August 5-27, 2010
Reception: Friday August 20, 6-8 pm
Arnheim Gallery
South Building
Mon.-Sat. 12-6, Wed. 12-8
and
Patricia Doran Graduate Gallery
Artists’ Residence Building
Sun.-Sat. 10-5
Featured artists:
Suzie Blackburn, Julie Colotti,
Mike Doherty, Rebecca Noack,
Kelly Sheehan Russo, Eileen Wagner,
Jessica Young, Lyndsay Zaremba
Thesis Show Website: massartedgrad.com
About the artists
Suzie Blackburn is curious about human nature’s need to build homes. Is the purpose of a home to protect our belongings and ourselves? Is a home a sense of place, of safety, of habit, of worth? How does having a home change throughout one’s life? Her sculptural pieces respond to the intricate thought processes and relationships behind the making and maintaining of a home.
Julie Colotti examines the nature of heirlooms in her family, their meaning, and function as catalysts for her work as a researcher, artist, and art educator. Eight close relatives from her family were interviewed to determine the types of heirlooms currently in their possession, and their opinions pertaining to sentimental value and why it is placed on cherished objects such as heirlooms. The findings influenced a body of artwork and are reported in a written thesis.
Mike Doherty
“In time of test, family is best.” ~ Burmese Proverb
Doherty selected this statement that really sums up his work over the last few years. He has had some major changes recently in his family situation that have manifested in his artwork. He is concerned with his children and his separation from them. His work deals with this personal reality.
Rebecca A. Noack explores the representation of natural space or surroundings through the sequential process of printmaking. Her inspiration develops from observing natural subtleties of pattern, line, and shape and integrating microscopic imagery to complete an investigation of space.
Kelly Sheehan Russo is interested in creating a new environment within her paintings that both reveal and conceal imagery from visual memories of place. These visual memories come from a series of questions and collections of thoughts, photographs, and experiences of various environments in which people have existed. The current imagery has come from lenses of people who play different roles within her life. It represents portraits of people based on their visual memories. She is looking at the convergence of past and the present visual contexts and creating a new one.
Eileen Wagner explores abstraction, and the landscape is the source of her imagery. Inspiration originates from the natural world, but the life on canvas becomes its own – independent and self-sufficient. She recalls visual and emotional impressions of her surroundings, and then works from memory and imagination. She aims to capture a quality of light with successive transparent layers, creating a sense of infinite space and mutability. Her paintings and prints allow the viewer to experience something that is timeless and primal, yet intensely personal in the same moment.
Jessica Young’s life has been taken over by roller derby, and her art is no exception. Her roller derby quilt project is a collaborative work that began as a small personal exploration into quilting with discarded uniform scraps. The quilt now contains over one hundred contributed squares from derby skaters and referees from all over the world. Unfortunately for her tiny apartment, the quilt keeps growing and shows no signs of stopping.
Lyndsay Zaremba, inspired by her relationship, created a series of works on paper inviting you to bed. Each work is a window into her own relationship, illustrating the intimate conversations she has when she goes to bed each night.