2022 University of Washington MFA + MDes Thesis Exhibition

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF ART + ART HISTORY + DESIGN

2022

THESIS EXHIBITION

MAY 27 – JUN 26, 2022

Each year, the Henry presents the University of Washington's School of Art + Art History + Design Master of Fine Arts and Master of Design thesis exhibition.

Throughout their programs, fine arts and design students work with advisers and other artists to develop advanced techniques, expand concepts, discuss critical issues, and emerge with a vision and direction for their own work.

The 2022 University of Washington MFA + MDes Thesis Exhibition is organized

by Eric Zimmerman, Exhibition Designer and Preparator, and Katie Miller, former Assistant Registrar of Exhibitions.

Participants 2022 MASTER OF FINE ARTS

Aly Edmondson Rowen Foster Althea Fultz Morgan MacDonell Jordan Sabolick Sadaf Sadri Bogosi Sekhukhuni Yongqi Tang Christina Valenzuela 2022 MASTER OF DESIGN

Julian Body Erfan Dastournejad Sooji Kim Andy Madrick Rebecca Rhee Stephanie Tang Waldrop Eason Yang Zerong Yang

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Courtesy of the artist

Julian Body U.S., born 1998 BS, Stanford University Julian Body, a native of Portland, Oregon, is a multihyphenate whose journey began in human-centered user experience and product design. Exploring unfamiliar spaces is one of Body’s core motivations—this curiosity has led him to operate across the domains of interaction design, graphic design, print, and photography. In all of his work, Body strives to uncover and relate stories that push us towards a greater understanding of the self.

Body studied previously at Stanford University, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Product Design and Engineering. As a graduate student, Body has served as a teaching assistant within the School of Art + Art History + Design and has also been a teaching team member in the Global Innovation Exchange at UW. During summer terms, he held internships with global brands including Mercedes Benz and eBay. Committee: Kristine Matthews, Chair Jason O. Germany

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ERFAN DASTOURNEJAD Iran, born 1983 Actual Conversations for the Virtual World, 2022 Courtesy of the artist

Erfan Dastournejad Iran, born 1983 I always found passion in technology, whether it was computer-generated images in the '80s or virtual reality in 2020. It is always exciting to discover new capabilities or form novel experiences using emerging tech. Studying Interaction Design and Master of Design at the UW, and being in contact with talented students and illuminating mentors helped me pursue this passion and make a career out of it.

The advent of the metaverse and its cascading effect on the wearable tech industry, and consequently pop culture, provides a wide variety of opportunities for designers.

Social virtual reality (VR) became my main focus in this project since it is a potent new medium with a lot of new possibilities to explore. In the current model of social VR, people join virtual public/private spaces with their customized/personalized avatars and usually engage in conversations or activities with others. In some senses, it is very similar to any other social setting. However, the whole “virtualness” of the interactions brings novel possibilities for research and development. My thesis project hypothesizes ways to improve the initiation of conversations in VR. I theorized a communication potential factor to determine the chances for a successful conversation and categorized different contributing factors to evaluate and improve it. My artifact in this exhibition is a VR experience that summarizes my design solutions for a better virtual conversation initiation.

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ALY EDMONDSON U.S., Born 1990 Violating Community Guidelines, 2022 Vinyl on drywall Courtesy of the artist

ALY EDMONDSON U.S., Born 1990 Fat Suits, 2022 Ready-mades Courtesy of the artist

Aly Edmondson U.S., born 1990 alyedmondson.com @alyedmondsonart Aly Edmondson is an interdisciplinary artist from Lafayette, Indiana, currently creating in Seattle, Washington. As a first-generation university student and graduate, Aly is heavily influenced by capitalist societal limitations regarding poverty and accessibility within the institutions of academia and contemporary art. Her artwork reflects her identity socioeconomically, socio-politically, and socio-physiologically. It often analyzes and challenges media representation and stereotypical narratives of poverty, fatness, and gender, both individual and intersectional. Aly works in several mediums, including installation, video, performance, sculpture, and photography, often using textiles, ready-mades, text, and poetry.

Fat individuals are being removed from your feeds. Within the coding of social media algorithms, images that contain an “excessive” amount of skin are flagged and promptly removed under the premise of “violating community guidelines.” This removal is not because of a depiction of nudity, violence, defamation, etc.—this is the censoring of fat bodies, simply for existing. Many individuals who do not possess the Desire capital* are continually being censored in social media spaces. Systematically, this censorship and erasure is not new to those who occupy bodies that have been “othered,” this is a reality faced in practically every social, physical, medical, virtual, and institutional space we occupy, including this one. *Defined by Da’Shaun Harrison in Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness, Desire capital is “determined by the structures through which people are marginalized for their Blackness, their gender(lessness), and their bodies. Beauty standards, especially in the United States, are predicated on anti-Blackness, anti-fatness, anti-disfiguredness, cisheterosexism, and ableism.” (Harrison, 2021).

Committee: Flint Jamison Rebecca Cummins Ellen Garvens Divya Mehra Marlena Edmondson, LCSW Awards: 2021 | Boyer and Elizabeth Bole Gonzales Scholarship, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 2016 | Summer Ceramics Scholarship, Art Museum of Greater Lafayette, Lafayette, IN 2012 | Muncie Arts League Award, Ball State University, Muncie, IN Publications: 2019 | Episode #64 “The Fat Art Show”, Plus Size Magic Radio 2019 | Part VIII Craft Projects: Carving Cute Critters, 53 Ready-to-Use Kawaii Craft Projects, ALA Editions 2017 | Standards Are Everywhere: An Information Literacy Approach to Standards Education, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology

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Courtesy of the artist

Rowen Foster Rowen Foster grew up in Austin, Texas and is currently based in Seattle, Washington.

Rowen studied sculpture and creative writing at the Kansas City Art Institute and is a graduating 3D4M MFA student at the University of Washington. In creating surreal hybrids and abject bodies, Rowen integrates queer, feminist, disability, and affect theories with pop culture and myths through large-scale installations.

Rowen works representationally with human anatomy, oscillating between realism, surrealism, and abstraction to create abject body forms and monstrous hybrids. These bodily explorations facilitate nuanced conversations about gender and sexuality that question constrictive stigmas imposed onto individuals based on their anatomy, assumed identity, or how they present. These sculptures raise questions about the dehumanizing impact of social constructs and violence while pointing to the potential for embodiment to be a site for change and possibility.

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ALTHEA FULTZ Santa Barbara, USA b. 1994 Va Pensiero, 2022 Wood, metal, house paint and sharpie Courtesy of artist

Althea Fultz U.S., born 1994 I grew up in Southern California, where I studied ballet and other kinds of dance. When I was 20, I discovered ceramics and since then I’ve spent more time in a studio than out of it. While I was working towards a BFA in Ceramics from California State University, Long Beach, I worked for artists in the LA area, and traveled to Spain, Italy, France, and Portugal. I have spent the last two years in the University of Washington’s MFA program in 3D4M. My practice lives in the patterns that are present in the world. It’s a mapping of repetitive action. It is the echo of a sound, the topographic map of a terrain, and the large mess a small animal leaves in its wake. My work mines the specifics of my own life and relies on me to make sense of it by continued action. My actions are this set of particularities. My experience in life is honestly the only narrative I feel I have an incontestable right to: I’ve earned it, seeing as I have to live it.

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Courtesy of the artist

Sooji Kim South Korea, born 1996 Sooji Kim is a user experience designer based in Seattle who is interested in multidisciplinary work. As a designer, she likes to explore solutions to problems. She received a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design Engineering in South Korea and moved to Seattle to participate in the Master of Design program at the University of Washington.

In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the importance of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology come to the forefront. In the design field, working with AI technologies is an inevitable flow for current and future designers. However, many designers are not familiar with using AI in their current workflows. With this background, she wants to provide a better user experience by using Machine Learning technology.

In her thesis, she focuses on exploring the possibility of a technology and design-based project. She researches a way to examine people’s preferred color styles which they might not recognize in their daily lives.

Committee: Sang-gyeun Ahn, Chair James Pierce Awards: 2021 | Asia Design Prize – Finalist 2020 | Asia Design Prize – Finalist 2019 | Spark Design Award: Fall and Winter student design – Platinum Fire industry design contest – Fire service director award Korean design exhibition award – Winner Creative design contest by Korean Intellectual Property office – Gold prize Spark Design Award: Fall and winter student design - Silver Spark Design Award: Fall and winter student design - Finalist 2018 | Design contest for the improvement of household products by Ministry of SMEs and Startups – Grand prize

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Morgan MacDonell Born 1994 Checkout Stand, 2022 Melamine, composite tile, 2x6s, OSB, clay, Plexiglas, surgical masks, coffee

Morgan MacDonnell Born 1994 Morgan MacDonell is a second year MFA graduate in the 3D4M program at the University of Washington. His work focuses on the experiences of service industry workers in America from a personal perspective. He hopes to invite the viewer into a conversation about the multiple perspectives of everyday transactions within the world of the service industry. The focus on minimalism in the work is to reduce the appearance of the objects to focus the conversation towards one that could be meaningful to a wide range of viewers and to engage the physical space shared by the sculpture and viewer.

The work functions similarly to a memorial where memories of work life, current or past, can be reflected on from a more distant position. This artwork provides space for contemplation about the structures that we move through without much thought about what it takes emotionally and physically to upkeep them.

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ANDREW MADRICK United States, Born 1993 The Comment Project, 2022 Materials Courtesy of the artist

Andrew Madrick U.S., born 1993 I was born in South Lake Tahoe, California. I spent my childhood in Northern Colorado and lived in Phoenix, Arizona during my high school years. I studied Philosophy at Colorado State University and received my Bachelor of Arts in 2017. I worked as a landscape architect prior to enrolling as a graduate student at the University of Washington in 2020. During my time in the Master of Design program, I have pursued design as a craft, focusing on Visual Communication and Interaction Design.

The lens through which I view my work is tinted by the human experience, with a focus on the digital media space. My interests and projects center on making beautiful and useful tools that enhance the quality of online conversations. The theoretical underpinnings of my work are influenced primarily by the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, the economist Richard Thaler, and the philosopher Mark Johnson.

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Courtesy of the artist

Rebecca Rhee U.S., born 1989 BFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago Rebecca Rhee is a multidisciplinary designer based in Seattle, Washington with a background in visual communications. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Prior to her studies at the University of Washington, Rebecca worked in publication and marketing, designing art books, magazines, and campaigns. During her graduate studies, she worked as a teaching assistant for the School of Art + Art History + Design while pursuing her interests in XR (Extended Reality) design. For her thesis, Rebecca has focused on the intersection of virtual reality design and rock climbing, allowing her to delve deeper into both of her passions.

Committee: Axel Roesler, Chair Jason O. Germany Jenny Kam

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JORDAN SABOLICK U.S., Born 1989 Balloon Gang, 2022 Oil on canvas, Courtesy of the artist

JORDAN SABOLICK U.S., Born 1989 All in a Day’s Work, 2022 Oil on canvas, Courtesy of the artist

Jordan Sabolick U.S., born 1989 Jordan Sabolick’s work analyzes the quiet spaces within domesticity. From daily routines to the passing of time, he takes interest in how we perceive and resonate with one another through the domestic rituals that make us human. This tends to reveal itself in environments that are inhabited regularly but are seldom explored with curiosity. By taking precise measurements in the preliminary drawing stages—supported by a selfimposed grid—his work ultimately becomes a dance between two things: precision and intuitive abstraction. As a result, his paintings divulge an interest in light and form, geometric patterns, and spatial relationships.

Sabolick was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He began a formal drawing and painting education in 2014 and obtained a BFA from California State University, Long Beach. He is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Washington.

Committee: Ann Gale, Chair Helen O’Toole Sangram Majumdar Zhi Lin David Brody Philip Govedare Exhibitions: 2022 | Home, Gallery at the Park, Richland, WA 2021 | The Reordering of Things, Jacob Lawerence Gallery, Seattle, WA 2021 | Works in Progress, Sand Point Gallery, Seattle, WA 2019 | Commons Walls, Artist Studios at the Palm Court Arts Complex, Irvine, CA 2019 | Shifting Through the Circuit, Gatov Gallery, Long Beach, CA 2018 | Now Trending, Palos Verdes Art Center, Los Angeles, CA 2018 | Enrollment Services Showcase, California State University, Long Beach, CA 2018 | Select, F+ Gallery, Orange County, CA Awards: 2022 | Allied Arts Association MFA Scholarship, Richland, WA 2018 | Beverly G. Alpay Center for Arts Education, Los Angeles, CA

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Sadaf Sadri, untitled, 2019–20. Photography

Sadaf Sadri Iran, Born 1991 Unconsented Visibility, 2022 Video, webcam, fabric, mirrors Courtesy of the artist

Sadaf Sadri, This Country Does Not Exist, 2021. Generated photo printed on vellum paper, map of the world.

Sadaf Sadri, Under Surveillance I, 2018. Photography Sadaf Sadri, Misfit, 2018, Collage Sadaf Sadri, Under Surveillance II, 2018, Photography.

Sadaf Sadri Iran, born 1991 Sadaf Sadri is an Iranian artist based in Seattle. They use video, photography, machine learning, and experimental practices to explore the intersection of traditions, cultures, and technology to create alternative narratives and challenge the mainstream understanding of gaze, surveillance, and queerness.

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Courtesy of the artist

Bogosi Sekhukhuni South Africa, born 1991 Conceptual worker and designer Bogosi Sekhukhuni offers considerations on cultures and histories of technology. Working across a range of media such as sculpture, video, set design, furniture design, and performance, Sekhukhuni develops approaches that think through mechanics of futurity. Since 2012, Sekhukhuni’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions with institutions such as Fondation Louis Vuitton, Luma Foundation, MoMA, MCA Chicago, Auto Italia South East, and Foxy Production. They have been awarded the Prix Net Art Award, Rhizome, New York. Sekhukhuni is a founding member of the artist group NTU (South Africa) and has worked closely with CUSS Group (South Africa).

Committee: Flint Jamison, Chair Rebecca Cummins Ellen Garvens Brynn MacCoy sidony o’neal Exhibitions 2022 | Role Play, Fondazione Prada, Milan 2021 | Age of You, Jameel Arts Center, Dubai 2020 | Art in the Age of Anxiety, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah 2019 | The Art Happens Here: Net Art’s Archival Poetics, New Museum, New York 2019 | Bogosi Sekhukhuni, Foxy Production, New York Awards: 2021 | Gonzales Graduate Student Scholarship (Photo/Media) 2020 | Top Scholar Award, University of Washington, Seattle 2017 | Prix Net Art Award, Rhizome, New York

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Yongqi Tang China, born 1997 EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN: The Apartment, 2022 Charcoal on paper, Courtesy of the artist

Yongqi Tang China, born 1997 EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN: The Wedding, 2022 Charcoal on paper, Courtesy of the artist

Yongqi Tang China, born 1997 Having studied and worked between China and America, Yongqi has been influenced by the drastically different cultural and ideological contexts. Her works investigate, deconstruct, and remodel her identities and roles in both private and public spaces through the act of painting and drawing. Each of her projects is grouped around a specific focus on different identity explorations, such as gender, sexuality, and nationality. Using the dining experience as an entry point, her thesis examines the ambiguous anxiety to be in the liminal state between alienation from her country of origin and displacement at current settlement. The works inspect how we see ourselves through the concepts others have of us and the groups we belong to, and perform identities under the impact of the surrounding conditions. Identity therefore becomes a duplicated phenomenon—people are both themselves and a project they make of themselves.

Yongqi Tang attended University of Washington and received a BA in painting and drawing in 2019 and an MFA in 2022. Her artistic practices involve a variety of materials including but not limited to oil, watercolor, acrylic, and charcoal.

Committee: Ann Gale, Chair Helen O’Toole Sangram Majumdar Zhi Lin David Brody Philip Govedare Exhibitions: 2021 | The Reordering of Things, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WA 2021 | Summer, Sand Point Gallery, Seattle, WA 2020 | Work in Progress Show, Sand Point Gallery, Seattle, WA 2020 | Small Expressions, Northwind Arts Center, Port Townsend, WA 2020 | Eros, C’est la Vie, Gallery 110, Seattle, WA 2019 | Honors Graduation Exhibition, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WA 2019 | Painting and Drawing Open House, Sandpoint Gallery, Seattle, WA 2018 | Honor Exhibition, Parnassus Café, Seattle, WA Awards, University of Washington, Seattle, WA: 2021 | Graduate Study Equity, & Excellence Tuition and Graduate Supplemental Award 2021 | Boyer and Elizabeth Bole Gonzales Scholarship

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CHRISTINA VALENZUELA U.S., born 1996 Madman across the water (she would sit in freezing water for days), 2021 Oil on panel, Courtesy of the artist

CHRISTINA VALENZUELA U.S., born 1996 Perched (she would try to escape from the smell of sin at great heights), 2022 Oil on panel, Courtesy of the artist

CHRISTINA VALENZUELA U.S., born 1996 Ordinary hysteria (she used to stand on fence spikes), 2022 Oil on panel, Courtesy of the artist

Christina Valenzuela U.S., born 1996 Christina Valenzuela was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Graduating with a BS in Marketing from Indiana University and a BFA in Painting from Arizona State, she moved to Seattle and is pursuing an MFA in Painting + Drawing at the University of Washington.

She creates work that explores what it’s like to be a person in a body in the world, drawing on topics such as phenomenology, religion, and emotion. In approaching her work she asks, “How does our psychological makeup affect identity?” Her most recent work explores her connection to Christina the Astonishing, the Catholic patron saint of mental illness.

The objective of my studio practice is to use painting and drawing to investigate the complexity of human experience through the ideas of phenomenology, mental illness, pain and suffering, and morality. I am interested in the tension between the mind and body which defines the human condition, emphasizing psychological states exhibited by the body in my work. I explore how the multiplicity of being—our many selves made up of mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical components—resists interpretation.

Committee: Ann Gale, Chair Helen O’Toole Sangram Majumdar Zhi Lin David Brody Philip Govedare Exhibitions: 2022 | Meet us in the Afterglow, SOIL Art Gallery, Seattle, WA 2021 | The Reordering of Things, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WA 2021 | SUMMER: a Summer Works Exhibition, Sand Point Gallery, Seattle, WA 2020 | Work in Progress, Sand Point Gallery, Seattle, WA 2020 | Break the Stigma, New City Studios, Phoenix, AZ 2019 | Growing Down (Solo Show), Xico Arte y Cultura, Phoenix, AZ 2019 | The Square, Modified Arts, Phoenix, AZ Awards, University of Washington, Seattle, WA: 2021 | Graduate Study Equity & Excellence Tuition and Graduate Supplemental Award 2021 | Boyer and Elizabeth Bole Gonzales Scholarship 2020 | Top Scholar Award

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Courtesy of the artist

Stephanie Tang Waldrop U.S., born 1985 BA, University of California, Santa Barbara Stephanie Tang Waldrop is a visual communication designer based in Seattle, Washington. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prior to graduate school, she worked at IDEO, a global design consultancy, where she learned the value of making a positive impact through design.

As a graduate student Stephanie has held teaching assistant positions in the School of Art + Art History + Design and Human Centered Design + Engineering departments. She is also a design researcher whose work is focused on how we might create new and alternative imaginaries of our smart home data. Her thesis work focuses on the invisible work of cognitive labor in the home and how we might make this work more tangible and visible for people in their households.

Committee: Audrey Desjardins, Chair Jayme Yen James Pierce Awards: 2021 | Gonzales Graduate Student Scholarship for Excellence in Design

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EASON YANG China, born 1983 Not Entirely Dead, 2022 A social enterprise and collective community for young adult cancer survivors

Eason Yang China, born 1983 Eason is a multidisciplinary designer and a creative leader based in Seattle with experience in visual communication design, business and social innovation, user experience, and design research.

To help young adult cancer survivors bridge the inevitable career gaps, Eason started an initiative called NED. Named for “No Evidence of Disease,” a medical term, and “Not Entirely Dead,” an inside joke for cancer patients, NED is a social innovation that will champion the 600,000+ young adult cancer survivors who are trying to return to the workplace in the U.S. Cancer survivors want to work for the same reasons as anyone else.

But they often face unconscious bias and workplace stigma as barriers to returning to their careers. The hard work of defeating cancer is often unrecognized in the workplace but seen as an unfavorable career gap.

Since Eason had the privilege of being Not Entirely Dead, he decided to own the problem. NED is built to engage two audiences—employers who have a deep need for super-abled employees and cancer survivors who are ready to rock the workforce again.

After all, fighting cancer is one of the toughest jobs an individual will ever take on. NED is leading a societal change in how we view career gaps.

Committee: Annabelle Gould, Chair Kathleen Shannon Dorcy Karen Cheng Audrey Desjardins

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Courtesy of the artist

Zerong Yang China, born 1997 Zerong has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech, and he is currently pursuing a master’s degree in design with a focus on industrial design at the University of Washington (UW). He also takes entrepreneurship courses in the Foster Business School at UW to get the Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate. He believes that the harmony among design, engineering, and business results in incredible products.

His thesis work focuses on the design of custom products through the technology of 3D scanning, generative design, and digital fabrication. He envisions a new process for designers to create custom products and shows the differences from traditional approaches. He uses Customouse, a custom fit computer mouse, as a case study to prove the practicability of the process in real life.

Committee: Jason O. Germany, Chair Sang-gyeun Ahn Justin Thoreau Lund

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