The McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin is one of the leading business school programs in the country. We’ve been working with the school’s visionary leadership team to develop a world class art program to enhance Robert B. Rowling Hall, which opened in 2018. Designed by Ennead Architects in partnership with Jacobs Engineering Group, Rowling Hall is currently home to the school’s professional MBA programs

Photography by Jeff Wilson Photography

Jacob Hashimoto (American, b. 1973)
The Wind’s Gathering Applause,2026
Resin, bamboo, screenprints, UV prints, acrylic, stainless steel, and Spectra
47 x 43 x 36 feet

Jacob Hashimoto is best known for using traditional Japanese methods to create large-scale installations or “tapestries” out of thousands of handcrafted paper and wood kites. This monumental, site-responsive installation was commissioned for the five-story entrance to Rowling Hall. The cloud-like form is designed to be viewed from all sides, with each perspective offering a unique experience of the artwork, which is made from over 5,000 kites.

Learn more about this project HERE

Hashimoto is known for creating intricate worlds layered with images drawn from history, culture, technology, and nature.

A lexicon of more than 500 graphics was developed by the artist and incorporated into the kites — referencing local landscapes, cultural landmarks in and around Austin, and other symbols meaningful to the University.

The piece interacts with all the artworks hanging in the building's public spaces. It is part of a collection of 71 works by 23 artists, generously underwritten by Carolyn and Preston, UT ’62, Butcher.

View from the atrium lobby of the installation with a series of Robert Rauschenberg’s LA Uncovered screenprints, and Julian Opie’s lenticular Street Walkers on the second floor.

Ellsworth Kelly (American, 1923-2015)
Colored Squares 1,2011
5-color lithograph; Edition of 35
21 x 77 inches

The collection is comprised of art by local, national, and international artists whose works fit the vision and values developed for the art program.

Ellsworth Kelly is one of the most important artists of the 20th Century with a connection to Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art. His print, Colored Squares 1, is an exploration of form and color that can be seen translated into physical form in “Austin” (2018), the chapel built on the grounds of the Blanton, which is a short walk from Rowling Hall. The structure is the only building ever designed by the artist.

Kenny Nguyen (Vietnamese American, b. 1990)
Encounter Series #45, 2025
Hand-cut silk fabric, acrylic paint
71 x 109 inches

The art program incorporates works representing a variety of perspectives and media.

Using silk, a culturally significant material in Vietnam, Nguyen developed a distinctive technique to produce large, dimensional, mixed-media works he describes as “deconstructed paintings.” In some ways, his deconstruction and reconstruction is akin to the experience of growing into his identity as a Vietnamese American and as an artist. “For me, silk has become the connector tying both cultures together.”

Nathan Randall Green (American, b. 1980)
Four Skies (Portal/Core Sample), 2024
Acrylic and paper pulp on canvas, artist panel
48 x 48 inches

Nathan Randall Green takes a tactile approach to his painting by building irregularly shaped, rounded panels rich with surface texture. They are scraped, sanded, patched, and weathered with the history of their making. 

Born in Houston, Green received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The University of Texas at Austin and has painted murals domestically and abroad.

Paula Scher (American, b. 1948)
World Trade Routes, Europe, Africa, China, and, India, 2006-2018
Hand-pulled screenprints

An acclaimed graphic designer, Paula Scher lives in New York, where she has been a principal in the New York office of the international design consultancy Pentagram since 1991. She has designed identity and branding systems, environmental graphics, packaging and publications for clients including Citibank, Microsoft, Bloomberg, the Museum of Modern Art, Tiffany & Co, the High Line, the Public Theater, the Metropolitan Opera, the Sundance Institute, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 

During the 1990s, Scher began painting colorful typographic maps of the world, its continents, countries, islands, oceans, cities, streets, and neighborhoods as a reaction to information overload. Like a constant stream of news, the paintings present skewed versions of reality in a deceptively authoritative way. 

Landry McMeans (American, b. 1985)
Terlingua, 2025
Original hand-cut stencil painting
38 1/2 x 50 inches

Landry McMeans lives and works in Austin and has a passion for the American West. Her limited-edition stencil paintings bring to life iconic Southwest landscapes and their flora and fauna in large-scale, life-size works.

Sarah Anne Johnson (Canadian, b. 1976)
“Glow (Cedar Forest),” 2025
“Sun Burst (Cedar Forest),” 2025
Pigment print with oil paint and holographic tape
Artist’s proof
64 5/8 x 44 5/8 inches framed, each

Johnson’s digitally altered photographs are meant to create a sense of happiness, connection to the landscape, and a feeling of belonging in nature. Her work references Indigenous knowledge, plant biology, and the impacts of nature on ancient architecture. 

Odili Donald Odita (Nigerian American, b. 1966)
Black Star, 2024
Silkscreen on Somerset Tub Satin 410 gsm paper
Edition of 35
43 1/4 x 43 1/4 inches

View of the MBA office with Odili Donald Odita’s Black Star anchoring the wall outside. His work brings heightened awareness to color and space in paintings where abstraction is an optically, physically, and culturally felt phenomenon.

David Nash (British, b. 1945)
Oak Leaf Arch and Oak Leaves in May , 2023
Pastel stencil on Arches
Edition of 30
26 1/4 x 41 inches each

In addition to placing art in the building's public spaces, Art Strategies curated art for ten interior-facing student study rooms. The goal was to bring abstract interpretations of nature, and more brightness and color into each small space.

David Nash is one of Britain’s most prolific sculptors and land artists. His art is inspired by nature, especially the rural landscape around his home in Wales. He documents his progress through drawings, film, photographs, and more recently, pastel stencil editions, which reflect the natural formations and shapes in his sculpture.

Judy Pfaff (American, b. 1946)
Boutonniére Series, 2024
Intaglio, shellac, acrylic paint, and archival inlet on Kozo
10 x 13 inches each

An art pioneer of the 1970s, Judy Pfaff creates work that spans disciplines from painting to printmaking to sculpture to installation. Each installation considers the specific spatial geometries of the room, the ceiling, even the street out the window, so that no two shows are ever alike. Pfaff and her crew may labor for months or years for shows that last days or weeks, setting her apart from those who may rely on sales of discrete objects.