Second-Year Graduate Student Exhibition

Second-Year Graduate Student Exhibition

Anya Dikareva
Summer Gray
Krista Heinitz
Steven Joshlin
Daniel P. Lopez
Sarah Mikenis
Stephen Nachtigall
Rachel Widomski

May 7 – May 30, 2015

 

White Box at the University of Oregon in Portland School of Architecture and Allied Arts is pleased to present The University of Oregon Department of Art Second-Year Graduate Student Exhibition.

On display will be the work of eight master of fine art graduate students in their second year of candidacy. In writing the exhibition essay to accompany their work, Megan Pounds, graduate student in the UO Department of the History of Art and Architecture writes “If there is one commonality to be found among the eight artists who constitute this exhibition, it is the refusal to view the individual works they produce as autonomous.  Each art object present in this exhibition exists within a greater scheme of ideas, a physical and theoretical framework fashioned by the artists.  These students are further connected by an interest in the constructed environment, which naturally manifests itself differently in every practice. While each artist’s work is far more complex and varied than this essay allows to be conveyed, there are two distinct treatments of this concept under which these works can be loosely categorized.  In each instance, the viewer enters an unfolding narrative, and finds himself or herself immersed in an environment constructed by the artist to provide space to meditate on a particular idea.”

The Department of Art’s interdisciplinary graduate program encourages students to work across disciplines, with focus in areas of sculpture, photography, painting, drawing, printmaking, digital arts, ceramics, fibers, and jewelry and metalsmithing. The MFA program is a three-year course of study that involves rigorous studio investigation, critical discourse, and conceptual development. Emphasis is placed on developing a curriculum tailored to the needs of the individual student while encouraging exploration and risk-taking.

Sponsors for the exhibition include the Ballinger Family Memorial Fund and The Duck Store.