Andy Martinelli Clark 

The word eclectic comes to us from the Greek adjective eklektikos, which derives from the verb eklegein, meaning “to select.” Per Merriam-Webster, the term described ancient philosophers who were reticent to adopt a single, all-encompassing dogma. Instead, these thinkers preferred to choose, like diners at a buffet, from varying ideas to construct a heterogenous worldview. Later, the word’s use broadened to include elements culled from multifarious sources. Today we typically deploy the term when characterizing a group of objects or one’s taste. We might compliment a friend by stating that she sports an eclectic wardrobe or that the furniture ensemble in her living room exudes chic eclecticism.  
 
Because our shared world is syncretistic and distinguished by intercultural commutation, rapid technological innovation, and seemingly incessant political strife, present day art looks particularly amorphous and eclectic to my eye. Take for instance the eighty-second rendition of the Whitney Biennial—currently on view at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art—which emphatically foregrounds this contemporary condition. But the same predilection is also present in the work of the nine students that comprise the 2026 MFA Studio Art cohort at American University. Like the bygone philosophers, these young artists welcome various (and sometimes conflicting) points of view and material approaches to establish their own distinct purview. Such openness will likely serve them well as they move beyond the boundary of this academic institution to become self-actualized artists in a calamitous world. It has been a pleasure to witness how these dedicated makers utilize ceramics, drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and digital media, as well as sculpture and hybrid methods to examine the fallibility of memory (Julia Fouser), luxuriate in the sublime (Sarah Bell Wilson), interrogate one’s subjective interiority (Michael Dodson; Kelvin He Hao Low), critique longstanding societal practices (Lexi Moser; Austin Remetta; Brenay Spencer), and elicit participatory engagement (Rob Balsewich; Ryan Kennedy).

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