BFA-BA Graduating Seniors Exhibition: Last Call

BFA/BA Graduating Seniors Exhibition Last Call

BFA/BA Graduating Seniors’ Exhibition Last Call University Art Gallery Department of Art College of the Arts California State University, Stanislaus

500 copies printed BFA/BA Graduating Seniors’ Exhibition 2011: Last Call University Art Gallery Department of Art College of the Arts California State University, Stanislaus May 5 - June 4, 2011

This exhibition and catalog have been funded by: Associated Students Instructionally Related Activities, California State University, Stanislaus

Copyright Š 2011 California State University, Stanislaus All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher.

University Art Gallery College of the Arts California State University, Stanislaus One University Circle Turlock, CA 95382

Catalog Design: Kristina Stamper, College of the Arts, California State University, Stanislaus Catalog Printing: The Print Shop, California State University, Stanislaus Catalog Photography: Kristina Stamper, College of the Arts, California State University, Stanislaus, and Courtesy of the Artists

ISBN: 978-0-9830998-3-3

Contents

Director’s Foreword ...............................................................................................................................4

Introduction................................................................................................................................................5

BFA Images and Artist Statements.....................................................................................................7

BA Images and Artist Statements.................................................................................................... 21

Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................ 60

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Director’s Foreword The University Art Gallery is very excited to present this year’s BFA/BA Graduating Seniors’ Exhibition: Last Call. This exhibition and accompanying catalog showcase the many talented artists graduating this year from the Department of Art at California State University, Stanislaus.

As Gallery Director and Associate Professor of Art, I have had the distinct pleasure of working with these students in their endeavors to complete their degrees. I have been continually amazed at the hard work and dedication that our students have to their craft of being artists. As a result of their accomplishments, I am very proud to be able to call these graduating students “colleagues”.

I would like to thank the many colleagues that have been instrumental in this exhibition. A great amount of thanks is also extended to the Instructionally Related Activities Program of California State University, Stanislaus for their gracious support of this exhibition and catalog.

Dean De Cocker, Director University Art Gallery California State University, Stanislaus

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Introduction: Last Call...

The work of our graduating BA and BFA students is the culmination of focused query and the fierce dedication and passion of the talented aspiring visual artists at CSU Stanislaus’ College of the Arts. It is fertile evidence of the possibilities ahead and as such represents the [new] beginning that is life after graduation.

As meaningful as the student experience can be, these experiences oftentimes pale — appropriately so, to the road ahead, those unknown journeys that we see glimpses of through the work on the gallery walls and on these pages — work that has led each of these students to roads yet traversed. These bright young aspirants, some of whom will choose other paths to explore, are firmly engaged in the dialogue of life as active participants and valued human beings. Contributing beauty, new ways of seeing and a sincere desire to be better than those who have gone before them, they are global citizens forging new paths in transcendent societies.

“Last Call” is the new beginning — one of many to come, celebrated in the work of the talented students in the Department of Art’s graduating class of 2011.

Daryl Joseph Moore frsa Founding Dean College of the Arts Professor C. Roxanne Robbin, PhD Chair Department of Art

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BFA Images and Statements

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Nikki Boudreau While on the verge of completing my art degree, I recognized that I was rapidly losing interest in art and had no desire to study art at the graduate level. I turned instead to an issue that I had been growing increasingly passionate about during my time in college—reproductive rights and healthcare. I have been pursuing a new direction this last year at CSU Stanislaus by adding a gender studies minor and interning with the public affairs department of Planned Parenthood, Mar Monte. For the BFA graduate show, I’m including the printmaking work I made shortly before I stopped working on art and which interestingly has some biological and reproductive imagery.

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Double X 2010 collaged relief prints and acrylic on panel

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Kayla Corona My current work references children's literature, nursery rhymes, and poetry. I am pulling from several different sources of inspiration and stretching my brain to remember how I felt as a child when I first experienced these stories and poems, rather than how I feel now reflecting back on them.

By incorporating actual pieces from the books and rhymes, as well as drawings from my own children, I am heading back to the child-like innocence that has always held my amazement. Layering and using a collage of colors and icons from children's literature allows me to move ideas and images around and re-create the familiar in new ways, like a child creating new worlds and stories. Â My work includes both 2-D and 3-D media that range from simple line drawings to building blocks and much more. Â Children love to play and create with anything they can get their hands on, and so I too am trying to play with all kinds of media as I create my works.

As a parent with young children, I am now revisiting some of my childhood favorites and am finding a connection that refuses to leave my head. As I revisit my childhood favorites, my mind races with thoughts and ideas of not only how I could interpret them, but also how I can make them relevant to myself and others that may have lost touch with their childlike wonder. I am delving into my mind and memory trying to reconnect with my inner child. Kids create to have fun. I want to do this too. This series is allowing me to be a kid again, while exploring and pushing myself as an artist. Like a child I want to take my ideas and experiences, explore them (looking forward), and let them run as free and as far as I can.

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In My Dreams 2010 monoprint, pen & ink, charcoal

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Christina DeFilippo I have a very short attention span – especially when it comes to art. I’ll spend several months working in a style or on a theme and then something new will pique my interest and I’ll start a whole new process. For a long time, I experimented with folk art then briefly with abstract and minimalistic art.

I’ve painted portraits and dead pets, fruit, insects and many, many eyes.

Through these different phases there have been two consistent thematic undercurrents: alienation and decay.

The female figure seemed the perfect vehicle in which to explore both of these ideas.

From a very young age we are dissected and scrutinized.

Our parts are taken, weighed and given a value. Even if appraised highly, we get only a brief time up on that pedestal before someone shoves us off of it. We’re forced into a lifelong war with ourselves and with others that we can’t win. Even if we manage to find some peace with our bodies, sooner or later they will betray us.

I’m interested in capturing that internal struggle that each woman endures. I paint solitary figures grappling with their own imperfection and decay. The figures are faceless, fragmented and forced into boxes, their flaws heightened and magnified. Through my paintings, I hope to give some dignity to the torment we put ourselves through.

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Infinity Piece 2010 oil on board

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Jose Hernandez When beginning my work, I grant myself complete freedom and always endeavor to express myself truly and completely during the execution of the composition. That focus is very difficult to maintain but is essential to the power of the image, which grows out my particular mood and emotion, be it anger, love or dissent. My process is instinctive and this allows me freedom to explore something new in all my work, while also revisiting certain themes.

By working quickly and instinctively I invoke a process, both technically perfect and imperfect, which creates a tug and pull relationship between myself and my medium. Always subjective, I expand my limits through exploration of new subject matter. Either through physical representation or through the title, I demonstrate political commentary. My inspiration derives from Diego Rivera, José David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco.

In my most recent work, I cast in molds, from an original ceramic sculpture of mine, a series of multi-replicated Army soldier miniatures, in plaster, reminiscent of our childhood game of playing war with little plastic men and arranged in such a way as to evoke thoughts about our Military Industrial Complex.

In my last series on display is of my self-portrait collages, inspired by Diego Rivera, and Francisco Goya. Symbolic expression was encoded to set the mood by use and rearrangement of shapes and found objects. I preferred a mixed media that consisted of paper, window screens, and hanging wire. In this series the exploration of cutting and pasting was very important, because it lent freedom to my approach. Color was used consciously to identify ideology and found objects were used to engage the viewer.

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"From Goya" Jose Luis Hernandez Jr. Self Portrait 2010 paper collage

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Amber L. Logué For many years I have pursued the subject of the human figure in various media including ceramics, ink and charcoal, acrylic and oil paint, metal, literature, and photography.

In this installation I am focusing on the figure of An Bhean, the Woman, not only in the sense of her physical form, but also as an archetypal figure.

In my sculptures I have examined her as An Mháthair, the Mother, with the three-dimensional swell of her belly and the serene expression of her new role as the fertile ground where Mankind is brought into being.

In my two dimensional works I examine her as An Bhean Laethúil, the Everyday Woman, who is unrecognizable as an individual but who sits awash in a sea of color, herself made up of colors which define her own being or lock her into the place designated for her.

However viewed, I wish to say this: Beannú an Bhean!: Greet the Woman!

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Untitled ceramic

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Natalie Porter To put things into basic perspective, I am most interested in the flow of nature and the real or imaginary creatures within her. Whether my works are narrative or just simple representations of people, creatures or objects, they will flow in circular movements that will take you on a journey throughout the piece.

More personally and importantly, my works are pure representations of me and the pleasure I get from creating them.

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Monsters 2010 print

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BA Images and Statements

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Dezilee Arias I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a military family. I didn’t stay there for too long since my father was part of the Navy and soon enough my family and I moved to Alameda, California where I spent part of my childhood. Growing up, I developed a love for drawing. I watched a lot of television, played videogames with my older brother, and would always want to draw whatever I saw. I drew everywhere, anytime there wasn’t anyone to play with outside or when there were no activity books to work on. As time passed and I grew older, I became influenced by the world of Japanese Anime and Manga alongside of videogames. I’ve taken much interest in the genre that I decided I wanted to draw in the manner of anime and manga artists. No one taught me how to draw and I didn’t have any artist who inspired me. In truth, I didn’t think to research artists much. I just kept practicing and practicing on making illustrations until they began to look like the art style I admired.

It wasn’t until high school that I received any kind of formal education in art. It was there that I took classes in drawing and graphic design. That was also when I was first introduced to animation and the program Adobe Photoshop. As I continued to work, digital art was something that became synonymous with me. After doing some research along with some hands-on work, I decided that graphic design was a career field I wanted to pursue. There were other types of art I delved into later during college as there was no graphic design program at the time. I went through ceramics, stone carving, printmaking and a great deal of other mediums used for art. But I would always go back to graphic design and illustration, and much of my work includes the art style I grew to love, in some way.

The works I do are generally a combination of illustration and graphic design using the computer as my main artist’s tool. Whatever I usually draw is influenced by what I’ve seen, read and heard, and sometimes the personal experiences I’ve had play a role. Sometimes I feel discouraged about my work and art style since it’s different in the fact that it’s not traditional. But I realize that it’s not simply about impressing others. It’s about enjoying what I do and if even a few enjoy my works, then I’m more than happy to continue. I’m not quite sure what I truly want to spend my life doing, since I also became interested in the criminal justice field along the way, but I still feel that graphic design and illustration remain a strong part of me and I’ll always enjoy working with them no matter what I end up doing.

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Untitled 2008 solar plate print

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Jonathan Bell My art is not definitive. The art that I practice changes frequently in style from classic to modern while always maintaining a central theme of narrative. It is this narrative that I feel is my artistic voice. The stories I paint, sculpt, construct, etc. are the ways in which I write my signature without actually writing it.

I enjoy working with acrylic paints, however I am in no way limited to just acrylic paint as my singular medium. I love experimentation, trying new products and even materials that I may find by happenstance, because I feel they generate challenges on how to produce art from anything. It is within this challenge that the mind gets pushed into a level of creativity. What tends to be addressed is not the image that is trying to be forcibly generated but rather the image that the subconscious is unknowingly generating; which I feel has potential to be vastly superior. Ultimately, the goal is the resulting finished product, and admittedly I am somewhat impatient which is why I am a fan of acrylic paints but even they open doors to different challenges.

My current pieces are only a means to a narrative and an examination of experimentation. I feel as though my art is to be used for others to create a story, so it is difficult to know what they are representative of entirely. I believe that in this way my work becomes more than simply a picture and grows to be exciting and forever changing with the consciousness of it's audiences. The paintings, as I comprehend them, are only of emotion. Other than this emotion, I can only further explain the paintings by the stories that I may see. So, what is my art about? Tell me the story you see and I will reveal the mystery of my art.

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Distortion Perception 2011 plexiglass, leather paint 3 panels

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Pauline Black Women of all generations are thrust into the role of becoming like neurotic actors, forced to play restrictive and contradictory parts in a never-ending play. In order to satisfy the societal demands of our gender, we have to, in essence, become paradoxical. We have to become the doting mother, the rapturous sexpot, chef, maid, femme fatale, secretary, psychologist and so forth. I, myself, have played the devoted pancake-slinging, Bandaid-wielding mother as well as the antagonistic, blue haired punk clad in jeans and leather.

As a woman, I am concerned with the fluctuation and discarding of certain values in addition to how stereotypes of women are perpetuated. I find these societal roles to be very restrictive of gender and promoted by stereotypes, bigotry and misogyny. Even though feminism and the women’s rights movements have come a long way, we are still locked into what society deems is acceptable for our gender. One could never truly say that we have achieved gender equality while women are still chained by tradition and impeded by social and cultural “norms�.

My work is an exploration of these traditional roles of women in society and in a more domesticated setting. I want to highlight the internal struggle of trying to fulfill many personifications and the dichotomous relationship between them. I primarily focus on the societal aspects of women from the early 1950s through to the 21st century. I find inspiration from World War II posters, television, printed media and pop culture. I hope to continue to explore these restrictive societal gender roles using both non-traditional mediums such as silicone and plexiglass, as well as more traditional mediums such as painting and printmaking.

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Naked Lunch 2010 plaster and silicone

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Elizabeth Castro Looking at the whole picture all together; creating art for me is really just a form of holding on to certain thoughts and ideas but at the same time letting them go. A lot of the time, but not always, these ideas are derived from some sort of tragedy. It's almost an act of keeping this journal where my thoughts are masked, and only little glimpses are let out to be read. I take these thoughts and/or events and use them as a base, to get a piece started. I don’t necessarily expose the entire idea, it’s almost like creating this fantasy world where everything appears to perfect. I see beauty in the grotesque it is probably the mystery that keeps me looking, and the uncertainty that causes me to keep coming back.

I wouldn’t say that my work is at all in that spectrum but it is highly influenced by it. I suppose I take what I see, what I find to be beautiful, and try to reproduce it on a canvas, and/or whatever medium I’m currently feeling in tune with.

It really is not about the visual but more about the sense of the sensation, and feeling I get from a tragic subject matter that I then try to reproduce in my paintings. So in the end it is really a type of emotion that I’m trying to grasp and have the reader find in my work.

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Untitled 2010 acrylic and mixed media

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Sarah Fraioli I did not begin my life knowing I would be an artist.

However, in my beginning years of college, I would always look toward the Art Department building, wishing, for some reason, that I was there. I finally decided that art was the one subject I wanted to learn about and study for the remainder of my schooling and career. That is where my journey in art began. I chose to start out in graphic design because it seemed like the creative profession most in demand at the time. However, once I began my study of design, I found a love for the field. I love design because I see it as a way to infuse art into everyday life situations and to expose the largest number of people to art, since design is so widespread.

My passion is in design, but I love working with traditional raw materials. My goal as an artist is to combine the practicality of the field of graphic design and use it alongside the raw beauty of traditional art. Currently, my work is in a state of experimentation to find my personal style. I enjoy a wide variety of media, from charcoal to oil paints to plaster.

Texture is a main component in my artworks, be it visual or tactile. Simplicity speaks to my soul. I enjoy taking complex forms and breaking them down to their basic, aesthetic contours. I find the most powerful statement is to say very little in my artworks. My love for art stems from the idea that it is the most powerful form of communication. It is speaking without words but through creativity.

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Complexion of Texture 2009 mixed media

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Julio Gonzales When I set out to create a piece my first thought is what will my audience receive when analyzing my painting. Because some people might not be as confident in creating art, I set out to create expressions and emotions that my audience have felt. There is no doubt that both my heritage and my future play vital roles in emotions of my art. This is why I look back at the masters such as Rufino Tamayo, Diego Rivera, Rodolfo Morales, and Francisco Toledo. As my art process continues to expand, in conjunction with my art, I realize that understanding and building upon such strong foundations can lead to great expectations and also great dividends.

My fascinations and deepest desires also heavily influence my art. Take for example the use of wood. This material and medium is a staple in my contemporary pieces and is extracted from my respect and admiration of carpenters.

The continued development of my favorite mediums, oil paint and printing ink, make me realize that there are no errors, only the ones you don’t learn from. The marriage of wood and paint to me seems to be ideal, especially when you allow both mediums to counter balance each other.

Oil and wood have become the ideal mediums for me because of their history and their deeper meanings. The obsession of seeing paint introduced to a piece of wood allows me as an artist to create life. I could say that the satisfaction I get is from the creation of making something new again. The last statement that I could say about myself would be that while law and engineering are honorable professions, poetry, music and art these are the elements that men live for. I just want to contribute something to life.

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Untitled

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Marcos Herrera The influences for my artwork come from a multitude of different places, namely my everyday life and past influences.

As a child, I was always encouraged by my family to express myself through art and explore my creativity. One of my earliest memories was drawing with Crayola crayons at my grandparent’s house. Throughout the years, this interest has allowed me to develop my skills as an artist and helped me to find my niche.

My works are mainly narrative, extracted from various experiences, life lessons and people that have helped to shape the course of my life. I feel that I’ve gravitated towards printmaking and painting the most because they have been the most helpful with visualizing meaning behind my pieces and demonstrating my artistic aesthetic.

My artistic influences span from Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg—their work has been a big inspiration to me.

Incorporating elements from my life has greatly influenced my personal growth as an artist. I look forward to the future and seeing how my art will see a metamorphosis and adapt to the events that I have yet to experience.

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Orgy 2011 collage prints on panel

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Rita Homen My current art is an effort to remove myself from preconceived ideas about a subject and to record patterns of shapes and color that visually define my experience. The whole process is a new adventure that parts from trying to painstakingly create exactly what I see before me. Prior to these studies I had never worked with paint and never been exposed to this way of seeing and creating art.

I am drawn to images created by Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell and Willem de Kooning and plan on experimenting with various studies of abstract compositions and calligraphy. Another interest of mine is printmaking. I have watched the continuous flow of creativity that comes out of the printmaking class here at CSU Stanislaus and it has influenced, inspired, and motivated a desire to learn more about this technique.

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Untitled 2010 oil

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Cheng Lee My first formal introduction to art started with web design, which ultimately decided the fate of my future. Perhaps it was the idea that simple letters and numbers, things which we take for granted every day, could be beautifully strung together to create a majestically, beautiful piece of work or that art could come in the form of simplicity. And while piecing colors, letters, and numbers together, I discovered that I had a talent for which some called "graphic design," a word so foreign I had to look it up in the internet. The more I design, the more I learn about myself and the more I learn about myself, the more I realize how much my heritage remains a part of me. A part of me is influenced by the cultural folk-art of my heritage. The art I do transpires from several aspects of my life, the emotional expression of the self, the idea that less is better, and a heritage that clings lifelessly—hoping to ignite a connection with the self to this foreign country.

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Lady Liberty in Quote 2011 digital art

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Susannah Manalo My passion for art began at a very young age and has only deepened through the years. I love experimenting with new techniques to see where they will lead me.

The majority of my current work is primarily abstract, mixedmedia on canvas, paper and wood. I enjoy working with acrylics and often incorporate texture in my paintings using layers of paper, found objects and textiles. Each project I finish is a beautiful surprise and unexpected discovery.

My family has given me the strength to stretch my creative abilities in ways I never knew imaginable. Without them, my artistic journey would not be the same. I want to take this opportunity to thank them for their never ending support, inspiration and love.

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Untitled 2011 acrylic

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Parmveer Masuta I have been in love with art ever since I was a child, but I never thought that I would see myself becoming an actual artist. The mediums that have caught my attention the most are graphic design and photography. Those two mediums were just handed to me as a gift, and I had to learn everything about it on my own. That is until I took a few classes here at school. I grew addicted to work in programs such as Photoshop and once I knew the addiction would not stop, I decided to go out and buy my own camera, since I was already working with nothing but images. I wanted to work around my own images and make things how I saw them through my eyes. My inspiration to create a beautiful design or photograph comes from a variety of different things including creative art pieces that have already been created, words, quotes, and music. I do not like a mess, so my work is almost always simple in design. Before 2009 I had no idea what my major in college was going to be, but I had been working with art since 2007, so I decided that I am going to do something with my life that I will enjoy doing until I am no longer breathing. Not only will I be an artist, but I will helping upcoming artist as I plan on teaching after I graduate.

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Self Portrait 2008 digital art

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Sarah J. Ott My art is a visual translation between the world I see around me and the emotions evoked from that viewing.

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Bee Lesson #1 2011 print

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Karina Poley Being an incredibly imaginative child, I knew that art was going to be part of my life from an early age. From the moment I could hold a crayon I became obsessed with recreating the world as I believed it should be, and being a person who wants everything to be her way, I found the creation of such a world to be a release. A large part of this can be attributed to growing up very close to my grandfather.

My grandfather would always draw things for me to color and I would often watch him paint. Through his influence my passion for art bloomed and has been part of my life since.

My personal style is composed of incredibly simplified images and shapes. You could say I have a strong affinity for the geometric. These simple images tie in best with the primary focus of my work which is color. I love color and all of the different ways it can be exploited to express emotion and thought. I generally work in the same medium as my grandfather did, oil paint and printmaking, however I occasionally do projects in clay.

The major influences on my work have been varied and many. Upon entering college I began the study of artists such as Franz Kline and Clyfford Still. When I took up printmaking I studied the work of the German Expressionists who introduced me to Kandinsky who I am currently studying. Other influences on my work have been my personal life experiences, dreams, mythology, and psychology.

As unsure as I am about what the future holds, I am positive of one thing, art is in some way shape or form part of it. Currently I am looking into graduate school for the study of art history or in possibly continuing with my plan to become a high school art teacher. As for my own work I will probably continue creating part time until I physically cannot or until I lose my mind whichever comes first.

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X's & O's 2010 collage prints on panel

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Julie Strong I've always known that whatever I chose to do with my life, I would go in a creative direction. I'll start my day off with paint and charcoal, move to an electric guitar and microphone, and then finish with a video camera. I'm concentrating on mixing my media, and combining my art, music, and film together. I can't limit myself to just one creative outlet, and I refuse to give up on any of my passions. I'm currently proudest of the progress I'm making in film. It's impossible to know how difficult something is, or if you're any good at it, until you jump in and try it. Film was definitely something I wandered into blindly, but am finally starting to understand.

I want to create art that stirs an emotion in the viewer, something that makes your heart start beating faster. In hopes of achieving this, I have created a collection of prints based on phobias. The goal of these pieces of work is to cause anxiety in the viewer, and evoke emotion. I’m also currently working on a documentary for the California State Assembly about a Holocaust hero named Jim Sanders. Jim was the driver of the first ambulance to rescue survivors from the work camp, Buchenwald, during World War II. I am very honored to have had the opportunity to interview him and create an extremely emotional documentary of his experiences. When art makes the viewer feel something, whether it is fear, anxiety, sadness, or inspiration, it is successful. Even if my art is disliked, I hope it is successful.

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Trypanophobia 2011 ink on paper

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Susana Valencia I have always had an interest in art. As a child, art was an escape to a new world and exploration. Now, as an adult, I see art as a form of expression which I first discovered through painting. When I was introduced to painting, I would throw paint onto a canvas and just enjoy the movement of the colors, texture and how the different elements would complement each other. After studying towards my degree in art and a minor in psychology, I have realized that my best works have never been planned out. I have really enjoyed the learning process of not planning out what a piece will be and being surprised and excited at the result. What alarmed me most is how accidents and mistakes can turn out to be the strongest aspects of a piece. Other than painting, I enjoy printmaking and currently, I am carving into wine corks which is a new chapter for me and I am curious where it will take me next. In general, I do art when I find myself craving it – the type of media does not matter. When real inspiration and curiosity is present, without having a plan for it, is when I feel that I can produce something great. I then find myself relieved at the fact that I fulfilled my curiosity and fed the craving of trying something new. If the inspiration is not there, I will not put stress into making art because then it's not fun. Recently, I have found that my work is becoming more consistent because of my repetitive choice of using a warm palette, which can aspire emotions from comfort, romance and love, to extreme rage depending on the viewer. But towards the end, it revolves around the importance life: family, love, food, music, and people.

While taking a minor in psychology, I have seen art from a different perspective. In my opinion, I have found art as a mood regulator and a way to channel one's feelings, much like exercise for example, where a person can feel a lot better after doing art for an hour or more. I also can see that art is an alternative to language. Information that may be difficult to express in words can be communicated through art and this communication can be an opportunity to break through the unconscious, allowing surprising information — good or bad — to accidently spill out. Therefore, art has been with me when I've been down, surprised me when I have been inspired and has been a companion during my time of loneliness. It is for this reason that I find art to be very therapeutic. I believe that engaging in the process of art is just as important as admiring the finished work. The process being the entire input of the artist from start to finish, resulting in not only the beauty of the finished artwork itself but the fulfillment and the sense of peace the artist feels. Then, I believe that the artwork has real value and uniqueness to it because there's a story behind it.

I would like to take the time to thank all the art professors here at CSU Stanislaus for showing me new ways of producing better artwork. Through this learning process I have found myself exploring a new world once again.

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Reminiscing of a Past Love During Sunset 2008 solar plate print

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Dan Vue My first taste in art came from Sailor Moon, a cartoon show.

Something about the show compelled me to start drawing the characters. I have been drawing ever since I was a child because of the show. Growing up, my uncles and brothers always drew. It was like playtime for us. My environment is my inspiration. I am inspired by what I see and touch around me. Right now I am focused on the performing arts, specifically theatre makeup. As a result, I am not certain where my art will take me in the future.

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Gears of Destiny 2010 collage prints on panel

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Nicholas Webber Art is the weapon that I employ to show the world who I am and what I can do. This weapon is also an aid in the way that I view the world and my surroundings. The thoughts and processes that go into creating art are fascinating.

Through these thoughts and processes I work at creating art that is interactive. For most of my work I encourage the viewer to touch or feel it, and in some cases I encourage them to even pick it up and shake it. My first dive into the art world was as a young child and being allowed to create things out of my Lego’s. I created intricate buildings and structures which would later be represented in my sculptural art. This fascination with intricate buildings and structures that I developed as a child carries on today in my sculptural work as well as my computer generated work. The usage of intricate structures has lead to me developing a likeness to using only a select portion of my conscious thought. Over the years I have found many different artists that influence me both directly and indirectly. Some of those influences include Jackson Pollock, David Carson, Marcel Duchamp, Donald Judd, Richard Serra and Tony Smith. Most recently I have been creating objects that appear to be perfectly done, as if they were machined parts. I am fascinated by the sharp lines and fine edges that are created along with the simplicity that is implied.

In the future I plan on creating work that is both structural but also engages the viewer so that they may be a part of the art work.

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Fight Back 2011 digital art

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Xia Yang I consider myself a graphic designer, however my work is not limited to digital art; I work with acrylic and watercolor as well. Painting with a brush is a way for me to break away from long hours at the computer. I work with multimedia, but designing is where my passion is at. I guess I can say I am somewhat of a perfectionist as well. I believe you would agree with me that chasing after perfection is impossible because nothing is ever perfect. For as early as I can remember I've always been this way and with this mindset it breeds a hunger to design. Since perfection is subjective, and things in this world is far from perfect, I find that designing allows me to interpret my own thoughts and ideas into something that is visual, and by doing so I get to see a part of myself in the work I do. Only through this process will I agree with myself that something is to my heart's content. Of course it is not to say that every artist seeks perfection in their work, I guess I am an exception. When I think design, I think perfection; what's the best possible way that I can interpret something into its' best representational form? You may call me an individualist, but I think by being individuals and often times stubborn ones we allow the subject of art to grow because I think good art is nonconforming art. So perfection may not exist as a communal entity however it exists in everyone of our abilities as designers, as artists because we are the maker.

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Order 2010 digital art

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Jennifer Zona Since a young age, I have been surrounded by creativity.

Whether it was from looking at my mother’s old paintings, to her creative approach to mundane school projects she was helping me and my brother with, to my older brother’s creations with paper and pen, the creative process was something I latched on to. I didn’t begin to create more serious pieces of art until I was in high school, but through my childhood I thrived on being able to create things above and beyond what was just expected of me.

My subject matter in art often relates to the human form, and deals with matters such as life, death, and different types of human emotion. I primarily work in the medium of acrylic paint, and incorporate different textures and organic forms into my pieces. Photography is another method that I use for my art. With a camera I can instantaneously capture a moment in time, and something that can be easily overlooked in everyday life can be poignantly and powerfully represented forever.

Influences on my art have included my family, my attendance of private school for a majority of my education, and the people around me in everyday life. In all honesty, I didn’t have a lot of knowledge of famous artists until I began college, but artists that that have since influenced me include the Impressionists and Post -Impressionists such as Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh. Recently I have also begun to explore the works of Edvard Munch, and his focus on matters like life, death, anxiety and love.

In the future I hope to further continue my look into humanity, and explore the different ways that I can visually represent it. I’m not sure yet where I may end up in life, if I am going to be a full time artist or if art may only be a part of my life. Who knows, I may even end up teaching art to a bunch of youngsters, which is a thought I have always pushed to the side until very recently. Wherever I end up, I plan to approach it the same way I do when I’m creating something: to sit down, buckle in, and enjoy the ride.

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Untitled 2010 acrylic and mixed media

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Acknowledgements California State University, Stanislaus

Dr. Hamid Shirvani, President Dr. James Strong, Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs Ms. Susana Gajic-Bruyea, Vice President for University Advancement

College of the Arts

Mr. Daryl Joseph Moore frsa, Founding Dean, College of the Arts Lauris Conrad, Administrative Analyst/Specialist Kristina Stamper, Desktop Publishing and Graphic Specialist

Department of Art

Dr. C. Roxanne Robbin, Chair, Professor Dean De Cocker, Associate Professor Jessica Gomula, Associate Professor Daryl J. Moore, Professor David Olivant, Professor Gordon Senior, Professor Richard Savini, Professor Meg Broderick, Administrative Support Assistant II Christian Hali, Instructional Support Technician II Jon Kithcart, Equipment Technician II

University Art Gallery

Dean De Cocker, Director

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