long Beach in Communications with a focus on Rhetorical Theory. His work has been shown internationally and throughout the LA area at the Pacific Design Center, Bergamot Station, and Claremont Graduate University. Internationally he has exhibited in Matera, Italy.
Devora Orantes
Artist Biography
Devora Orantes was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala and raised in Los Angeles, California.
Orantes completed a BA in Art at California State University Northridge in 2010 and an MFA in
Drawing and Painting at California State University Fullerton (CSUF) in 2014. She has exhibited
in California, Texas, and New York.
As an educator and graphic designer Orantes has worked at several institutions in Southern
California to include: Lancaster Museum of Art and History, Antelope Valley College, and
California State University Fullerton. Currently, she holds adjunct teaching positions at
California Polytechnic University ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ and College of the Canyons
Jeff Ray
Artist Biography
Jeff Ray is a multifaceted artist, encompassing roles as a visual artist, musician, sound artist, designer, filmmaker, curator, festival founder, and activist. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Visual Communication Design at Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½. In 2010, he earned an MFA in Conceptual Information Arts (New Media / Art and Technology) from San Francisco State University.
He is currently co-directing a full-length documentary about the underground music and arts scene in San Francisco, for which he is also responsible for sound design and composition. Additionally, he serves as the lead motion and title designer for the film “Hidden Scenes.” Now in its fifth year of production, the team has interviewed more than 30 subjects and continues to develop the project.
Ray is also working on an experimental documentary, Memories of Architecture and Sound, about the Salk Institute—its architecture and the scientific research being conducted on memory.
He has received numerous awards, including a Murphy Cadogan Award from the San Francisco Foundation, and was an Artist-in-Residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts in 2004. His work has been exhibited and performed at venues such as SF MOMA (San Francisco), Kulturhuset (Stockholm, Sweden), New Langton Arts (San Francisco), and in a large-scale solo exhibition at San Diego State University’s downtown gallery.
He recently debuted an early cut of his documentary film, Hidden Scenes, for the MFA students at the University of Iowa. He also recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the music and arts festival, Mission Creek, in Iowa City, that he co-founded.
Michelle Solorzano
Artist Biography
Michelle Solorzano is a figurative ceramic sculptor whose work explores themes of immigration, identity, and culture, blending personal experiences with broader historical and ancestral influences. Her art practice is deeply rooted in the complexities of bicultural identity and the layered legacies of colonization, drawing inspiration from her Dominican heritage shaped by Taíno, African, and Spanish influences.
Solorzano holds a BFA in Painting and Ceramics from the State University of New York at Potsdam and an MFA in Ceramics from Indiana University’s Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design.
Now based in California, Solorzano recently completed a long-term residency at the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA). She is currently an Artist in Residence at Laguna Clay and an Adjunct Ceramics Professor at ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½, ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½. Her work has been recognized nationally, most recently as a 2025 NCECA Emerging Artist and a recipient of the Helen Zucker Seeman Writing and Research Fellowship for Women. She was named a 2024 Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist and has also received the Bloomington Arts Commission Emerging Artist Grant, the Christyl Ann Boger Memorial Award, and the Nelda Christ Memorial Award.
Michael "Patch" Wright
Artist Biography
Patch Wright (b. 1978 in Los Angeles, CA) received his Bachelor of Arts in Sculpture from the California College of Arts in Oakland, CA 2010 and was elected by faculty for residency at the New York Studio Program in Brooklyn, NY 2009. He received a Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University and is the recipient of the Presidents Art award and Fernandez Art prize in 2014.
Patch began living in his studio to focus on his own work in 1999 and persisted as a sub-contractor working in art production as a means of survival long before he experienced any formal art education. Eventually, Patch became acquainted with much of LA’s gallery and museum landscape and found himself assisting, fabricating work and building studios for many noteworthy artists.
His work has been included in group exhibitions across the U.S and can be found in the permanent collections at Claremont Graduate University and the 21c Museum hotel, KY.
Patch Wright is an Artist and Educator working and living in the San Gabriel Valley, CA