When Tina Solki (SFS/MSB ’26) stumbled upon a Voice article advocating for the revival of GUSA’s Arts Week—a week dedicated to various arts at Georgetown, including a cappella groups, dancers, filmmakers, musicians, and comedians—she was immediately captivated.
“I come to find out that it is not being run, it does not exist, and frankly there’s nobody involved,” Solki said, after realizing the week hadn’t been hosted since 2019.
Solki took it upon herself to pitch a revival of the Arts Week to the GUSA Senate, beginning her role as Chair of the Arts Week Committee. Part of her vision included creating a gallery where students did not have to go out of their way to find art, allowing them to take a moment in their busy lives to appreciate their peers’ artistic ability.
“I wanted to highlight the work that existing student artists were doing on campus to bring the arts in its variety of forms to people directly,” Solki said.
She was also interested in designating a space specifically for art students to share what they have created, for the sake of art itself.
“I feel like at Georgetown a lot of the arts are relegated to how they can be sold. There are a lot of places to show off your work to further a capitalistic purpose, or some sort of private purpose, rather than being able to showcase it for the work itself,” Solki said.
Currently, most student art is displayed in Walsh or in various student publications, like the Voice, The Indy, The Anthem, or ADDED TO THE FILE. Walsh is already physically separated from campus, and these publications need to be sought out with the intention of looking for art. In most cases, the artists also create that art to be for a specific purpose—a themed issue, a cover, an article visual. Allowing student-produced art to be brought to their peers in one of the most populated areas on campus brings a new audience to the work itself, not just the ones who intentionally read The Anthem or hang up their friend’s prints.
Her next step was reaching out to different spaces on campus for the gallery to be installed. “I thought, ‘you know what would be great? If it’s 2 a.m. on Lau 2 and I’m writing a paper, to have something to look at that’s new,’” Solki said.
One of the most drab, yet highly frequented, buildings on campus, Solki considered Lauinger as the ideal location for a gallery—which was eventually approved by library staff.
The exhibit itself features works produced in Georgetown classes or solicited from a Google form spread around the student body. There are two sculptures and thirteen paintings on display, with ten artists being represented. The sculptures shape wood and cardboard into fluid, abstract, three-dimensional shapes. The paintings contain a variety of subjects, like self-portraits, landscapes, more abstract and virtual work, and animals. A total of six easels are put up right near the entrance of the floor, and a collage of seven others sits near the larger meeting rooms. This collage has four paintings in a similar style, with different women having their bodies and faces colorblocked, and the other paintings gradually shifting to more neutral tones.
Serving as the main director for the Lauinger gallery, Zadie Weaver (CAS ’28) worked with artists on campus to find pieces and finalize the vision of the space.
“A ton of people submitted different work, like self-portraits and abstract stuff—I think it goes to attest to what Georgetown students choose to express themselves creatively with,” Weaver said.
Another driving factor to hold such a space for art was to break up the monotony of everyday life.
“I want people to have fun. Thinking about how fun Homecoming or St. Paddy’s Day was—just seeing things happening outside of class in a decorated third space as the vibe for an entire week,” Weaver said.
On the other hand, some of the motivation behind reestablishing Arts Week is to rebuild campus traditions.
“Part of the significance of this, being something that’s coming back post-pandemic, is that a lot of our customs are only just pulling themselves back together,” Solki said. Creating Arts Week means reawakening campus traditions from a bygone era.
Arts Week also hopes to bring together Georgetown students from all different circles—all experiencing the same art. Whether a lingering consequence of COVID-19 or not, a feeling of cliquiness dominates the Georgetown experience today. Solki hopes that Arts Week will change that.
“Because social life [at Georgetown] is so granularized, everybody has their own little bubbles within the broader Georgetown bubble. I feel like the moments that feel very distinctly college are when everybody’s individual bubbles pop and suddenly they’re sharing space with other students and they’re engaging in some greater communal activity,” Solki said.
This could be achieved from the gallery, student cultural showcases, or student fashion shows, but the overall goal remains to build community, celebrate student art, and brighten up someone’s day while doing it.
“If we can do anything to give people a reason to smile, it would be a reason for success,” Solki said.
The exhibit will be available to view on the second floor of Lauinger Library from April 6-13, one of the many events during Arts Week.
Editor’s Note: Tina Solki is a contributing editor for the Voice.
