Connection Lines | BFA Thesis Show 2022 Catalogue

Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR Dana Clancy · Director · School of Visual Arts

It is my pleasure and honor to introduce the Boston University School of Visual Arts 2022 Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis catalog, featuring work by students in the BFA Graphic Design, Painting, Printmaking, and Sculpture degree programs. This year, for the first time since Spring 2019, we invited an outside audience to campus to see thesis work in person. The Stone Gallery, having been renovated in 2020, came alive as a new site for conversation and for gathering for the school. Work from private studios became public, and we welcomed an audience of SVA alumni, leaders and members of the BU community, gallerists, art enthusiasts, and many professionals in the field. We joyfully celebrated with students’ family members, friends, past classmates, and the SVA community.

The student thesis work in this catalog and Stone Gallery is made to engage the viewer. Materials ask us to linger, look, read, question, and be aware of how things can and do change in both predictable and unpredictable ways. “Chance has its way with the materials,” writes Sculpture major Anya Gellerman. Graphic design students invite the audience to be agents of change, proposing design solutions to social problems or raising questions: “Who owns the artwork developed by a machine?” asks graphic designer Jon Vogel in his work. These seniors faced change with creative action, and the residue of studio gestures remain in work that was poured, molded, embroidered, piped, or created with a mix of materials from yarn and paint to glue, caulk, plaster, and paper. The 2022 thesis identity focused on elasticity as a metaphor, resonant with the push and pull of the past two years, the feeling of bouncing back, and the ability of artists to return to a form: “as artists we are trained to be and think as elastic beings, constantly being pulled in a multitude of directions as we flex our creative muscles and search for new solutions,” writes the BFA Graphic Design brand identity team.

As Curator and Visiting Lecturer Leah Triplett Harrington writes in her text for the exhibition, these students have “demonstrated tremendous tenacity, resiliency, and care for their community in their four years at BU. Their work in painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, and printmaking in various media expresses a deep concern for cultivating shared experiences. Whether through manga-influenced characters, abstract composition that becomes choreography, cake-inspired sculptures, or ritualized painting practices, their work collectively considers relationships and togetherness.” I am so grateful to Leah Triplett Harrington for her attention, care, and work with students and faculty to help envision this exhibition. The labor to create this catalog and thesis website, posters, and signage was enormous. Thank you to Mary Yang and BFA Graphic Design students Kylie Carroll, Ashlie Dawkins, Joyce Hu, and Ken Rudolph for your wonderful work and vision for your fellow seniors. I am grateful for the way this entire class has come together as a community. On behalf of SVA, I sincerely thank program chairs, Director of Undergraduate Studies Marc Schepens and faculty working with me to teach the seniors, including professors Yang, Grady, Sleboda, James, Ryan, Cornell, Allen, Gomez, and Snyder. I am grateful for the mentorship that all faculty provided across many modalities and—in 2020–21—across time zones. Thank you to Assistant Director Beth Zerega for her caring and attentive advising of our undergraduates, and to Director of Admissions Jessica Caccamo for helping bring this class to BU and celebrate their thesis.

Thank you to Dean Harvey Young for his steady leadership and vision, and Boston University Art Galleries Managing Director Lissa Cramer for her collaboration and commitment to preparing our students professionally. I am grateful to Julianna Augustine along with Technical Associates Gus Wheeler, Josh Brennan, and Brandon Cohen working with Operations Manager Logen Zimmerman for ensuring that BFA exhibitions processes run smoothly.

Together we sincerely congratulate the BFA Class of 2022!

CONTENTS

PAINTING

6

SCULPTURE

40

PRINTMAKING

48

GRAPHIC DESIGN

52

PAINTING

Chloe Carson Alice Chen Evette Chung Eva Familia Anna Frants Brianna Howard Antonella Jones Mean Hie Kim

Hannah Narae Lee Amanda Marki Jayna Mikolaitis Julia Owen Rachel Ryoo Angelica Trujillo Xianying Yu Ashley Zhou

CHLOE CARSON

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@chloecarsonart

Birthday Party, 2021. Oil on canvas. 6 × 5 ft.

8

9

Painting

Left: The Stroll, 2022. Oil on panel. 4 × 2 ft.

Right: The Picnic, 2022. Oil on panel. 4 × 4 ft.

I began drawing cartoons when I was 8 years old. Ever since, I have been fascinated by the exaggeration of line and shape when portraying spaces, objects, and most importantly figures. This exaggeration gives my work a freedom that realism had previously stifled. Simplification allows for more control over the image—because there are fewer details, the viewer must focus on what I have provided.

In my most recent work, I have begun depicting myself as the central subject using this cartoon style. In many ways, this figure acts as my twin or an extension of myself. This extension is put in some compromising or distressing situations in some of my paintings; in one, she appears unconscious in different plates of food and in another her naked body lies in a coffin. These paintings explore serious themes including body image, disordered eating, sexuality, and womanhood. Many may ask why I chose to depict myself in a childlike style when dealing with such important topics. However, this style is exactly what allows me to explore these topics. Most viewers won’t know I am the central subject of many of my paintings because of the simplified and exaggerated style.

This anonymity gives me the ability to explore topics surrounding my mental health in a safe way. This approach adds humor to the work in what otherwise would be rather serious and upsetting, seeing a cartoon character immediately lightens the tone and makes it more digestible. Simplified figures more easily allow viewers to project themselves onto protagonists or into the situation.

Although my work is ultimately a way to express myself safely, I also hope viewers are able to find humor, solace, and companionship within my figures.

ALICE CHEN

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@alcie.c

Top: Bunnies and Me, 2022. Ink on paper. 6 × 3 ft.

Bottom: Loneliness, Madness, Intent, 2022. Ink on paper. 3 × 6 ft.

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11

Painting

The Pond, 2022. Ink on paper. 6 × 5 ft.

I treat painting like telling a story. Paintings can reach beyond reality, amplify it, and break the boundaries between people. I draw to capture little moments and hidden wonders, and weave them into a story slinking between the conscious and unconscious. With primarily ink and paper, I borrow the language of manga and comics and create casts of life-size characters, fantastical beings, ducks, and ghosts for the viewer to gaze and interact with.

These characters, from ghost humans to deceptively cute insanity bunnies, all represent different states of mind and emotion, yet they also have their own stories and take on a life and personality of their own. Sometimes, they take control over who they are, independent of my choice, and provide a portal to a different plane of reality. I seek to liven up a new but familiar world, challenging people with the reality that surrounds them.

BFA Thesis Show 2022

EVETTE CHUNG

December 2021, 2021. Oil on canvas. 24 × 18 in.

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13

Painting

Left: January 2022, 2022. Oil on canvas. 24 × 18 in.

Right: March 2022, 2022. Oil on canvas. 24 × 18 in.

We all feel something everyday: happy, sad, glum, wistful, bliss, disgust, and possibly a mixture of different emotions at once. Through color and mark I want to keep a personal record of what I feel everyday. A diary per se. Reckless or cautious, slow or fast, relaxed or stressed—it’s about me and only me. Color evokes emotion, and is beyond words. Blue becomes sadness and pastel pink a form of comfort. I believe color can become an exact representation of a certain mood. Marks add a sense of feeling, and I think of them as the details of personal sentiment and empathy.

Art and being an artist can be an instrument to help bring change within and outside of the artist’s radius. I work to develop my own unique style and share my experience of vulnerability between me and myself, and me and the audience.

BFA Thesis Show 2022

EVA FAMILIA

Untitled, 2022. Oil and acrylic on canvas. 30 × 24 in.

14

15

Painting

Left: Untitled, 2022. Oil and acrylic on canvas. 12 × 6 in.

Right: Untitled, 2021. Acrylic on paper. 7 × 4 ft.

Combining printmaking aspects in my paintings, I stamp, press, pour, and use stencils to create figures. My process consists of the tension between control and lack of control. My figures are spectral and sometimes fractured, made up of many marks that show the layers underneath. I want my pieces without a figure to evoke the senses through color and the pooling of the paint itself.

My work is about the body—a reflection of my own experience. There are certain aspects of myself that are represented over and over again, such as hair, which is an important part of my identity. Each piece is an exploration of me—a way to look into myself and make sense of identity.

My figures exist within a space that could be water or fluid atmosphere, sometimes including lines reminiscent of vibrations or sound. I draw particular inspiration from nature and water, and the ways in which they represent life force and vitality.

My fixation on the sole figure in my work is because I feel as if I am trying to connect my subject matter to either an archetype or a play between human and the divine to create my own mythology.

ANNA FRANTS

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@af.art

Hold Me Close, 2022. Acrylic on wood panel. 12 × 9 in.

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17

Painting

Left: Higher, 2022. Acrylic on wood panel. 12 × 9 in.

Right: Green Light, 2022. Acrylic on wood panel. 12 × 9 in.

Intensely powerful art emerges when the subconscious is granted the agency to create. I employ a “stream of consciousness” method in painting to translate my emotions and experiences to canvas. This allows me to access my deepest dreams and nightmares, and communicate them through color, line, light, and darkness.

Growing up in NYC, I learned very early on that being open and present with the world holds the key to realizing my dreams. New York is a composition of faces, stories, and cultures that always seem to make their way into my art and inform my practice. City life and graffiti influences are constantly present in my work, as are bold colors and figures inspired by my own experiences and the cultures around me.

My work focuses on the imagery that results from an automatic and intuitive process of drawing and painting. I aim to completely immerse myself in every studio session so I can access the flow state of being purely in the zone of natural creation. My work is for my own pursuit of understanding the world and the reality I experience which is infinitely confusing and painful yet so beautiful.

BRIANNA HOWARD

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.briannahowardstudio.com · @briannahowardstudio

Reposition, 2022. Oil and acrylic on paper. 30 × 22 in.

18

19

Painting

Scrabble, 2021. Oil and acrylic on canvas. 60 × 72 in.

Manipulating and moving materials is at the forefront of my oil paintings.

Airbrushes, brayers, squeegees, brushes, and various tools and textures create and inform subject matter and contribute to the mark-making of the paintings.

The deployment of materials in large quantities constructs and informs the work, reflecting the macro and micro operations of the universe.

In my work, I create space through gesture. Through a push and pull relationship, I aim to bring forth, and push back certain marks. My works remain connected to the nuances, markings, and remnants of the world around us. In response to the constant chaos faced by myself and others at this time, my practice leans toward escape, where my marks are informed by the movements of my body rather than thought.

While painting, there is a constant dialogue between me, the tool, and the surface. Because of this, my paintings are living things that constantly change and grow depending on what I feel they need. I create conditions to react to and problems to solve through the layering of paint, introducing or re-introducing tools, marks, and color. It’s as if I am solving the unresolvable.

BFA Thesis Show 2022

ANTONELLA JONES

Toeing the Line, 2022. Mixed media on canvas. 6 × 4 ft.

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21

Painting

Absorption, 2021. Acrylic on canvas. 3.5 × 4.5 ft.

My current work focuses on process and materiality as a reflection of my multidisciplinary practice and interest in various kinds of artmaking. Intuition plays a big role within the decision making process when I’m creating a work, specifically when it comes to color and content. Many of my processes involve staining or altering fabric to a point where it becomes an object on its own.

Through my work, I’ve been exploring this concept of art as an object rather than only as an image, and I continue to look for ways to push beyond the standard rectangular canvas. As I delve into more abstract subjects, I want to further emphasize the materiality and physical presence of my work, whether that be through draping canvas on the wall, or using materials other than paint, such as yarn. My work is an amalgamation of my many interests as a creator and it is an outlet for me to express and use these different processes and tools.

MEAN HIE KIM

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@minisfreee

Overflow, 2022. Candle, wax, and glitter on canvas. 24 × 18 in.

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23

Painting

What’s Your Mood?, 2021. Oil and acrylic on canvas. 30 × 40 in.

I express the most fundamental human emotions such as anxiety, fear, affection, and happiness with vivid colors and distorted lines. My paintings do not pay meticulous attention to details. I express the latent desire for expression with line, side, shapes, various patterns, and texture with primary colors. My work is faithful to my personal emotions.

The finished painting is a record of a moment in my life. I enjoy to sprinkle, spray, spill the paints, and immerse myself in the moment while excluding all the elements that would conventionally be considered when I paint—front, back, center point, and perspective.

I do not set out specific goals when I work. I’m trying to be open to what the materials are telling me. There’s so much that I cannot control and I allow that.

Drips, brush marks, and viscosity of the paints are part of my art. I question myself about what I am allowed to keep in the painting or get rid off.

I ask myself, How can I allow everything that I choose to keep to become unique and like a specific organism?

HANNAH NARAE LEE

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@h.nleee.art

Mother Mary, 2021. Oil, gold leaf, and fabric on canvas. 48 × 36 in.

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25

Painting

Night Terror, October 2021, 2021. Oil on canvas. 24 × 32 in.

I’ve always secretly thought I’m being haunted. Glimpses of a man shrouded by shadows, the glare of a figure too brilliant to see, a wail that echoes only in my ears. Sleep paralysis is a facet of my life that I’ve simply grown to accept— along with the demons it brings at night. It’s only been recently that I’ve given these hauntings a physical form. Before, they remained locked in the confines of my mind and lingered only in the darkness of my bedroom or in the fuzzy haze of a distant window. With each painting that emerges, they grow closer.

Become bolder. Through painting and drawing, their forms become more and more solid.

I don’t want these pieces to be permanent. I want them to exist and fade as they see fit, because I’ve never had control over these creatures, and their images should be the same. I’m simply compelled to draw them as they appear, trembling as I sketch out their wispy forms. I don’t think I can ever capture the full feeling of their presence. I still feel the lingering terror I felt all those years ago, waking in the middle of the night knowing that I was not alone. I don’t know if I want to give my hauntings a proper physical form. Part of me worries what will happen if I do.

AMANDA MARKI

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@poweredbysoju

DO NOT CLIMB, 2022. India ink on paper. 4 × 7 ft.

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27

Painting

BITCHES! BEWARE!, 2021. India ink on paper. 4 × 3 ft.

Using black india ink as the primary medium, I create worlds filled with a diverse cast of characters framed by a myriad of culturally prominent motifs.

As most cultures are rooted in antiquated ideas, my work offers a humorous, sacrilegious response to my Indonesian heritage. I have an intense fascination with ruins and ancient architecture, and also with the concept of beauty.

I see beauty in these things that seem broken and unlovable—for both people and places.

I realised through listing themes that inform and drive my work that all of it can be listed under a greater umbrella of self discovery. Through it, I am able to reflect on who I really am in all aspects of my being—such as my identity, my values, and my beliefs.

JAYNA MIKOLAITIS

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@jaynamikolaitis

Sundays are for Laundry, 2022. Oil on wood cabinet. 22½ × 25 ¾ in.

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29

Painting

Time for Ma’s Plum Pie, 2021. Oil on canvas. 60 × 84 in.

My work is both a window into a habitat and a decoration of a surface. There is a play between depth and flatness; constructed rooms and landscapes extend into an imaginative world while pattern, line, and solid colors sit on top of my paintings. This push and pull in distance, as well as the exaggeration of proportion and scale, create absurd—and almost humorous—spaces that slowly sink into a feeling of discomfort and disorientation.

My paintings are of figures and their inhabited spaces. I think about sheltering, the role of caregivers, critiques of feminism, and distinctions of interior and exterior. The work fuses familiarity with foreignness—weaving together domestic imagery sourced from family heirlooms and my home with visual metaphors to gardens, house plants, and wilderness. These worlds often blur or amplify the differentiation between interior and exterior spaces through the use of windows, portals, fences, and other framing devices.

BFA Thesis Show 2022

JULIA OWEN

The Moth, 2021. Cut paper, wood, and string. 5 × 4 ft.

30

31

Painting

The Branch Trio, 2022. Cut paper, gouce, string, and paint. Dimensions variable.

I am a mixed media artist specializing in collage and intricate, fragile cut paper. I collect objects ranging from man-made things such as old trays or vintage dresses, to natural fragments such as branches, flowers, and stones.

My found objects add dimensionality, so the work interacts with the space of the onlooker. The delicate materials and creations float and hang in space, displaying their ephemerality. I utilize many elements and objects that embody ideas of impermanence or rebirth; these objects are poetically tethered to the life cycle.

Documentation plays a critical role in my work. I play with the digital orientation of the installation through photography and Photoshop. This approach allows me to create my fleeting creations that continue to live on in a virtual space. This is my own way of navigating the temporality of life and the consistent desire to immortalize one’s own existence.

RACHEL RYOO

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@rryoo.art

happy birthday !, 2021. Oil on unstretched canvas. 31 × 34 in.

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33

Painting

a day in the office, 2022. Oil on unstretched canvas. 22 × 30 in.

I have been limiting what I get to paint and how I paint up until the recent creation of my deformed animal creatures. I was tired of painting what I felt comfortable with and challenged myself to reach deep into my darkest thoughts to place these characters on a canvas. Since the birth of the first black-eyed creature, I have been set free from my own rules from past years and opened doors to endless possibilities.

My process doesn’t start with a “big idea” or a theme. Instead, it begins by considering what environment and setting I can create for these characters.

I stray from portraying emotion on my creatures’ faces because I want to express their emotion and attitude with their bodies.

Many have asked for the meaning behind these paintings. I don’t see a deep and philosophical meaning behind my paintings. It’s more simple: I paint these creatures because I just enjoy painting them. There is something about painting these soulless creatures in different scenes that gives me life.

ANGELICA TRUJILLO

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@angiez_art

Untitled No. 2, 2021. Acrylic on canvas. 36 × 48 in.

34

35

Painting

Untitled No. 4, 2022. Acrylic on canvas. 48 × 72 in.

When I paint, I dance. But when I paint, I dance with my hands. Music guides my mark making. When I feel soft, I dance softly. When I feel rough, I dance roughly.

I turn, I tiptoe, I reach, I shrink, I bend left and right until I feel complete and do not want to dance anymore. After I dance, I think of what I left behind. I look for something. I look for forms. I look for them in spaces that I feel they belong.

I begin to dance again, identifying forms with paint and securing their position on the canvas. My forms interact in this space that I have created for them.

Some know where they belong, some don’t. Some fight each other for attention while others are so hidden that they barely get any attention at all. My forms are unique, they are defined by their colors and sometimes made through layers of yarn. They are extremely different and truly themselves, yet they share similar qualities. Some are vibrant and loud while others are dull and quiet. The forms interact through color. Color is their language.

XIANYING YU

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@mola_bonnieyu

Palace peonies, 2022. Oil on linen and mixed media. 40 × 30 in.

36

37

Painting

The marriage story, 2021. Oil on linen. 33 × 43 in.

Living in my home country never prompted me to think about my identity.

However, after moving to the US, tradition became something that is nostalgic and drew me in. This craving for tradition comes from all directions. As I learned more, I started to connect all the threads that I have found here and there to weave various elements of Chinese tradition together in my new work.

My work is based on the social issue that is prevalent in China, where men’s infidelity in marriage becomes common. The victims are always the women who end up being emotionally destroyed. The injustice toward women is in fact rooted in a history in which polygamy was the social norm. Through drawing on this history, I want to invite the viewer to reflect upon the issue with me.

From content to media, my work reflects an influence of both the West and the East. Oil has been the main media of my work in the most recent years, but it is used transparently. My work involves a long process of layering and removal to create subtle light and a sense of airiness.

Besides oil, I incorporated Chinese artifacts such as rice paper, fabric, and hair decor into my pieces. These artifacts, like me, travel across the sea to the US and find their new home here. They speak about the content of my work and reflect my experience. They are used in a way they are not made for, but interact with the paint.

BFA Thesis Show 2022

ASHLEY ZHOU

Untitled, 2022. Fabric paint and gouache on yarn. 86 × 60 × 10 in.

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39

Painting

Untitled, 2022. Graphite and watercolor on paper and etching ink on plexiglass. 30 × 22 × 18 in.

Painting for me is about the exploration of materials and the examination of self through identity and history. The process of finding materials and working with a range of surfaces is parallel to my hunt to find what identity means to me. I paint on mostly found materials—scrap wood, drywall, plexiglass, yarn, etc. Allowing paint to drip in a spontaneous manner and incorporating suspended elements that shift in response to its surroundings corresponds to my journey to approach uncertainty and the unknown. I am drawn to how mediums react with different materials—the sprawling of thinned out paint in wood veins and the crawling of liquid medium down soaked yarn.

Using a combination of photos from my parents’ early lives, sketches from life, and visual interpretations of oral history, I aim to work out aspects of my own social and cultural identity. The distance between the lines that make up the image and the transparent nature of my work reflect the gaps in the story I am beginning to weave together. Discovery as a whole is what I am interested in.

Discovery of approach, discovery of medium, discovery of self.

SCULPTURE

Anya Gellerman Juliette Plante Jordan Yu

BFA Thesis Show 2022

ANYA GELLERMAN

Dangling Swoosh, 2022. Shoelace, Nike Swoosh. 16 ½ × 4 in.

42

43

Sculpture

Leftover, 2021. Alginate, clay, and resin. 6 × 9 ½ × 1 in.

The notion of chance is compelling: it requires a release of authority and an intuitive curiosity. Chance factors in the things that we can control and couples them with the things we cannot such as gravity and the passage of time. There are materials that are more susceptible to chance, and it is these materials that I lean into. Resin, liquid rubber, and alginate are key to my process and my work. I am drawn to mold-making, not with the intention of making exact replicas of items, but to explore the changes that can ensue when chance is highlighted. Chance has its way with the materials. Alginate, when left out for extended periods of time, shrinks and warps as it becomes dehydrated. Liquid rubber relies on gravity to become level.

My work aims to challenge those natural forces. For example, forcing the liquid rubber to bond itself on an angle or pouring into the alginate mold every day as the matrix shapeshifts. I want my work to serve as a reminder that interesting things can happen with and without intention. Letting go of the goal of perfection has allowed me to view things as part of a growing process.

JULIETTE PLANTE

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@juliettplant

Goodnight Hymn, 2022. Mixed media, caulking, plaster, glue, and paint on paper. 5 ½ × 3 ft.

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45

Sculpture

Cake Pictorial, 2021. Mixed media, caulking, plaster and paint on insulation foam. 3 × 5 ft.

I think sculpture can be so unappealing because it requires you to make friends with a new person in the room. Sculpture confronts you and takes up space like a big ugly stranger. In this way, my work involves the making of clay golems, spending time with them and deciding what they do for me. My work explores textile, cake decorating, and painting but has everything to do with obsession, multiplicity, and fear. My work is not sentimental, and hopefully not nostalgic. I find it difficult to be direct and sincere. I try not to let anyone know that I find everything important.

I am a meticulous, jealous, and spiteful artist. I think in circles and like answers (though I do not find them by thinking). I am very loving and believe in artistic truth. I like to please people. I am obnoxious and unsatisfied. I am very joyful and I love little things. I love control but I am trying to like it less because it makes my work boring. I find it difficult to explain why I make sculptures. I think humor is a wonderful way to feign insincerity. I think that mold, rudeness, and violence are easy ways to make someone jump. I would love to make a million of something.

JORDAN YU

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@inky_pearl

Skin, 2021. Embroidered cotton shirt. Dimensions variable.

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47

Sculpture

Left: Dickroach, 2020. Tattooed silicone. Dimensions variable.

Right: Battoo, 2021. Tattooed leather dress. Dimensions variable.

I chose to pursue sculpture during my second year of college because I wanted to expand my skill set and explore new methods of recording moments or ideas. The types of drawings I had been making were confined to the canvas and did not consider the space around it—the environment was usually an afterthought when deciding how to frame and where to display the piece. With sculpture I quickly learned how important the surrounding environment is in interpreting a piece. A sculpture’s scale in relation to its surroundings, and the context in which it was created and displayed had a huge impact on how it is perceived. My interest in three-dimensional artwork naturally translated to my passion for tattoos: the body is a canvas upon which the piece of art, the tattoo, is to be installed.

Since I was a child I have been fascinated but the concept of installing permanent artwork onto one’s body. Over the past few years I learned how to tattoo through an internship at a tattoo shop, as well as through observation and asking questions while getting tattooed. When I began tattooing other people the first thing I noticed was some fear or hesitation on their end, usually about the tattoo’s meaning or permanence, fear of pain, or a combination of the two. Obviously they can back out at any time, but while I am tattooing I feel like I am in total control. They are putting their trust in me to create something permanent on their body. I decided to explore the concept of tattoos during my senior year, experimenting with tattooing silicone objects and leather clothing, as well as using embroidery as a kind of surrogate for the tattooing process.

PRINTMAKINNG

Brianna Howard

BRIANNA HOWARD

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.briannahowardstudio.com · @briannahowardstudio

Envelope, 2021. Etching. 12 ¼ × 9 in.

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Printmaking

Left: Untitled, 2021. Monoprint. 18 × 12 in.

Right: Talking with the Shadows, 2022. Etching. 18 × 12 in.

Many of my etchings begin as charcoal or airbrush drawings that are then transformed into etchings and editioned. Through this process, a more organic material is transformed into a definitive result. No longer can the charcoal be moved around or the soft edges of the airbrush appear, but rather, these marks are transformed into the hard edges and shapes of etching. The level of control I have when creating a drawing is intentionally decreased and, to a certain extent, allows a role for chance when transformed to an etching.

My works rely on contrast, with large ranges of darker shadows and few moments of highlights, to create space and depth. While unidentifiable, the spaces bring a sense of depth to the etching and paper surface. The subtleties within the shadows invite the viewer to look closer.

My prints are a juxtaposition of light and dark, chance and control, surface and depth. They teeter between recognition and indiscernibility. I am interested in a sense of realized obscurity in my practice, where a drawing is transformed first into a matrix and then into a print. Through this, certain elements become more or less obscure due to my hand as well as to chance. Similarly, a viewer deals with realized obscurity through distance and time with the piece.

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Clay Allen Mei Asada Davide Bianchi Kylie Carroll Chloe Carson Cindy Chan Kara Chen Ashlie Dawkins Geo Ferrari Joyce Hu Aidan Ishii Antonella Jones

Tammie Kim Sherry Ma Jayna Mikolaitis Jonathan Pinchera Ken Rudolph Katie So Natasha Stack Jonathan Vogel Fiona Wada-Gill Sissi Wu Duo (Miranda) Xu

CLAY ALLEN

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@culadrac

Top: Fly, 2022. Digital animation.

Bottom: Burning object, 2022. Digital video.

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Graphic Design

Untitled, 2021. Silkscreen print. Dimensions variable.

The concept of noise exists in both the music and visual art worlds with visual noise pertaining to the use of gritty textures, stark contrasts, and bright colors, with audio noise referring to the creation of raw and abrasive sound. I’m interested in bridging the gap between auditory and visual design and aim to investigate how these two forms of noise can be brought together to create something new.

As any musical project starts out, it is up to the musicians to decide what kind of language will both pair well with their music, and create the desired kind of experience for their audience. The conscious use of analog versus digital tools drastically affects the outcome of this experience. I plan to mix analog and digital tools, experimenting with each to find what creates a persuasive communication of noise. I will work with large scale printed media as well as digital motion graphics projected into a physical space. Through this process, I aim to convey various levels of audio and visual noise and show how this scale affects the intended tone and quality of the work.

By analyzing these kinds of decisions, I will observe how sound can create a visual (and vice versa), and how the use of analog and digital tools can affect this outcome.

MEI ASADA

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@meibeline.art

UNCS Blind Box, 2021. Mixed media. Dimensions variable.

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Graphic Design

Left: Forever Flowers, 2021. Mixed media. Dimensions variable.

Right: Self Criticism, 2021. Mixed media. 11 × 8 in.

Criticism is defined as the expression of disapproval of someone or something based on perceived faults or mistakes and the analysis and judgment of the merits and faults of a literary or artistic work. It is also a tool used for improvement, generates questions, and leads to new perspectives.

For my thesis, I want to explore uncriticized creation and how that works symbiotically with intuitive creation. When I was younger, I was practicing this idea of uncriticized and intuitive creating without really understanding what that was. Today I investigate uncriticized creation as an intuitive process whereby I let the materials and tools I know lead the direction of work. I believe that this process is informative of my design process and how I approach my projects, and I feel that this method is ever-evolving. I will be focusing on creating works that question what is considered “wrong.” Through challenging the state of graphic design, I can integrate new elements into my design work. I will be focusing on writing, photography, filming my work and reflecting upon that. I will document my room in different stages in relation to how I feel, experiment with materials, and have conversations with people for more insight and perspective on the topic.

DAVIDE BIANCHI

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.davidedesigns.com · @davideart

Trees, 2021. Photograph. Dimensions variable.

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Graphic Design

Left: Swiggles, 2020. Digital. Dimensions variable.

Right: Untitled, 2021. Digital. Dimensions variable.

Solitude is defined as “the state or situation of being alone.” This implies loneliness which is defined as “sad because one has no friends or company.”

This is not how I view solitude. In my life and design work I use solitude as a way to gather thoughts and emotions and to facilitate observations. I want to shed the negative connotation solitude has by exploring and revealing the way I use it to record, document, and process my ideas through design.

If viewed and approached with the right mentality, solitude can be colorful, exciting, and mysterious. In this thesis, I explore the power of solitude through external visual output and internal process. Externally, I examine how solitude allows me to see things I otherwise would not notice and how this influences the aesthetics and formal elements of my work. Internally, I reveal how solitude allows me to distill and organize my ideas and thoughts through introspective and interactive work. I also experiment with the different ways solitude can be achieved and how these differences can create unique methods of thinking and designing.

KYLIE CARROLL

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.kyliecarroll.me

Reusable Single Use Bags, 2022. Print. 17 × 11 in.

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Graphic Design

Left: Cardboard, Plastic Bags, Tape, 2022. Print. 17 × 11 in.

Right: The Fungus Among Us and Female Anatomy, 2022. Handcrafted books. 10 × 8 in.

Within our society we typically function and exist as passive consumers. Passive consumption is the act of consuming without active response or resistance, and a consumer is an individual who uses up resources. Consumerism is an essential aspect of the current capitalistic structure we live under, but is also responsible for excessive waste and a state of deteriorating mental, physical, and environmental health. On a large scale we need to demand and foster closed loop economies.1 Designers have the potential to influence the general public towards regenerative thinking through the way we make, what we make, and making with intention.

It is imperative to our survival as a species, and creators, that we shift our relationship with consumption to something more sustainable.

It is human nature to seek out comfort and develop habits, even if they put our collective well-being at risk. I investigate the ways in which we consume both material and media, using psychological and historical perspectives to explain how and why we got to this point.

My exploration will begin with analyzing our current relationship with consumption and then offer a new framework for how we view material. As designers, we are trained to think critically and create with intention; we are problem solvers with unique perspectives and it is our responsibility to apply this towards the greater good. I provide open source material and resources to the general public and ensure that I am offering fun, upcycling strategies that can be implemented on an individual level. Single Use Society serves as a stepping stone from passive to active consumption, and through the documentation of my own journey and experiences I hope to spark that same urgency in everyone who comes across it.

1. Closed loop economies are economic models where no waste is generated and all excess is upcycled.

These systems promote sharing, repairing, reusing, and view waste as a resource.

CHLOE CARSON

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@chloecarsonart

Lexicon, 2021. Editorial. 10 × 8 in.

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Graphic Design

“That Girl” Manifesto, 2021. Editorial. 10 × 8 in.

In 2020, 80 percent of film directors were male and in major art museums, 87 percent of artists featured were men, and in 2018, 74 percent of leading cast and crew roles went to men in major films. Because men dominate much of the creative world, much of the content we see are examples of the “male gaze”: media, art, and film catered toward a male audience through a male perspective. But is there such a thing as the female gaze and are there examples of it in modern media? Unfortunately, current examples of media “for women” are still created through the male gaze (such as “chick flicks”) or only cater to a minority of women (usually straight, white, cisgender women).

As a female artist and designer, I struggle with my place in an industry that’s dominated by a lens that does not belong to me. In my thesis project, I researched existing media, art, and film within both the female and male gaze. Using this research and graphic design as a tool, I created content that acknowledges the current gazes and my place within those gazes as a straight, white, female designer while making room for other people’s gazes to be seen.

CINDY CHAN

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.chandesigns.cargo.site

Where are you REALLY from ???, 2022. Website. Dimensions variable.

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Graphic Design

In Between, 2021. Editorial. 10 × 8 in.

Although the United States is historically an immigrant nation with a diverse ethnic population, people of ethnic minority groups are denied the "American Identity" as they are treated as perpetual foreigners. This is especially true for Asian Americans who are often silenced and historically left out of American media and history. Even today, with the recent attacks and hate crimes against Asian Americans, western media has yet to bring awareness to these issues. The perpetual foreigner stereotype paints Asian Americans as inherently foreign and not truly “American.”

Perpetual Foreigner is a multiplatform project that serves to explore the experiences and narratives of Asian Americans through the vehicle of graphic design. By using a collection of stories and history of Asian American people, this thesis creates an emulative experience to shine light on and bring awareness to the struggles that Asian Americans face. This body of work provides a space for the Asian American community to empower ourselves, to speak out about our experiences and stories, and to learn and empathize, with others similar to our own. Perpetual Foreigner is a collection that combines both professional research, interviews, and individual anecdotes into a visual body of work, highlighting Asian American cultural identities and creating conversations within the community. Ultimately, this body of work seeks to inspire Asian Americans to learn more about who they are and to become a part of the representation and conversation we lack in Western society.

KARA CHEN

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.karachen.cargo.site · @karachenyi

Top: A BOOK MADE BY JAMES GRADY: REPURPOSED, 2022. Editorial, collage. 10×8 in.

Bottom: LOOK-ICON, 2022. Editorial. 10 × 8 in.

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Graphic Design

RE-HANES, 2022. Screenprint on fabric.

“It’s not about the clothing, it is about connecting.”

This quote from Bobby Hundreds, cofounder of the brand The Hundreds, reflects upon the streetwear industry. Streetwear is about community rather than the physical brand.

Streetwear culture was born out of the youth’s need for freedom of expression to differentiate themselves. A graphic tee is a painter’s oil paint, and the person is the canvas. Creating a brand is about cultivating a community where we connect through our personal experiences and nostalgia in everyday essentials. However, this sense of community has been replaced with long lines and high price tags.

This shift towards a capitalistic approach for creating apparel leads to predictable trends and copyright issues through re-purposing and using ready-made instead of something meaningful.

When we think of ready-made, we think of Marcel Duchamp and the Fountain.

In this case, we think of ready-made from the mass-produced vintage tees at Urban Outfitters to the blank Champion apparel with graphics from other artists.

My thesis explores re-purposing and re-contextualization through a clothing capsule collection using references based on my exposure to and personal experience with streetwear culture. This collection features apparel, lookbooks, and posters. Through this collection, I illustrate how re-purposing, re-contextualizing, and ready-made can produce something meaningful and connect different audiences through personal experience, nostalgia, and freedom of expression, which is the foundation of streetwear culture. This methodology challenges the meaningless ready-made apparel produced from cultural references and wholesale material by utilizing the same references and materials to produce meaningful narratives through personal connection and exposure.

ASHLIE DAWKINS

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.ashliedawkins.cargo.site · @ashliedawkins

Top: Xenophobia Zine, 2020. Print. 4 1∕4 × 5 ½ in.

Bottom: Gazing Inward, Am I at Home Within Myself, 2022. Digital prints. 18 × 24 in.

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Graphic Design

On My Mind, 2021. Print. 7 × 10 in.

Our existence in the world is framed by the watchful eyes of the people and institutions that surround us. Even in solitude, the persistent presence of a thousand eyes forces us to perform and pretend. The Gaze is our perception—our awareness of ourselves and those around us. The individual gaze is the way we perceive ourselves and the world, while the societal gaze is how the world sees us. Both impact the way we navigate the world based on our beliefs that have been reinforced by our experiences. These beliefs were not chosen by us, but rather imposed upon us. Only when we dig deep into who we are, understanding ourselves at a core level, can we begin to uncover these ideologies and consciously decide if we align with them or not. The societal gaze is often oppressive, making those who exist amongst marginal groups in society feel small— unable to take up space.

As artists and designers our unique gaze is intrinsically connected to our work, and our perspective is inescapable. Within my work, I’ve struggled with feelings of discomfort surrounding my presence and perception, thus shying away from making work that was more personal and reflective of my experiences. This is an extension of my identity as a black woman, where I already feel hesitant to fully express myself and where I have been conditioned to take up less space.

My thesis focuses on the pursuit of self within my work—connecting the art to the artist in a more vulnerable way in an attempt to facilitate healing, and an understanding of my gaze and the Gaze at a societal level. By breaking through self-made and imposed barriers that have stopped me from embodying all that I am, I will make work that interrogates my identity and place within the world, while inviting others to do the same.

GEO FERRARI

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.gferrari.cargo.site · @art.gbf

Enchanted Creature, 2022. Wood block prints. 10 × 8 in, each.

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Graphic Design

Home Sweet Hoard, 2022. Mixed media collage. 4 × 6 × 3 in.

What does it mean to have been in therapy for the majority of my life? What does it mean to be queer with extensive sexual trauma caused by “straight” experiences?

What does it mean to be Brazilian and nonbinary when my native language is gendered and does not have the words to describe my experience? These questions, all related to very personal parts of my individual life experience, touch on topics that many others experience but very few discuss. By being vulnerable and open, I am illuminating subject matters that are often ignored and pushed into the dark. I will explore these questions and more as I dissect the subjects of trauma, queerness, the body, sex, and community that impact my daily life.

Oftentimes, design is invisible. Good typography blends in, our eyes glance across logos on our devices like there’s nothing there, and every once in a while we stop to appreciate a poster. With Full, I show that design is absolutely full of potential to stop us in our tracks and communicate important information.

My thesis serves as a form of healing and exploring thoughts that are often too complex for words. I believe that the most important and impactful art discusses significant issues and comes from personal experience and Full has both this power and intimacy. My work seeks to engage my audience in a way that activates their mind, body, and soul. I hope that people who see themselves in my work will feel understood just as I will better understand myself, my identities, and experiences from making the work.

JOYCE HU

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.joyce-hu.com · @joylychi

They’re Just Friends, 2022. Risograph. 17 × 11 in.

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Graphic Design

Marry Me Not, 2022. Clay. Dimensions variable.

From the time we were kids, women were told that love is one of the greatest forces in the world, and that when we meet that special somebody, we will get married, have kids, and achieve true happiness. Society bombards us with examples of this narrative in literature and pop culture—How else can a happily ever after happen if the princess does not marry her prince? As a result, people’s perceptions of love, sex, and relationships have become needlessly intertwined, isolating people who pursue relationships that fall outside of those spheres.

Amatonormativity is a word coined by philosophy professor Elizabeth Blake to describe the universal assumption that an amorous relationship is the end goal of life. It is the way value is disproportionately placed on marriage and sexually active romanticism, to the point that it is seen as the norm. This mentality is far reaching, showing its mark even in the legal benefits afforded to married couples. And yet, is society’s exclusive fixation on this type of relationship not what is truly abnormal? Why am I forced to preface the term relationship with “non-amorous” in order for my intentions to be clear?

For my thesis, I will be exploring the different relationships where love dwells beyond amatonormative ones, such as in friendship, family, or solitude. There can be intimacy without sex, and beauty that exists only in the comfort of familiarity.

I wish to impart value to those small, intimate moments in relationships that go unrespected, in order to contextualize what love is for myself as someone who is asexual yet in a relationship.

BFA Thesis Show 2022

AIDAN ISHII

Icarus, 2022. Monotype. Dimensions variable.

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Graphic Design

Digital Overconsumption, 2022. Digital print, monotype. 15 × 15 in.

In the world of design we create boundaries that don’t have to exist, and even harm the overall area of art and design. What really distinguishes the difference between art, design, craft, and trade? I believe these are all aspects of the same thing and that they can cohabit under the same roof, and I think this would be mutually beneficial, as there can be a better dialogue between these similar worlds, which will drive them all forward to achieve greater things.

I have always had varied interests in things such as textile design, tattooing, printmaking, and other forms of art and design. I want to use these other ways of creating in my design process, however for a long time I have felt like this was impossible. As I develop my practice more I have tried to create much more intuitively.

Through this thesis I want to use multiple media through the lens of design and craft to show that these things can live in the same space. I want to produce a multitude of different products including a typeface, wearable apparel, posters, and a video. Through these explorations I explore how there are fewer limitations once you accept these different forms of expression as viable under the same roof, and demonstrate how it is more successful to have this dialogue than deem different parts of art and design as less than.

BFA Thesis Show 2022

ANTONELLA JONES

Thoughts on Thesis, 2021. Editorial. 10 × 8 in.

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Graphic Design

Dream Pillows, 2022. Website and pillows. 12 × 7 in.

Multi-Matter is an exploration of my multi-disciplinary practice as graphic designer and painter. These different modes of creating are a reflection of my creative impulses and are what guide me in making art that employs both tactical and visual language. My intention is to bring these different spaces together under one cohesive project as a way to blur the lines between craft, fine arts, and digital design. Additionally, this project serves as an amalgamation of my interests across fiber arts, design, and painting.

Conveyed through mixed media projects, including practices such as crocheting, sewing, and riso printing, I hope to create a conversation between these different media and explore how I can translate analog practices into a digital space, and vice versa.

TAMMIE KIM

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.tammiekim.com

K-pop is cool, 2022. Digital. Dimensions variable.

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Graphic Design

Untitled, 2021. Digital. 2500 px × 3100 px.

Photocards, 2022. Digital. Dimensions variable.

From a young age, I collected countless Korean pop albums, posters, and merchandise. I was always aware that there was often a dichotomy between people disliking and liking K-Pop music in the West. More recently, the genre has been on the rise and its previous rejection of the genre as unsophisticated and overly feminine is seemingly disappearing. Why has this view of the music genre being girly and uncool recently faded? This newfound acceptance of the music genre was unanticipated yet continues to develop.

As this new chapter of K-Pop opens in the West, I aim to highlight the history of social advances the Korean music industry has made. As a Korean American designer, my goal is to examine and critique the negative views towards K-Pop that once made me hesitant to express my love for the genre. My thesis examines topics in marketing decisions, gender norms through fashion, racism, toxic masculinity/femininity, and more through an album with a collection of promotional material imitating the design of authentic K-pop albums. I hope for this to further contribute to the acceptance of K-Pop in the West and lead individuals to discover their own perceptions within their interests.

SHERRY MA

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@sherryma_studio

Mirror, 2022. Digital typeface. Dimensions variable.

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Graphic Design

Branding of The Student Carnival, 2020. Digital. Dimensions variable.

Cross-cultural design is a reflection of modern globalism. Under the background of contemporary interaction between cultures, many artists with multiple cultural backgrounds have stepped on to the world stage and contributed to the diversity of the forms and ideologies of the artwork. The various backgrounds and different interpretation of cultures allow them to build upon existing visual styles and invent new forms and aesthetics in art and design. As a Canadian-born, Chinese-grown person, I am deeply intrigued by observing the potentials of cross-cultural design. Studying in the US, while regarding myself as Chinese culturally, has inspired me to explore the relationship between the cultures I have been immersed in.

My thesis Cross-Cultural Entity intends to discover the aesthetic values and possibilities of the hybrid styles and new formats informed by cross-cultural design, through typographic experiments, visual pattern studies, material observations, and the hidden history behind them. It is not only serving those people who have multiple cultural backgrounds, but also to everyone who has recognized the interaction of cultures under the context of contemporary globalization. I believe it is important to notice that cross-cultural interaction might vary by different actions people create as well as their cultural context, therefore, no solid formula could be applied to analyze every case.

JAYNA MIKOLAITIS

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@jaynamikolaitis

Venus Typeface, 2022. Air dry clay. Dimensions variable. Approx 2 × 3 in.

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Graphic Design

Voice Soft Sculptures, 2022. Dimensions variable 5–7 in.

Pull out your candles, your banners, and your party hats—this thesis is a celebration of material.

An Oration of Material 1 investigates how materials can function as an a-linguistic language in design. Design, in itself, is a narrator; it speaks in shape, color, type, form, and image. But its material—how it manifests, exists, and interacts with the physical world—can also contribute to this story. Specificity in choice of material can reinforce, alter, or change the intended message or meaning embedded within a work. For instance, the choice could be between a poster printed on paper versus one stitched on silk. Each material proposes a unique tactile experience and opportunity for metaphor.

This thesis uses silks, velvets, beads, wax, and clay to critique contemporary feminist theories and practices. It draws imagery from Paleolithic Venus figurines, the Feminist Art movement, the Arts and Crafts movement, and the Pattern and Decoration movement. During this project, embellished soft sculptures, clay models, silicone molds, and candles are made in response to research. At the end of this thesis, they are combined into video, installation, and performance.

1. Oration(n): a formal speech, especially one given on a ceremonial occasion.

JONATHAN PINCHERA

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.ardzir.online · @ardzir

Experiment, 2022. Unbacked embroidery. 6 × 5 in.

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Graphic Design

Left: Tapestry, 2022. Embroidery on dyed denim weave. 36 × 15 in.

Right: Talisman Hoodie, 2022. Freehand embroidery on black hoodie. Size L.

Embroidery is an ancient art, used across the globe to imbue clothing and textiles with graphic embellishment. Inherently, embroidery’s presence on wearable objects gives it tactile existence within the real world; it is made to be worn, seen, and felt. Decorative and non-constructional, it is unimportant to the manufacture of garments yet deeply functional as a tool for individual and cultural ornamentation.

Historically, embroidery has held a strong identity as a domestic artform, typically thought of as part of a woman’s household duty. In Western societies, young girls were expected to produce “samplers” of their needlework in order to impress potential future suitors.

Because of this feminine status, embroidery was unfortunately dismissed and generally underappreciated, and artists rarely received the recognition they deserved. However, as society progresses and these long-standing restrictions begin to waver, embroidery is slowly being recontextualized by artists (most of them female) as a tactile, textural, and experiential way of making which directly confronts hyper-consumerism, mass-production, and gender norms. Domesticity and craft are not rejected, but rather repurposed as a means of expressive control. In an increasingly atomized world this has a deeply fulfilling effect, both personally and socially, as the act of individual embellishment de-alienates oneself from labor, fashion, and design.

String Theory is primarily a material exploration. It is my attempt to express both the importance and capacity of embroidery, investigating where the medium has been and where it might go. Projects range from the conventional to the conceptual, simultaneously constructing and demolishing boundaries, conclusions, and applications through which I hope to gleam a greater understanding of embroidery’s broader purpose.

KEN RUDOLPH

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.kenrudolphdesign.com · @kr.desi.gn

Return, 2022. Digital print. 20 × 10 in.

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Graphic Design

Inclusive Sex Ed, 2021. Print. Dimensions variable.

What is a narrative? The dictionary defines narrative as “a spoken or written account of connected events; a story.” But how do we convey narrative?

Collection is, as its title suggests, a collection. A collection of stories, which explore the common formats in which narratives are presented, and how they can be experienced in new ways. Collection examines the role of narrative through design, and how the key elements of text, image, and sound contribute to, and affect the way we understand narrative.

Image, text, and sound are crucial pieces of constructing narrative and influence the way narratives are perceived. Imagery allows for narrative to be displayed and interpreted in many ways. Silhouettes are an extremely powerful form of imagery to me. I like that silhouettes are just solid black forms, shaped in a way that makes them extremely recognizable, but they also generalize images and allow one to insert themselves into the narrative. Words fill in the gaps that images leave, and add an extra level of detail and information. Text can also create such a vivid picture of a narrative without ever including an image. Sound and music can present narrative, even without the assistance of text or image, but is oftentimes not a considered element in graphic design or other forms of visual arts.

The stories within Collection engage with these elements and explore the ways in which they change a viewer's experience of the narrative within a piece of design.

These stories explore both old and new formats of expressing narrative and storytelling through graphic design, integrating text, image, and sound.

KATIE SO

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.katieso.myportfolio.com/work

Minari. 2020. Video. Dimensions variable.

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Graphic Design

Natural Reflection, 2021. Video. Dimensions variable.

Through digital projection’s versatility, anyone or anything can experience its transformative qualities. Projection allows any environment to become a unique experience. Household objects and walls become dynamic surfaces and canvases for something new. These digital projections turn what was once a flat surface to dimensional windows of alternate realities.

Through my thesis, I attempt to better understand the passage of time and the impermanence of experiences, memory, and senses. Ephemeral Windows is an exploration of how change is constant and recontextualization through projection can help us to see commonalities between seemingly unrelated things. Through visual research from Shiego Kubota, Sarah Sze, Janet Saad-Cook, and Paul Chan, I investigate how projection can be a tool for layering and combining different environments. How can design be used as a medium to encapsulate something as abstract as time? How does our perception of time impact the way we create design? Through examining the seemingly small moments in life, I explore how I can capture something as temporary as time through windows of opportunities.

NATASHA STACK

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.natashastackdesigns.com

Uncorked, 2022. Editorial. Dimensions variable.

90

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Graphic Design

Untitled, 2021. Digital. 2500 px × 3100 px.

Uncorked, 2022, Editorial. Dimensions variable.

Wine is an art in itself. With each note, adding a hint of flavor, wine is created to fit into a specific category. With the various types of red and white wine comes a foundation in which you start creating, from the ground up each individual type of wine is designed.

From the design of the bottle to the label, wine goes through many levels of production. My thesis explores how wine, from the product to the packaging, has been designed throughout history, how it has evolved, and how it progresses over time.

The extensive process usually goes unseen when it comes to branding wine bottles. The design process involves careful consideration of each element required as well as intentional branding and artistic choices. My thesis reveals the history and design of wine in its entirety from the bottle to what’s inside.

JON VOGEL

BFA Thesis Show 2022

@jonvogelart

Time is On My Side, 2022. Assemblage. Dimensions variable.

92

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Graphic Design

Patti Smith in the style of Family Dog, 2022. Digital Print. 11× 22 in.

Our brains are a database of every piece of media, artwork, and experience that we absorb throughout life. As artists, we curate this index to a select group of influences whose various attributes are merged to form a “style.”

Any attempt at originality is simply a shuffling of the building blocks we have consumed prior. Through popular culture, artistic movements and styles have become widespread and are built upon, falling in and out of vogue. However, there is always a paper trail that can be traced all the way back to the first cave paintings. The privatization of intellectual property is a relatively new concept that our culture has accepted. Various counter-culture movements reject the notion that art is something tangible that has a single author or owner. After all, every new thing was constructed from something pre-existing.

How and where do we draw the line between influence and plagiarism?

A new moral quandary has arisen with the advent and rapidly advancing field of AI generated art. A neural network mimics the way our brain processes and iterates upon an input. Who owns the artwork developed by a machine? The developer of the source code? The one who trains the AI? The creator of the input seed? The person who curates the output? And if computers develop artwork that humans deem adequate, does this replace societies’ need for new creatives? Or is AI simply a new instrument in the artist’s tool belt? At Originality’s End, I seek to find the origins of my artistic style, and decode my visual programming.

FIONA WADA-GILL

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.wadagill.com

Questioning, 2021. Wood carving. 11 × 8 in.

94

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Graphic Design

Dancing with Myself, 2022. Video. Dimensions variable.

When one has a long history with something, one gains an elevated sensitivity to it that you can’t separate with. Dancing ballet for over eighteen years has made me able to detect early on if there was something wrong with my body. However when it came to body sensitivity versus my self-esteem, neglecting the pain was an automatic reaction if it meant dancing in the present. I felt very lost when I abruptly stopped ballet since it was the only way I knew how to express myself.

My new path led to studying graphic design in college, and although I understood graphic design’s role in our culture, it didn’t compare to the complicated relationship that I had with ballet. I am still on this journey wondering whether I will find that dynamic passionate relationship again but with graphic design. After taking a human anatomy class this past semester, I was able to make physical connections between injuries that I had experienced to the bones, tendons, and muscles on a cadaver. Although I was able to label anatomical pains and injuries to the body, as a graphic designer, I realized I could use this new understanding as a tool to help me process what I had experienced when I was dancing.

I believe without experiencing something first hand or closely alongside someone, the general public can be ignorant to someone’s history.

This project is a way for me to understand my journey through dance, graphic design, filming, and editing videos. Through these mediums, I will be able to translate certain memories through my younger self’s conscious/subconscious state, current perspective, and others opinions. Graphic design will enhance my film recordings to help narrate my experience in hopes to gain clarity and healing of my past.

SISSI WU

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.sissiwu.com

QR Codes, 2022. Digital. Dimensions variable.

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Graphic Design

The Starry Night, 2022. Digital. Dimensions variable.

Design offers different perspectives through the stories behind them.

As a designer, I hope that people can view my story or experiences through my creations. How do I deliver my stories? How can I show them through my designs? These questions often challenge me when it comes to creating something new, including designs, paintings, sculptures, and other forms of art.

As someone who is inspired by daily moments, tickets have become a way for me to document my journey as a designer. Looking back on my experience makes me want to cherish my memories. Tickets come in various forms whether they are printed on paper, displayed digitally, or in other formats that serve similar purposes. Identification documents, passports, and invitations are all forms of tickets. Regardless of the format of these tickets, they all serve a similar purpose to take me to different places. These journeys are the stories behind my designs, and I would like to share that with my audience.

This thesis serves as a time machine that allows people to enter into my journeys from this year through a designed visual and auditory experience. In addition, I hope my audience can share their experiences with me, whether they were in the same place at a different time or at a different place at the same time.

DUO (MIRANDA) XU

BFA Thesis Show 2022

www.duoxd.work

Life Time On Screen, 2022. Poster. 11 × 17 in.

98

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Graphic Design

Top: Junction, 2021. Experience design. Dimensions variable.

Bottom: Responsive Buttons, 2022. Experimental. Dimensions variable..

With the development of technology, digital devices started playing a critical role in our daily lives. During the pandemic, users rapidly increased their usage of digital devices, and rapid technological products quickly satisfied our daily needs. Cyber addiction has become a common problem faced by many young adults and teenagers. However, how many people are actually aware of their addiction? Are people aware of its implications? What are potential strategies to alleviate or cope with internet addiction?

As a UX designer, I seek to provide an educational opportunity for cyber addicts through my thesis project. I aim to explore and challenge apps that are designed to be addictive and reveal the purpose behind human-centered design.

The Cyber Lives synthesize both professional research and personal anecdotes into an experimental thesis project with various media. Through a set of interactive experiments such as cyber addiction self test and responsive website, I will discuss the value of “dark UX pattern” in the existing design of social softwares, explore the consequence and potential solutions for cyber addiction, and emphasize how “entertainment to death” should not be the root of the human-centered design products. I hope my thesis project will serve to give my audience more awareness about internet addiction and provoke more designers to ponder ways for alleviating addiction to technology for users.

ABOUT BOSTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS The School of Visual Arts at Boston University College of Fine Arts prepares students to think seriously, to see critically, to make intensely, and to act with creative agency in the contemporary world.

Established in 1954 to combine the intensive studio education of an art school with the opportunities of a large urban university, Boston University School of Visual Arts is committed to educating the eye, hand, and mind of the artist.

We believe that students become visual artists when education, practice, and awareness of historical and contemporary context enable them to think critically and imaginatively, and to express those ideas with skill and conviction. The professional artists and educators that make up our faculty lead small classes of highly motivated students.

Recently growing to include new undergraduate and graduate programs, the School of Visual Arts offers a BA in Art as well as BFA degrees in Graphic Design, Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking, and Art Education. At the graduate level, a MA in Art Education is offered as well as MFAs in Painting, Sculpture, Graphic Design, Visual Narrative, and Print Media & Photography.

Courses in Studio Art, Art History, and the Liberal Arts and Sciences taught by the nationally and internationally recognized faculty of the University’s seventeen schools and colleges provide the intellectual framework for our undergraduate curriculum. University-sponsored international study programs broaden the Boston campus experience and encourage global awareness.

Boston provides a rich cultural resource for our school. The city’s renowned museums and musical organizations, art galleries, theaters, libraries, and other universities, colleges, and schools offer exhibitions, concerts, theatrical performances, and lectures of the highest quality.

SPECIAL THANKS

Faculty Lynne Allen Felice Amato Rebecca Bourgault Claire Bula Dana Clancy Kristen Coogan Deborah Cornell G. James Daichendt Toni Pepe Dan Ryan Diaz Jolanda Dranchak Rosemary Engstrom Christopher Field Basha Goldstein-Weiss Gregory Gomez James Grady Jill Grimes Josephine Halvorson Leah Triplett Harrington Diana Hampe Kara Healey JM Howey Breehan James Jesse Kaminsky Ami Kantawala Paul Karasik

Lucy Kim Willis Kingery Nick Mancini Jeffrey Nowlin Hugh O’Donnell Yael Ort-Dinoor Julian Parikh Nicole Pond Richard Raiselis Laura Reeder Nicholas Rock Jessie Rubenstein Richard Ryan Mazen Sakr Danielle Sauve Marc Schepens Jana Silver David Snyder Christopher Sleboda Kathleen Sleboda Ed Stitt Amy Sudarsky Martina Tanga Sergei Tsvetkov Gus Wheeler Krystyn Wypasek Mary Yang

Staff Julianna Augustine Josh Brennan Jessica Caccamo Brandon Cohen Gus Wheeler Beth Zerega Logen Zimmerman

A NOTE ON THE VISUAL IDENTITY

The past two years our BU community has been forced to embrace adaptability and resilience as our daily routines and the things we trusted to be constants were suddenly in flux. The return to campus and in person learning after the COVID-19 shutdowns and the Learning from Anywhere curriculum has been long awaited by both the student and faculty body.

As we come back into ourselves and our new normal, we are able to finally release some of the tensions and anxieties that had dominated our sphere.

The 2022 BFA Senior Thesis show represents all of the experiences of our graduating graphic designers, painters, printmakers, and sculptors; and we propose to do so through the lens of elasticity.

Elasticity, by definition, is an object’s capability to return back to the original form after being stretched or deformed; as artists we are trained to be and think as elastic beings, constantly being pulled in a multitude of directions as we flex our creative muscles and search for new solutions. The visual identity team uses visual language to represent the chaotic, yet resilient, experience of being a graduating student in 2022. We use the concept of stretch as a system for the treatment of every aspect of this brand identity, and unify the printed and digital media under this umbrella.

Now, as seniors, we are faced with the final stretch of our BU career. This last semester we embark on our individual theses, and look forward to stretching ourselves as far as we can go. We’ve grown comfortable in this space of exploration and we’ve learned how to succumb to it instead of panicking.

We are so proud of the graduating class and look forward to celebrating and honoring their resilience in this final show.

COLOPHON

Published in conjunction with Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts BFA Thesis Show 2022 at the Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery on May 10–20, 2022.

Painting Graphic Design Printmaking Sculpture Design Kylie Carroll, Ashlie Dawkins, Joyce Hu, Ken Rudolph Edited by Danielle Weindling Type Grover, Acumin Pro Printing Kirkwood, Boston, MA © 2022 BU CFA School of Visual Arts Published by Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts 855 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02215 bu.edu/cfa/visual-arts (617) 353-3371