Studio 1919

"WE DID IT!" That is the phrase I keep hearing from my 3rd-year cohort, exclaimed partially in celebration, partially in disbelief. As of this past weekend, all 9 of us pulled off our MFA thesis shows -- and even managed to show up to our openings showered and in clean clothes (a prospect which feels doubtful when you're completing finishing touches at midnight the night before...) And let me just go ahead and toot our 9 horns: The shows looked REALLY GOOD. 9 completely different incomparable exhibitions that, when looking back on 3 years of studio, seminar presentations, readings, summer trips, crits, and conversations, all make perfect sense. Congratulations 3rd years, and thanks to everyone else for coming to the shows.

Many of the shows are still up for the week if you want to check them out. Info here.

Photos by Nicholas Williams.

And sometimes your thesis project turns into a feature length film… such is the case for grad student Pete Leix. Pete Leix came to the Stamps MFA program as a photographer, turned towards documentary photography, and by the summer after his first year of the program, he was shooting interviews and footage for what would become his first feature length film, Muscatawingh. "Muscatawingh" is Ojibwah for "Plains Burnt Over" and was the name given by the tribe to the land we know now as the city of Flint, Michigan.  Pete describes the film as an intertwined series of portraits of people bringing brightness and structure to a collapsed environment.

Pete premiered this film on March 15th at the Work Gallery on State Street and will be having a second showing THIS THURSDAY March 27th.

Here are just a few snapshots from the crazy week of work work work that was Spring Break! The studio was BUSY and it felt GOOOOOOOD! All the third years were in the final dash with thesis show preparations and many second years stuck around to put in some good studio hours too.

(click on photos for captions)

"ingrown", this sculpture by Molly Dierks, will be part of her MFA Thesis Exhibition opening at Slusser Gallery on Friday March 14. Her show, titled home/body, features a series of sculptures in an installation reminiscent of her childhood home, and reflects on her bond with her mother and her relationship to femininity. 

see you at the show!

Slusser Gallery, Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design

Friday March 14th, 5:30-8:30 pm

Third installment from the series Google Search Poetry (or The Things We Ask The Internet For Art) These searches come from grad student Math Monahan

The second installment from Google Search Poetry (or The Things We Ask The Internet For Art) These searches come from grad student Parisa Ghaderi!

The first installment in a little series I'm calling Google Search Poetry (or The Things We Ask The Internet For Art). This one comes from grad student Ann Bartges.

Mia sent me this photo which she sneak-shot yesterday while I was having a studio visit with Witt Visiting Artist Adam Abel. Adam is an artist/photographer/filmmaker visiting from New York City as part of his exhibition downtown at the Work Gallery, titled Palestine Interrupted.

I took Adam on a rough-draft version of my thesis project audio walk (part of which involves laying down, hence the photo of us lying on the floor...).

With Adam I was able to perform a critical experiment: playing/doing the piece for someone who had never heard it before and didn't have any background on the content of the piece or what I do in general (which is often very site-specific and inspired by very particular and sometimes unknown pieces of local history) so it was beyond helpful to be able to get a totally fresh read on the work! And especially from someone else who also works with documentary, sound, and installation! Visiting artists rule.

"Second Nature," a solo show of paintings by Katie St. Clair (MFA '14), opens next week at the School for Natural Resources and Environment.

Katie will be giving an artist talk from 4-5 at the opening reception on January 28th.

See you there!

More info: http://www.snre.umich.edu/gallery/katie_stclair

John Gutoskey's screen print, Queer Pop, was recently included in "Best of Art 2013" by The Advocate -- the oldest, largest, and most widely-circulated LBGT publication in the United States. Additionally, John's print was one of only a handful of contemporary works included in the awards, given to just 23 works out of the hundreds of visuals they include in their publication every year. Congrats, John!

Congrats to Trevor King, Clara Mclenon, and Laura Amtower, on their 3-person show now open at the Buckham Gallery in Flint! The show, titled Re-Search, features  sculpture, photography, video, drawing, and large-scale oil paintings.

Though the subject matter of the three artists varies greatly, they tie links between their work with the idea of "re-search" -- agreeing upon several definitions of the word including "the collecting of information about a particular subject." Laura Amtower's large-scale oil paintings draw on a vast archive of her family's history in the Appalachain mountains of West Virginia. Clara Mclenon spent several months last summer and fall studying and drawing intricate groupings of leaves (sometimes formations of leaves fallen on the ground, sometimes leaves nearly indistinguishable as various vines, weeds, and bushes all grew together). And Trevor King's sculptures and installations investigate memories and metaphors of adolescence. The three conceived of the show collaboratively.

Buckham Gallery is located at 134 1/2 West 2nd St, Flint, MI 48502. Re-Search runs through February 8th.

Incase you missed it, our very own Parisa Ghaderi (MFA '14) was in the Huffington Post! She is one of the artists featured in an article about what "home" means to contemporary women artists. Read the full article here!