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MYTH: Paintings by Kamar Thomas, MFA ’16

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Exhibit Dates
Oct 1 – Dec 7, 2018

Artist Reception
Fri, Oct 26, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
prior to performance by Kathleen Battle, soprano & Joel Martin, piano 
Underground Railroad: A Spiritual Journey

Jorgensen Gallery
Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts
2132 Hillside Road
On the UConn campus in Storrs, CT
 
Gallery Hours
Due to classes scheduled in the Jorgensen Gallery, hours for fall 2018 are: 
MWF 10am – 12pm
Tues  10am – 4pm
Thurs  1pm – 4pm
Prior to performances and during most intermissions. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Kamar Thomas is a fine artist from Port Antonio, Jamaica, currently Adjunct Faculty at the University of Connecticut. He graduated with a Master’s in Fine Art at the University of Connecticut in 2016 and a BA from Wesleyan University in 2012 where he became interested in how people present themselves, the masks they wear, and the differences between who/what is presented and how people really are.

ARTIST STATEMENT

King Midas is a mythical king from way back when who only wished for one thing: gold. He did what kings do and asked the Greek gods for him that wish. They did. With his new power, he touched a knife and boom: gold. He touched a fork: solid gold. He touched everything he could and became the richest king ever. He called a feast to celebrate his new gold-touching status. This was a feast to remember complete with a long table, giant turkey leg and stuffed pig with an apple in its mouth. When Midas reached out to eat that turkey leg, as soon as he touched it: gold.

This is a problem. Gold is hard to eat, even harder to digest and tastes terrible. Midas’ only daughter saw how sad he was and gave him a hug to cheer him up. As soon as he touched her: solid gold daughter. 
The richest king ever, couldn’t eat, killed the only family he cared about 
and starved to death. Sad story. Or was it?

I have made some of my favorite paintings to look at the same problem King Midas faced: becoming who you want to be and paying for it. Everybody has that problem. These large portraits intend to show how much contradiction there is and yet attempt to be beautiful. 
I am interested in how flexible and unfixed identity is.

Co-sponsored by the H. Fred Simons African American Cultural Center, celebrating 50 years at UConn

Alternative BFA Photography Show – Apr. 17

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We are pleased to invite you to view our latest photographic work. This work is independent and reflective of each artist’s endeavors over the past few months in Senior Project. Come and celebrate our finished work and enjoy delicious appetizers and beverages during the opening reception on Tuesday, April 17th from 5-6:30pm. The work will remain hanging in the Art Building until Friday, April 20th.

MFA Studio Art Group Exhibition

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Close Third Person: MFA Studio Art Group Exhibition
April 3-May 6, 2018

Opening reception:  Wednesday April 18
5 pm – 7:30 pm
Free of charge and open to the public

Close Third Person highlights new work by the Studio Art MFA class of 2018. The exhibition features painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, ceramics, installation, and digital animation.

The Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art program at the University of Connecticut is an intensive, multidisciplinary approach to the development of work in a wide range of media, including painting and drawing, photography and video, printmaking, sculpture and ceramics, and installation and performance. The three-year program focuses on the advancement of each student’s abilities as an artist. New graduate studio facilities in the historic Kirby Mill, situated on the banks of the Natchaug River, offer each student a fresh, well-lit space in a tranquil setting. Work in the studio and studio-based classes is combined with courses in art criticism, theory and history, and teaching to provide a context of ideas for developing students’ visions. Frequent contact with faculty members and visiting artists exposes the students to diverse viewpoints and practices. The Studio Art MFA program at UConn combines the creative excitement and intellectual energy of an art school and a major research university, providing students with the best of both worlds. Learn more at https://art.uconn.edu.

Artist Talks: Close Third Person
2018 Studio Art MFA candidates discuss their work.
Date: Wednesday, April 18, 3:00 to 5:00 pm.

Participating Artists:

Kelsey Miller
Statement
My art turned overtly political in January 2017 when I made letterpress signs for the Women’s March. Now the air is ever more clouded, fervent. Political opinion simmers continuously below the surface of the everyday and news advances at a rate faster than we can comprehend it. Belief, denial, complacency, and fear are emotional complexities that often seem at odds with scientific data. My work addresses the polarization of opinion and fact, informed by current events, archival documents, nationalism, and weather—a symbol of change and its real harbinger. The act of making resists the act of skimming, insisting that I absorb and respond to what has happened and is happening. My practice is a call to action, but also a pause, with the intention of offering a moment of reflection and sanctuary, in hope of finding better solutions for navigating this changing world.
Bio
Kelsey Miller was born on the island of Antigua and moved to the United States at the age of ten. She earned a BA in Studio Art from Wellesley College and spent four years as a chef on a sailboat before returning to land and pursuing her MFA at the University of Connecticut. Kelsey exhibits work nationally and internationally in solo, juried, and small group shows.

Jelena Prljević
Statement
As a storyteller, I use layering to build narratives. Using erasure, light, and the regenerative power of shadows I suggest time. Through process and material, my drawing serves as an invocation of place and reflects experiences of transition. Life is always in flux. Light and time give perspective, allowing change to unfold. Who defines whom? Does a final form exist or is its essence fluid? These questions are constant in my work. I champion the power of personal mark-making to build structures, erase them and build again to reveal life as it moves between light and shadow. My drawings and animations illuminate intimate observations grounding them in a present moment. Documentary, magical and sentimental, my work embraces the healing potential of storytelling through fragments of time, memory, and motion.
Bio
Jelena Prljević is an artist from Serbia whose practice exists within the intersection of drawing, animation, and installation. She holds a BFA from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, RS where she received several awards for painting and drawing. During this period, she participated in many national and international group exhibitions and collaborative projects. Jelena was awarded The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant to support the development of her MFA thesis project.

Kaleigh Rusgrove
Statement
Narrative photography exists between fact and fiction. I use my camera to create false moments of importance and to record artifacts of questionable authenticity. I interlace the seen with the contrived. Together these elements build a convincing story; one leaving the viewer unable to find their footing in either reality or fantasy. This body of work, this story, focuses on current environmental issues. Climate change falls into the same strange in-between where my work exists. The reality of the situation is distressing, the political response both alarming and laughable, and information presented is often contorted. Through research I find inspiration for image-making, combining what I have witnessed with what I have imagined. In my practice, I have come to learn that the most frightening moments are not always born from the wildness of the mind, but exist in real life.
Bio
Kaleigh Rusgrove was born in Bristol, Connecticut and spent her formative years photographing her younger sister against a leaf-patterned bed sheet with a Kodak disposable camera. Moving on to a point-and-shoot as a teenager, she made a series of portraits of local troublemakers that earned her moderate praise among the other neighborhood kids. Kaleigh eventually settled on the solitude of photographing herself with a DSLR. At some point she decided to keep making pictures forever.

Erin Koch Smith
Statement
My work often starts with something abstract—like a wayward emotion or a decontextualized word or phrase. I like language that feels vaporous and substantial, as if a dream sat on your head. Narrative is important as an impetus to painting, but my paintings are not stories. They are plotless, hero-less, scattershot moments, birthed from boredom, loneliness, and heartache, operating within the welcome limitations of the language of painting. On canvas, there are no rules for gravity, and floating objects can be heavy as lead. I search for form through scraping and damaging the surface, playing with images of swan beds, mangled chairs, and rainbows the way I used to play with Barbie dolls as a kid, bashing their plastic parts together, trying to land on something tender.
Bio
Erin Koch Smith was born in Richmond, VA where she fell in love with drawing and painting at an early age. Her studio practice encompasses a variety of approaches including painting, drawing, installation, and performance. She earned a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2005, and after living in Ithaca, NY for a number of years, relocated with her family to pursue an MFA in Art at the University of Connecticut.  

Claire Stankus
Statement
Tidy piles of studio scraps, flowers on the floor, puzzle pieces, and birthday cakes are recurring features in my work. I collect seemingly banal and discarded objects and paint my daily encounters with them; expressing that even a pile of junk is worth painting. While some paintings are made directly from observation, others start from photographs of quickly-passed moments. I use casual marks, flattened fields of color, and invented line and shadow to break down the recognizable into something ambiguous yet familiar. The remaining abstraction is where we may find unexpected humor or joy. I want each painting to become something odd or sweet and give viewers a second chance to spend more time with an experience they may have overlooked.
Bio
Claire Stankus was born and raised in the suburbs of Albany, NY and earned a BFA in Painting from Syracuse University in 2012. She has attended artist residencies at the Chautauqua Institution, Vermont Studio Center, and Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild. Claire was recently interviewed and featured on the podcast Studio Break.

Acknowledgements
We would like to express our gratitude to our families, friends, faculty, and peers who have provided continuous support and guidance over these three years.
We would also like to thank UConn’s Design Center for the creation of this catalog and accompanying materials.

Art & Art History Scholarship Show is Coming!

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Hello Art & Art History Majors,

Before you leave the thrills of Spring Break behind…I thought I’d remind you to bring back your best artwork from home for the Scholarship Show.

The official call for entry will be sent out when you return next week.

It’s free to enter, and we have literally thousands of dollars to give away in scholarship money, so keep your eyes peeled for the email reminders!

 *APPLICATIONS will be DUE Monday March 26th

As always, we look forward to seeing what you’ve got!

Professor Paul

Spring into the Arts! 3/26

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Dear Prospective (Admitted) Art & Art History Students,                  

I’m very happy to invite you to join our faculty and current students on Monday, March 26, for a special event: Spring into the Arts!

We’ll begin with a welcome reception at 2:00 pm, in the Arena Gallery, located in the Art Building at 830 Bolton Road, Storrs.  From there, we will proceed to two unique hands-on workshops with our faculty, followed by dinner with current students and faculty. We wrap up at 7:00 p.m., which is in plenty of time for you to take in an evening arts event on campus or explore our downtown.

 

Of course, we’re looking forward to the chance to spend time with those of you who’ve already decided to join the Class of 2022, but we’ll be equally glad for a chance to show those of you who are undecided the best of who we are and what we do at UConn Art and Art Hisotry.  Please come see why taking advantage of the Best of Both Worlds – an immersive studio or art history education in the context of a major research university – provides a wonderful foundation for careers in the arts.

 

This event provides a unique opportunity for prospective students to spend time with us, as part of our community.  As a side note, while we’re usually very happy to see parents and families, Spring into the Arts! is an event for admitted students only.   However, we will be hosting a parents’ session from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. on this evening in Room 101 of the Art Building.  Parents and families will be able to speak with Eva Gorbants, Assistant Dean and Director of Advising for the School of Fine Arts.  Assistant Dean Gorbants is a great resource, and is very knowledgeable about all academic matters here at UConn.  Parents and families will also be welcome to join us at the general University Open House on Saturday, April 14.

 

The following are itineraries for admitted students and parents:

 

Spring into the Arts! – 3/26/18 (Admitted Students)
2:00 – 2:30 p.m. Welcome Reception – Arena Gallery, Art Building
2:30 – 4:00 p.m. Hands on Watercolor Workshop: Participants will work with Professor Kathryn Myers.  This workshop will be held in the Art Building, Room 116.
4:00 – 4:15 p.m. Break
4:15 – 6:00 p.m. Studio Lighting Demonstration: Participants will see a demonstration of lighting techniques, and the resulting effects.  Participants will actually take photographs, with the guidance of the Photography instructors.  This workshop will be held in the Art Building, Room 102.
6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Taco Bar Dinner – Arena Gallery, Art Building

 

Spring into the Arts! – 3/26/18 (Parents/Families)
6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Parents’ Session w/Eva Gorbants, Assistant Dean and Director of Advising – Room 101 of the Art Building

To reserve a place at Spring into the Arts, RSVP to art@uconn.edu by Wednesday, March 22, and please let us know if you have any special dietary needs.  Feel free to contact us with any questions at that email address or by phone at 860-486-3930.

Sincerely,

Cora Lynn Deibler

Department Head

MFA Studio Art Thesis Preview Opening Reception 2/28 from 4-6 pm

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On Wednesday Feb. 28th Greenhouse Studios, located on the 1st floor of the Homer Babbage Library, will host the opening reception of the MFA Studio Art Thesis Preview from 4-6pm.

This event is the first art exhibition to be shown in the newly installed gallery space within Greenhouse Studios.

The exhibition features the work of the five current, third-year studio art graduate students and serves as a preview of their work before the culmination of their final thesis exhibition to held at the William Benton Museum of Art, beginning in April.

Featured artwork by:

Kelsey Miller

Kaleigh Rusgrove

Erin Smith

Jelena Prljevic

Claire Stankus

Curated by: River Soma

Please join us for some art, inspiration and the celebration of our new gallery space. All are welcome and light refreshments will be served.

https://greenhousestudios.uconn.edu/

Open Position: Department Head and Professor, Art and Art History

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Applications and nominations are invited for the position of Department Head, Department of Art & Art History in the School of Fine Arts at the University of Connecticut. The department seeks a dynamic leader with a distinguished record of creative and scholarly achievement, and a clear vision to lead the faculty in shaping the future of the unit. The new Head should be forward-looking, with a broad knowledge of emerging trends and opportunities in the visual arts, and the imagination and flexibility to respond to the changing needs of students and faculty. Candidates should have a strong record in university education and administration, and a national and international profile in research and/or creative practice deserving appointment as a full, tenured professor in the department.

The University of Connecticut (UConn) is in the midst of a transformational period of growth supported by the $1.7B Next Generation Connecticut (http://nextgenct.uconn.edu/) and the $1B Bioscience Connecticut (http://biosciencect.uchc.edu/) investments and a bold new Academic Plan: Path to Excellence (http://issuu.com/uconnprovost/docs/academic-plan-single-hi-optimized_1).  We are pleased to continue these investments by inviting applications for the Department Head of Art & Art History.

The Department of Art & Art History has over 170 undergraduate majors, 15 graduate students, and a full-time faculty of 21, along with a number of specialist adjunct faculty and a committed team of staff. The department is dedicated to the cultivation of artists and scholars with a wide-ranging understanding of the concepts, aesthetics, techniques, and social functions of contemporary art practices within broader historical and cultural contexts. It offers the degrees of BFA in Studio Art (with concentrations in graphic design, illustration/animation, painting/drawing, photography/video, printmaking, and sculpture/ceramics), BA in Art History, and a three-year MFA program in Studio Art. All programs are accredited by NASAD. The department is also committed to enriching the wider university and regional community through a range of courses for non-majors, minor programs in Studio Art and Art History, and a variety of offerings at UConn’s regional campuses across the state, as well as through major public exhibitions and thematic programming in collaboration with other departments and schools across the university. Additional information about the Department of Art & Art History can be found at: http://art.uconn.edu .

The successful candidate will demonstrate excellence in one or more of the department’s areas of specialization, which range widely across the visual arts and art history. Applications from candidates with experience of working in a program that combines studio art, design, and art history, and with a proven commitment to interdisciplinary research and practice in a Research I university, are especially welcome.

The new Head will be expected to have a strong commitment to academic excellence in a major research institution, and to fostering diversity and inclusiveness at all levels of the academic enterprise, including faculty and staff hiring and student recruitment. She or he will work collaboratively with the Dean, to whom the Head reports directly, and with other leaders within the School of Fine Arts, particularly the Heads of the other academic departments (Digital Media & Design, Dramatic Arts, and Music), and the directors of the Benton Museum of Art and of the Contemporary Art Galleries, to implement the strategic goals of the School and of UConn’s Academic Plan. The Head will oversee budget, personnel (including faculty promotion and tenure procedures governed by AAUP contract, and management of unionized staff), curriculum, and facilities, and work closely with faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, and outside constituencies to support and promote the vision and mission of the department.

The Storrs campus is located in a beautiful area of New England, with a moderate cost of living and proximity to major cultural, recreational, and urban centers of the Northeast. The University community provides residents with a rich diversity of cultural, artistic, athletic, and historic experiences, and the surrounding area offers affordable quality housing and top schools for faculty and families.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

  • Earned terminal degree as recognized in candidate’s primary field.
  • Distinguished record of research and practice in the candidate’s primary field of expertise, commensurate with appointment as a tenured full professor at the University of Connecticut.
  • Demonstrated success in an administrative leadership role in higher education.
  • Record of successful teaching in higher education.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • At least 3-5 years of experience in an academic leadership position, such as Department Head, Associate Department Head, Associate Dean, or Center Director.
  • Leadership experience in a department or school encompassing studio art, design, and art history.
  • Record of initiative in promoting diversity among faculty, staff, and students.
  • Record of interdisciplinary collaboration in research and/or curriculum development.
  • Demonstrated success in obtaining and managing research funding from external agencies, including major grants and sponsored and entrepreneurial projects.

APPOINTMENT TERMS

This is a full-time, 10-month tenure track position with an anticipated start date of August 23, 2018. The successful candidate’s appointment will be at the Storrs campus. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.

TO APPLY

Applications can be submitted through the University of Connecticut Employment Opportunities website (http://www.jobs.uconn.edu). Application packages should be submitted as a single PDF file including: (1) a cover letter; (2) a curriculum vitae; (3) a two-page statement outlining the candidate’s personal vision and goals for education and research in the visual arts, and their approach to academic leadership; and (4) names and contact information of five professional references. (Later in the search process shortlisted candidates will be asked to submit additional statements, on teaching, research, and commitment to diversity, as mandated by University policy.)

Review of applications will begin on Monday, January 8, 2018. The position is open until filled. Employment of the successful candidate will be contingent upon the successful completion of a pre-employment criminal background check. (Search #2018269)

Inquiries concerning the position should be directed to Arielle Hill-Moses, Assistant to the Dean, at arielle.hill-moses@uconn.edu, or tel. (860) 486-1593.

All employees are subject to adherence to the State Code of Ethics which may be found at http://www.ct.gov/ethics/site/default.asp .

The University of Connecticut is committed to building and supporting a multicultural and diverse community of students, faculty and staff. The diversity of students, faculty and staff continues to increase, as does the number of honors students, valedictorians and salutatorians who consistently make UConn their top choice. More than 100 research centers and institutes serve the University’s teaching, research, diversity, and outreach missions, leading to UConn’s ranking as one of the nation’s top research universities. UConn’s faculty and staff are the critical link to fostering and expanding our vibrant, multicultural and diverse University community. As an Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity employer, UConn encourages applications from women, veterans, people with disabilities and members of traditionally underrepresented populations.

10/9 Rita Lombardi Visiting Artist Presentation

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Visiting Artist Presentation
Monday, October 9, 2017, 4:00pm
Storrs Campus, Art Building, Arena Gallery

Rita Lombardi received her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and her MFA from The University of Connecticut. She has been the recipient of grants and scholarships, including a travel grant from the University of Connecticut, a travel scholarship from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and the John Renna Arts Scholarship, National Endowment for the Arts.  She was an artist in residence at the School of Visual Arts in NY and at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, CT.

Lombardi currently resides in central New York state where she is Assistant Professor of Photography at Pratt Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries nationally; in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Louisville, and throughout New England. She has been published in both print and online publications, including F-Stop Magazine, Afield Magazine, Redivider Literary Journal, and Blank Canvas Magazine. Her photographs can be found in various private collections.

Surface #28

Rita Lombardi: Artist Statement

I am endlessly curious about life and the motivations that guide us. It is through observing and picturing the world around me that I come to an understanding of it. I use a variety of materials and instruments within photography to come to these visual understandings. I have involved printmaking, repetition and chance, high-end digital and old-school antique processes, and every format of film camera from 35mm to 8×10. For me, it isn’t so much about what I am using, as it is about what it is I am making and how that relates to what I have used to make it; a symbiotic process of cause and effect.

I am currently, as I often do, working on multiple “projects”. In On Libraries, I am picturing the present usage of community libraries, acknowledging their rich history and striving to see them as a vital part of the future despite their complex and changing current role. With Liminal Umbra I explore abstraction in a photographic artifact, the glass negative.

I find that the best way to answer my own questions is to make things until I understand. I recall the voice of a grade school teacher saying “the only stupid question is the one you don’t ask.”  Put more succinctly by Alice Walker, “So much of the satisfying work of life begins as an experiment; having learned this, no experiment is ever quite a failure.”

4/19 Opening Reception: “Include, Exclude” by Diana Abouchacra

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Join us this Wednesday April 19th, 2017 at 6:30pm for the opening reception of “Include, Exclude,” by Diana Abouchacra. This work explores Xenophobia through printmaking. A performance will take place at 7:00pm.

Reception will take place in Vais Gallery located inside the art building, RM 109 on the first floor.

The exhibit will be on view through April 22, 2017.

 

 

4/11 Visiting Artist from India: Ravi Argawal

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Visiting photographer and environmental activist from India Ravi Agarwal

When: TWO talks:
Tuesday April 11, 2017
11:00 am – This talk is about his environmental work
4:00pm – This talk is about his photographic career

Where:
ARTB Room 119 (11:00am)
ARTB Room 101 (4:00pm)  Now happening in the Arena Gallery located inside the Art Building.

 

4/4 Visiting Artist: Joseph DeLappe

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Sponsored by

Department of Art & Art History Digital Media & Design Department Digital Humanities and Media Studies Thomas J. Dodd Research Center Human Rights Institute

Artist Joseph DeLappe engages the intersections
of art, technology, social engagement/activism and interventionist strategies exploring geo-political contexts. Working with electronic and new media since 1983, his work in online gaming performance, sculpture and electromechanical installation has been shown internationally. His creative works
and actions have been featured widely in scholarly journals, books and in popular media—his most familiar work is a performative and memorializing intervention into the US Army video game recruitment website, “America’s Army.”

RESISTANCE, PLAY, AND MEMORY

When: Tuesday April 4, 2017 at 5:30 pm
Where: Konover Auditorium Thomas J. Dodd Center

Additional Artist Info: delappe.net

3/30 Artist Claudia Alvarez Visits

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  • Department of Art & Art History Sculpture/Ceramics Area & the Association of Ceramic Artists (Clay Club) Student Organization Present Our Spring 2017 Visiting Artist with support from the Gus Mazzocca Visiting Artists and Scholars Fund 

    Claudia Alvarez

    Artist Lecture/Demonstration

    Thursday – Friday March 30-31, 2017 

    10:00am-12:30pm & 1:30-4:00pm

    Art Building Rm. 117

     

    Claudia Alvarez is a painter and sculptor currently living in New York City. Born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1969 and raised in California from the age of three, she received a BA from the University of California, Davis in 1999, and an MFA from California College of Arts, San Francisco in 2003.

    Alvarez worked at the University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, California from 1987-2000. Deeply affected by the terminally ill children and elderly patients she encountered as a non-emergency ambulance driver, she reflects on their strength and vulnerability through her painted and sculpted figures.

    The Art Building main entrance is located on Bolton Road behind the Drama/Music Building on Rte. 195 Hillside Road at 280 Bolton Rd. Storrs, CT 06269

    For more information, contact: Department of Art & Art History Office at 860-486-3930

3/28 Opening Reception Laura Newman

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STRUCTURES

Paintings by Laura Newman

March 28 – May 5, 2017
Monday – Friday 10 am – 4 pm

Public Talk
March 28th from 4 – 5 pm – Art Building, VAIS room 109

Exhibition and Artist’s Reception
March 28th from 5 – 6 pm – Art Building, CAG

The Contemporary Art Galleries will present an exhibition of artworks including paintings by New York based artists Laura Newman. Prior to the artists’ reception, Newman will present a public talk on her artwork at 4pm in UConn’s Art Building. This event is open to the public, and free of charge.

Newman states,

“In my recent paintings, architectural structures serve as containers for space. My paintings fold together a variety of approaches to form-among them hard-edged geometrical shapes, loose gestural forms arrived at through the actual process of painting, and representational references. The imagery in my work is poised between building sites and urban ruins, structures and deconstruction. Brushstrokes form structures that frame geometric paintings, embedded windows and fragments of views.”

Laura Newman is an abstract painter who lives and works in Brooklyn. In 2016 her work was included in Machines of Paint and Other Materials, 72 Front Street, Brooklyn; Conference of the Birds, Shirley Fiterman Art Center, New York; Surface Two, curated by Renee Ricardo, Arena, Brooklyn; and Inside Out, Art 101, Brooklyn. She has had solo shows at Jen Bekman Gallery, 1 GAP Gallery, The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, Lesley Heller Workspace, Bellwether Gallery and Victoria Munroe Gallery. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Brian Morris Gallery, Fordham University, Lesley Heller Workspace, The National Academy of Art, The Weatherspoon Museum of Art, The New Museum and many others.

Publications include a catalog from NSCAD University with essays by John Yau and Amy Sillman, and reviews in The Brooklyn Rail, Artforum Magazine, The New York Times, and Bomb Magazine.

She has received fellowships and awards from Yaddo, The American Academy in Rome, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, The American Academy of Arts and Letters, MacDowell Colony and The New York Foundation on the Arts.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, and educated at Cooper Union, the California Institute of the Arts, and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, she is an Associate Professor in the Art Department at Vassar College.

3/27 Spring into the Arts!

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We are happy to invite newly admitted students to join our faculty and current students on Monday, March 27, for a special event: Spring into the Arts!

We’ll begin with a welcome reception at 2:00 pm, in the basement level of the Bishop Center, located at One Bishop Circle, Storrs.  From there, we will proceed to two unique hands-on workshops with our faculty, followed by dinner with current students and faculty. We wrap up at 7:00 p.m., which is in plenty of time for you to take in an evening arts event on campus or explore our downtown.

This event provides a unique opportunity for prospective students to spend time with us, as part of our community.

As a side note, while we’re usually very happy to see parents and families, Spring into the Arts! is an event for admitted students only.   However, we will be hosting a parents’ session from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. on this evening in Room 107 of the Art Building.  Parents and families will be able to speak with Eva Gorbants, Assistant Dean and Director of Advising for the School of Fine Arts.  Assistant Dean Gorbants is a great resource, and is very knowledgeable about all academic matters.  Parents and families will also be welcome to join us at the general University Open House on Saturday, April 8.

3/9 Open Studios 2017

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The UCONN MFA students invite you to the 2017 Spring Semester Open Studios Event! Current artwork from the graduate students will be on view and their studio doors will be open, this is a great opportunity to talk with the MFA students about their work and studio practice + there will be a taco bar provided by Moe’s Southwest Grill!

Thursday, March 9th from 6-8PM at the Visual Arts Research Center (VARC) located on UConn’s Depot Campus in the Lebanon and Colchester buildings.

Address is: 95 Ahern Lane Storrs Mansfield, CT, 06269

DIRECTIONS:

The VARC is located on the UConn Depot Campus, just off Rt. 44.

*BY BUS: From the UConn main campus, take the Purple Line and get off at the Lebanon Cottage stop

*BY CAR: From 195, take Rt 44 West.

At the stoplight next to the former prison, make a left onto Walters Avenue. Stay right at the fork to merge onto Ahern Lane.

Just past the abandoned buildings, you should see Lebanon Cottage and a blue sign that says “Visual Arts Research Center.” Parking is FREE and so are the tacos. See you there!