MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN President, Kay Sloan Curatorial Programs Director of Curatorial Programs, Lisa Tung The Graduate Programs Dean of the Graduate Programs, George Creamer Assistant Dean of the Graduate Programs, Jenny Gibbs
Bakalar & Paine Galleries 621 Huntington Avenue Boston, Massachusetts 02115 Graduate Programs: 617 879 7333 www.MassArt.edu
MFA THESIS I II
April 24 – 3 May May 9 – 18 May
INTRODUCTION MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN 2D ADINA BRICKLIN KATELYNN DEWITT ALEXIS KOCHKA SUSAN METRICAN LEILA NAMIN JEFFREY REZENDE 3D AMANDA BROWN JESSICA VOGEL BEN SILVA FILM/VIDEO JOEL FRENZER KEVIN SWEET PHOTOGRAPHY RYAN ARTHURS DAN BOARDMAN JOHN KECK KATHYA LANDEROS JOE REYNOLDS DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE DANIEL BUCKLEY SHAN GAO JATURONT(KID) JAMIGRANONT MARIA STANGEL NICOLE TARIVERDIAN
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MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston MA USA, T 617 879 7166 gradinfo@massart.edu MassArt.edu
As an innovative university for artists, designers, and educators we prepare our students to contribute to contemporary culture and to fuel the creative economy. We are proud of our unique status as the only independent public college of art and design in the country, and our heritage as the nation’s first degree-granting art school, founded in 1873. Our programs are consistently ranked among the top in the country. US News & World Report ranked our MFA program #1 in Massachusetts. Our 1700 undergraduate and 200 graduate students come from more than 35 countries, reflecting the international reputation of our programs, and Boston’s place as one of the great learning and research centers in the world. Our urban campus offers more than 1,000,000 square feet of studios, workshops, classrooms and galleries. We are located at the center of a world-class fine arts triangle, sited between the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Our Bakalar and Paine Galleries are one of Boston's premier venues for contemporary art, showcasing emerging and established artists from around the world. Our 260 graduate and undergraduate faculty are teachers and artist/practitioners at the top of their fields, with a 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Our faculty exhibit nationally and internationally at institutions including: MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Center Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the International Center of Photography, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Musee de la Ville de Paris, the Cleveland Institute of Art, and the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, among others. The faculties' cumulative awards and grants number in the thousands, including multiple awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fulbright Program, the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the MacDowell Colony Fellowship, and the Massachusetts Council on the Arts. The university offers graduate degrees in eleven areas. For more information please visit MassArt.edu , email gradinfo@massart.edu, or call (617) 879-7166.
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ADINA BRICKLIN MFA 2D
2D
www.adinabricklin.com
"Through drawing process and subject matter I investigate opposing aesthetic ideals, simultaneously striving toward fact and toward fiction, toward clarity and toward subtlety, toward perfection and toward error. I use photographic sources to tap into my fascination with the machine through the filter of drawing, struggling toward a mechanical goal, pushing against the limitations of my hand and the properties of my materials. To draw performances of light in the landscape, I treat the stylus as light and the paper as landscape. I utilize different processes of tracing and rubbing to translate photographic light into drawing, and my various drawing tools distort and degrade the imagery or emboss the paper with the blemishes of my studio walls. The spaces depicted in my drawings are within a human context, seen from eye level, a person-mediated nature. By creating the objects I wish to see, confronting my own longings for image on surface, I hope to produce work that engages the human appetite for vision, beauty, and place."
Adina Bricklin, Film 3, graphite on paper, 10" x 10", 2012
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KATELYNN DEWITT 2D MFA 2D
2D
www.katelynndewitt.com
"I paint intimate scenes between my partner and I inside our apartment. I focus on the color in order to evoke the emotional state I have about these scenes: paranoia, loneliness, lust, affection, domination, and adoration. I want my voice to be heard in a society that actively bans and denigrates my desires. What I desire is beautiful."
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ALEXIS KOCHKA MFA 2D
2D
alexiskochka.com
"In my paintings I look at places where nature and culture mingle, where the natural world is mediated by people, and where people are mediated by nature. Parks, woods, swimming holes, river bends, are platforms for me to navigate this uncertain terrain. I try to locate these places through paint. I use imagery from my personal experiences and the places I visit. The settings that I transcribe, are more sensed than known. I want to show the feeling of these places, the warmth of a sunny rock, the cold shadow of the forest understory. I create my paintings as a stage for human interaction with the landscape to unfold. Once on stage, the figures and the landscape perform, relying on each other to to imply a narrative. My hope is that this all adds up to a story, a story involving an experience that has been suspended and relived like a memory." Alexis Kochka, Matt and Betsy, oil on canvas, 48" x 68", 2012
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SUSAN METRICAN MFA 2D
2D
www.susanmetrican.com
"Most recently I have been considering the notion of seeing as a 2-dimensional experience and thinking about the space around me or the still life set-up as a flattened space (as if behind glass). I am currently exploring ways in which to affect or “touch� what I am seeing through the use of projected light on the actual still life as well as including elements in the work that try to exist on the surface of the painting."
Susan Metrican, Emission Theory, acrylic on canvas, 64" x 78", 2012
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LEILA NAMIN MFA 2D
2D
www.leilanamin.com
"My work is made through many layers of narrative, and in variety of media. The narratives evolve from the different source material. Recently I've been working on wood panels that allow me to agitate the surface. The clash between narratives often come from experimentation with ink, colored pencil, acrylic and oil mediums."
Leila Namin, Five Hands, mixed media on panel, 40'' x 30'', 2012
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JEFFREY REZENDE MFA 2D
2D
jeffreyrezende.com
"My work investigates the concept of surface. I experiment with a variety of media in making illegible text through gestural marks with dry media over acrylic paint on wood panels. My rules for this initial circumstance often adjust during the process, and I end up with a surface different from the initial idea. When making painting, I am continually adding or removing material and therefore adding and removing content. For example, if I take a standard neon-orange traffic cone and paint it white, I have added material and subsequently removed the content and functionality of the iconic object." Jeffrey Rezende, Function Of A Painting 2
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AMANDA BROWN MFA 3D
3D
www.amandambrown.com
"My work is a fusion of sculpture, dance, and video. The sculptures have a moving surface where the narrative is intricate and sparse, involving relationships between people, the self, and the space. Air and negative space are integral to my work, as light and shadows inform and conceal layers of mystery and discovery. With both sculpture and video, I am exploring materiality, and movement in time with its pauses and reflections and offering a chance to linger in a fleeting moment, giving permanence to the fragile and ephemeral. I work collaboratively with actors, dancers, and other artists to capture the nuances and contradictions of the human condition. I am interested in exploring issues of beauty, mortality, fragility, ritual, and isolation. My work explores the intersection of intention and process in a dance of light, people, and material that creates an intimate experience for the viewer in a layered environment. In my sculptures as well as the video sculpture, light is an essential part of the piece, dancing on the surface of the bodies and materials. My recent work involves the interplay of video and sculpture, which surrounds the viewer and expands the space, providing a window into a secret world. Debut and One are part of the same installation involving projections on and within a dresser. Debut is a silent black and white film, which shows the process of sculpting a clay dress on a woman. One shows a solo Tango in a mirror with music, ambient sound, and voice. Projected onto the inside of a drawer, it is not immediately noticeable until the glowing light and faint music draw attention to the drawer. For my thesis work, I am also introducing small acts of subversion, such as the decoration of a ceramic platter with tiny moving figures instead of glaze." Amanda M Brown, Pattern I (detail), stoneware with video projection, 23" x 23" x 2", 2012
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JESSICA VOGEL MFA 3D
3D
vogel.jw@gmail.com
Jessica Vogel, Untitled Detail, nylon and sand, 2012
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BEN SILVA MFA 3D
3D
www.bensilvasculpture.com
Ben Silva, Wheat Grass Grotto, mixed media installation, 15' x 25', 2011
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JOEL FRENZER
FILM/VIDEO
MFA FILM/VIDEO
"Utilizing his background in experimental animation and performance, Joel Frenzer has developed a body of work that encompasses independent short films, looped animated vignettes, digital found-footage puppetry, and comedy podcast hosting. His work has been featured in international festivals, workshops, galleries, and on the web. Since graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2000, he has taught and assisted classes at Harvard University, Mass College of Art and Design, and is currently a full-time professor of animation at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston."
Joel Frenzer, Obdomia II, video, 2012
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KEVIN SWEET MFA FILM/VIDEO
FILM/VIDEO
kevinjsweet.net
Kevin Sweet, Intervals, 16mm multichannel projection, 2012
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RYAN ARTHURS MFA PHOTOGRAPHY
PHOTOGRAPHY
ryanarthurs.com
"Sexuality and the digital age inform these images that divide environment and figure. By calling attention to the queer male body that is without place, the figure becomes a landscape in which to explore ideas of intimacy, vulnerability, confrontation and seduction. Ryan Arthurs is a photographer working primarily with themes related to masculine identity. He received his BFA from Carleton College, in Northfield, MN."
Ryan Arthurs, Untitled, color photograph, 32" x 40", 2012
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DAN BOARDMAN MFA PHOTOGRAPHY
PHOTOGRAPHY
www.dbboardman.com
"Collected from trips in the North Atlantic and Central New York, these images describe a fictional world of uprooted men seeking a way home. In this folk tale I encounter gatekeepers, watchdogs, renegades, spirits, ghosts and lone wolves. These characters navigate a crestfallen world seeking out new terms to define themselves and the world they inhabit."
Dan Boardman, Untitled Photograph, 30" x 40"
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JOHN KECK MFA PHOTOGRAPHY
PHOTOGRAPHY
www.dbboardman.com
"'Life and How to Live It' I explore the uncanny, the psychological, and the raw beauty of Suburbia (the place as well as the state of mind) along with the strangers I meet during my excursions through the suburbs. T.S. Eliot has written: “The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” In a sense, I am investigating the idea of Suburbia, the childhood “place” where I started. My early childhood memories of Suburbia represent a paradise of sorts. That version of Suburbia was safe with plenty of space for adventure in friends’ backyards and neighborhood parks. As I grew older and more mature the boundaries and limitations of Suburbia slowly became stifling. It was too safe, too banal, too restrictive from parental controls, and too homogenous with too little culture. As an adult, finally purged from Suburbia for many years now, I have been strangely drawn back to it like a siren’s song."
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KATHYA LANDEROS
PHOTOGRAPHY
MFA PHOTOGRAPHY
"Kathya Maria Landeros was born in Sacramento, California to Mexican immigrant parents. Her photographic work focuses on Mexican-American communities. She is a 2012 MFA candidate from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design, and holds an undergraduate degree in English Literature and Hispanic Studies from Vassar College. She is a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Mexico in photography, and is a recent Fulbright Ambassador. She resides in New London, Connecticut."
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JOE REYNOLDS MFA PHOTOGRAPHY
PHOTOGRAPHY
www.joereynoldsphotographs.com
"Joe Reynolds grew up in Chattanooga, TN. He holds a BA in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BFA in Photography from East Tennessee State University. He lives and works in Boston, MA"
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DANIEL BUCKLEY MFA DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
opensourceempathy.com
Daniel James Buckley, Prometheus Clock, projector+ empathy + plexiglas + oedipal complex + drafter's vellum + greek myth + plywood, 30" x 30" x 30", 2012
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SHAN GAO MFA DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
shangaodesign.com
"Shan Gao is currently a graduate student at the Dynamic Media Institute at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where she is exploring the role of dynamic media in Interaction Design. She also has a background in print design with a BA degree in Graphic Design from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Her scope of professional experience spans interactive media , motion and print. She likes to keep her awareness constant by working with multimedia."
Shan Gao, Wishing Well, interactive installation, 2012
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JATURONT (KID) JAMIGRANONT
DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
MFA DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
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MARIA STANGEL MFA DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
mariastangel.com
"I am researching the factors that influence social behaviors in public spaces. More and more people separate themselves from their surroundings by their headphones, personal electronic devices and are more connected to their online community than to their real world neighbors. Becoming a part of a community can be a challenge as living with mobile technology distances us from each other. I am curious about the unexpected moments that can inspire strangers to share attention and momentary experience. These mysterious feelings, which allow sudden, emotional communication between two human beings fascinate me. During my thesis research I have been investigating how spontaneous connections are initialized and what role “play� has in facilitating these moments. I believe that we can take advantage of digital media installations in order to encourage interaction between people."
Maria Stangel, Brush Ball, interactive installation, 2012
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NICOLE TARIVERDIAN MFA DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
nicoletariverdian.com
Nicole Tariverdian, Things That Matter, Dynamic Media: interactive sculptural object and projection, 2012
CREDITS: Editor and Creative Director: Jenny Gibbs, Assistant Dean Of Graduate Programs Designer: Maria Anna Stangel (MFA ’12) ŠCopyright 2012 Massachusetts College of Art and Design. All rights reserved; no part of this book may be reproduced without the express written permission of the publisher