B.F.A. Senior Exhibition 2020

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Hannah Austin

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“Art acts as both an extension and an exploration of the artist, whether it is intentional or unintentional. For everything revealed there is something concealed. I communicate to the viewer both directly and indirectly. My messages are not always conscious decisions. The subjects I choose act as metaphorical representations of my internal and external conflicts. I hope my work is an invitation for viewers to connect with me or with each other.”

Amelia Busha

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“I attempt to capture the connection and spirit of my friends and family within paintings. I represent that connection visually with my arbitrary use of color and textural use of opaque paint. The process of painting allows me to explore and represent these unique relationships. Often, painting feels like a battle in which I struggle with myself to physically complete a work. Each of my works is a visual representation of that arduous fight. In the end, my paintings become a symbolic embodiment of my relationship with the person I am painting.”

Erin Doescher

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“The way we interpret and observe the world greatly influences how we conduct our own lives.

The words, actions and movements of those around us all play an integral part in who we are. My work addresses the psychology and dialogue of human moments and interactions. My interest lies within how people, often those within my own life, perform and react to one another as well as how I perceive them. Through a combination of processes that catalyze imagery, I create an isolated and ambiguous space where I can suspend the subject from its context. I strive to create images and forms that offer new relationships for the viewer to engage with. At the conclusion of my work in both ceramics and painting, I focus on the expressive and emotional sense I intend for the viewer to experience that I admit throughout the process of creating them.”

Gregory Gallup

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“Art has always been a deeply emotional and personal experience for me. The work in this exhibition reflects how I interact with and interpret the world around me. When confronted with an unfamiliar subject, observation drives my decision-making process.  I carefully analyze the minute details of the material before me in order to familiarize myself with its unique qualities and characteristics. Once I develop a connection to the subject, I allow the resulting emotional response to guide me to complete the piece. The various approaches I employ in my studio practice reflect this balance between visual interaction and personal interpretation.”

Elsa Koop-Angelicola

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“The goal of my painting is to capture the raw power and beauty found in nature. I aim to establish a dialogue with the viewer through a dynamic composition of movement, color and form. These are the driving visual elements of my painting and all of my formal choices are intended to evoke an emotional response to the places I paint. 

In my drawings, the concepts of emotion and interpersonal relationships are elements that are explored and established. With my chosen subject matter, I manipulate color, light and form to express deep emotion while playing with the aspects of the human psyche. My drawings are a reminder that we are all human and often more complex than what is seen on the surface.”

Hannah McCasland

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“A home is a place of origin, family and comfort. A house is the structure that's symbolic of a home, a facade. Houses conceal the realities of a home and the people who inhabit them. Houses represent the euphoria and nostalgia of family, capturing a story or dream of childhood and life. This dream of stability, well-being, and serenity that a home should embody can be hindered by a dysphoric, neglectful reality. My work embraces this contrast of euphoria and dysphoria, dream vs reality. My work also addresses the discontentment of family due to abuse and neglect, as a house’s facade disintegrates, revealing the realities of a dwelling.”

Matthew McGarr

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“I have always found great interest in suburban neighborhoods. There’s a complex simplicity in these environments where architectural elements, whether eclectic or uniform, coexist with the natural world. That is why I strive to edit the subject to the fewest strokes and movements necessary to convey the mood and beauty of the moment. The utilization of light and color further enhances the depth and substance of the simplified image.”

Brian Menia

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“My art is inspired by vintage psychedelic/punk-rock music posters, obscure graphic novels and posters from classic Western cinema. These designs are meant to intrigue, mystify and liquefy their viewers with shockingly beautiful and grotesque imagery infused with vivid and bold typography. Similarly, my art aims to transport the viewer into a more fantastical and cinematic world where legend is as good as fact and even the mundane experiences in life are composed with a keen eye for drama. My work is also concerned with the relationship between marketing and artwork because I think it has the most direct impact on people’s lives in the contemporary climate. The world is a wonderfully visceral place to exist and that is partly due to the contributions made by people’s wildest and most radical thoughts. It is my chosen responsibility to aid in the continuation of a visually fascinating world and these are my contributions.”

Liam Morton

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“In making this animation I have in mind issues of family, relationships and addiction.  This work conveys the bipolar nature of an innately dysfunctional household — that being the stark highs and lows it can bring. Piggybacking off of this I also show the destructive nature of resisting change in this environment. 

These ideas are presented in my animation by using a downtrodden mini-mart plopped in the middle of a small town that has seen better days. This little store becomes a beacon of change for those who enter and forces it to happen no matter the cost. I have created a surreal environment that seems to exist adjacent to reality, inspired by countless hours wasted on the internet and the foggy haze that it brings.

Yard Sale Magazine is a full size, experimental magazine that is an undertaking of both myself and Brian Menia. We have made a publication that expresses what we like to see in design and in ourselves as designers.  For a long time I have been interested in counterculture — the art that it inspires, and the art that inspires it. With a blend of cartoon, techno and grunge elements, every design I made for Yard Sale conveys the excitement of going to an underground show, the band may suck and the venue might be too small, but there are cheap beers and the poster was cool.”

Chloe Murasso

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“Nature is full of dynamic colors which can be difficult to see at first glance.  In my work, I reach into landscapes and pull out the hidden and extraordinary colors that I see.  Pushing the boundaries of whimsical color and atmospheric perspective in landscapes is most important to my painting process.  The bulk of my work is inspired by the breathtaking vistas of Dingle, Ireland.”

Ashley Orzech

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“My work is focused on communicating emotion through an intuitive use of color and composition. Interactions between color, shape and form in my work come together to create a harmony focused on how I am feeling when I create my work. My environment and how I react to it has always been an important part of my development as an artist. I try to express myself through my work, thereby creating pieces that are each deeply personal. Every work, whether it be my graphic design work or my drawings, is built around an emotion. My digital work is composed in order to conjure certain reactions; my design work is usually more refined. My drawings, however, are less refined and more focused on what I am feeling in the moment I create them.”

Kathleen Recore

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“As an artist, my goal is to produce art that catches the attention of the viewer through my design work. It is my objective to create work that is contemporary and that communicates clearly and directly. Inspired by the works of Chip Kidd, Saul Bass, Stefan Sagmeister and Armin Hofmann, I aspire to create pieces that reflect the design quality of these innovators. I never thought that graphic design would be the field that I would choose, but creating design work is my passion. My hope is to continue to grow as an artist and become a more knowledgeable person through my work, to expand my knowledge and to communicate with clarity and aesthetics.”

Erika Snyder

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“The relationship between the body and mind is vital as it influences mental awareness and the subconscious. Visions of life, the beyond and the physical embodiments of mental illness culminate to form a display in mixed media drawings. The aggressive and repetitive nature of my process makes for a meditative experience of a flustered mind. I relate a sense of attachment with a palette of strong, vivid and vibrant color. The deep and eerie spaces construct a feeling of the unknown, and how that state of mind can be translated. My connection with these stimuli is created and yet, can be fractured.

The abstract concept of mental illness is physically embodied with manipulatable materials. Such forms refer to the feelings of daily life living with a mental illness. Forms are repetitive, numerous and interactive with their environment. In the process of building, the monotonous nature of the work acts as a meditative and healing process. The sculptures play with repulsion versus attraction with colors that correlate to flesh, blood and fat. In that lies a culture that romanticizes mental illness instead of understanding the traumatic repercussions of suffering from one.”

Holly Yandow

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“It is difficult to stay grounded in a world filled with materialism and consumer ideologies.  In this body of ceramic work I focus on products endorsed through social media and advertisements that aim to coax us into an artificial world fueled by popular culture.

I have grown up in a time that the environment is rapidly changing, and it feels as though it is something about which I can do nothing. Discussions about climate change and the destruction of our natural resources seem to occur on a daily basis. I know that I will see even more dramatic changes in my lifetime. I am fearful and anxious about my future. My photographs, quite literally, put a spotlight on the natural world. I’m exploring the concept of vulnerability because I feel vulnerable, from both a personal and global perspective.”