Intersections 2022, Tyler School of Art and Architecture

INTERSECTIONS 2022 Tyler School of Art and Architecture Temple University

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INTERSECTIONS 2022 Tyler School of Art and Architecture Temple University

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INTERSECTIONS

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

INTERSECTIONS

is an interdisciplinary collaboration produced by the

2022 Master of Fine Arts candidates in partnership with graduate art history students at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT

Chad D. Curtis Associate Dean and Graduate Director

Wanda Motley Odom Assistant Dean for Strategic Marketing & Communications

Kati Gegenheimer Associate Director of Academic Enrichment Programs

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

GRADUATE FACULTY

Mariola Alvarez

Abby Ryan Guido

Dermot Mac Cormack

Lauren Sandler

Stephen Anderson

Marcia B. Hall

Lynn A. Mandarano

Bryan Martin Satalino

Kate Benisek

Sally W. Harrison

Christopher McAdams

Paul E. Sheriff

Gerard F. Brown

Jesse Harrod

Pablo Meninato

Mark Shetabi

Douglas Bucci

David Herman Jr.

Rebecca Michaels

Robert Z. Shuman Jr.

Susan E. Cahan

Kelly A. Holohan

Leah Modigliani

Samantha Simpson

William J. Cohen

Pauline Hurley-Kurtz

Dona R. Nelson

Hester Stinnett

Tracy E. Cooper

Renee E. Jackson

Emily Neumeier

Kim D. Strommen

Chad D. Curtis

C.T. Jasper

Rachel Grace Newman

Lolly Tai

Delaney DeMott

Jessica J. Julius

Odili Odita

Ulysses S. Vance III

Jeffrey Doshna

Gabriel Kaprielian

Karyn Olivier

Jessica Vaughn

Linda Earle

Lisa Kay

Michael Olszewski

Ashley D. West

Sasha Eisenman

Nichola Kinch

Sharyn A. O’Mara

Mallory Weston

Amze J. Emmons

Jennifer Kowalski

Eric W. Oskey

M. Katherine Wingert-Playdon

Seher Erdogan Ford

Robert T. Kuper

Pepón Osorio

Andrew John Wit

Clifton R. Fordham

Baldev S. Lamba

Alpesh Kantilal Patel

Byron Wolfe

Jane DeRose Evans

Scott R. Laserow

Erin Pauwels

William Yalowitz

Mark Thomas Gibson

Kakyoung Lee

Jeffrey Richards

Nathan William Young

Philip Glahn

Roberto Lugo

Fauzia Sadiq Garcia

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FOREWORD I AM DELIGHTED TO PRESENT THE 10TH ANNUAL EDITION OF THE TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE’S MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG, WHICH BRINGS TOGETHER THE WORK OF OUR MFA G R A D UATES W ITH ESSAYS BY STU DENTS IN O U R A R T HISTO RY M A STER’S A N D D OC TO R AL DEG REE PRO G R A MS. IT IS A COLL A B O R ATIO N TH AT EM B O DIES THE STRENGTH, V ISIO N, A N D SYNERGIES OF OUR COMMUNITY.

The intrepid MFA Class of 2022 entered graduate school in fall 2020 during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertain of what to expect from Tyler and the world at large. As we all grappled with unknowns and hardships of the pandemic, these strong individuals navigated the challenges with determination, flexibility, and the benefit of their relationships with each other.

Our 2022 MFA graduates have another distinction. Two years ago, Tyler launched a new MFA curriculum that encourages our students to connect across disciplines, move freely among our broad range of studios, and engage in critical dialogue about the development of their practice with peers and mentors from our full range of studio art degree programs. The goal was to enrich the conversations about what art is today, why being an artist matters, and how to engage and communicate with a greater understanding of context.

Simultaneously, we updated our art history offerings and expanded our faculty expertise to support a more global, de-centered approach to the histories of art and culture. Students now have opportunities to pursue graduate degrees focusing on the art of Africa and the African Diaspora, Latin America, East Asia, the Islamic world, and the Ancient Near East as well Europe and North America. They study not only the art and culture of these regions, but also the interactions between them through global trade routes and migrations.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

SUSAN E. CAHAN

DEAN, TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE

This 2022 catalog presents the work of the first students to benefit from these new opportunities, and the results are inspiring.

I am struck by the range and sophistication of the artwork, from a critical intervention in the neo-colonial Vietnamese practice of replicating iconic Western European paintings to the creation of garments that parody the performance of homonormative identity. A photography student expanded into light installation and a ceramicist chose Styrofoam cups as the best vehicle to communicate her vision. It is nearly impossible to determine what program each student began in since most of their bodies of work defy allegiance to a single material practice in the pursuit of their visions. All the work is the result of deep exploration of materials and ideas.

Likewise, our art history students have written in ways that reflect an equally keen search for the best way to communicate with readers. Many of their texts embody something essential about the character of the work they discuss, whether it be the voice they use, how they structure sentences, or set a tone. These art historians have demonstrated an ease and facility with writing borne of close connection with the artists and their work. They write with sensitivity, insight, and open hearts.

This flow of energy between our studio art and art history students is one of the hallmarks of Tyler today, and I am pleased to acknowledge the faculty and students who provided leadership in the creation of a catalog that demonstrates this spirit of collaboration. I express my profound appreciation to Mariola Alvarez, assistant professor of art history; Chad D. Curtis, associate professor of ceramics, associate dean, and graduate director; and Philip Glahn, associate professor of critical studies and aesthetics. Kati Gegenheimer, director of academic enrichment programs and a faculty member in painting, oversaw the production of the publication with exceptional creativity and perseverance. Our faculty and staff editors provided crucial guidance: Mariola Alvarez, Philip Glahn, Monica Anke Hahn, Leah Modigliani, Rachel Grace Newman, Wanda Motley Odom, Alpesh Kantilal Patel, and Erin Pauwels. For their excellent catalog design, I offer hearty thanks to Matt Bouloutian (BFA ’99), Emma Lindsay (BFA ’18), and Autumn Kitabjian (BFA ‘23). Finally, my deepest appreciation goes to the art historian and artist who led this project: Nicole Emser Marcel (PhD candidate) and Abbey Muza (MFA ’22).

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CONTENTS Artists and Essays | 10-109

Contributing Authors | 110-115

Artists

Foreword | 6

Authors FLAVIA BARBARINI QUINN RUSSELL BROWN DANIELLE COOKE NATALIE CRUZ

40 | Lena Kolb

ANNEMARIE MA AG-TANCHAK LI MACHADO

18 | Feather Chiaverini 28 | Carmel Dor

LIAM MAHER MOLLY MAPSTONE

14 | Chelsea Bonham

NICOLE EMSER MARCEL MARÍA DE LOURDES MARIÑO LAUREN M. MCCARDEL RYAN J. MITCHELL

10 | Malene Djenaba Barnett 22 | Kyle Choy

JOANNA PLATT NOAH R ANDOLPH EMILY SCHOLLENBERGER ALEX ANDR A SCHOOLMAN ASHLEY STAHL

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

46 | Ren Mahon 32 | L Autumn Gnadinger 36 | Maria Ah Hyun Stracke 50 | Stephanie Manzi

PROGRAM KEY CER AMICS

FIBERS & MATERIAL STUDIES

METALS / JEWELRY / CAD-CAM

PAINTING

GLASS

GRAPHIC ARTS & INTERACTIVE DESIGN

PHOTOGR APHY

PRINTMAKING

SCULPTURE

92 | Todd Stong 74 | Melissa Powers 100 | Zifan Wang

62 | Casey Newberg 66 | Chau Nguyen

58 | Abbey Muza

88 | Sharon Stampfer

106 | Neysa Hope Wellington

96 | Idalia Vásquez-Achury 70 | Clare Nicholls

78 | Evan Rosato

84 | Amy Shindo

54 | Summer Lynn Moore

CONTENTS

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MALENE DJENABA BARNETT W R I T T E N BY

L A U R E N M. M CC A R D EL

“Her spirit is in me,” Malene Djenaba Barnett says reflectively

in documented histories of the diaspora and the systems

of her maternal grandmother, a designer who left her life

of capital and enslavement that led to it. In the spirit of the

in Saint Vincent to build a future for her family in 1950s New

personal and poetic practices of writers Dionne Brand,

York. “Her creativity. Her ambition.” We’ve been discussing

Saidiya Hartman, and Christina Sharpe, Barnett carves her

Barnett’s family history, how it drives her to grapple with

own path through the wake with a tireless curiosity to

the limitations and absences of histories of migration in her

explore the possibilities of material and form, devices that

work in ceramics, collage, glass, woven paper, and textiles.

hold knowledge and memory of her family's histories across

Barnett creates portraits drawn from four photographs of

the Caribbean and the United States.

four generations of Black women – her great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, and herself.

But the telling and retelling in Barnett’s practice is more generative than commemorative. “To live in the Black diaspora

Central to much of Barnett’s work, through the many different

is I think to live as a fiction,” Dionne Brand wrote, “– a creation

media she constantly experiments with, is a cool blue/teal

of empires, and also self creation.”[1] Barnett’s process of

color palette, manifesting the rhizomatic significance of

self creation is also one of reclamation, seeking evidence

the sea in histories of migration and diaspora. The work is

of transferred versions of herself and her ancestors through

joyful, embracing beauty without apology or unnecessary

her own prolific production and reproduction. She builds

explanation. We see the four subjects appear and reappear,

on the legacy of the African American experience to consider

reimagined in different forms, each imbued with a sense

home, and belonging itself, as a process of making. Through

of care that feels unexpectedly generous, intimate. The

examining her own experience, she invites us to reflect on

process of transfer, of iteration across material, is a continuous,

our deepest-held beliefs about belonging to place and

almost obsessive investigation; driven by the curiosity to

people, and to take agency over our own materials, stories,

see what is left behind when an image is reworked in paper,

and histories – to take care with the culture we are responsible

glass, or clay, Barnett questions who or what is made absent

for keeping

[1] Dionne Brand, A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2021.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

LEGACY WALL (left)

Color laser printouts.

10’ x 20’.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Neighboring States MADE FOR MOM and WHAT’S LEFT BEHIND (L ,R) (below)

Woven inkjet paper and clay.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Neighboring States

MALENE DJENABA BARNETT

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

BARNETT’S PROCESS OF SELF CREATION IS ALSO ONE OF RECLAMATION, SEEKING EVIDENCE OF TRANSFERRED VERSIONS OF HERSELF AND HER ANCESTORS THROUGH HER OWN PROLIFIC PRODUCTION AND REPRODUCTION .

MOM’S SMILE, GR ANNY’S EYES (left)

Woven inkjet paper.

90” x 60”.

Photo credit: Neighboring States MADE FOR MOM (opposite page)

Woven inkjet paper.

90” x 64”.

Photo credit: Neighboring States

MALENE DJENABA BARNETT

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CHELSEA BONHAM W R I T T E N BY

M O LLY M A P S T O N E

Combining meticulously detailed drawings with printed

by various nondescript medical tools. With a style that

and sculptural elements, Chelsea Bonham’s work is inspired

carefully considers fine details, Bonham’s works are treasure

by her childhood experiences. Immediately identifiable

troves of hidden meaning. Discarded children’s toys, loose

objects such as scissors, household appliances, and clocks

teeth, and everyday objects like books, jars, and lamps form

percolate to the surfaces of her drawings. However, it

a vibrant matter of sensorial touchstones throughout her

is clear that there is something cerebral bubbling up from

work. These surreal elements all cohere to contend with the

below. Embedded within oftentimes boldly patterned

delicate, and sometimes tenuous, nature of memory and

domestic spaces are references to Bonham’s own trauma.

the brain itself.

As psychological landscapes, her works build toward a greater understanding of brain functions and memory writ large.

Bonham also folds her flat drawings into miniature threedimensional sculptures with mechanical elements. With found objects like a discarded dollhouse as the setting for these

Blurring the boundary between reality and imagination,

works, Bonham’s paper sculptures highlight the animating

fantastical creatures zigzag throughout Bonham’s

qualities of her drawings. Despite the enigmatic themes

perplexing interior spaces. Staircases lead to nowhere

present in Bonham’s work, the world she constructs serves

while dryer lint ducts and sink hookups fail to attach to their

as an index of brain function. Through the quagmire of

logical connection points. Informed by her research on

memory, Bonham reveals a method of meaning making that

hospital equipment, in Bonham’s work grandfather clocks

can originate from even the darkest spots in the mind

transform into beds and examination chairs are accompanied

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

ALLISON ANDERSON

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NOT YET TITLED

NOT YET TITLED

Pens on paper.

11” x 8.5”.

Pens, highlighter on paper.

22” x 16”.

(above)

(previous page)

Photo credit: Neighboring States

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

TEMPOR AL CONSTELL ATIONS (above)

Installation view.

Photo credit: Neighboring States BIRD (left)

Pens, cut paper, linocut print, cigar shavings in cigar box.

11.5” x 7”.

Photo credit: Neighboring States

WITH A STYLE THAT CAREFULLY CONSIDERS FINE DETAILS, BONHAM’S WORKS ARE TREASURE TROVES OF HIDDEN MEANING.

CHELSEA BONHAM

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FEATHER CHIAVERINI W R I T T E N BY

LI M AC H A D O

Imbued with pizzazz and playfulness, Feather Chiaverini’s

and unfailingly align with, a stock identity that represents

repurposed garments come alive with the whirlwind energy

them is suggestive of a moment in which gayness becomes

of theater costume shops and hurried backstage scrambles

stratified and sanitized; they are ways of pushing people

to change between acts. Using soft found materials, including

back into boxes that are fundamentally ill-suited to them.

neoprene suits, old choir robes, blankets, and other costuming detritus, Chiaverini allows his garments to grow, continually adding extensions, alterations, and new markings. Each item corresponds to an identity played out with humor and idiosyncratic nuances—a rainbow Superman tattoo scrawled in marker on the bicep of a muscle man’s costume and polyfill abs made to look more chiseled with a casual sweep of paint.

The artist envisions his practice as thinking about identity inside and outside the box, quite literally. Suits taken off the costuming rack, so to speak, are meant to be worn by any person, regardless of gender identity, gender presentation, or physical build. Any body can grow or shrink to fill the role. In this sense, they are antidotes to the less detailed costumes aping the kinds one might find at Spirit Halloween or Party City

But Chiaverini’s soft-bodied hard men, skeletal twinks, and

stores. These appear as a simplified version of the aforemen-

jocular jocks are more than just homages to the on-the-fly

tioned skele-twink, fashioned from a simple morphsuit and

creativity and backstage theater preparations of costumers

felt cutouts, or a gay caveman with Flintstones-esque animal

and actors. They also speak to a dissatisfaction with

print tunic. The overtly cheap, cartoonish look of these

(and deconstruction of) what Chiaverini identifies as

costumes, neatly folded in plastic packages that become

“homonormativity”: the ways in which gay men are increas-

increasingly dingier and more tattered as viewers flip through

ingly pushed into stereotypical archetypes and sexual roles

them, evokes a dystopian halloween shop where rain-

such as twinks and butches, daddies, bears, tops and bot-

bow-washing becomes the norm and gayness becomes

toms. These labels and their visualization are hardly new—

distilled into a series of textureless pastiches. Chiaverini draws

even Chiaverini’s macho men are partly drawn from Miami’s

a hard line between them and the lively, lived-in products

queer culture and popular depictions of buff gay figures

of his would-be backstage shop, all of them tailor-made

in years past. The implicit expectation that men are to find,

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

THROUGH THE LOOKING ASS (detail, above)

Mixed media installation.

Dimensions variable.

Photo credit: Neighboring States.

THROUGH THE LOOKING ASS (detail, left)

Mixed media installation.

Dimensions variable.

Photo credit: Neighboring States.

FEATHER CHIAVERINI

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CHIAVERINI’S SOFT-BODIED HARD MEN, SKELETAL TWINKS, AND JOCULAR JOCKS ARE MORE THAN JUST HOMAGES TO THE ON-THE-FLY CREATIVITY AND BACKSTAGE THEATER PREPARATIONS OF COSTUMERS AND ACTORS.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

THROUGH THE LOOKING ASS

THROUGH THE LOOKING ASS

Mixed media installation.

Dimensions variable.

Mixed media installation.

Dimensions variable.

Photo credit: Neighboring States.

Photo credit: Neighboring States.

(detail, above)

(detail, opposite page)

FEATHER CHIAVERINI

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KYLE CHOY W R I T T E N BY

R YA N J. M I T C H ELL

An internal reflexivity permeates the work of Kyle Choy.

ers when they realize that the soft fabric of a mattress has

Each discrete element that composes a piece questions the

been replaced with hard foam or a reading lamp is an

nature of the work itself, asking viewers to investigate what

inoperable imitation of some other object. This unpredictable

it is they are actually seeing. A cast of a tree trunk, for

quality draws viewers closer to the work and invites

example, appears true to its model until one notices a

them to investigate its construction, its varied textures,

set of eyes etched into the bark. The folds of a bedsheet

the pieces rooted in reality and those drawn from a world

in disarray rendered in solid paint deceive the eye into

of illusions. Choy seems to understand viewers’ desire to

believing they are fabric until one comes within inches of

look their way through the process of defining his pieces

the sculpture. Choy situates his work between image and

and comprehending how each element creates the

illusion, crafting scenes and objects that defy any singular

whole. The artist defeats their attempts at comprehension

defining narrative or material. His manipulations of wax,

by changing the placement of a work’s different parts or

foam, and acrylic coalesce into phantasmagoric branches

grafting a section of one work onto another, thus ensuring

that ensnare a canvas, and seemingly mundane objects

that each piece remains undefinable, an occupant of

such as an unmade bed or a bedside table destabilize view

spaces in-between with the ambiguity to provoke fascination and confusion

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

CHOY SITUATES HIS WORK BETWEEN IMAGE AND ILLUSION, CRAFTING SCENES AND OBJECTS THAT DEFY ANY SINGULAR DEFINING NARRATIVE OR MATERIAL.

STILL LIFE (above)

Installation view.

Photo Credit: Neighboring States

KYLE CHOY

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

(ARR ANGEMENTS 9) (right)

Foam, acrylic medium, artificial grass, MDF, metal.

Dimensions variable.

Photo Credit: Neighboring States IN STEP

(opposite page, top)

Oil and oil pastel on canvas, wood, MDF. 21.5” x 34”.

Photo Credit: Neighboring States (ARR ANGEMENTS 2)

(opposite page, bottom)

Foam, acrylic, acrylic medium, wood, leaves, artificial grass.

21” x 21” x 17.5”.

Photo Credit: Neighboring States (ARR ANGEMENTS 11) (following page)

Plaster, artificial grass, wood, foam, spray paint.

16” x 28” x 8”.

Photo Credit: Neighboring States

KYLE CHOY

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

DILMAR M. GAMERO SANTOS

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CARMEL DOR W R I T T E N BY

LI A M M A H E R

Carmel Dor’s work explores queer temporalities, Israeli

Dor’s zine Economy of the Droplet revisits this theme of

national identity, physical manifestations of anxiety and duress,

reflection with its drawings of rearview mirrors. One couplet

cycles of failure and recovery, and the unsettling qualities

of drawings is labeled “driver side” and “passenger side,”

of change. Utilizing non-traditional media like zines along-

with the former described as “agency & stress” and the latter

side traditional media of painting, sculpture, and drawing,

as “passive & nostalgia.” With the drawings set on facing

Dor’s practice meditates on the liberation of embracing the

pages, the viewer rests between these opposing reflections,

unknown as a first step in radically transforming our lives.

a reminder of how these mirrors reflect a single being living

Their oeuvre could be described as a hopeful, even lyrical,

simultaneous truths.

journey into the void, the unknown, and the uncertain.

Dor’s versatility shines in their more playful paintings like

Clocks make regular appearances in Dor’s work. Clock

Milk & Honey (Judgment of Solomon), a duo of symmetrical

(Backwards and Forwards), for example, consists of a single

vaginas rendered in bright, warm hues. The paintings

clock set against a mirror. The numbers on the clock have

purposely hang askew against each other, forming a third

been painted backward so their reflection presents as forward.

vertical slit between them. Milk & Honey demonstrates

Neither the reflection nor the reflected are quite right: while

Dor’s ability to remain inventive and light-hearted when

the reflection of the clock has legible numbers, the hands

contemplating complex realities of the world

appear to move backward. The reverse is true of the reflected clock: illegible numbers contrast with the hands moving forward. The struggle to align one’s self-perception to reality is embodied in this dissonance.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

MILK & HONEY (JUDGEMENT OF SOLOMON) (above)

Oil on canvas.

34 ”x 70”.

DOR’S PRACTICE MEDITATES ON THE LIBERATION OF EMBRACING THE UNKNOWN AS A FIRST STEP IN RADICALLY TRANSFORMING OUR LIVES.

CARMEL DOR

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(WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ASK A QUESTION?) (above)

Installation view.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

VOID CLOCK (above)

Kinetic sculpture using paper clay, cardboard, acrylic paint, and pendulum clock mechanism.

30” x 14” x 6”.

NOT YET TITLED

(right)

Oil on canvas.

48” x 48”.

CARMEL DOR

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L AUTUMN GNADINGER W R I T T E N BY

N O A H R A N D O LP H

The following is an unedited interview between a reporter

(or who) they really are for. To the end of understanding

from the Philadelphia Art and Science Newsletter and L Autumn

them better, we have been interacting with them in various

Gnadinger, head of the Department of Transdimensional

“experiments.” In these tests, we attempt to recode the

Musicology and New Religious Practices; Workers’ Union

complex (otherworldly) auditory phenomena that are

(DTMNRPWU)*.

produced from the instruments in the more familiar, tertian

PASN: We should start at the beginning. When and how did the portal show up?

LAG: The portal, apropos of nothing, opened up about three weeks ago in what was then my studio – I formerly was an artist. In terms of how, well, that’s one of the many questions that DTMNRPWU is trying to get to the bottom of. While we have

harmony of our world. The results are inconclusive, to say the least, but importantly, there seems to be some activity from the other side in reaction to these efforts. The more we engage, the more we are met with engagement.

PASN: How would you describe your relationship with the objects?

made extraordinary leaps forward in our understanding since

LAG: I think my initial reaction to them was much the same as

day one…we still can only speculate as to how it functions.

anyone else’s would have been: “Wow, holy shit!” Since then,

But, with the aid of some additional funding, we are very close

of course, they have become objects of my utmost fascination.

to a breakthrough! Can you put the funding part in bold?

I spend all of my time with them, you know, and… [At this

PASN: Surely this exposure will help. From what I understand, the portal produces objects. What are these, and what do you do with them?

LAG: Every couple of days a new object falls out of it.

We’ve been calling them “instruments,” for the time being, as they resemble such things from our world and seem engineered to produce sounds, but who knows what 32

TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

point, DTMNRPWU’s robot, Pete, ran over the tape recorder, stopping the transcript.]

*DTMNRPWU is an organization founded by Gnadinger to study and make sense of the objects emerging from the transdimensional portal in their studio, investigating the relationship between the objects' perceived utility and our collective understanding of tools, methods, and communication

SIGN

(above)

Paper, marker, painter’s tape.

24” x 18”.

DEPARTMENT OF TR ANSDIMENSIONAL MUSICOLOGY AND NEW RELIGIOUS PR ACTICES; WORKERS UNION

(right)

Multimedia installation.

Dimensions variable.

L AUTUMN GNADINGER

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DEPARTMENT OF TR ANSDIMENSIONAL MUSICOLOGY AND NEW RELIGIOUS PR ACTICES; WORKERS UNION (above)

Multimedia installation.

Dimensions variable.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

DEPARTMENT OF TR ANSDIMENSIONAL MUSICOLOGY AND NEW RELIGIOUS PR ACTICES; WORKERS UNION (above)

Multimedia installation.

Dimensions variable.

WE’VE BEEN CALLING THEM I“ NSTRUMENTS,” FOR THE TIME BEING, AS THEY RESEMBLE SUCH THINGS FROM OUR WORLD AND SEEM ENGINEERED TO PRODUCE SOUNDS, BUT WHO KNOWS WHAT O ( R WHO) THEY REALLY ARE FOR .

L AUTUMN GNADINGER

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MARIA AH HYUN STRACKE W R I T T E N BY

E M ILY S C H O LLE N B E R G E R

Subtle and large, delicate and strong, complex and simple

Stracke conceives of the large paper works as a form of

– Maria Ah Hyun Stracke’s work unites opposites. Her

drawing because in creating them, she prioritizes process

materials, including the Korean mulberry paper hanji and

and reworking. She frequently cuts up existing artworks

silk, contain rich histories of both functional and decorative

and reassembles the parts into new works, using hanji to

uses. Used to make household objects and to repair

connect them again. The hanji-covered seams highlight this

manuscripts, hanji’s criss-crossing fibers give it strength,

process of cutting and repair, deconstruction and new

enabling the paper to bind other materials, belying its

creation. These pieces bear the histories of their previous

delicate appearance. In Stracke’s work, strips of hanji connect

lives as other artworks. Individual works draw on designs

arcs of watercolor paper into large, rhythmic assemblages,

ranging from Buddhist temples to bojagi, square Korean cloths

lending both structure and texture to the works. The smooth

used for wrapping gifts or covering food. Even in their

watercolor paper contrasts with the irregular surface

original form, these references may not be legible to viewers,

of the hanji, whose ostensibly delicate mulberry filaments

and the designs are frequently further obscured when

entice viewers to step close and examine the large works.

Stracke cuts them apart and reassembles them. Yet remnants

Negative spaces within the designs reveal the wall behind

of the previous iterations of each individual piece and

the artwork and call attention to the works’ objecthood.

references to other histories are still present whether or not

This attention to space recalls hanji’s traditional use in

viewers can decipher them. Stracke’s work forms an archive

making doors and screens, shaping and dividing space as

of multilayered and only partially accessible traces of cultural

well as repairing objects.

histories and her own past actions

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

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DR AWING WATER (above)

Hanji, graphite, silk, watercolor paper.

82” x 110”.

Photo credit: Bridget K. Rogers MOUNTAIN WALK (MEMORY OF A BUDDHIST TEMPLE) (left)

Hanji, graphite, silk, watercolor paper.

75” x 92”.

Photo credit: Bridget K. Rogers UNTITLED (VOTIVE) (previous page)

Hanji, graphite, silk, watercolor paper, mineral paint.

57.5” x 75”.

Photo credit: Neighboring States

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

BONEY WING (above)

Hanji, silk, graphite, watercolor paper.

85” x 98”.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Neighboring States

THE HANJI-COVERED SEAMS HIGHLIGHT THIS PROCESS OF CUTTING AND REPAIR, DECONSTRUCTION AND NEW CREATION .

MARIA AH HYUN STRACKE

39

LENA KOLB W R I T T E N BY

A N N E M A R IE M A A G -TA N C H A K

The act of ritual permeates all stages of Lena Kolb’s

Gentle hues of pinks and oranges together with bright blues

practice. She begins her process with a drawing or painting

and greens are purposely chosen to convey sympathy

to give imagined ideas physical form, but primarily works

and care against an impulse to portray grief as exclusively

in the medium of fibers, creating final works of woven

painful. Through curved loops and flowing patterns, combined

hanging textiles. Weaving itself is an exercise in ceremony:

with the perceived dripping or distortion of objects, the

the uniformity of the warp combines with the dedicated

interplay between representational and abstract forms signifies

repetition of the weft to create compositions carefully

certainty about what we know in life and confusion about

imbued with patterns and symbols of personal importance

what we may not know about death and alternate forms of

to the artist. Through this process, Kolb is devoted to

being. The initial visual impression of recognizable objects

exploring the waxing and waning of grief long after a loss.

is both a protective layer above and an access point into the

Some of the symbols are drawn from the artist’s personal

underlying symbolism and encoded narrative of the artist’s

relationships—vessels with water pouring out of them

life experiences. Kolb doesn’t demand or expect the viewer

call to the fact that she and her parents were all born under

to immediately interpret her work to be about grief and

the sign Aquarius, the water bearer. Others come from

death. She hopes to communicate a much broader theme:

her research of historical traditions related to mourning,

by inscribing a new visual identity to loss and mourning,

such as flowers left at graves or carved into headstones.

the unexplained is not something to be feared or avoided,

Among many other symbols are circular forms reminiscent

and the unknowns in life become an opportunity for creation

of Möbius strips, a call to the cyclical nature of death

and remembrance

and healing; flowing fabric and curtains are the veil between life and what comes after. Assigning meaning to each one and giving it careful placement creates an offering to those she has lost while maintaining a level of privacy, a simultaneous ritual of public memorial and personal intimacy.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

TO BE

(detail, left)

Wool, dye.

101” x 81”.

Photo credit: Linette Kielinski

LENA KOLB

41

KOLB DOESN’T DEMAND OR EXPECT THE VIEWER TO IMMEDIATELY INTERPRET HER WORK TO BE ABOUT GRIEF AND DEATH. SHE HOPES TO COMMUNICATE A MUCH BROADER THEME: BY INSCRIBING A NEW VISUAL IDENTITY TO LOSS AND MOURNING, THE UNEXPLAINED IS NOT SOMETHING TO BE FEARED OR AVOIDED , AND THE UNKNOWNS IN LIFE BECOME AN OPPORTUNITY FOR CREATION AND REMEMBRANCE.

THIRSTY SOUL (left)

Cotton, dye.

93” x 71”.

Photo credit: Linette Kielinski

42

TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

TO BE

FALLING

HEADS OR TAILS

(above)

(following page, left)

(following page, right)

Wool, dye.

101” x 81”.

Gouache and acrylic on paper.

25” x 33”.

Gouache and acrylic on paper.

25” x 33”.

Photo credit: Linette Kielinski

Photo credit: Linette Kielinski

Installation view.

Photo credit: Linette Kielinski

LENA KOLB

43

44

Tyler School of art and architecture graduate catalog 2020

Dilmar M. Gamero Santos

45

REN MAHON W R I T T E N BY

J O A N N A PL AT T

Ren Mahon creates lustrous documents in cast glass,

the now-defunct Fenton Art Glass factory in West Virginia

records of heat and pressure. Found objects generate a

become raw materials for the castings. Transforming objects

framework for viewing the glass artifacts, pointing at their

made for middle-class consumption, Mahon seeks to

shared circumstances. On the wall an umbrella handle

understand the energy within this shifting ecosystem. The

and a spray of plastic flowers bisect lavender and black

barrels of glass arrive without technical instructions. Mahon

glass panes, analogous colors resonating in formalist

observes, adjusts, and responds to each batch, a constantly

dialogue. The sole of a shoe converses with a pane

modifiable feedback loop. The content is the condition of

of cast gray glass. A traffic pole transcribes the moment

its making, the work a monument to its production.

of impact; the notches inscribed on its surface are a

memento mori, a measurement.

In Mahon’s archive, materials and processes devoid of words or symbols catalog and reprocess the detritus of

Mahon interrogates the dominance of the artist over the

industry. A dossier for future viewers to decode otherwise

medium, transferring agency to the materials. The weight

untitled works contains parenthetical expressions that

of plaster poured into stretched latex creates the mold,

hint at their history. Two black panels are Untitled 1 and 2

a collaboration with gravity. Heated to just below flow

(Fenton Witch and Scardey Cat Seconds). Another Untitled

temperature, the fragments of glass bind together, yet

blue piece is parenthetically titled (Fenton Blue Bird of

retain their individuality. Jagged edges soften but do not

Happiness), a postindustrial canary singing coal country

liquefy, in both stasis and suspension. Black glass cats,

blues. Like the mutable molecular structure of glass, our

bluebirds, a chipped purple pony – castaway relics from

ecosystem is inherently unstable; we are its causation and its casualties

46

TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

WAS THAT (FACTORY DEFECTIVES SERIES) (above)

Installation view.

IN MAHON’S ARCHIVE, MATERIALS AND PROCESSES DEVOID OF WORDS OR SYMBOLS CATALOG AND REPROCESS THE DETRITUS OF INDUSTRY .

REN MAHON

47

INCIDENT / RESPONSE

(right)

Steel fence, handle, branch.

25” x 25” x 10”.

WAS THAT (FACTORY DEFECTIVES SERIES)

(below)

Installation view.

48

TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

02-09-22, FACTORY DROPS (FENTON USA PRESENTS L AVENDER SATIN FOR VALENTINE’S DAY 2011, 4” HUMMINGBIR D FIGUR INE , 5” HE ART-SHAPED TREASURE BOX AND 6 1/2” VASE) (above)

Press-molded glass.

19” x 12.5” x 3/4”

REN MAHON

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STEPHANIE MANZI W R I T T E N BY

A LE X A N D R A S C H O O L M A N

As an artist working amidst the unfolding environmental

optical interplays of depth. Manzi recycles and resuscitates

crisis, Stephanie Manzi asks, “What is the function of

canvas strips from other works, deepening the interrelations

painting?” This existential question may seem overwhelming,

within her oeuvre. She frequently makes paintings in pairs

but for Manzi it is an invitation to develop her own definitions

and while the canvases engage in physical conversation

of ecology and deepen her pictorial relationship to land-

with one another, they also enter into spatial conversation

scape. Play is an important method for her when engaging

with the viewer. Like Manzi’s other experiments in materiality,

in these formal relationships. For Manzi, play involves a level

ranging from handmade paper collages, hand-tufted

of care and engagement; it is an open-ended process of

tapestries, and three-dimensional weavings of found or

improvisation, attention, listening, and reorganizing. She

discarded material, these works imprint onto the space

is inspired by the artist Hans Hofmann, who translated his

of the viewer, suggesting haptic marks through their textural

experiences of being in nature into the forms and colors

and sculptural qualities as they open themselves up to

of his abstract paintings. She has also incorporated the

further consideration.

philosophies of eco-theorist Timothy Morton, who calls for new language to understand nature in non-anthropocentric terms that can help redefine human relationships with the non-human world by highlighting their interdependence.

This viewing experience proposes tactility and intimacy despite the formality of the gallery setting; it is also a reminder that the surrounding space is not separate from this momentary relationship, but rather symbiotically connected. In this way,

Although deeply reverential to the non-human world, Manzi’s

Manzi’s works assert a function in this epoch of profound

landscape-based abstractions do not necessarily render

environmental loss: they encourage awareness beyond the

what humans may recognize as “natural” forms. In her

immediate self from the micro to the macro scale, echoing

paintings, biomorphic shapes of bold pigment stretch and

the deep interdependence that Morton stresses. Everything

curl across the support, on top of which she layers canvas

truly is interconnected, and this is what gives us hope

strips of square color blocks, creating surface textures and

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

FOR MANZI, PLAY INVOLVES A LEVEL OF CARE AND ENGAGEMENT; IT IS AN OPEN-ENDED PROCESS OF IMPROVISATION, ATTENTION, LISTENING, AND REORGANIZING.

WITH/ OUT

(right)

Oil on canvas.

Dimensions variable.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Giorgio Benni

STEPHANIE MANZI

51

WITH/ OUT

SYSTEMS SO ORGANIZED

Oil on canvas.

Dimensions variable.

Oil on canvas.

19.75” x 19.75”.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Giorgio Benni.

(above)

(opposite page, bottom)

Photo credit: Giorgio Benni.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

STEPHANIE MANZI

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SUMMER LYNN MOORE W R I T T E N BY

A S H LE Y S TA H L

How do we remember treasured moments, milestones,

resemble metaphysical shapes that echo the mysterious

people, and decisions that have influenced the course of our

hollows of warm-hued sandstone slot canyons. Upon closer

lives? Human beings hold an intrinsic method of

look, discernable details of squeezed fingers, creased knuckles,

memorialization through material mementos like photo-

and smooth nail surfaces reveal themselves. Moore centers

graphs, newspaper clippings, letters, and videos. These

the figures on painted-black plaster, adding weight, both

legacy didactics, or personal archives, have long been used

literally and symbolically, to the structure. The juxtaposition of

as resources for researching our genealogical and cultural

fragile representations of precious moments cemented into

histories—but what do they teach us about the phenomenol-

place illuminates the smooth, gleaming embraces and speaks

ogy of remembrance itself? Working with glass, sound, and

to a dichotomy of the archive: permanence and fragility.

other media, sculptor Summer Lynn Moore investigates the

She mounts the finished plastered glass into elaborate gold

tension between the duality of transience and permanence,

frames—an homage to Baroque still-life paintings that also

the delicate and durable, and mortality and immortality.

memorialized the fleeting nature of sensory moments.

The artist spent two years collecting piles of affectionate

Moore’s soundscapes reverberate studio conversations

notes on paper holding sentiments like “thank you for being

with friends about their own oral histories and memories

my first friend” and “you’re incredible.” Playing with archival

throughout the gallery space. Using black glass, the sculptor

materiality, she transferred the sweet messages onto delicate

constructed a sound tunnel that serves both as an amplifier

sheets of textured glass with varying border patterns mimicking

of sound and a mirror to bare the reflection of the viewers.

vintage papyrus stationery, a delicate but permanent tribute

This meta-sensory encounter invites us to consider our

to her friendships. In contrast to the paper notes, Moore’s

own practices of remembering and collecting while learning

archived memories of touch and dialogue were formerly

the stories of others. Moore hopes her work will ignite

incorporeal. Using both unstained and soft pink coral glass,

a renewed appreciation of our limited time together, our

Moore sculpts tactile moments like tender hand embraces

relationships with loved ones, and a deeper consideration

and the fleeting grasp of an arm. At first glance, the sculptures

for the memories we keep

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

DILMAR M. GAMERO SANTOS

55

REMNANTS OF LETTERS (above)

Glass, ink, paint.

Dimensions variable.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Neighboring States ENDEAR MENT OF BODY L ANGUAGE (stills, right)

Silent video, 2:29:47.

Photo credit: Neighboring States TOUCH: K ATIE (previous page)

Cast glass, wood, plaster, paint, gold foil.

16” x 13” x 6.56” Photo credit: Neighboring States

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

SUMMER LYNN MOORE INVESTIGATES THE TENSION BETWEEN THE DUALITY OF TRANSIENCE AND PERMANENCE, THE DELICATE AND DURABLE , AND MORTALITY AND IMMORTALITY.

TOUCH: CASSANDR A (above)

Cast glass, wood, plaster, paint, gold foil.

16” x 13” x 6.56” Photo credit: Neighboring States HOW WE REMEMBER (left)

Glass, wood, sound, speaker.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Neighboring States

SUMMER LYNN MOORE

57

ABBEY MUZA W R I T T E N BY

LI M AC H A D O

“Weaving is an act of masochism,” says Abbey Muza, for

limitations of canvases and frames. But that is not the case

whom carefully layered subtleties far outweigh surface

here. Though Muza begins the creation of each new object

delights. Muza’s textiles field a dance of image and word,

with a rough idea in mind, the initial step in their process is

articulating a sensual, multilayered relationship between

the digital encoding of a huge abstract pattern of black and

the poetic, the visual, and the tactile.

white pixels, which oftentimes bears scant resemblance to

Inspired by the lives of early 20th century queer artists and the writings of French authors and philosophers, such as the poet Georges Bataille in Visions of Excess, Muza is interested in finding beauty and attractiveness among the uncomfortable, the grotesque, and the unexpected. In their textiles, images that are barely discernible at first glance seem to come into

the final product created using a Jacquard loom. The artist allows for the machine to select certain threads to be elevated during the course of the weaving process, altering the image. Abstract digital information turns into something analog, tangible, legible – but never quite in the same way twice.

sharper focus the longer the viewer sits with the work. With

Muza embraces these small moments of uncertainty and

sensuous and dreamlike wefts of pink, burgundy, purple,

then frees the object from the wall itself, using the products

celeste, and hazy off-white, the works give rare moments of

from their loom almost as a scaffolding for more nuanced

clarity to visceral, almost indescribable vignettes: fleeting

theorizations – borne out in their practice – on the capability

images of play violence among pets, a glass of wine carefully

of image, text, and weave to mutually support each

and dutifully refilled, the feeling of falling in love.

other. To this end, one textile encoded with the image of

Muza’s approach to weaving highlights and heightens the dimensionality of the textile. It is a medium that in other circumstances, the artist recognizes, could easily lend itself to “safer” modes of viewing and interpretation – hung on a wall like a painting, a flat surface where the topography of overlapping brush strokes strain all too often against the 58

TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

a small, yappy dog also includes an excerpt from an interview with the Belgian fashion designer Martin Margiela in the magazine View on Colour, in which he muses on the evocative byproducts of the creative process: “What is red? A blush, a flush, a fever, a command… What is texture? A

result of time”

DIVINE AND DARLING; INVERSIONS DEVIENT UR ANIA; SET OUT SAUCERS FOR ANIMALS AND I TOO WILL GROW CL AWS (above, l-r)

Silk, wool, cotton, organza, enamel, wood, gesso on panel.

Dimensions variable.

JUNKING PULSES; THE SEA; A BLUSH, A FLUSH, A FEVER , A COMMAND (right, l-r)

Silk, wool, cotton, organza, enamel, wood, gesso on panel.

Dimensions variable.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Neighboring States

Installation view.

Photo credit: Neighboring States

“ WEAVING IS AN ACT OF MASOCHISM,”SAYS ABBEY MUZA, FOR WHOM CAREFULLY LAYERED SUBTLETIES FAR OUTWEIGH SURFACE DELIGHTS. ABBEY MUZA

59

LES VAGUES SE HEURTENT ET GÉMISSENT; DOGFIGHT, CHEWEY AND BABY (right, l-r)

Silk, wool, cotton, organza, enamel, wood, gesso on panel.

Dimensions variable.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Neighboring States

CASEY NEWBERG W R I T T E N BY

D A N IELLE C O O K E

Casey Newberg believes her traumatic experiences belong

works. Her Corten steel pill packs, many of which are powder

on a gas station shelf, but she’s doubtful that anyone

coated in neon hues and laser etched, are designed to

would want to buy them. As a young girl growing up in

self-destruct. Over time, the color is forced off the object’s

the Midwest, Newberg was often confronted with displays

surface by natural oxidation activated by the environment,

of eye-catching, colorful gas station products that she calls

echoing the chemical processes that corrupt the medicated

“horny pills.” In constructing her own “pill packs,” Newberg

human body. At times, the addition of salt water encourag-

explores the conceptual packaging and consumption

es this corrosion, symbolic of the tears shed for the body

of trauma, addressing these oddly sensationalized medicinal

subjected to medical trauma. In this way, her works evoke a

items while commenting on the greater societal issues they

fragmented and unsteady nostalgia, a muddy conglomeration

represent. The cathartic process of making allows her to

of memory activated by color and form.

re-pack her past with the aim of ridding herself of her struggles with medical dependency and psychological pharmaceuticals. She recognizes the increasing universality of her experiences and hopes to connect with others through her works.

Newberg’s “jewelry packs” similarly bring chintzy readymade jewels into the arena of “high art.” All of her packs are wearable, but their functionality is cheapened by the kitschiness of their forms, which taunt the viewer with brilliant gems sealed away beneath vacuum-formed plastic. Witty

It’s not all doom and gloom though; Newberg laughs in

words decorate the packaging, but once the process of

the face of uncertainty and pain, for she recognizes that life

deterioration begins, their message becomes as fleeting as

is indeed both “funny and shitty.” She pays homage to this

the object itself. Soon, the packs and their contents will be

great divide, and the dichotomy is apparent in each of her

as fragmented as the memories that formed them

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

CASEY NEWBERG

63

SPOILED ROTTEN (left)

Steel, powder coating, plastic, readymade materials.

Dimensions variable.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Sam Fritch C U NT KEYCHAIN PIN (previous page)

Laser-etched & aged steel, steel keychain findings, powder-coated aluminum, stainless-steel tie tack, anodized titanium staple.

7” x 2.25” x .2”

IN CONSTRUCTING HER OWN P “ ILL PACKS,” NEWBERG EXPLORES THE CONCEPTUAL PACKAGING AND CONSUMPTION OF TRAUMA .

SPOILED ROTTEN

(right)

Steel, powder coating, plastic, readymade materials.

Dimensions variable.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Sam Fritch

64

TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

“SAY YES” RING (02) (left)

Powder-coated, laser-etched & aged COR - 10 steel, vacuformed PETG, readymade “engagement” ring.

2” x 1.1” x .5” ALONE STEEL KEYCHAIN PACK (bottom)

Laser-etched & aged steel, steel keychain findings, powder-coated aluminum, vacuformed plastic, stainless - steel tie tack and pins.

5” x 3.3” x .2”

CASEY NEWBERG

65

CHAU NGUYEN W R I T T E N BY

N ATA LIE C R UZ

Chau Nguyen’s paintings and sand installation overflow

Nguyen’s paintings are created by 3D scanning and

with texture, rendering hours of labor undertaken by the

printing technology to produce the texture on the surface.

artist visible to the viewer. The work is centered around

This creates a distinction between the artist’s labor and

Nguyen’s childhood memories in Vietnam, more specifically,

the formation of the piece using technological assistance.

of artwork displayed in storefronts – Western masterpieces

To reinstate it, Nguyen then paints them black and

replicated by Vietnamese artists. In these replicas, the artist’s

bright red, a color ironically named “Colonial Red” by paint

hand is visible, but it is obscured by the subject matter and

manufacturers. However, for Nguyen, the bright red is

the medium of oil paint, often associated with colonial

not associated with colonial aesthetics, but with traditional

influences. Nguyen’s paintings decolonize canonical European

Vietnamese red lacquer paint.

artworks by removing the image entirely. Nguyen pushes the Vietnamese artist’s presence to the forefront of the work instead of delegating it to the background, which leaves it eclipsed by the Western image. Through the strategic use of texture and color, Nguyen reclaims Vietnamese agency in these works.

The large-scale sand installation is the ultimate manifestation of Nguyen’s labor rendered visible by their manipulation of the gallery space itself. The textured, imperfect nature of the sand image on the floor calls attention to the artist’s hand in the work. Its grand presence makes the viewer aware of the artist’s command over their work and the gallery.

Thus, the prominence of texture in these works functions to lay bare not only Nyugen’s labor, but also their intervention in colonial art histories through the work

66

TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

VINCENT (GLITCH) (above)

MDF panel on wooden frame, lacquer paint, gold leaf.

37” x 37” x 1.5”.

Photo credit: Kaitlin Santoro CHAU NGUYEN

67

NGUYEN PUSHES THE VIETNAMESE ARTIST’S PRESENCE TO THE FOREFRONT OF THE WORK INSTEAD OF DELEGATING IT TO THE BACKGROUND, WHICH LEAVES IT ECLIPSED

BY THE WESTERN IMAGE.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

SURFACE MEMOIRS (above)

Dimensions variable.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Kaitlin Santoro SURFACE MEMOIRS

(right)

Dimensions variable.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Kaitlin Santoro POSTCOLONIAL PL AYGROUND

(opposite page)

Sand and pigment powder.

Approx. 90” x 120”.

Photo credit: Kaitlin Santoro

CHAU NGUYEN

69

CLARE NICHOLLS W R I T T E N BY

L A U R E N M. M CC A R D EL

Clare Nicholls’ work is a summons, an invitation to observe

in them? Or do they mirror thoughts and feelings we try

and participate in rituals that explore the relationship

hard to keep buried?

between spirit and object. Deeply rooted in her personal practice of witchcraft, Nicholls draws influence from spirituality, mythology, and the histories of craft and domesticity that connect her to generations of makers who came before.

Nicholls’ painted silk offers a different, perhaps warmer point of entry to her viewers. An enveloping spiral of brightly hued silk softly encourages nonlinear, somatic engagement with deep-seated histories and cultural memories. There

For Nicholls, objects are the matrices that can open the way

is no critique embedded here, only appreciation – of shared

to a more connected spiritual world. Her practice explores

human experience and the possibility of a future built on

the ways in which made things can blur (or cross) the

collective action for the common good. Here Nicholls extends

boundaries between intellectual and physical experience,

a welcoming hand to anyone willing to leave the cognitively

urging us to reconsider the familiar. Embroidered lace

familiar, to risk taking part in a communal questioning.

handkerchiefs appear to contain traditional motifs of female culture and exchange…but their transparency, heightened by the ultra-neon acrylic frames they hang within, makes the stitching almost impossible to read until viewed up close. Then, monochromatic leaves, before nearly invisible, suddenly appear to look back with eyes of their own, while sinuously stitched vines unravel into previously unseen words (“ugh nothing again,” “miss you”). Are they poking fun at us for determining to decipher deeper meaning

Flexible portals, Nicholls’ pieces are queer points of entry into untapped layers of consciousness and psychic healing.

They are places of respite and renewal. But they also present a challenge – through the historic continuity of familiar signs, symbols, and modes of making, they ask us to imagine a different future, one apart from the collective trauma of capitalism and an increasingly mediated world. Ultimately, they are tools through which we can access not only our own deeper consciousness, but also a deeper awareness of our connection and responsibility to the world around us

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

GHOST L ADDER (left)

Woven gauze.

80”x 60”.

Photo credit: L Autumn Gnadinger

FLEXIBLE PORTALS , NICHOLLS’ PIECES ARE QUEER POINTS OF ENTRY INTO UNTAPPED LAYERS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND PSYCHIC HEALING. CLARE NICHOLLS

71

CACOPHONY/SPRING (above)

Embroidered lace.

20” x 30”.

Photo credit: Bridget K. Rogers HANKY (TEARS) (right)

Embroidered lace.

18.5” x 18.5”.

Photo credit: Bridget K. Rogers INNER SPIR AL

(opposite page)

Hand painted silk.

14’ diameter.

Installation view.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

MELANIE BERNIER

73

MELISSA POWERS W R I T T E N BY

Q U I N N R USSELL B R O W N

Each day it gets a little harder to remember what the yard

Her dad’s eyes have broken down. They see only fragments

looked like.

of before. These were his eyes and his legs, but this is her

She grew up in the house with her mom and her grandma, and it was just the three of them. Her dad would come over to clear the vines and cut back the branches. He worked the yard with his hands and he worked it with his eyes. He circled and surveyed the yard, and he dropped to the soil to dig and he rose back to his feet to meet the wheelbarrow.

He grappled with and pinned the vines, and this quieted the wilderness, and in its place he painted a peaceful scene with shears and a shovel. And then he went home to a different yard, alone, as the sun fell and the yard faded away. Now he rises each day to meet the overgrown yard, fading more each morning, looking to him no more or less like any other.

anger: an anger that can only falter and fall apart like a flower that blooms too soon. She courts this anger, kneading it and grinding it into grief, a preemptive grief, and with her camera she takes pictures of the untamed yard. Her lens blurs and breaks down the wilderness like a kaleidoscope, cloning the branches and layering them into spiderwebs, and she lets them hold her here. Each time she comes to the garden it looks different, and in this way it is still growing, and still without her dad. But it is here that she talks to him, the way she can’t at his house, and she sows her grief into the soil. She knows this is where nature has planted her. * This is an interpretive essay based on a conversation with the artist, rather than a direct reflection of the artist’s thoughts on the work

74

TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

WHAT HAPPENS TO A FORGOTTEN SEED? (left)

Six projected videos overlapping on walls and across a 14’ x 14’ polysilk curtain.

Dimensions variable.

Photo credit: Neighboring States WHAT HAPPENS TO A FORGOTTEN SEED? (below)

Six projected videos overlapping on walls and across a 14’ x 14’ polysilk curtain.

Dimensions variable.

Photo credit: Neighboring States

HER LENS BLURS AND BREAKS DOWN THE WILDERNESS LIKE A KALEIDOSCOPE, CLONING THE BRANCHES AND LAYERING THEM INTO SPIDERWEBS, AND SHE LETS THEM HOLD HER HERE. MELISSA POWERS

75

SOMETIMES THERE ARE FLOWERS (above)

Archival inkjet print.

30” x 30”.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

OVERGROWTH BY THE PORCH (above)

Archival inkjet print.

30” x 30”.

MELISSA POWERS

77

EVAN ROSATO W R I T T E N BY

N O A H R A N D O LP H

A neon sign flickers. Though it spells Colombia, the top

places, feelings, sounds, animals, minerals, flora, and other

of the second “o” fizzles to reveal “Columbia.” The former

objects. How these things are brown, or what makes them

derives from the Spanish “Colombo” and is a country in

brown, is partially the way in which they suffer and strive

South America, while the latter comes from the Anglicized

together but also the commonality of their ability to flourish

“Columbus” and is the namesake of innumerous cities

under duress and pressure.”

and institutions in the United States. Though both are etymologically linked to Christopher Columbus, the language in which the word is written is a sign of something greater.

Of course, language is inextricable from identity. The way we describe ourselves, form our opinions, and gather our ideas depend on vocabulary. How then, can one negotiate an identity caught between two languages?

The concept of the brown commons is at the center of Rosato’s practice, rendering Muñoz’s theory visual—literally investigating what makes brown. One of his main methods of investigation is flocking, a technique that adheres small nylon fibers to a surface. In time, Rosato found that the ultimate formula for brown flocking was a layered buildup of blue, yellow, and red—the colors of the flag of his

For Evan Rosato, entering his grandmother’s home in Miami

grandmother’s homeland, Colombia. Applying these layers

was tantamount to a foreign language. Both the spoken

on top of the American flag, Rosato unifies the two sides of

words and the visual surplus of the space stood in difference

his identity while silencing the languages of both, leaving

to those of his parents’ home, dominated by white Anglo

the ultimate signifier of heritage as a field of brown. The

culture, the English language and where Rosato’s identity

resulting texture, somewhere between velvet and rusted metal,

was crafted. But it was in his grandmother’s home that Rosato

is beyond language itself—somewhere between Colombia

came to see himself within what José Esteban Muñoz calls

and Columbia

“the brown commons,” or “the commons of brown people,

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

EVAN ROSATO

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APPLYING LAYERS ON TOP OF THE AMERICAN FLAG, ROSATO UNIFIES THE TWO SIDES OF HIS IDENTITY WHILE SILENCING THE LANGUAGES OF BOTH,LEAVING THE ULTIMATE SIGNIFIER OF HERITAGE AS A FIELD OF BROWN.

AN ANALOGY FOR BICULTUR ALISM

80

(below)

GRINGO 2

Red, yellow, and blue flocked nylon fibers, and neon on wood.

13.25” x 39” x 4”

Charcoal on En-Tout-Cas paper.

52.5” x 36”.

TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

(previous page)

AIR FORCE ONES (ASSIMIL ATION) (far left)

Charcoal on En-Tout-Cas paper.

68” x 52.5”.

AN ANALOGY FOR BICULTUR ALISM; GRINGO 2 (center, l-r)

DECAY OF LANGUAGE (RUST) (near left)

Rusted steel, Sharpie marker, etching ink, wood, and screws.

60” x 24.31”.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Neighboring States.

FR AGMENTOS FAMILIA PATINA (L); L ATINO AMERICAN AND COLOMBIAN AMERICAN (TOP, BOTTOM); WINDOW TO MIAMI (R)

(following page)

(below)

Ikea frames, thrifted frames, charcoal on paper, mixed media.

Dimensions variable.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Neighboring States.

JAMES BETTS

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

DILMAR M. GAMERO SANTOS

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AMY SHINDO W R I T T E N BY

N O A H R A N D O LP H

In Amy Shindo’s studio, a soft pink glow emanates from

As with the dreamlike luminescence of the Styrofoam lamp,

a large lamp. The elegance of its design is marked by the

the innumerable small, fanned napkins are now a monumental

sharp undulating surface, which betrays its material:

foam sculpture. Its surreal nature is equaled by large wooden

tessellated Styrofoam cups. Designed for easy disposal and

pieces of sushi grass painted green and pink, while a

transportation, the Styrofoam cup is a familiar object that

monochromatic painting of a single plate from the restaurant

is not often considered beyond its function as a vessel. These

is displayed vertically.

cups were a common sight in Madoka Japanese Restaurant, the restaurant owned and run by her parents. Indeed, this was the location of her first job, folding and creating fans out of cloth napkins. Out of the repetitive motion, the process was dedicated to memory – as was each object within the space.

In this way, these memory-objects are no longer reducible to their original function but are now precious works to be appreciated and adored, imparting the value that she has always felt for them. Indeed, the lamp Shindo created is a facsimile of those created by her father of leftover cups from the restaurant, though he never acknowledged the creativity

Shindo’s work revolves around this remembrance, creating

of his work. For him, like his understanding of the restaurant

a memoryscape of her parents’ restaurant. As a ceramicist,

simply as a means of providing for the family, the lamp

chef, and the child of restaurateurs, Shindo attests to the

was just a lamp; but for Shindo, it was invaluable despite its

commonalities between the ceramics studios and restaurants

humility. As stated by the Japanese cooking instructor Tami

are not lost on her, as a shared set of tools and techniques

Hiyama, “Pots aren’t as expensive as jewels. If I make tasty

bind the two. However, Shindo’s practice does not rely upon

meals, everyone’s happy. If I want jewels, I have all I need in

a single medium, embracing an archival engagement with

the sky”

her memories of objects from her youth that focuses on rendering them in a way that highlights their significance.

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KATHLEEN BRISSETTE

85

ASIAN ACTION (above)

(BEIJU)

Acrylic.

6” x 11” x 1”.

Photo credit: Bridget K. Rogers

86

REL ATIVE BRIGHTNESS (KOJI’S KINGDOM)

YOU’RE A R ABBIT, NOT A DR AGON (THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE)

Styrofoam cups, wire.

53” x 28” x 28”.

Polystyrene napkin fan.

45” x 82” x 47.5”.

Installation view.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Bridget K. Rogers

Photo credit: Evan Rosato

(previous page)

TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

(below)

THESE MEMORY-OBJECTS ARE NO LONGER REDUCIBLE TO THEIR ORIGINAL FUNCTION BUT ARE NOW PRECIOUS WORKSTO BE APPRECIATED AND ADORED, IMPARTING THE VALUE THAT SHE HAS ALWAYS FELT FOR THEM.

MADOK A PL ATE (A PRIX FIXE)

(right)

Plywood.

34” x 34” x 1.5” Photo credit: Bridget K. Rogers

AMY SHINDO

87

SHARON STAMPFER W R I T T E N BY

N IC O LE E M SE R M A R C EL

As I hold a bronze cast of the cup on the top of a candle-

Many of Stampfer’s works begin as experiments in either form

stick that once belonged to Sharon Stampfer’s grandmother,

or material. These improvisations are carefully documented

I find myself contemplating gaps, weights, and memories.

and saved, forming an archival web of ideas and connections.

The cast, molded to fit in Stampfer’s own hand, does not

Stampfer’s experiments are like seeds; each one may not

exactly fit in mine. Yet, it feels right. The gleaming bronze

grow into a fully formed work, but they all have a generative

softly spills over my thumb, belying the heft of the material.

capacity. Her careful attention to everyday items points

At first it is cool, even cold, but quickly acclimates to my

to the ritual aspect of our use of these objects, highlighting

body temperature. It momentarily transports me to my own

the ability for the seemingly mundane, such as a door handle

hazy recollections and makes me nostalgic for a memory

or bowl, to serve as points of human connection. For

just out of reach. This is the power of Stampfer’s work. Her

Stampfer, this connection is cyclical. It begins with the artistic

objects – made to be handled by the viewer – demand slow

process of touch; the artist’s labor imbues the work with

engagement and careful consideration of our interactions

knowledge and feeling, which can then be imparted through

with each piece: how it looks, how it feels, (imagining) how

our own visual and physical contacts. These interactions,

it was used in the past, and perhaps most crucially, how its

between the artist and object and the viewer or the user

future use will be altered by our interaction with it.

and object, are intensely personal, richly collective, and always in flux

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

HOLDINGS BOX #21 - BOX #23 (above)

Steel, bronze, plaster, aluminum.

Dimensions variable.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Sam Fritch HOLDINGS BOX #3 (right)

Steel, copper, aluminum.

Dimensions variable.

Photo credit: Sam Fritch

89

STAMPFER’S EXPERIMENTS ARE LIKE SEEDS ; EACH ONE MAY NOT GROW INTO A FULLY FORMED WORK, BUT THEY ALL HAVE A GENERATIVE CAPACITY.

HOLDINGS BOX #19, BOX #20

(right)

Steel, copper, silver, marble, brass, bronze, porcelain, nylon, aluminum.

Dimensions variable.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Sam Fritch

90

HOLDINGS BOX #8 - BOX #17

(right)

Steel, nylon, brass, bronze, copper, silver, porcelain, resin, gold, aluminum.

Dimensions variable.

Installation view.

Photo credit: Sam Fritch

SHARON STAMPFER

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TODD STONG W R I T T E N BY

FL AV I A B A R B A R I N I

In his monotypes Gazing/Walking and Digging, Todd

as they move from comic to tragic scenes. Through free

Stong reflects on the importance of a backward-looking

associations and a personal re-elaboration of significant

gaze even as time propels us forward. The two works,

forms drawn from Western art history—including, for

depicting deep, dark holes and skeletons, are inspired

instance, Michelangelo’s naked figures and the skeleton

by the archaeological excavation of the city of Rome and

of the Virgin Mary inspired by a drawing by Raphael for

represent a manifesto on the search for in-depth awareness

The Deposition of the Baglioni Altarpiece—the work invites

that is necessary for contemporary society to cope with its

us to meditate on themes of queer sexuality, the AIDS crisis,

own past. At the same time, they are a timely reflection on

abortion rights and ecology. The natural world visually

the urgency of exploring multiple forms of history, including

and thematically unifies the composition, which unfolds on

colonialism and racial studies. These striking symbols

multiple sheets: the snake grapples and binds together

appear again in the monumental work Gardens (Archway),

the naked figures in their fight against AIDS; the bees sting

a fantasy where the viewer should not look for a moral,

the skeleton of the Virgin Mary after having sucked the

or for winners. In this work, Stong plays with how the idea

nectar from the yellow silphium, a plant used as a contraceptive

of reversal, both on a conceptual and formal level, is

by Ancient Romans, while the same bees are artificially

highlighted in the process of printmaking itself. Meanwhile,

inseminated by a skeleton; finally, the amphibians flee from a

the symmetrical and specular elements of the compositions

pond that has been reduced to a urinal. In Stong’s works, we

are a manifestation of the reversal of contents and of fortune,

can see an incessant transformation of meanings, messages and symbols that, through the apparent quietude of a fantastical garden, ultimately leads us to a bitter reality

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

DIGGING

THERE AM I

Monotype with etching ink, oil, and flashe on paper.

39” x 27.5".

Four-panel monotype polyptych with etching ink and flashe on paper mounted on a custom frame.

72” x 55".

(above)

Photo credit: Giorgio Benni

(above)

Photo credit: Giorgio Benni

TODD STONG

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

GA ZING/WALKING

(right)

Monotype with etching ink and flashe on paper.

39” x 26.5".

Photo credit: Giorgio Benni GARDENS (ARCHWAY)

(opposite page)

22-panel monotype polyptych with etching ink, flashe, collage, and binder clips on paper.

156” x 168”.

Photo credit: Giorgio Benni

STONG PLAYS WITH HOW THE IDEA OF REVERSAL, BOTH ON A CONCEPTUAL AND FORMAL LEVEL, IS HIGHLIGHTED IN THE PROCESS OF PRINTMAKING ITSELF.

TODD STONG

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IDALIA VÁSQUEZACHURY W R I T T E N BY

M A R Í A D E LO U R D E S M A R I Ñ O

Idalia Vásquez-Achury's photographs inhabit an intermediate

The experience of self-definition attached to an idea of

space. The in-between effect of having no directions,

wholeness in Western culture has become a question

coming from nowhere, and heading who knows where

of affects and relationality in Vásquez-Achury’s work. As a

is central to her visual imagery. This act of permanent

result, subjectivity is bent, fragmented, feeble, inadequate.

transition is what her camera captures at different stages.

Knowing that Vásquez-Achury is not just photographing

Vásquez-Achury appears to have found out, like French

herself, but her own life, makes even more powerful the

writer George Perec, that there are “spaces of every kind

fact that her face is covered, blurred, pierced, and sewed in

and every size, and to live is to pass from one space to

the creative process. It is a brown body that does not fit in,

another, while doing your very best not to bump yourself.”

and the internal violence of its transition ends up disrupting

These images of transition and of perpetual becoming

its ability to speak. The racial performativity of affection

display the opacity of a sense of self captured in its transience.

becomes Vásquez-Achury's perfect armor; yes, it is about

In this sense, the differentiation of intimate and public in

feeling brown, feeling down in the academic tradition

Vásquez-Achury's photographs is irrelevant. Everything

of Cuban American writer José Esteban Muñoz. The politics

appears public and intimate at the same time. Maybe

of brownness in the intimate experience of displacement is

this is why her work feels like the documentation of a

essential to experience Vásquez-Achury's photographs, but

performance; we can see her there, capturing the moment

that intermediate space of vulnerability is just the beginning,

of transition, attempting to address the performativity of

always the starting point

being without getting trapped in exclusionary categories.

And yet, as Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons remind us, “identity could be a tragedy,” and identity does feel like a tragedy here.

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INTERSECTION # 1 (above)

Inkjet print on self-adhesive material.

10’ x 34’.

12,980 MASQUE (left)

Archival inkjet print.

34” x 44” each panel.

IDALIA VÁSQUEZ-ACHURY

97

THESE IMAGES OF TRANSITION AND OF PERPETUAL BECOMING DISPLAY THE OPACITY OF A SENSE OF SELF CAPTURED IN ITS TRANSIENCE.

MARISMA

UNTITLED

Photo book.

6” x 9”.

Archival inkjet print.

36” x 60”.

(below)

98

(opposite page, top)

TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

UNTITLED (above)

Archival inkjet print.

32” x 40”.

IDALIA VÁSQUEZ-ACHURY

99

ZIFAN WANG W R I T T E N BY

D A N IELLE C O O K E

Zifan Wang understands her works as visual poems.

on her materials to light a path in an improvisational and

She interacts with the canvas in large sweeping movements

interactive process of making. Wang allows the material to

to create brilliant fields of color. The oil paint dances and

guide her, acting as a blueprint upon which the whispers

dribbles about once applied, taking on a life of its own

of her mind might be placed. Consequently, there are no

as she instructs bright color and brushstrokes to converse

traces of the work’s development beyond those found on

amongst themselves and utter their truths. This abstract

the canvas itself. Wang mixes color directly on the surface,

poetry is the manifestation of the artist’s psyche – small

and the heavy application of yellow, red, and blue pays

spaces buried deep within Wang's mind that are translated

homage to the admirable qualities of the hues and their

and amplified onto her canvases. In this way, Wang engages

communicative properties.

in a visual translation of the intangible, and her large captivating works illustrate the greatness of these subtle inner workings. She is overall a poet, interpreter and artist.

Each of Wang’s paintings are largely informed by reflection and the careful application of afterthoughts gleaned from her past works. Her canvases stand as individual and

Despite the wealth of richly colored abstract paintings that

complete, but they engage in playful conversation with one

Wang produces, she keeps no sketchbook and relies directly

other. The artist’s preoccupation with a materially informed process of making means that she is constantly re-evaluating and shifting her technique in response to previous works

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WANG ALLOWS THE MATERIAL TO GUIDE HER, ACTING AS A BLUEPRINT UPON WHICH THE WHISPERS OF HER MIND MIGHT BE PLACED.

WINDOW OF THE METRO LINE A (detail, above)

Oil on canvas.

72” x 68”.

ZIFAN WANG

101

WINDOW OF THE METRO LINE A (above)

Oil on canvas.

72” x 68”.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

LISTEN

LISTEN

Oil on canvas.

72” x 68”.

Oil on canvas.

72” x 68”.

(detail, above)

(detail, following page)

ZIFAN WANG

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DILMAR M. GAMERO SANTOS

105

NEYSA HOPE WELLINGTON W R I T T E N BY

N IC O LE E M SE R M A R C EL

Griots are conventionally defined as West African

herself and her family are just one component of her work,

storytellers, those who hold histories and knowledge meant

which relies on a community-based research practice

to be shared orally. Art historian Candace M. Keller likens

known as photovoice, to explore the relationship between

contemporary African portrait photographers to visual griots,

self and society and the societal and familial impact on

linking the role of photographers to artists and historians

identity formation. Using photovoice as a guiding principle

who develop an archive of images documenting not only

allows Wellington to empower her subjects to participate as

the personal, but also the social and historical. Neysa

co-researchers in the project, prompting them to engage

Hope Wellington describes herself as a visual griot in Keller’s

in reflection with her, rather than by her. Wellington further

sense, focusing her practice on creating spaces of dialogue

investigates familial dynamics through interviews she conducts

and collaboration between the diaspora and Africa. A trip

with women in her communities, in which she interrogates

to Ghana in the summer of 2021 sparked an evolution

the ideas of bonds through womanhood and notions of

in Wellington’s work, expanding her practice from portrait

home. Her concept of home is not limited to the immediately

photography to incorporate research, film, and performance.

physical; rather Wellington expands the idea of home to

A central theme running throughout Wellington’s work is the documentation of the Black experience, with a focus on Black women. In her exploration of Black womanhood, Wellington often turns the camera on herself, exploring her own bonds forged through maternal lineage and a broadly defined concept of sisterhood. Wellington’s portraits of

encompass those we have experienced in our past, as well as those we experience only through ancestral memory or those we hope to experience in the future. Through these multidisciplinary works, Wellington performs her role as a visual griot, documenting and creating an archive of Black women’s stories, relationships, and identities, explored through the lens of multiple and simultaneously experienced representations and perceptions of home

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AKWABBA

(right)

Inkjet print.

8.5” x 11”.

PALM WARRIORS

(below)

Inkjet print.

8.5” x 11”.

MARILLA CUBBERLEY

107

IN HER EXPLORATION OF BLACK WOMANHOOD, WELLINGTON OFTEN TURNS THE CAMERA ON HERSELF, EXPLORING HER OWN BONDS FORGED THROUGHMATERNAL LINEAGE AND A BROADLY DEFINED CONCEPT OF SISTERHOOD.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

BAG L ADY (left)

Inkjet print.

8.5” x 11”.

SHOPKEEPERS DREAM (opposite page)

Inkjet print.

8.5” x 11”.

SA

(below)

Inkjet print.

8.5” x 11”.

NEYSA HOPE WELLINGTON

109

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS Flavia Barbarini Flavia Barbarini is a PhD candidate in Art History who previously worked as a curatorial assistant in the Department of Drawings at the Castello Sforzesco Museums in Milan, Italy. She earned her BA from the University of Bologna and her MA in Art History from the University of Padua. Her current research is dedicated to the history of collecting drawings and the art market in 16th century Italy.

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TYLER SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE MASTER OF FINE ARTS CATALOG 2022

Quinn Russell Brown

Danielle Cooke

Natalie Cruz

Annemarie Maag-Tanchak

Quinn Russell Brown is a first-year PhD student in Art History who researches 19th and 20th century American figurative art. He is also a photographer working in portraiture, and his portraits have been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, TIME, and Wired, in addition to being shown at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.

Danielle Cooke is a first-year MA student studying Latin American and Latinx art. Her research centers on the intricate relationships between diaspora, postcolonialism, femininity, religion, and queerness. She earned her BA in Art History and Spanish from Cleveland State University, where she embraced the opportunity to study abroad in both France and Spain and participated in the university’s Archaeological Field School. Before arriving at Temple, she also worked and interned at the Cleveland Museum of Art for several years.

Natalie Cruz is a first-year MA student studying modern and contemporary S.W.A.N.A. (South West Asian/North African) art. She earned her BA in Art History from Pacific University Oregon. Her capstone thesis, Memory in Diaspora: The Armenian Genocide and Cultural Resilience in Art, discussed the persistence of Armenian cultural memory in diaspora despite the trauma of the Armenian genocide.

She is continuing this research on Armenians and other S.W.A.N.A. people in the diaspora.

Annemarie Maag-Tanchak is an Art History MA student on the Arts Management track. Her areas of study include the history of graphic design, German and American art and design of the Cold War, and the effects and future of digital technology. Her arts administrative work is concerned with the relationship between the arts and corporate philanthropy. She holds a BA in Art History from Binghamton University, SUNY (2019) with minors in Graphic Design and German.

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Li Machado

Liam Maher

Molly Mapstone

Nicole Emser Marcel

Li Machado is a third-year PhD student specializing in Modern and Contemporary Latin American and Latinx Art. Their current research focuses on networks of queer sociability and desire in Chicanx communities in Los Angeles. They previously earned a BA in Art History from the University of La Verne, studying Brazilian modernist painting, and an MA in the same field from University of Oregon, where their thesis addressed the visual culture of the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.

Liam Maher is a Temple University Fellow and doctoral student in Art History studying Contemporary Latin American & Latinx Art. His research interests include intersections of queerness, Catholicism, and anticoloniality in art from Brazil, Haiti, and the United States. He received his MA in Art History from the University of Oregon and BA in Art History and political science from the University of Notre Dame.

Molly Mapstone is interested in materials new to the history of art.

Her writings consider contemporary art through theories of materiality, process, visual culture, and social art history. Her master’s thesis at the Winterthur Program, The Materiality and Art History of Glitter, examined the origins of glitter and its power to convey meaning. She received her BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison while working at the Chazen Museum of Art, where she curated exhibitions of works on paper.

Nicole Emser Marcel is a second-year PhD student studying modern and contemporary art of the Caribbean.

Her research interests include iconoclasm, geography, feminist theory, and religion. She holds an MA in Art History from American University and a BA in History from Xavier University. She previously taught at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis and worked at the National Women’s History Museum in Washington, DC.

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María de Lourdes Mariño

Lauren M. McCardel

Ryan J. Mitchell

Joanna Platt

María de Lourdes Mariño is an art historian specializing in modern and contemporary art from Latin America, the Caribbean, and their diasporas from 1900 to the present.

She holds an MPA in Nonprofit Management focused on art and culture institutions, and is currently a second-year Art History PhD student.

Before attending Tyler, she was a professor at ISA, Universidad de las Artes and an independent art curator in Havana, Cuba.

Lauren M. McCardel is a PhD student focusing on 19th century art, design and material culture. Her research interests concern the social functions of art and architecture, exploring themes related to gender, labor, authorship and trauma. She holds an MFA in Architectural History from Savannah College of Art and Design and a BA in Art History from Messiah University.

Ryan Mitchell is a PhD student working on the Islamic art and architecture of the eastern Mediterranean. In 2021, Ryan completed a U.S. Student Fulbright Grant to Turkey, where he studied the architecture of late Ottoman-era schools in Istanbul and held an assistantship at the Istanbul Research Institute. He worked for several years in business development in New York after receiving his undergraduate degree from the Ohio State University in English Literature and History of Art.

Joanna Platt is a PhD student specializing in modern and contemporary Art History. With a background in bronze casting and fabrication, Platt balances an active studio practice with research into the representation of labor and the economics of art and production, especially regarding issues of class and social status. She earned a BFA from Mason Gross School of Art, Rutgers University and an MFA from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, and is an assistant professor at Camden County College.

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Noah Randolph

Emily Schollenberger

Alexandra Schoolman

Ashley Stahl

Noah Randolph is a PhD student specializing in modern and contemporary art and visual culture, with current research focused on the relationship between historical memory and memorialization in the Americas. His past experience includes positions at the Speed Art Museum, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He received his BA in Art History from the University of Louisville followed by his MA from Temple University.

Emily Schollenberger is a fourthyear PhD student whose research interests include collective memory, the archive, trauma and colonial photography. She earned her BA in Art with a concentration in Art History from Covenant College, where her thesis focused on affect in Anselm Kiefer’s paintings. She interned at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC and worked as a museum educator at the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga, TN before moving to Philadelphia.

Alexandra Schoolman is a first-year PhD student whose research interests include human and environmental rights, Latin American conceptual art, and social practice. She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University, majoring in Hispanic Studies and minoring in Art History.

She earned her MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History with distinction from the University of Glasgow. Her thesis focused on memory and historical legacy in the work of young Latin American artists.

She was previously exhibitions manager of the Latin American art gallery Henrique Faria in New York City.

Ashley Stahl is a second-year MA student in Art History on the Arts Management track. Her interests and areas of study include modern and contemporary art, public art and cultural identity, environmental art, and institutional critique. She holds a BFA in Art History with a minor in Painting from Moore College of Art and Design (2009).

Her professional experience includes curatorial project management at Whitestone Gallery and philanthropic fundraising at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University.

She currently serves on the Development Committee at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists and as a visiting board member at the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation.

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MFA Catalog Advisors Mariola Alvarez Chad D. Curtis Philip Glahn

MFA Catalog Coordinator Kati Gegenheimer

MFA Catalog Student Representatives Nicole Emser Marcel Abbey Muza

Faculty Editors Mariola Alvarez Philip Glahn Monica Anke Hahn Leah Modigliani Rachel Grace Newman Alpesh Kantilal Patel Erin Pauwels

Copy Editor Wanda Motley Odom

Catalog Design Modern Good Matt Bouloutian, Tyler BFA ‘99 Emma Lindsay, Tyler BFA ‘18 Autumn Kitabjian, Tyler BFA ‘23

Printed by Sea Group Graphics, Inc.

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Tyler School of Art and Architecture Temple University 2001 N. 13th St. Philadelphia, PA 19122

Copyright © 2022

tyler.temple.edu/mfa-at-Tyler

Copyright for individual images belongs to the individual artist as listed on each page.

Tyler School of Art and Architecture All rights reserved

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the artist or the Tyler School of Art and Architecture.