massart's 2012 mfa thesis catalog
DESCRIPTION
Artwork from MassArt's 2012 MFA Thesis exhibitions.TRANSCRIPT
President, Kay Sloan
621 Huntington AvenueBoston, Massachusetts 02115Graduate Programs: 617 879 7333
www.MassArt.edu
MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN
Bakalar & Paine Galleries
Curatorial ProgramsDirector of Curatorial Programs, Lisa Tung
The Graduate ProgramsDean of the Graduate Programs, George CreamerAssistant Dean of the Graduate Programs, Jenny Gibbs
INTRODUCTION
MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN
2D
ADINA BRICKLIN
KATELYNN DEWITT
ALEXIS KOCHKA
SUSAN METRICAN
LEILA NAMIN
JEFFREY REZENDE
3D
AMANDA BROWN
JESSICA VOGEL
BEN SILVA
FILM/VIDEO
JOEL FRENZER
KEVIN SWEET
PHOTOGRAPHY
RYAN ARTHURS
DAN BOARDMAN
JOHN KECK
KATHYA LANDEROS
JOE REYNOLDS
DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
DANIEL BUCKLEY
SHAN GAO
JATURONT(KID) JAMIGRANONT
MARIA STANGEL
NICOLE TARIVERDIAN
MFA THESIS
I April 24 – 3 May
II May 9 – 18 May
MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN621 Huntington Avenue, Boston MA USA, T 617 879 7166 [email protected] MassArt.edu
As an innovative university for artists, designers, and educators we prepare our students to contribute to
contemporary culture and to fuel the creative economy. We are proud of our unique status as the only independent
public college of art and design in the country, and our heritage as the nation’s first degree-granting art school,
founded in 1873.
Our programs are consistently ranked among the top in the country. US News & World Report ranked our MFA
program #1 in Massachusetts. Our 1700 undergraduate and 200 graduate students come from more than 35
countries, reflecting the international reputation of our programs, and Boston’s place as one of the great learning
and research centers in the world. Our urban campus offers more than 1,000,000 square feet of studios,
workshops, classrooms and galleries. We are located at the center of a world-class fine arts triangle, sited
between the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Our Bakalar and Paine
Galleries are one of Boston's premier venues for contemporary art, showcasing emerging and established artists
from around the world.
Our 260 graduate and undergraduate faculty are teachers and artist/practitioners at the top of their fields, with
a 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Our faculty exhibit nationally and internationally at institutions including: MoMA,
the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the J. Paul
Getty Center Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the International
Center of Photography, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts
Boston, the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Musee de la Ville de Paris, the Cleveland Institute of Art,
and the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, among others. The faculties' cumulative awards and grants
number in the thousands, including multiple awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fulbright
Program, the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the
New England Foundation for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the MacDowell Colony Fellowship, and
the Massachusetts Council on the Arts.
The university offers graduate degrees in eleven areas. For more information please visit MassArt.edu , email
[email protected], or call (617) 879-7166.
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ADINA BRICKLIN MFA 2D
Adina Bricklin, Film 3, graphite on paper, 10" x 10", 2012
www.adinabricklin.com
"Through drawing process and subject matter I investigate opposing aesthetic ideals, simultaneously
striving toward fact and toward fiction, toward clarity and toward subtlety, toward perfection and toward
error. I use photographic sources to tap into my fascination with the machine through the filter of
drawing, struggling toward a mechanical goal, pushing against the limitations of my hand and the
properties of my materials. To draw performances of light in the landscape, I treat the stylus as light
and the paper as landscape. I utilize different processes of tracing and rubbing to translate photographic
light into drawing, and my various drawing tools distort and degrade the imagery or emboss the paper
with the blemishes of my studio walls. The spaces depicted in my drawings are within a human context,
seen from eye level, a person-mediated nature. By creating the objects I wish to see, confronting my
own longings for image on surface, I hope to produce work that engages the human appetite for vision,
beauty, and place."
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2D
KATELYNN DEWITT 2D MFA 2D
www.katelynndewitt.com
"I paint intimate scenes between my partner and I inside our apartment. I focus on the color in order to
evoke the emotional state I have about these scenes: paranoia, loneliness, lust, affection, domination,
and adoration. I want my voice to be heard in a society that actively bans and denigrates my desires.
What I desire is beautiful."
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2D
ALEXIS KOCHKA MFA 2D
alexiskochka.com
Alexis Kochka, Matt and Betsy, oil on canvas, 48" x 68", 2012
"In my paintings I look at places where nature and culture mingle, where the natural world is mediated by
people, and where people are mediated by nature. Parks, woods, swimming holes, river bends, are
platforms for me to navigate this uncertain terrain. I try to locate these places through paint.
I use imagery from my personal experiences and the places I visit. The settings that I transcribe, are
more sensed than known. I want to show the feeling of these places, the warmth of a sunny rock, the
cold shadow of the forest understory. I create my paintings as a stage for human interaction with the
landscape to unfold. Once on stage, the figures and the landscape perform, relying on each other to to
imply a narrative. My hope is that this all adds up to a story, a story involving an experience that has
been suspended and relived like a memory."
2D
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SUSAN METRICAN MFA 2D
www.susanmetrican.com
Susan Metrican, Emission Theory, acrylic on canvas, 64" x 78", 2012
"Most recently I have been considering the notion of seeing as a 2-dimensional experience and thinking
about the space around me or the still life set-up as a flattened space (as if behind glass). I am currently
exploring ways in which to affect or “touch” what I am seeing through the use of projected light on the
actual still life as well as including elements in the work that try to exist on the surface of the painting."
2D
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LEILA NAMIN MFA 2D
www.leilanamin.com
Leila Namin, Five Hands, mixed media on panel, 40'' x 30'', 2012
"My work is made through many layers of narrative, and in variety of media. The narratives evolve from
the different source material. Recently I've been working on wood panels that allow me to agitate the
surface. The clash between narratives often come from experimentation with ink, colored pencil, acrylic
and oil mediums."
2D
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JEFFREY REZENDE MFA 2D
jeffreyrezende.com
Jeffrey Rezende, Function Of A Painting 2
"My work investigates the concept of surface. I experiment with a variety of media in making illegible
text through gestural marks with dry media over acrylic paint on wood panels. My rules for this initial
circumstance often adjust during the process, and I end up with a surface different from the initial idea.
When making painting, I am continually adding or removing material and therefore adding and removing
content. For example, if I take a standard neon-orange traffic cone and paint it white, I have added
material and subsequently removed the content and functionality of the iconic object."
2D
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AMANDA BROWN MFA 3D
www.amandambrown.com
Amanda M Brown, Pattern I (detail), stoneware with video projection, 23" x 23" x 2", 2012
"My work is a fusion of sculpture, dance, and video. The sculptures have a moving surface where the
narrative is intricate and sparse, involving relationships between people, the self, and the space. Air and
negative space are integral to my work, as light and shadows inform and conceal layers of mystery and
discovery. With both sculpture and video, I am exploring materiality, and movement in time with its
pauses and reflections and offering a chance to linger in a fleeting moment, giving permanence to the
fragile and ephemeral. I work collaboratively with actors, dancers, and other artists to capture the
nuances and contradictions of the human condition. I am interested in exploring issues of beauty,
mortality, fragility, ritual, and isolation.
My work explores the intersection of intention and process in a dance of light, people, and material that
creates an intimate experience for the viewer in a layered environment. In my sculptures as well as the
video sculpture, light is an essential part of the piece, dancing on the surface of the bodies and materials.
My recent work involves the interplay of video and sculpture, which surrounds the viewer and expands the
space, providing a window into a secret world. Debut and One are part of the same installation involving
projections on and within a dresser. Debut is a silent black and white film, which shows the process of
sculpting a clay dress on a woman. One shows a solo Tango in a mirror with music, ambient sound, and
voice. Projected onto the inside of a drawer, it is not immediately noticeable until the glowing light and
faint music draw attention to the drawer. For my thesis work, I am also introducing small acts of
subversion, such as the decoration of a ceramic platter with tiny moving figures instead of glaze."
3D
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BEN SILVA MFA 3D
www.bensilvasculpture.com
Ben Silva, Wheat Grass Grotto, mixed media installation, 15' x 25', 2011
3D
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JOEL FRENZERMFA FILM/VIDEO
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O"Utilizing his background in experimental animation and performance, Joel Frenzer has developed a body
of work that encompasses independent short films, looped animated vignettes, digital found-footage
puppetry, and comedy podcast hosting. His work has been featured in international festivals, workshops,
galleries, and on the web. Since graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2000, he has
taught and assisted classes at Harvard University, Mass College of Art and Design, and is currently a
full-time professor of animation at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston."
Joel Frenzer, Obdomia II, video, 2012
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KEVIN SWEET MFA FILM/VIDEO
kevinjsweet.net
Kevin Sweet, Intervals, 16mm multichannel projection, 2012
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RYAN ARTHURS MFA PHOTOGRAPHY
ryanarthurs.com
Ryan Arthurs, Untitled, color photograph, 32" x 40", 2012
"Sexuality and the digital age inform these images that divide environment and figure. By calling attention
to the queer male body that is without place, the figure becomes a landscape in which to explore ideas of
intimacy, vulnerability, confrontation and seduction. Ryan Arthurs is a photographer working primarily
with themes related to masculine identity. He received his BFA from Carleton College, in Northfield, MN."
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DAN BOARDMAN MFA PHOTOGRAPHY
www.dbboardman.com
Dan Boardman, Untitled Photograph, 30" x 40"
"Collected from trips in the North Atlantic and Central New York, these images describe a fictional world
of uprooted men seeking a way home. In this folk tale I encounter gatekeepers, watchdogs, renegades,
spirits, ghosts and lone wolves. These characters navigate a crestfallen world seeking out new terms to
define themselves and the world they inhabit."
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JOHN KECK MFA PHOTOGRAPHY
www.dbboardman.com
"'Life and How to Live It'
I explore the uncanny, the psychological, and the raw beauty of Suburbia (the place as well as the state of
mind) along with the strangers I meet during my excursions through the suburbs. T.S. Eliot has written:
“The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” In a
sense, I am investigating the idea of Suburbia, the childhood “place” where I started.
My early childhood memories of Suburbia represent a paradise of sorts. That version of Suburbia was
safe with plenty of space for adventure in friends’ backyards and neighborhood parks. As I grew older and
more mature the boundaries and limitations of Suburbia slowly became stifling. It was too safe, too banal,
too restrictive from parental controls, and too homogenous with too little culture. As an adult, finally
purged from Suburbia for many years now, I have been strangely drawn back to it like a siren’s song."
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KATHYA LANDEROS MFA PHOTOGRAPHY
"Kathya Maria Landeros was born in Sacramento, California to Mexican immigrant parents. Her
photographic work focuses on Mexican-American communities. She is a 2012 MFA candidate from the
Massachusetts College of Art & Design, and holds an undergraduate degree in English Literature and
Hispanic Studies from Vassar College. She is a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Mexico in photography,
and is a recent Fulbright Ambassador. She resides in New London, Connecticut."
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JOE REYNOLDS MFA PHOTOGRAPHY
www.joereynoldsphotographs.com
"Joe Reynolds grew up in Chattanooga, TN. He holds a BA in Journalism from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BFA in Photography from East Tennessee State University. He lives and works
in Boston, MA"
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DANIEL BUCKLEY MFA DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
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opensourceempathy.com
Daniel James Buckley, Prometheus Clock, projector+ empathy + plexiglas + oedipal complex + drafter's vellum
+ greek myth + plywood, 30" x 30" x 30", 2012
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SHAN GAO MFA DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
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shangaodesign.com
Shan Gao, Wishing Well, interactive installation, 2012
"Shan Gao is currently a graduate student at the Dynamic Media Institute at the Massachusetts College of
Art and Design, where she is exploring the role of dynamic media in Interaction Design. She also has a
background in print design with a BA degree in Graphic Design from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Her scope of professional experience spans interactive media , motion and print. She likes to keep her
awareness constant by working with multimedia."
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JATURONT (KID) JAMIGRANONT MFA DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
DY
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DIA
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MARIA STANGEL MFA DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
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mariastangel.com
Maria Stangel, Brush Ball, interactive installation, 2012
"I am researching the factors that influence social behaviors in public spaces. More and more people
separate themselves from their surroundings by their headphones, personal electronic devices and are
more connected to their online community than to their real world neighbors. Becoming a part of a
community can be a challenge as living with mobile technology distances us from each other.
I am curious about the unexpected moments that can inspire strangers to share attention and momentary
experience. These mysterious feelings, which allow sudden, emotional communication between two human
beings fascinate me. During my thesis research I have been investigating how spontaneous connections
are initialized and what role “play” has in facilitating these moments. I believe that we can take advantage
of digital media installations in order to encourage interaction between people."
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NICOLE TARIVERDIAN MFA DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
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nicoletariverdian.com
Nicole Tariverdian, Things That Matter, Dynamic Media: interactive sculptural object and projection, 2012
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CREDITS:
Editor and Creative Director: Jenny Gibbs, Assistant Dean Of Graduate Programs
Designer: Maria Anna Stangel (MFA ’12)
©Copyright 2012 Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
All rights reserved; no part of this book may be reproduced without the express written
permission of the publisher
