2014-2015 MassArt Thesis Catalog

MASTER of

FINE ARTS THESIS CATALOG

acting president: kurt T. steinberg interim dean of graduate studies: paul j. paturzo director of curatorial programs: lisa tung

CREDITS: Creative Director: Leah Gadd (MFA ‘11) Editor: Carolyn Burns (MFA ‘14) Photographer: Zachary Allen (MFA ‘15) Production and Design: Rachel Morrissey (MFA ‘16)

©Copyright 2015 Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

All rights reserved; no part of this book may be reproduced without the express written permission of the publisher.

Previous Page: Alison Folland, still from “Spiti” (DV, 2015) Image Left: Juan C. Escobedo, Chaparral, cardboard, wood, chalk, paint, 9’x5’x6’, 2014

Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) is one of the top colleges of its kind in the United States.

Founded in 1873, MassArt has a legacy of leadership as the only freestanding public college of art and design in the country and the nation’s first art school to grant a degree. The College offers a comprehensive range of baccalaureate and graduate degrees in art and design, all taught by world-class faculty, along with continuing education and youth programs designed to encourage individual creativity for students of any age and background.

MassArt’s Graduate Programs offer US News & World Report’s #1 rated MFA in Massachusetts and one of the top 25 programs in the country. MassArt’s campus in downtown Boston offers more than 1,000,000 square feet of studios, workshops and galleries within walking distance of three world-class museums. The 2014-2015 MassArt MFA Thesis Exhibitions, featured in the enclosed pages, showcase the innovative, multidisciplinary work of the College’s internationally diverse graduates.

Contents:

Zachary S. Allen.................................................... 16 Carlos Alvarez........................................................ 18 Elaine Bezold.......................................................... 20 Christy Chow.......................................................... 22 Juan C. Escobedo.................................................. 24 Alison Folland......................................................... 26 Sean Thomas Foulkes.......................................... 28 Tien-Yun ‘Sky’ Huang........................................... 30 Amy Jorgensen..................................................... 32 James Lambert..................................................... 34 Tony Luong............................................................. 36 Robert Maloney..................................................... 38 Denise D. Manseau................................................ 40 Adam Mastoon....................................................... 42 Daphna Mero......................................................... 44 Monica Mitchell...................................................... 46 Youjin Moon.......................................................... 48 Brack Morrow......................................................... 50 Rebecca Scott Newhouse................................... 52 Ceren Paydas......................................................... 54 Jenny Plante.......................................................... 56 Cory John Ploessl................................................. 58 Joseph Ray............................................................. 60 Sam Riebe............................................................... 62 Chris Ridgway......................................................... 64 Navid Sanati........................................................... 66 Cris Schayer............................................................ 68 Joanna Sokolowska.............................................. 70 Jessica Sperandio................................................. 72 Jonathan Stockton............................................... 74 Ana Torres.............................................................. 76 Joyce Taihei........................................................... 78 Robert Warren....................................................... 80 Andrea Zampitella................................................ 82

mfa BLR THESIS SHOW: august 5- 15 2014

mfa thesis shows: thesis i april 22-may 4 thesis ii may 11-may 23 2015

Joyce Taihei, Untitled, archival pigment print, 2015

zachary S. allen PHOTOGRAPHY zacharysallen.com Millyard Chimney, Nashua, New Hampshire, 40”x53.3”, archival pigment print, 2015

16

Installation views, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

17

Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

Mausoleum North Wall Section D , etching, dry point, open bite, aquatint, collagraph on paper, 2015

18

Mausoleum East Wall, Row A, B, and C, etching, dry point, open bite, aquatint, collagraph on paper, 2015

carlos alvarez 2D calvarezgallery.squarespace.com

Two important memories encouraged me to create my work.

The first is of the exhumation of human remains that had been in a mausoleum for several years.

The second is of the many years around 1990, when violence and death prevailed in my hometown of Medellin, Colombia. Those memories likened my perception of the value of a human body to that of an artifact. I thought that bodies were organic discarded materials and thus, I saw a connection to similar objects, such as decayed logs and rotten trees. These organic forms become unfamiliar cavities that are adapted as spaces, as portals.

My work shares visual similarities with fossils or imprints. The spaces I create are basically deteriorated bodies that are completely covered and slowly made into recesses.

I perceive energy around those spaces, both near and further away. The circulation of this energy is activated by a dialogue between “the here,” as the present, and “the there,” as the unknown. I am interested in the physicality and materiality of a deteriorating human body in relationship to decayed logs. I find possibilities within the forms and spaces that are created during the process of their own transformation.

11 Remains, cast iron, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015 19

elaine bezold PHOTOGRAPHY elainebezold.com

Kay, 2015

Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

20

Barn Owl, 2014

Plantes, 2015

Come, run in me, video, audio, wood, vinyl, acrylic, treadmill, spray paint, LED light strips, speaker, fabric, tag fasteners, 90” x 100” x 24”, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

christy chow 3D christy-chow.com Mundane is the best word to describe my material choices and process. My materials are accessible, consumable, tacky and usually serve a singular function. They include tag fasteners and seam rippers. While my process is as repetitive and tedious as a factory worker’s task, this mundaneness is canceled out by a mismatch of tools, materials and processes.

The work twists the designated function of the objects and brings about new definitions and surprises. By suffering through a long-durational, repetitive action, I learn from the experience and enjoy both the frustrations and surprises I come upon. In “de-stitching” (2014), I spent almost five hours removing 3,745 stitches from a shirt that was made in a sweatshop in Asia. This daunting process inspired me to investigate the boundary between leisure and exploitation, as well as the intention of my perverse action. I built

on this idea and extended my creative journey by building a virtual and perverse amusement park. “The Laborland” projects a playful dystopia of capitalism by converging labor and entertainment. The work is really asking how we can fix ourselves and if the options provided are adequate. Like the pathologies that define our brand of capital through perpetual production, consumption and accumulation, the process of fixing oneself is an infinite one, done only for its own sake, without any purpose but the continual reproduction of capital itself. But I believe in humankind and, through my installations and relational projects, I act as a facilitator of alternate experiences and economies that operate in a way that is antagonistic to capital and depict a dramatic perversion of the desires within and external to ourselves.

23

juan c. escobedo 2D juancescobedo.com

24

I have started to incorporate mixed media into my practice and my work fluctuates between painting and sculpture. The materials are anything and everything that can be easily manipulated and integrated. Plastic, wire, paper, cardboard, fabric, and wire mesh are some materials that I like to work with because of their practicality and their malleability. The use of perspectival moments, such as horizon lines and vantage points, allows the objects function in a similar way to paintings. However, unlike with a two dimensional form, once the viewer moves away from the assigned vantage point the pictorial image starts to break down.

Originally I believed that nostalgia, memories and dreams were the central components to the work. As the work progressed I began to consider the space the objects inhabited and that has become a major part of the making.

I believe this is because the mini spaces and their materiality started to reflect how memories worked in my own psyche.

Memories transport you, interrupt daily life and can easily be confused by the reality of another memory. Colliding memories can be polluting to the original event. The objects I make don’t consider the space they inhabit. They interrupt and create their own space within the larger space. The materials have a dual existence within the object that comprises two separate realities: the reality of the material itself, as it exists in our world, and the reality that the material alludes to in the illusion I make. Cardboard can stand in for a piece of dirt; a button can be mistaken for a glowing street light. This parallels how memories are comprised of several realities: the reality of what happened initially, our memory now and everything that happened in between. What is a reality in the world of the mini space can not be true in our world. Yet, the tension that is created when one can not decipher where one reality stops and the other starts is fascinating to me. - Juan C. Escobedo

Chaparral, found wood, cardboard, wire, fabric, 144”x 72”x 84”, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

Asarco from Paisano, metal, wood, paint, 60”x36”x36”, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

“Donde esconderme” Where to hide, wire, wood, PVC piping, fabric, cardboard, paper, 168”x84”x84”, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

Stills from “Spiti” (DV, 2015)

Still from “Spiti� (DV, 2015)

alison folland FILM/VIDEO vimeo.com/user4982858

Spiti is a Brechtian take on the American sitcom, set in a modern day Greek ruin. A grieving family tries to start over in a new, empty house. A territorial dispute arises; Older Sister must share a bedroom with Younger Sister. Father can not broker a peace and, when drifter Uncle shows up, the situation goes from bad to intolerable.

The genesis of Spiti stems from my interest in theater and performance, particularly

the concepts of narrative immersion and alienation. By dramatizing a popular American television script in an unfamiliar setting (an unbuilt house outside Athens, Greece), I aim to generate a sense of dislocation in the viewer, akin to that the characters themselves experience within the narrative. Stripped from the ideological trappings of the source material, the text becomes a deeper reflection on the nature of loss and survival.

27

sean thomas foulkes PHOTOGRAPHY seanthomasfoulkes.com Composite#1, Afghanistan, October26, 2011

28

Untitled diptych (from leaked Apache FLIR footage), 2015

29

Gone with the Wind, interactive installation, 2015

Gone with the Wind, interactive installation, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

tien-yun ‘sky’ huang DYNAMIC MEDIA skywing.idv.tw

Do you ever feel that your mind is so preoccupied that you just can’t make it quiet?

Our minds are all like clear skies and our thoughts are like clouds. As thoughts pile up, the sky gets cloudier and cloudier, until it becomes gray and makes you feel gray as well.

This interactive installation is designed to help you clear your mind, let go of the annoying thoughts, and bring back the clear sky of your

mind. Tien-Yun (Sky) has been exploring the use of dynamic media to facilitate mental wellbeing. In this project, she combines the ideas of Expressive Writing (by Dr. James Pennebaker) and Mindfulness Meditation to create a healing and calming experience for those who want to clear their cloudy minds. Learn more about Sky’s work at skywing.idv.tw.

31

amy jorgensen DYNAMIC MEDIA amyjorgensen.org

With a background in psychology and 2D/3D design, Amy creates interactive installation art focused on changing human behavior patterns and altering self-knowledge and awareness.

She has shown work in San Francisco, CA, Portland, OR, New York City, Richmond, VA, Boston, MA, Portland, ME, Brunswick, ME, and

Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

32

an island off the coast of Maine. She has been invited to show her work at the Irish Sound, Science, and Technology Conference at the University of Ireland and was a part of a public art project through MIT in Keflavik, Iceland.

To explore her work, please visit her online at amyjorgensen.org.

Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

Niort, 12’x8�, installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

james lambert 2D jameslambert.net

This group of work is taken from the first iteration of a project of stacked paintings. The pieces arise from the simple activities of shuffling, spacing, and joining fragments into phrases, signals and resemblances.

Niort, River Spree, Atomium, Courtald Letters, Old Sarum, L’Atlas, installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

35

tony luong PHOTOGRAPHY tonyluong.com

In This World is a collection of photographs made on the threshold between the natural world and the man-made world. This is an interstitial space we are never far from, where vulnerabilities emerge and perceptions can falter. Shaped by human choices and chance encounters, this world offers me brief interactions with light, strangers and

Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

36

vegetation, whose meanings often only resonate long after we have parted ways.

By way of liminal areas of light and dark, the emerging narrative becomes one of engagement. The only limitations of our perceptions are our attentiveness to looking and our choices about where to look.

Untitled (Cars in Vegetation), archival pigment print, 32� x 40�, 2014

Artifactotum, wood, plaster, glue, iron paint, installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2014

robert maloney LOW-RESIDENCY, FINE ARTS robert-maloney.com

I use the vocabulary of the urban landscape as a framework upon which to suspend fragmented thoughts, ideas, and memories. The scaffolding in my work is a metaphor for a life in the process of a transition. These grid-like shapes become colossal drawings in space that signify the seemingly endless cycle of human existence.

retention of data affects each of us in very different ways.

This body of work is based on the fragile and fluid process of memory.

I am fascinated by the way that our memories and experiences accumulate and deteriorate over time and how the

My analysis of the flaws of memory retention has led me to discover parallels between our physical surroundings, our intimate relationships, and the inevitable process of life’s erosions. In the end, only traces of memory remain, like skeletons or footprints from a previous existence. This exploration of the dichotomies between presence and absence, creation and destruction, and the various spaces in-between are all at the heart of my artistic practice.

Building Memories, installation view, 2014

Mnemonic Complex, installation view, 2014

39

denise D. manseau LOW-RESIDENCY, FINE ARTS denisemanseau.com The impact of hurricanes and other natural and man-made forces remind me of the precarious nature of our existence. Our world is in a constant state of flux—a continuous interaction between living organisms among the nonliving factors of light, temperature, water and atmosphere. Humanity is intricately intertwined within this complex system and yet, we are unique in our capacity to observe and trace the consequences of these changes, both in the moments they occur and over the course

of time. My work investigates the nature of transitory relationships in the environment and the way perception influences and defines the layered complexity of place. A fluid movement between materials and practices allows me to establish new ground to explore the fragile interconnectivity of the physical world and its phenomena. This process yields uncertainty— a necessary uncertainty where I find meaning in the unexpected.

Between Wind and Water, cut paper, monofilament line, acrylic paint and ink on walls and on paper, 2014

40

Cosmographie (detail), graphite, ink, acrylic paint on Mylar, 98” x 36”, 2014

Sweet Boy, archival inkjet print, 48” x 33”, 2014

Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2014

adam mastoon LOW-RESIDENCY, FINE ARTS adammastoon.com

I am a socially engaged artist driven by a desire to create work that generates social awareness and speaks to issues of social justice. Much of my work explores the issue of difference as it relates to identity and to the public and private self. Primarily I join image and text to create work that activates internal and community dialogue and engenders empathy, compassion, and connection between people. Storytelling is an integral part of my work. I believe in the

importance of telling our personal stories and in the healing that happens between people, in even the simplest ways, when we participate in the shared experience of seeing one another and of being seen. The author James Baldwin said “It is the role of the artist to make the world a more human dwelling place.� I follow this idea with a focused sense of purpose in the work I create.

43

Tracks, video, 5:50 min

daphna mero FILM/VIDEO daphnamero.wordpress.com

My works are derived from sites and locations.

I combine Dance and Camera work to explore space as a place for narratives. The following three works deal with embodied experiences in liminal spaces, from the running track to the non-place between homeland and diaspora.

Tracks is a multi-image video piece that explores the surface of the running track at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. By attaching cameras to moving appendages, I am able to portray an embodied experience of Sisyphean exercises on the track. The absent body remolds the space around it by walking, running and crawling.

Migration is a short experimental film that portrays immigration as a dehumanizing process executed by an indifferent bureaucratic machine. The camera delves into the world of paperwork and investigates through movement alienated, interpersonal relationships in bureaucratic spaces. The use of multiple cameras placed on the dancer’s arms and legs, along with conventional camera angles, deconstructs and reconstructs space. Multiple points of view are realized, traversing the gap between those who seek aid and those who attempt to give it.

44

Neither Here Nor There is a site-specific installation where I reflect on my travels back and forth between Israel and USA. Moving in - between Two places – spaces Jerusalem – Boston Boston – Jerusalem Climbing up to go down Going down so I can climb In-between With no orientation Which is up?

Which is down?

Migration, video, 13:31 min

Neither Here Nor There, site specific video installation & performance, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

Freya’s Vortex of Expectations with Chariot and Cats, installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2014

Freya’s Vortex of Expectations, installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2014

monica mitchell LOW-RESIDENCY, FINE ARTS monicamitchell.net

My formal art-making practice is an exploration of attraction and repulsion. I borrow ideas from several sources: mythology, gender, workplace, masquerade, music, and consumerism.

My thesis,”Freya’s Vortex of Expectations,” is loosely based around the Norse goddess Freya.

She represents domesticity, passion, sex, war, cats, child rearing, and flower arranging. She is an embodiment of what it means to be female.

The installation is made up of objects that play roles in my real and imagined lives. Freya’s mythology, combined with everyday objects, reflects my own daily whirlwind.

47

youjin moon FILM/VIDEO youjinmoon.com

io, video still, 10:55 min, 2015

48

Perceptions of a space can oscillate between reality and imagination. By reorganizing my surroundings into imaginary landscapes of Jupiter’s moons, I aim to examine how layered and collaged perceptions can evoke mental imagery of dreamlike spaces. I’m particularly intrigued by our knowledge of the surface qualities of moons, which remind me of tangled branches and abstract paintings.

Using video footage, painting, computer graphics and still photography, I build

an improvisational structure of uncanny landscapes, evocative of our relationships to land, ocean, and life. The videos mesh and collide surfaces to express perceived dualities in nature, such as bright and dark, micro and macro, wet and dry, water and fire. The resulting metaphors expand reality through an abstract narrative arc and a futuristic vision. By creating a depiction of an imperceptible environment, I hope to challenge our usual patterns of perception.

Europa, video still, 11:52 min, 2015

49

Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2014

brack morrow LOW-RESIDENCY, FINE ARTS brackmorrow.org My EAR1 (Earth Aural Rover One) project is interdisciplinary as well as multidisciplinary and is manifested through my research in neuroscience, music, ecology, and the related biological mechanics of each. I create generative sculpture I refer to as the artobject/science-instrument. Through this contrapuntal interlace of disciplines, lines are blurred and, within that blur, there are harmonic happenings.

These new modes of perception are harmonies we can listen to and express with. They bring

us toward new discoveries into soundscapes that lead to new ecological relationships with the environment. While I welcome viewers to acknowledge an environment cultivated by gradual evolutionary growth and observed/ effected by us during fleeting moments in a lifetime, my primary mission is to engage the viewer (listener) with the expansiveness of being present and presently altered, within that environment.

The Command Module, Jornada, Petrified Forest, AZ, 2014

Scientific Range, Chihuahua Desert, NM, Remote, 2014

Installation views, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2014

51

rebecca scott newhouse 3D rebeccanewhouse.com

This body of work is centered around gesture, tactility and the inter-dependency between drawing and sculpture. A line is brought to life in a three-dimensional space; it multiplies, shifts and grows.

Alternative materials and processes enhance the complexity of the relationship

between drawing and sculpture. Scale mimics the human body, emphasizing the dramatic gesture of a line. Making is as choreographed and intuitive as dancing.

Currently, the dialogue questions how one drawing ends and where a sculpture begins.

to Halve and to Whole, installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

52

to Halve and to Whole Untitled #3 (yellow), paper, steel, house paint, 71” x 38” x 29”, 2015

Our world is saturated with personal data. So much so that personal data is a sought after commodity that readily feeds an infrastructure of surveillance. This infrastructure is driven by the algorithms created by the corporations that govern it. These systems of surveillance control us by using our past behavioral data to shape our opportunities and manipulate our future behaviors. The more these systems know about us, the more they filter and algorithmically shape our decision-making opportunities.

The result is a continuous spiral of data collection and forced identity augmentation.

Our definition of self becomes nothing more than a curated and filtered existence. When the systems that govern our society are capable of such control and manipulation, we lose our perception of self and become vulnerable under their gaze.

My thesis, World War A: Humans vs Algorithms, explores how dynamic media technologies can expose the invasive existence of dataveillance and act as a shield of privacy. My case studies investigate an alternative lifestyle in the modern world of digitized information.

ceren paydas DYNAMIC MEDIA cerenp.com

Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015.

jenny plante FILM/VIDEO jennyplante.com

Constant Function, HD video projection, 2015

56

Constant Function With the Constant Function vignette series I wanted to give prominence to the actions of the everyday by creating my own slow motion cinematic moments with my body instead of with a camera or a computer.

My body is the catalyst for the sedentary action. My subdued movements parody that of technological slow motion but they

do not match it because, inevitably the body fails to comply with the perfection of mechanically interfered speed. With each of the soundtracks taken from actual live news coverage, there is a period of waiting, anticipation and a feeling of the unknown.

Constant Function, HD video projection, 2015

57

Unfasten, character and complimentary documentation, 2015

cory john ploessl 3D coryploessl.com

Insecurity is a lack of understanding coupled with a perceived sense of vulnerability. It can be experienced by an individual or embedded into the very fabric of the institutional and cultural groups with which we identify. I call this latter form, cultural insecurity.

At its best, a sensitivity to cultural insecurity can inspire one person or an entire community to question and problematize long-held, collectively unconscious thoughts or beliefs. At its worst, complex problems are simplified into

an easily digestible dichotomy of good and bad, us and them — what professor John Cash has referred to as a friend/enemy mentality.

Comprised of research, performance, and installations through hand-made props, my recent body of work interprets the unconscious side of insecurity in order to better understand the implications of our institutionally repressed, yet inadmissible thoughts and actions.

Unfasten, performance and installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

59

joseph ray 2D joeraystudios.com

My interest lies in the investigation of the co-existence of both found and familiar places and objects in an abstract environment. These subjects, integrated with a methodology of combining Plein Air and studio painting, breeds images which are semi recognizable and yet shift or morph based on the viewer’s own visual translation. I incorporate my own unique style of layering, creating a very personal experience.

Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

60

My work is motivated by and is an expression of change, distrust and deception and how they have influenced my interpretation of the world around me.

While I use a small variety of subjects in my work, my methodology is consistent.

Each project consists of multiple format arrangements of related imagery. Through research conducted for those works and through the process of creating them, new areas of interest emerge and lead to my next body of work.

The Burden I, 60” x 48” oil on canvas, 2015

Icyhot, mixed media, 12” x 9”, 2014

Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

sam riebe 2D samriebe.com

My paintings are abstract landscapes that instigate a dialogue between materiality and illusionistic absorption into space.

Informed by the act of looking through a window, doorway, or portal to a mystery world, one must ask: what are the rules of operation? What are the physics at play?

Clues are provided through culturally informed visual interfaces. These interfaces are derived from video games, analog tabletop games, and sci-fi cinematography.

Collaging diverse graphic gestures causes stoppages in their performativity. The viewer is thus confronted with a puzzle.

He or she must account for a frontal matrix, referring to left-right-up-down navigation, that is completely at odds with an ulterior first-person mode, suggested by elements derived from head-up-displays (HUD’s) found in pilot simulations. In that conflict, the only refuge is in the material sensitivities of raw unapologetic painting.

63

chris ridgway PHOTOGRAPHY chrisdridgway.com

Kaitlin, Rocky River, OH, 2015

Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

64

Staircase, Brighton, MA, 2013

Judy, Malden, MA, 2014

Einsteigen Bitte, 12 min, animation, 2015

Dear Anonymous, 4 min, found footage, 2015

navid sanati FILM/VIDEO behance.net/navidsanati

Navid Sanati was born in 1990 in Tehran and currently lives and works in Boston.

He creates media artworks, videos and photos. Taking daily life as subject matter, Navid comments on the everyday aesthetic of modern life values. His works directly responds to the surrounding environment and uses the artist’s everyday experiences as a starting point.

“Dear anonymous” is a collage of found footage from military videos, news channel archives, and youtube videos.

Juxtaposing graphic imagery and censorship, this project questions our contemporary society’s view on war and peace.

67

Cris Schayer 3D crisschayer.com Using my body and time as material, I create performances that explore our identities and selves through memory. Rituals and repetitious actions that reference both religious and cultural practices connected to my own heritage and past are used to expose facets of myself to the viewer. Through performing and reperforming, a separation is created between the original event and the new.

Utilizing the materiality of not only my own memories, but also memories collected from others, I demonstrate a failure to truly create permanence of an event. These performances attempt to recall a place that no longer exists Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

68

through a faulty and inaccurate means, the mind. Mixing neuroscience with nostalgia, I blur the line between the sterile and visceral, creating what appears to be an archive, but ultimately decays. Through memory exchanges with participants, I form a connection between people. Enacting these moments, I create the illusion of time travel by trying to relive the recollection of past events. Installations containing objects from the action serve as residue and documentation of the performance, allowing the work to change shape and function as a new memory.

Installation and performance documentation, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

HUMANSCAPE, bisque fired clay, installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

joanna sokolowska 3D joannasokolowska.com

The series of sculptures and paintings “HUMANSCAPE� explores the richness of human inner life and the ways in which we experience feelings as human beings.

Moments of happiness and excitement mix with those of anxiety and pain, thus forming us as humans. How do these influences - inner and outer forces, our own psychological quandaries or external factors - affect us?

Literally and metaphorically, our bodies are changing landscapes.

In the same way, I form my malleable material. Raw, bisque fired clay refers to the rawness of emotion. Exposing our vulnerability, lack of perfection, limitations, cracks, etc., voids and mystery become a necessary condition of our fragile lives.

HUMANSCAPE, bisque fired clay, oil on canvas, installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015

71

jessica sperandio LOW-RESIDENCY, FINE ARTS jessicasperandio.com Blue Smoke, wall mounted cut acrylic, 5’x5’, installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2014

72

Chakatagir, wood, leather, paint, 50”x46”, 2014

Untitled, Springfield, Mass., 2014

JONATHAN stockton PHOTOGRAPHY jonathanstockton.net

Most of us are born into a world that doesn’t have a place for us and it is unfair from the start. It imposes rules, codes, and systems that we never agreed to and a failure to win its convoluted games has effects that are far-reaching and permanent. Who we are and what we are good at generally matters only if those talents can be exploited to make money.

If those talents fall outside of what is profitable or if those talents can be better and more cheaply exploited elsewhere, we are given little or no compensation. On the contrary, the more we lose, the more that is taken away.

In Fear of Falling, I try to make these uncomfortable realities visible. In doing this, I spend time with people and at places where the struggle to survive seems most acute. This includes poor or makeshift communities, where members contend with drug addiction, mental health issues, and the effects of incarceration, but also more affluent communities. This range gives me space to examine the fluctuating state of my own privilege, as well of that of my wife and two young boys, as we labor to get ahead.

Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015.

75

ana torres DYNAMIC MEDIA behance.net/anatorres

Ana is a Venezuelan interactive designer, educator and Fulbright Scholar with an MFA in Dynamic Media. She alters, combines and animates materials to create poetic experiences and tangible objects that emphasize a corporeal, multisensory awareness.

76

ebracelet, photograph of laser-cut prototype, 2015 77

Installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2015.

Sans Silver, archival pigment print, 30�x40�, 2015.

78

joyce taihei PHOTOGRAPHY joycetaihei.com

Castor, archival pigment print, 30”x40”, 2015.

79

robert warren PHOTOGRAPHY robertwarrenphotography.com

Revere, MA, 2014

80

Birds, Nashua, NH, 2014

Repair/Disrepair, installation view, Bakalar and Paine Galleries 2014

Andrea zampitella LOW-RESIDENCY, FINE ARTS andreazampitella.com

The tensions between attraction and repulsion, constraint and liberation, and defeat and triumph motivate my work. I navigate through material remnants, destroying and rebuilding in order to create new contexts that reflect my current reality. I explore the confined body in ways that are both constraining and liberating.

I confine myself to reveal my own limitations and subsequent humanity.

I often find myself asking how much weight is being held based on our past, our inherited values, and our traditions, rather than our own beliefs? What do we lose if we let go of that weight? What do we gain? My work speaks to expectation, imperfection, perseverance, and what we willingly do to ourselves as artists, as women, and as a society.

Web, video installation, Bakalar and Paine Galleries, 2014

83