inspringdiscrepancy2022thesisartexhibition
8.3”x5.9”illustration,Digital2022,catalogue,withincludedsheetstickerCustomFeazell,Cristiana
new college of florida gallery
isermann
inspringdiscrepancy2022thesisartexhibition
Borodiansky,L.S. Syndrome,TachycardiaOrthostaticPostural-LectureDuring ”x”plexiglass,onacrylicwithoverlaidpanelwoodonOil,20221721
thank you
Publication of this catalogue made possible through grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the New College Student Research and Travel Grant Program.
Sticker printing courtesy of Libby Davis Vanleeuwen.
Special thanks to Eugenia Titterington and Hana Boed for creative problem solving above and beyond.
paper,onprintScreen,202211”x14”
Gatof,IsabellaHannah (Recording),Grabando
Cora Van Vleet PULLING AT THE SEAMS OF A LEAKY PIPE, Page 8
I Must Be Burned Alive, Page 16
S.L. Borodiansky See Us, Page 24
Humanities Division
table of contents
Art AOC
E.C. Barker
Welcome to “In Discrepancy”
Page 31
PageContributors 37
Page 33
Hannah Isabella Gatof Re:Visión (Re:Vision), Page 20
Art History AOC
Page 29
Hannah Schwallie Filial Ties, Page 12
Page 1
Barker,E.C. THAT,LIKEMEATLOOKDON’T ”x”cardboard,onOil,20222420
E.C. Barker: Saint Sebastian is one of the many Christian martyrs. He died twice for his belief. The story of his life, death, miraculous revival, and final death shifted over the centuries, molded by the needs of each generation. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Saint Sebastian was transformed into a representation of queer identity and experience. This perspective is exemplified by the saint’s appearance in David Wojnarowicz’s representations of queer experience and loss in the context of the AIDS pandemic. His work was one of the key inspirations for Barker’s examination of the course of Saint Sebastian’s life and deaths through a nuanced, queer lens. Follow the red threads of fate to trace the moments of Sebastian’s story within Barker’s installation, whether his life in the context of serving Roman Emperors, where he was cared for yet had to conceal his identity, or his martyrdom and subsequent healing. Though Saint Sebastian’s story ends in tragedy, his determination to survive transcends the traditional context of martyrdom. In Barker’s work, it isn’t a question of what you would die for, but for what you would live.
Welcome to “In Discrepancy”
This exhibition, which brings together the thesis work of four graduating art students and one student embarking on their thesis, invites you to explore, reflect, and question. The title speaks to the discrepancy between, on the one hand, social perceptions and expectations and, on the other, individual desire and experience. Each artist delves into subjects, situations, and/or memories that made them aware of other perspectives. In particular, they bring in perspectives that are often overlooked, whether histories of the Spanish Caribbean obscured by tourism, a new lens on the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, the experiences of chronically ill individuals, or even unacknowledged aspects of the self, like lost memories or the need for a regenerative space. They invite you to move within the installations, contemplate the posters and paintings, and become as immersed as they did in their creations. Your experience is part of the artwork. Here, we provide some possible avenues of interpretation, but know that you will find your own.
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Schwallie,Hannah Story,Love ”MDF,onAcrylic,202123
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Hannah Isabella Gatof: The tinted lens of American media portrays the Spanish-speaking Caribbean as the perfect, “exotic” vacation spot. For Gatof, this image is a fantasy with no more attraction than the disposable plastic bags foregrounded in Thank You Bags – it is convenient packaging, readily consumed and thrown away, only to become an omnipresent pollution. Gatof invites you to reexamine and replace this fantasy by immersing yourself in the rich and complex economic, socio-cultural, and political landscape of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, as epitomized in its poster-making. The poster is an artform that was introduced by the Spanish colonial elite and then revolutionized by the indigenous communities. Inspired by the striking images, colors, and slogans used in Alfredo Rosgaard’s political posters, Gatof draws on this tradition to highlight the parallel colonial histories of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. At the same time, each is distinguished by its own series, whether the grocery bag posters where you may recognize, or not, the flags of the Spanish Caribbean “sewn” right into the design of the “Thank You,” or the references to Cuba’s film industry in Grabando. Walk up to the posters and consider: what do you know of the Spanish Caribbean, and what can you learn?
Cora Van Vleet: Van Vleet’s colorful installation is a bathroom broken apart and carefully re-made into something both familiar and alien. Beguiling plush tentacles sprout from every surface–otherworldly forms that both beckon and perturb. The toilet oozes mucus; bone fragments, small tentacles, and pustules in the bowl make you fear what may happen if you take a seat. The bathtub sits askew, tentacles waiting to grapple passersby while more mucus pools in the bottom. More tentacles dangle limply from the vanity, where a mirror offers an opportunity to contemplate your reflection. Finally, the wall offers a more evidently comforting moment of respite: a seat and a tentacular hug before you depart to view the rest of the exhibition. Van Vleet has reworked these bathroom fixtures, associated with a highly gendered space, to guide the audience through the process of expelling, cleansing, reflecting, and contemplating their identity in the hopes of blurring binary distinctions. The discrepancy between the banal fixtures and alien colors, appendages, and textures creates an uneasy, productive tension between the familiarity and intimacy of the bathroom and the strangeness of these unfamiliar invaders. The pliable tentacles adapt to but also transform their unyielding environment in a riot of joyous, sensual form and color, inviting us to transmute ourselves.
Vleet,VanCora I,Phase[toilet]behindleavewewhat 3828fabric,resin,plaster,Porcelain,,Detail,2021-2022”x17.5”x”
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New College of Florida, Isermann Gallery, April 2022
Hannah Schwallie: Schwallie’s work draws inspiration from Tibetan sand mandalas, a gorgeously fleeting form of artwork. The process of making mandalas is meditative, their inevitable destruction immensely cathartic. Where Tibetan mandalas concretize a Buddhist search for enlightenment, Schwallie looks for insight in her own faulty, fleeting memories, poring over family photographs that serve as tangible proof of events she is unable to fully recall. She has distilled the many familial relationships and emotional associations evoked in these images into the panoply of symbols visible in each painting. Though these symbols are deeply personal, she hopes that the viewer will project their own meaning onto them. Having grown deeply attached to these works, Schwallie and her family have decided to forgo the destruction that traditionally follows the creation of mandalas. Schwallie’s mandalas have become a means of retrieving and dealing with memories that are a source of both grief and joy. They invite you to consider the following questions: what would you seek to preserve from your past? What would you rather set aside? For Schwallie, the mandala is a means of doing both.
S.L. Borodiansky: Borodiansky confronts the audience directly, visualizing the otherwise hidden struggles of a chronic illness. They draw inspiration from Frida Kahlo’s unapologetic depictions of her body’s trauma and pain, as well as their communication of that experience via surreal visual metaphors. In one self-portrait, Borodiansky silently grimaces while they melt away, surrounded by the cacophonous activity of their classmates. Through these representations, the artist hopes to heighten our awareness of the onerous struggles we might be missing beneath the surface.
PULLING AT THE SEAMS OF A LEAKY PIPE is an attempt to guide my audience into a similarly meditative space and state, in which they can reflect and grow. I hope that the relationship between my selected motifs and my manipulation of space will allow my audience to be gentle with themselves, looking forward to a state of growth, while accepting a present state of peace.
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PULLING AT THE SEAMS OF A LEAKY PIPE
cora van vleet
The pandemic that began in 2020 imposed a global quarantine, isolating us in spaces we may or may not have expected to be. Living in fear for the world, for loved ones, and faced with political turmoil, we were left with much time for intimate, vital reflection. During this period, the relationship between spaces and experiences came to perplex me. During the isolation of COVID-19, this relationship had a severe effect on my personal sense of identity. I questioned my queerness, present relationships, past trauma, and my overall role in the ever changing world that was going through so much.
I realized the importance of spaces and experiences at this time. I was confined to one space and was having what felt like a million and one experiences. For my thesis, I wanted to create a place of free flowing exploration and reflection. Quarantine forced many folks into otherwise unsafe situations. With domestic violence and abuse at a record high, a particular space could have the power to make or break one’s physical safety and also sense of self. I found the bathroom to be a saving grace: a safe place to take care of myself, and to be intentional and present with my immediate needs. The processes of letting go, cleansing, washing away, nourishing, and, of course, reflection are all important in this space.
what we leave behind [toilet] Phase I Porcelain,2021-2022plaster, resin, fabric 28” x 17.5” x 38” cleanliness is close to godliness [bathtub] Phase II 2021-2022Detail Acrylic, plaster, resin, fabric, pine 80” x 35” x 36”
sink in [sink] Phase III Porcelain,2022 plaster, resin, fabric, pine, tile 28” x 17.5” x 38” analysis [wall] Phase IV 2021-2022Detail Wood, tile, fur, pine, fabric 28” x 17.5” x 38”
I have lost or forgotten a lot of my memories from childhood. I have re-lived or relearned them through an extensive collection of family photographs given to me by my parents. When I saw these images, it was possible to look at the represented moments and recognize them as real even if I struggled to do so in my own head. I began to associate things with colors and symbols, whether roses, trees, or suns, with these photographs, so that they came to represent these missing moments in time.
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Filial Ties
hannah Schwallie
I started to work on them with more conscious effort, placing them into my sketches of Mandalas. Before finalizing my designs, the images have been manipulated using Illustrator and Photoshop. These intricate representations of repetitive imagery were then hand painted onto circular boards. While one of my main inspirations is Tibetan sand mandalas, which are destroyed after their ritualized completion, I find that painting my own mandalas as more permanent artworks helps to ground my experiences in reality. It is an attempt to come to terms with my experiences and emotions towards these formerly lost parts of my past.
2 IntricaciesAcryl DF 2022 23” Acrylic on MDF2021 Creation
23” Acrylic onMDF2021Challenges Bonds Acrylic on MDF202223”
e.c. barker
There is something comfortable about the disposable. The temporary. The cardboard will not last as long as wood panel, or stretched canvas, or stone, or steel, or paper that’s been matted and framed. There is a place for things that last, but in such permanent materials I’m far too precious with my craftsmanship to ever get anything done that way, much less let it go once it’s finished. Disposable materials inspire an energy in me that I can rarely find elsewhere, and they speak to both the temporary nature of the human experience, and the treatment of different groups of people as disposable. The temporary and the disposable are not worth less for being so. This theme of disposability carries over into my study of Saint Sebastian’s story, as well as Saint Irene, who healed him before his second martyrdom, and the Emperors Maximian and Diocletian, who had him executed twice. Because of the nature of old stories, which have been written and rewritten to suit certain agendas, especially those of the church, these figures have become more myth than human. They become archetypes and are granted sanctification, or become monstrous beyond recognition, and their humanity is tossed aside.
I made this thing for you. Use it as you will.
I Must Be Burned Alive
As with the cardboard, I seek to bring them back into focus, and give them some human shape again. I would like to invite you to take your time. There are threads to follow and hidden things to find. This thing I’ve made will not exist like this again, and only you can have your experience with it.
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The Trial of St. Sebastian 30”xInstallation202239”
No Time for Grieving 2022 Acrylic and pencil on kraft paper 8”x 10” Lamentation of the Emperors Acrylic2022 and pencil on kraft paper 8”x 10”
I use screen printing to create posters that delve into the historical use of posters and signage in the Spanish speaking Caribbean. Having grown up in South Florida, and having my own familial connections to the region, I often feel a strong discomfort of contrast in perspective for the way in which the Spanish Speaking Caribbean is depicted in popular American media. Most people, if they even know the Islands of the region, think of these places as lowly developing countries only good for a cheap vacation. The crystal clear beaches of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, the vintage cars in Havana Cuba, or colorful buildings of Viejo San Juan in Puerto Rico are some of the most widely reproduced images of the Spanish speaking Caribbean, but what power do these images hold, and who are they for? Through my work
I attempt to change this narrative by focusing on twentieth-century uses of poster making specific to the region. They involve three key applications of this art form: as a political tool, as economicallymotivated commercial marketing, and as representation of local culture and creativity. In conjunction with the three islands of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, these three implementations of print and poster making in the region provide the thematic frameworks that define my work. Through a reflection on the importance of representations in this media, I hope that you, the viewer, can challenge popular ideas and knowledge about the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, while also being inspired to learn more about the region’s local history and culture.
(Re:Vision)Re:Visión
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hannah isabella gatof
No Vendas Tu Voto (Don’t Sell Your Vote) 2022 Screen print on paper 11” x 14” Patria o Muerte (Homeland or Death) 2022 Screen print on paper 11” x 14”
Travel Cuba Screen2021 print on paper 11” x 14” GO Dominican Republic Screen2021 print on paper 11” x 14”
In my work, painting is a means of unveiling invisible chronic illnesses. I am a figurative painter who dips into “magical” realism, visualizing these unseen but visceral experiences through metaphor, reaching beyond the restrictions of language.
See
s.l. borodiansky
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With my oils, inks, and washes, I use colors and gestures to reflect the energy and emotions of my subjects. Sometimes my work will make you laugh, and sometimes it will make you reflect, but my goal is to lift the veil that blinds us to struggles and experiences that go unseen. Us
Borodiansky,L.S. (POTS),Pooling 1818canvas,onoilparts:twoofconsistingWork,2021”x24”andwatercoloronpaper,”x24”
Dear NovoCollegians and Friends
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~Miriam L. Wallace, Professor of English and Gender Studies and Chair of the Humanities Division
But what truly excites me is the collaborative and professionalizing project this catalogue represents. Exhibition catalogues are important artifacts in the worlds of art, art history, museums, and commercial art galleries. While some are simple lists of works with or without images, the trend has been towards more expansive books with framing introductions, images of works and artists, and interviews with or statements from the individual artists talking about their work. This catalogue embodies professional respect both for the artists profiled in the senior show and also the Art History students who are enacting their own profession by offering a frame for the rest of us to encounter and engage with the works and their makers. This kind of collaborative reflection, engaging critical thinking and creative making together dialogically is a hallmark of New College. The value of this exchange is well represented in this year’s artifact, which will linger long after the show comes down. But please do make it a point to visit the exhibition in real life for another layer of the artistic experience!
As the current Division Chair for Humanities, I’m delighted to see this iteration of our Thesis Exhibition Catalogue, a fantastic collaboration between student artists and students and faculty in Art History. This year’s thesis exhibition, “In Discrepancy,” spotlights some of the incredible range of New College senior art students—inviting us to consider saints, martyrdom, and queer portraiture; trauma and memory; identity in relation to both others’ and self perception; the experiences of invisible and chronic illness; and posters as “popular” art with particular reference to the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Not surprisingly, students are considering how art can bring forward voices that might be submerged, marginalized, to help us see our world and ourselves more clearly.
Gatof,IsabellaHannah Painter),Best(TheDuroMasElPintor paper,onprintScreen,202111”x14”
~ Faculty of the Art AOC
Currently in a time of world crisis (an ever lingering pandemic compounded with world tensions over invasions and battles), these student artists ask us to take a moment and connect in this socially fraught climate. They present us with work that, however personal its genesis, gives pause and introspection to our daily lives. It asks us to seek our identity and, therefore, choose to accept the differences of those around us. It asks us to contemplate the human condition and know that there is hope (and cause) for change by recognizing the vast multitude of identities and cultures.
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While highly personal, the work speaks to timely themes, including public health, gender identity and equity, psychology of domestic spaces, and social messaging. By cementing their ideas in the visual media of print, sculpture, painting, illustration, and installation, these artists undertake their path of service to broaden the perception of those who view their creations. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
Barker,E.C. SaintsPlague ”x”cardboard,onAcrylic,2022,1913
~Katherine Brion Assistant Professor of Art History
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For Art History, this project is especially valuable as an opportunity for students to respond, in writing, to the artwork of their peers and contextualize it within frameworks and artists central to contemporary art. In order to do so, they engage in studio visits, follow-up interviews with the artists, and research into contemporary art. It is also a project in which all the writers, whether in the role of student artists or art historians and critics, review their work closely with the art history faculty and their peers and receive detailed feedback on their texts. This process is laborious and, at times, frustrating, as the students work to develop and clarify their ideas. Each year the result, and the catalogue as a whole, is surprising and rewarding in its own, unique way, thanks to the efforts of the artists, writers, and designers.
I hope that you will appreciate it as much as I do.
I am so pleased to have been part of this collaborative project, which is greater than the sum of its parts, and always more creative than anything I could have imagined.
The 2022 Thesis Art Exhibition catalogue marks the fourth edition of what has become an annual collaborative project between the Art History and Art Areas of Concentration at New College of Florida. Initiated by students as an opportunity to respond to and memorialize the undergraduate thesis work in the Art AOC, the catalogue is now developed in the context of a tutorial, with the guidance of one or more faculty in Art History. The task of creating a tangible, professional publication for an audience beyond the students’ instructors and peers is an especially taxing and inspiring endeavor. This year, in addition to engaging in contemporary art writing, graphic design, and print production, students identified and grappled with new possibilities related to the funding and marketing of this project and the exhibition.
Schwallie,Hannah Brotherhood, MDF,onAcrylic,202123”
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Hannah Schwallie
S.L. Borodiansky
Cristiana Feazell
Cristiana Feazell is a third-year student with an Area of Concentration in Art History. She is searching for a senior thesis topic, and hopes to combine the study of art history and her interest in creating art into one project. When she is not studying, she enjoys drawing digitally, observing local plants and insects, making spreadsheets, and taking midday naps. In addition to creating motifs for each art thesis student and member of the design team, which appear in the catalogue and the accompanying sticker sheet, Feazell collaborated on the catalogue design. She wrote the exhibition catalogue essay in collaboration with S.L. Borodiansky, with a particular focus on the work of Cora Van Vleet, Hannah Schwallie, and S.L. Borodiansky.
S.L. Borodiansky is a fourth-year student with an Area of Concentration in Art. They are in the first semester of their thesis, developing figure and portrait paintings that unveil the struggles of people with invisible physical chronic illnesses and disabilities. Apart from painting, Borodiansky enjoys having tea with friends, discussing creative writing, art, music, dance, and stories. In addition to contributing their art to the exhibition and catalogue, they wrote the exhibition catalogue essay in collaboration with Cristiana Feazell; with a particular focus on the introduction and the work of E.C. Barker and Hannah Isabella Gatof.
Hannah Schwallie is a fourth-year student with an Area of Concentration in Art. Her thesis draws on the tradition of mandalas to elaborate personal symbols and compositions that reinterpret her past and family ties. In addition to painting, she has engaged with a variety of mediums in the Art program, including drawing, 3-D rendering software, sculpture, photography, animation, and much more. Schwallie plans to pursue a career in graphic design after graduation. In addition to contributing her art to the thesis exhibition and this catalogue, Schwallie collaborated on the catalogue design. She also captured and edited the photographic portraits of the participating artists, including herself, that appear in the catalogue.
Vleet,VanCora IV,Phase[wall]analysis 3828fabric,pine,fur,tile,Wood,,Detail,2021-2022”x17.5”x”
Robyn Elizabeth Davis
E.C. Barker
Robyn Elizabeth Davis is a fourth-year adult student with an Area of Concentration in Art History. She graduated from State College of Florida, summa cum laude, earning an Associate in Arts and an Associate in Science in Graphic Design Technology. She maintains a private graphic design practice. She is a member of AIGA, Graphic Artists Guild, and League of Women Voters. Davis lives in Manatee County with four cats, one dog who would like to eat the cats, and one incredibly supportive partner. This is the second year that she has directed the graphic design and production of the art thesis exhibition catalogue, this time while completing her own thesis on the activism, art, and design of Sheila Levrant de Bretteville.
E.C. Barker is a fourth-year student with an Area of Concentration in Art. His thesis examines the figure of Saint Sebastian and his relationship to queerness through self portraiture, painting, poetry, and installation. When he is not immersed in his studio work, Barker spends the free time he doesn’t have writing poetry against his will, overthinking the crafting of playlists, and creating digital illustrations, as well as exploring his interest in character design. Barker dreams about running from society, destroying all of his technology, and going completely off the grid, but is unlikely to ever actually do anything of the sort. In addition to contributing his art and playlist crafting skills to the exhibition and the catalogue, Barker collaborated on the catalogue design.
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This catalogue was printed on 100# lustre stock. The typefaces are Mrs. Eaves and Fino Sans.
new college of florida gallery
isermann