Twenty Seventh Annual Alumni Reunion Art Exhibiton

Curators: Leslie Ferst ’76, Sara Hallberg Boivin ’96, Cameron Ledy ‘11

Welcome to the virtual gallery for this year's Twenty SeventhAnnual Alumni Reunion Art Exhibition. Special thanks to our curators Leslie Ferst ’76, Sara Hallberg Boivin ’96, and Cameron Ledy ‘11who curated this exhibition electronically and via video conference. We appreciate the participation of all of our artists, and their willingness to be included in this virtual presentation honoring our talented alumni in classes ending in 1's and 6's.

• Janet Alling '61
• Bonnie Rosenberg Rosenthal '66
• Barbara Burgess Maier '71
• Katharine Kreisher '71
• Carol Palmer '71
• Sarah Saltus Siddig '71
• Suzanne Cahill Sayia '71
• Karen Zefting Alcorn '71
• Linda Zieper '71
• Eleanor Choukas Anderson '76
• Deborah Volkman Falls '76
• Leslie Ferst '76
• Joel Keener '76
• Karen Schwarz Schlansky '76
• Carol Snow '76
• Susan Pickarski Suriyapa '76
• Meg Steele Wingerath '76
• Terry Dannenberg Marcus '81
• Katherine Houghton '81
• Amy Kaps '81
• Cynthia Lombardi '81
• Susan Meyer '86
• Roxanne Felton Rubell '86
• Geralyn Guidone Staab '86
• Patty Boulware Driscoll '91
• Alex Griffin '91
• Tati Kaupp '91
• Chanika Svetvilas '91
• Sara Hallberg Boivin '96
• Tim Clark '96
• Brad Moody '96
• Abigail Murray '96
• Emily Serway '96
• Leigh Yardley '96
• Mac Love '01
• Lauren Roberts-Fairbanks Smith '01
• Josh Gerritsen '06
• David Kaufmann '06
• Jasper Goodrich '11
• Melinda Kiefer '11
• Cameron Ledy '11
• Michael Levin '11
• Hannah Mode '11
• Galen Odell-Smedley '11
• Bryan Tuckman '11
• Eduardo Albanell Esteve '16
• Ruth Allard '16
• Zach Collins '16
• Camilla Marie Busby Dahl '16
• Rachelle Gage '16
• Billie Kanfer '16
• Sonya Thorne '16
• Roslyn Wertheimer '16

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Janet Alling '61

http://www.janetalling.art

These paintings are from the series 'Patterns', i.e. variegated patterned leaves. I've devoted my art career to painting plants and flowers since 1967. I work from live plants and with their abstract-like patterns, yet insist on the reality of each plant and leaf. Please visit my website, to view the breadth of my work.

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Bonnie Rosenberg Rosenthal '66

I find new uses for discarded or broken objects, recycling common items. My art is about seeing things in a new way.

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Barbara Burgess Maier '71

http://www.burgessmaier.net

Concern for how we must interact deeply and authentically with the world drives my visual work and my writing. Having lectured and published on the related topics of creativity and the importance of attention and reflection, I hope to challenge the viewer to attend and reflect as they share in my translations of experience. Allow time to shape your own meaning as you free fall into the work... ride the marks... push past edges... and find a place to dream. "We shall not cease from exploration/And the end of all our exploring/Will be to arrive where we started/And know the place for the first time." — from T.S. Eliot's "Little Gidding"

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Katharine Kreisher '71

http://www.katharinekreisherinstallations.com

"Hekate's Dream" is the working title for my colorful crocheted and knit installation, built from funnel-like shapes referencing desert plant forms and blooms. It is as if the archaic domestic goddess Hekate dreamed of a desert landscape where distorted plants give way to surprising blooms, funnels deliver water and disrupting whirlwinds come and go. Working with the yarn, thread and cloth to "find" the imagery, I imagined myself at all ages in half-remembered rooms with my mother and grandmothers. We talked and talked while we knit sweaters and darned socks, patched and crocheted, made hooked rugs from old wool suits and fashioned quilts from old cotton dresses. Sometimes, elegant designs resulted, but at other times we were making repairs and "making do," transforming the scraps of yesterday into something new, useful and beautiful. Other artists participated in "Hekate's Dream" by crocheting some of the desert blooms. My friend Sherry Sugg '71 sent a unique and imaginative orange bloom. An angora hat my mother Miriam had crocheted years ago also made an appearance in the installation. The project was supported in part by a Hartwick College Trustee Research Grant. (www.hartwick.edu). To view a video of the installation click here.

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Carol Palmer '71

At Skidmore during the late '60s to early '70s studying Art and English, I was deeply active in efforts against the Vietnam war, especially when Nixon expanded the war into Cambodia. Imagine my awe at later seeing Nixon ousted as a crook! The Watergate hearings felt like tawdry history being made. Riveted by the live coverage and even the re-runs, I took Maxfield Parrish's composition of "Cleopatra Going Down the Nile" to draw "Nixon Going Down the Potomac." The drawing shows Sam Ervin, who presided in robe with gavel, behind a sick Nixon with thermometer and hot-water bottle. John Dean rows the barge — left hand raised to take the oath — afraid of prison himself. Martha Mitchell sits, privately enjoying Nixon's demise (and that of her corrupt husband John Mitchell, Nixon's AG, soon to spend time in prison). So much for history; "Trump Going Down the Potomac," underway, is far wilder.

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Sarah Saltus Siddig '71

I continue to seek and find a gentle whimsy when painting animals, birds and flowers. The grace and sweetness of the subjects bring lightness to me.

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Suzanne Cahill Sayia '71

I have enjoyed basket weaving for about four years.

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Karen Zefting Alcorn '71

Age and arthritis have caused me to transition from realistic drawings and paintings to digital photography. I currently live on the edge of Eagle Lake outside of Brevard, NC. All my photographs are taken from my home. They are digitally corrected and edited, but otherwise not altered. The colors and creatures are as they presented.

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Linda Zieper '71

I've been making mosaics, small decorative useful objects and using stained glass for almost four years. I have taken workshops at Snow Farm and Luciana Notturni's mosaic school in Ravenna. I think I've found my medium in mosaics: fussy but imperfect.

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Eleanor Choukas Anderson '76

http://enchantedvermont.com

Eleanor Choukas Anderson is a composer, novelist, dancer, actress, illustrator, playwright, mother, grandmother and clinical psychologist.

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Deborah Volkman Falls '76

In my work, I focus on the individual plant, trying to discover its essence through the simplicity of line, form and color. I am interested in the light and intimate space within which we perceive these plants and enjoy the timeless sense of antique botanicals in a contemporary translation.

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Leslie Ferst '76

https://leslieferst.com/

My work explores the interplay between reality, illusion and memory to create organic natural spaces for one to inhabit.

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Joel Keener '76

https://www.deviantart.com/attanis44

Drawing is always an adventure; a journey, observation, experiment, experience, meditation and a joy. It starts with a line and sometimes finishes with a composition. Many drawings are intuitive while some few are planned. Drawing is great therapy, letting free the child. Many of my compositions come from the lines that are liberally and freely scribbled on the paper, not thinking, not directing; this is intuitive drawing. I just respond to the energy of drawing and then the synergy of the parts coming together, a collaboration with the drawing.

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Karen Schwarz Schlansky '76

http://www.karenschlansky.com

Karen Schlansky attended The Arts Students League in New York and received her bachelor's degree from Skidmore College. Later on, she received Fine Arts Appraisal Certification to compliment her Asian Art business, Rose Court Asian Antiques, which she ran for 20 years. Schlansky purchased and sold art world wide. Her travels and the influence of growing up in an artistic family heightened her awareness of color, proportions and nature. Schlansky's dream to paint full-time came true in 2008; she currently works in her NYC studio and exhibits in juried shows. After waiting years to paint her approach to painting is energetic. Schlansky’s process is spontaneous, not overly strategic or planned. The strokes are intuitive mark making, blending abstract forms and textures. Much of her work revolves around weather patterns and habitats that are shifting. Experimenting with various techniques and materials is part of Schlansky's work. She may use acrylic, oil, pastel, tape, molding paste, pastel ground or pencils and markers. If she feels the painting is too frenzied, she will keep refining into shaped disorder, balancing structure and freedom simultaneously. The result are paintings with beauty, some chaos and quiet.

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Carol Snow '76

As a conservator of cultural heritage objects, I have worked on diverse projects from ancient archaeological sites to born digital time-based media.

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Susan Pickarski Suriyapa '76

http://susansuriyapa.com

My artwork references the passage of time and temporality in the choice of subjects and media. Works include: suspended moments, blossoming and mountains amidst sweeping volatile skies. The dissolution and coalescence of subjects are enhanced by the choice of media. Whether it is flowing water media or printing processes, the media is mutable and can change in an instant to parallel nature's flux. The intermingling of earth, water and air is my inspiration. This is my world where boundaries erode, incongruent analogies are drawn and malleable materials are chosen to reflect change.

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Meg Steele Wingerath '76

Eternal Now, Eternally Grateful; Fibre and beads In October, just before the momentous Presidential Election, I began my first wreath that was inspired by Ruth Bader Ginsberg's jabots. I was asked to create a wreath for Festival of the Wreaths, a local fundraiser held yearly before the holiday season. Knowing that I did not want to make a traditional wreath, I realized that the circular nature of RBG's signature neckpieces is wreath-like. The method I used to create the piece is called 'coiling' by basket weavers. Coiling is a work intensive technique and for me, it made me think of the tireless efforts of Justice Ginsberg to bring fairness to all, particularly women and LBGTQIA persons. Adding to this meaningful creation, is a wreath's symbolism for eternal life and unity. My artistic endeavor has been my tribute and celebration to this woman who made history. In these times, Ruth Bader Ginsberg's compassion and empathy made the world a better place. She is unforgettable! In 2018, I retired from teaching middle school art in Malden, MA. I had taught art in public schools for 26 years. Following this, I worked for Massachusetts College of Art and Design as a supervisor for art teacher candidates. In retirement, I look forward to continuing to create my own art in multiple mediums and teaching my grandchildren about art. Currently, these art lessons are on Zoom!

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Terry Dannenberg Marcus '81

Terry Dannenberg Marcus has been playing with mud forever. She enjoyed taking ceramics while an art major at Skidmore. Her career as a graphic designer is gradually being eclipsed by her lifelong passion for pottery. Terry delights in the process and immersion of working with clay. The world, filled with color, light, shapes and pattern, inspires her work. She has a pottery studio at home and is a member of a coop that provides a kiln and a wonderful community of fellow potters. Her work is both wheel-thrown and altered, as well as hand-built.

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Katherine Houghton '81

For many personal and professional reasons I have come to appreciate that as a woman, daughter and sister; photographer and researcher, I am called to visually depict and seek understanding of the lived experiences of women and children whom I encounter during my travels around the world. Throughout my travels, I have discovered that my photographic lens is drawn to make visible and give sight to the experiences of myself and of the women and children that I am meeting, reflecting on, and gaining glimpses of along the journey. Oftentimes, I sense that they are giving me the photograph, rather than me taking the shot. During this exchange, I acquire an awareness of both background and foreground experiences and comprehend the significance of a single image or multiple images that may serve to illustrate a story. As I become less of a stranger in a foreign land, it is as if the camera becomes part of my conversations, views and photographs. Therefore, I have developed a thankful and powerful relationship with my camera. It provides me the ability to focus, see, connect and communicate with others and myself in ways I had not imagined. All through this journey, I am seeking to acknowledge historical, societal, economic, cultural and political conditions that may give explanation to my experiences and images. The purpose of my photography is not to impose my worldview, but rather expose others to multiple views and layers of the lives of women and children. Therefore, there is no one way or correct view of these images. Instead, they are meant to create a connection between the viewer and the photograph. Oftentimes, a viewer may have instances of both realistic and symbolic connections to these images. These simultaneous responses create a dynamic interchange of visions, thoughts and worldviews. Encountering the visual is a never-ending process that has neither a beginning nor an an end; instead it seeks to discover, uncover and recover imagery.

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Amy Kaps '81

http://amykaps.com/

An interdisciplinary artist recognizable by my signature palette of Black and White Stripes with Pink accents, I possess a predilection for the abstract and surreal emphasizing the human form and condition. Presenting a psychological puzzle enticing the viewer to question what they see. Altering perception, I question the status quo while reveling in a feast for the senses, deciphering common denominators while recognizing the similarities within our differences. Performances and installations beckon the viewer to immerse themselves in an optical and visceral environment. Stimulation and provocation of thought, emotion and the proliferation of beauty in the banal are my intention.

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Cynthia Lombardi '81

http://www.facebook.com/cynthia7170

I graduated from Skidmore with a degree in Psychology so that I could help people. But I got stuck in a finance career in NYC. Finally, I had to follow my passion and I learned to paint while studying Interior Design at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). I spent much of my career in Finance and Interior Design in Colorado. These pieces are from my hiking and cowboy days! I recently decided to move to Spain, where I finally will have time to paint. This time, scenes of the sea, and the culture of Europe. Stay tuned!

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Susan Meyer '86

http://www.susanmeyersculpture.com

Experimental communities influence my work; they epitomize our best and worst instincts colliding. "Drop City" was an early (1965) commune in Trinidad, Colorado. At the trash yard, Droppers would use axes to cut out car hoods for their geodesic domes. Given a Dymaxion Award by Buckminster Fuller in '67, Drop City was abandoned by the early '70s. My pieces suggest the forms and palettes of Drop City and of Modernist architecture and design, with elements of discord. Asian scholar's stones, objects of psychic transport, are also an inspiration.

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Roxanne Felton Rubell '86

https://ontheroxmedia.com/roxy-rubell-art

I'm a self-taught painter and my medium is acrylic on canvas. My portrait and abstract paintings are not quiet. They are uninhibited, bold and use color and brush strokes to express unfiltered, visceral creativity, often generating a sense of movement throughout each piece. My intent is to pull the viewer close to experience life in the painting and walk away feeling alive and passionate. Ideas for my paintings are often triggered by literature or magazine articles I've read along with pop culture, music, people, animals and nature. Life! I'm especially drawn to perusing old magazines to contemplate the advertising (most notably old Look Magazines from the mid to late 1960's). In 2019, I created a 10-painting series “Reinterpretations," featuring subjects inspired by various retro ads — everything from iconic Americana touchstones like the Marlboro Man to men's cologne (the catalyst for one of my submissions "Sickened By It All"). The paintings I’ve submitted for potential inclusion in the Skidmore Alumni Exhibit were painted in 2020 and 2021. The portrait “Sickened by It All,” reflects the early days of the pandemic and the emotions that accompanied it – fear, anxiety, disgust. Ten months later with the announcement of the eventual availability of a vaccine, the dark mood goaded by the pandemic started its slow shift toward optimism and I chose to reflect this energy by working in a larger format for “Morning Burst” which integrates textured bursts of coral as the gateway color and the connector to a spirited composition of textured black on black, yellow on blue, streaks of yellow-green and splashes of green gold. “Poppy Time,” carries through the theme of optimism using the melding of texture and dynamic hues set against an airy background to achieve tangible dimension aimed at connoting a sense of comfort and relaxation. Things are looking up.

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Geralyn Guidone Staab '86

I have been working on a series of studies called "Home Improvement." The concept of home improvement encompasses the dichotomy between renovations to my own homes over the years, and the found objects, materials, waste and repurposing that is an outgrowth of that process, to the need to reform our country's current socio-economic and political situation; including racism, gerrymandering, voter suppression, gun control, food insecurity, environmental issues and other injustices. It seemed absurd at times that I would be preoccupied with what color to paint a room or whether my windows needed to be replaced while others have no home or are being displaced from them, are hungry or in need. We as consumers amass so much stuff and I decided to use these resources and take discarded, regular household materials and use them in a new way. My connectivity to the physicality of items, of objects that can tell a story, made constructing assemblage pieces make sense. Upcycling materials that one would use for home improvement: plywood, house paint, nails and screws, old knobs, construction glue, etc. has given me an outlet to explore some of the issues facing our world today and grapple with how to improve our home, the United States, and the entire earth.

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Patty Boulware Driscoll '91

http://www.pattybdriscoll.com

In my studio practice, I utilize traditional genres and processes such as the still life, water gilding, metalwork, and textiles; layering my work with subtle narratives and subject matter that investigate the context of the feminine/feminist identity. My work is a dialogue with historical pathways, iconography, and the symbolism of women, challenging implicit societal representations and inculcated cultural values.

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Alex Griffin '91

My work is a weaving of worlds, a bringing the "as above so below"maxim of the alchemists together.

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Tati Kaupp '91

http://www.tatikaupp.com

I lived in Mexico as a small child. My parents were doing PhD field work in anthropology, engaging with folk art makers and exploring their workspaces. They attended colorful village ceremonies, celebrations and fantastical dances. I was a young kid along for the ride. Growing up, I spent much time interacting and playing with many beautiful and whimsical objects in our home. My early experiences were fundamental to my sense of wonder in art and the art making process. Magical realism, the transformational qualities of an art object and its function, the liveliness of the possibilities of art and art making, the value an object can hold on many levels; these ideas inform my work today. Color, pattern, narrative, function and the environments they inhabit are at the core of my work. My personal art vocabulary comes through whether I am working in oil, watercolors, hand building in clay or throwing or working with wood in wall sculptures or furniture. I am interested in exploring materials and methods to create art pieces that transform the magical realism of my youth into magical abstraction.

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Chanika Svetvilas '91

http://chanikasvetvilas.com

My interdisciplinary practice focuses on the diversity of the lived experience of mental health difference and the impact of the stigma, discrimination and inequity on access to care. I utilize an archive of medication guides, prescription bottles, historical and psychiatric resource materials that reflect mental health conditions and systemic and historical legacies to find strength in vulnerability. I use charcoal in my drawings as a transformative material which, when in activated form, is also used to absorb chemical substances such as when a stomach is pumped. I manipulate prescription bottles with a heat gun; pulling, cutting, prodding, nailing and embellishing to reflect side effects, the intersections of treatment, access and stigma and their contradictions. I play with scale to magnify and make visible the content of the work and reveal the messiness of process and imperfections. This body of work was developed based on my personal experiences as someone diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a way to grasp and translate meaning through the lens of disability justice and mad pride. This is an extension of my continued interest to apply personal narrative as a way to share experiences to disrupt stereotypes and to reflect on neurodiversity, contemporary issues and an intersectional identity through installation, multimedia, video and performative actions and ultimately to make the invisible visible and animate the inanimate.

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Sara Hallberg Boivin '96

My art is mostly a hobby. I concentrate on themes of flora and fauna, combined with my interest in medieval sculpture, particularly those of female saints and the Virgin Mary. I am interested in the mystical intersection of the idealized feminine with the natural world. I work primarily in papier mache and acrylics.

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Tim Clark '96

http://www.timclarksculpture.com

Tim Clark was born in Bangkok, Thailand. He received his BS in Studio Art from Skidmore College and his MFA in Ceramics from the School for American Crafts, Rochester Institute of Technology. Upon completing his undergraduate degree, Tim apprenticed with Toshiko Takaezu for one year in Quakertown, NJ. He has taught ceramics at Edmund Burke School in Washington, DC, and at Darrow School in New Lebanon, NY. Tim currently resides in Natick, MA where he is a studio artist and teaches ceramics at The Rivers School in Weston. Tim is married and has two children.

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Brad Moody '96

https://www.bradjmoody.com

I am an educator and digital media artist. Digital media is often defined as a range of varied topics; and it's rare that there is a collective opinion regarding what falls under this category. My ongoing research and educational direction is done so with this in mind to highlight the array of areas digital platforms are integrated under the greater topic. Electronic Arts is the core of my research, interest and experience. With research into all aspects of video, sound, new and emerging technologies, mobile media and interactive design, I critically and creatively explore the different possibilities in fusing the aspects of each to create multi-faceted works.

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Abigail Murray '96

http://abigail-murray.com

I create simple, utilitarian forms with complex surfaces of found and created textures. I explore ideas of pattern, layering and light referencing the repetition and precision of technology while delighting in the subtle imperfections of the entirely handmade.

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Emily Serway '96

As an artist, writer, musician, and art teacher living and working in Portland, Maine, I am surrounded by art and nature. For the past eighteen years, I have taught art in Portland Public Schools, and during this time I have tried to bring local artists into my classroom to enrich the artistic lives of my students. This is important to me, because as a young artist, my work with well-known and highly respected artists such as Toshiko Takaezu, Jeff Elgin and John Miller changed me, inspiring me to be a creative force in the world. Over the years, I have worked in many media; most recently I have been captivated by the process of encaustic painting. With its layering capability, sheen and unpredictability, it lends itself to the creation of landscapes and seascapes, no two of which can ever be the same. I am lucky to live in this beautiful state, surrounded by nature's extraordinary beauty and never at a loss for inspiration.

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Leigh Yardley '96

http://LeighYardley.com

I create paintings and installations with translucent material based on my observations and immersion in the systems of landscape.The encounter plays a fundamental role in my work. The work itself often starts as material placed as an interaction in landscape. These interactions with space are motivated by a desire for a relationship with a place and the moment. By walking, looking, collecting detritus and using material that becomes an element of that space the work becomes a distillation of the encounter. For several years my work has focused the networks of landscape that are tied to water as a foundational resource. My connections and understandings of the physical impact of water, its role in the economy and culture is tied to this system of landscape, the watershed. I am beginning to think of the watershed as a metaphor for memory. That we have a collective memory that filters our views and understanding of place. During the residency I want to expand on this concept of memories lost in the watershed. To create work that interacts with a space moving my perception of landscape from a scenic vista to a larger ecological understanding of place.

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Mac Love '01

http://www.artxlove.com

You are invited to download two coloring pages from the Parks Unlimited activity book.

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Lauren Roberts-Fairbanks Smith '01

http://laurendanasmithart.com

My current body of work explores the climate of internal place, magnified through the layering of unexpected yet familiar corporeal forms, the emotional impact of color and the stillness of memory. In my paintings, I am interested in the impact of personal and collective trauma and transformative experience on the psyche through the composition of abstracted forms, saturated colors and textural/sculptural elements. Prior to permanently relocating to New Mexico in July of 2020, I served as a front-line healthcare worker in an NYC hospital, providing psychological support to end-of-life COVID-19 patients and their families from the comfort of my own home. In order to be present for these most intimate of human moments, I initiated a painting series in my home studio in response to the immensity of human loss I witnessed on a daily basis. In my creative life, I have always straddled two worlds: healing and art. It is impossible to choose between the two. I find now that these concepts are intrinsically linked and reveal a path forward out of collective rupture and towards a place of repair. This rupture/repair process is evident through my textural and sculptural paintings that explore both the interior spaces and exterior boundaries of physical form, the natural world and human consciousness. I make paintings that test the boundaries we choose and those we don't. I find inspiration amongst daydreams, maps, nightmares, topography of place, family photographs and still life and personal mythologies. I am interested in honoring the depth, contour and narrative of the American Southwest and its parallels to personal and ancestral history and memory. I am interested in the bodily experience of the land as home and the mirror it provides to us in times of calm and times of chaos.

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Josh Gerritsen '06

http://www.joshgerritsen.com

I have been captivated by the power of the ocean since I was a child. My "Rocks in Water" series represents this power, with the passage of time through a long exposure literally painting the picture. For it is the force of the ocean that compels the continual movement of water, creating an ethereal mist that surrounds the rocks. I only capture my photographs when certain conditions collide: a clear sky, an early dawn hour, and an outgoing tide that has recently reached its apex. It is in this very short and narrow timeframe that I can get just the right amount of rock popping out of the water with just the right amount of sunlight kissing the top of the frame. My "Rocks in Water" series is about the darkness that surrounds us. But the light is just around the corner if you wait for it.

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David Kaufmann '06

http://dkaufmann.com

My job as a potter is to humbly infuse everyday objects with human sensitivity. It is my hope that the pottery I make is easy to live with and exists in a way that winks subtly from life's periphery, bringing those who handle and use it a sense of where it came from: a fellow creative spirit on a path.

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Jasper Goodrich '11

http://www.jaspergoodrich.com

"Magip" (like magic, but different), can happen when making takes on a life of its own and follows its own decisions. It is like climbing a tree too fast. Much of my work is made in sequences, iterations and permutations. When making paintings, prints, drawings, photographs and sculptures, the shift from one surface to another investigates rhythm and how humans think, use intuition and process the world through images, symbols, language and memory. Working iteratively (building upon previous forms, making fractal changes) is how I process the world and believe it can signal social possibilities. Small elements interact to form complexity. Earlier this year, I was making a series in my studio working mostly from memories, forms from past works, photographs, and imagined landscapes. In an impulse to switch up my way of working, I took a canvas outside. My studio is located in Chicago at the confluence of interstate highways 90, 55, and 94. It feels like a heart, or at least the meeting place of some of the major arteries of the city. Holding up the highways are these enormous concrete pilings. Perhaps like a landscape painter's affinity towards trees, I was drawn to the column. I focused on where the column and sidewalk converged, placing the bottom of the column almost in the center of the horizontal image. I also drew the architecture of the sidewalk and a fence and tree in the distance. I finished the painting in my studio, but soon realized I was not done with this form. I started repeating the composition, making fractal changes as I painted iteration after iteration. I tried different painting approaches, using a variety of surfaces ranging from glossy to matte, made prints, and accepted tangents. The sidewalk started changing from a hard lined, slightly curving form, to a bulbous, squiggly mass pushing against the left edge of the image. Shapes started to intersect the column, building upon its energy, but also began introducing new referents and emotions to the work. It gained and lost history, as it morphed into something new.

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Melinda Kiefer '11

https://www.kiefersantiago.com/melinda-portfolio

Examining the destruction that is on the horizon due to vampiric capitalism shows how art provides one of the last spaces for the sensory imagination to confront and transform the monoculture that presently engulfs the world. Reveling in vital materialism allows me to counterbalance the idealism of my other primary influence: Roman Catholic traditions from a folk magic point of view. I mutate historically oppressive ideologies, turning them against themselves in the drive for liberation. This eccentric cosmology (rooted in passion, mother goddesses) informs my work. My paintings, drawings, sculptures, installation and performances amass symbols that are somatic (teeth, genitalia), floral (ghost pipe), fungal (lion's mane), and cosmological (the moon). I maximally use bright colors, repetitive gestures and a combination of chaotic and controlled marks, with a particular focus on collaging states of consciousness through the chance juxtaposition of heterogeneous elements to illustrate the inherently surreal nature of perception and its tendency to edge to the wild.

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Cameron Ledy '11

http://www.camiledy.com

 

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Michael Levin '11

My work involves long exposure photography in urban environments.

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Hannah Mode '11

http://www.hannahpmode.com

Working across mediums, and often drawing upon scientific research, I use the Earth as both material and subject for storytelling. I make art that incorporates time-based processes and transformative, site-specific materials, like cyanotype, ice, and clay, tapping into their aesthetics as well as their utility. Experimental photographs, automatic paintings, and sculptural installations serve as proxies to document the passage of time, personal experience, and human interaction with our environment. I am interested in ways to bring the vastness of geologic time to an intimate human scale, and how to make space for vulnerability and connection within that juxtaposition. I write love letters to glaciers, create and tend to systems of melt and erosion, trace my body along fault lines, and imagine new constellation shapes. I collaborate with kindred creative minds to explore geology, empathy, and storytelling, finding permeable borders and fluid exchange between art and scientific study. Whether performed socially or in solitude, each gesture is an exercise in generosity, hope and (sometimes) futility; an attempt to reimagine the flow of the future. The accompanying installation video is available online.

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Galen Odell-Smedley '11

http://www.galenodellsmedley.com

Accompanying video of the installation is available here.

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Bryan Tuckman '11

I am not now, nor have i ever been a member of the Communist Party.

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Eduardo Albanell Esteve '16

http://www.eduardoalbanell.com

Each piece begins with a bit of disorder. In near frenzied fits, I add layer after layer of material until eventually I uncover a landscape of marks and motifs. Once this overall harmony emerges, the chaos settles, and I tighten, refine, and redefine the composition at a slower, more meticulous pace. The obsessive dots and lines that unite these works offer a sense of order and finality to an otherwise turbulent, action-based body of work.

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Ruth Allard '16

This quilt is heavy and warm. It is a sensory experience to be covered by a quilt made from scrap yarn of all different fibers, textures, colors, and weights. All yarn used was donated by the women of Temple Beth Avodah's knitting group. The quilt began as a way to recycle the yarn leftover at the end of a knitting project. Yarn that was too pretty, too soft, or too precious to discard but not quite enough to start another project. As the quilt grew, the women who donated the yarn would pore over it, feeling the yarn that they had donated and remembering the warm clothes made and memories of when this yarn was used. This quilt was finished in quarantine and admired over Zoom by the women who donated the materials that made it. With over 200 hexagons making up the finished work, it was inspired by The Beekeeper's Quilt.

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Zach Collins '16

http://zach-collins.com

"We do not need to wait...to see this transformation of culture into museum pieces. The power of capitalist realism derives in part from the way that capitalism subsumes and consumes all of previous history: one effect of its 'system of equivalence,' which can assign all cultural objects, whether they are religious iconography, pornography or Das Kapital, a monetary value." — Mark Fisher, "Capitalist Realism" I paint like a man drowning, grabbing whatever I can. Appropriations from the digital feeds of subscribed content that filter through our phones form a consistent inspiration. By re-contextualizing commercial product images from AliExpress, screenshots of influencer's videos and other discarded digital minutia, I elevate the cultural detritus of the 21st century. I'm like an archivist, under a deluge of imagery and market forces, writing things down before they disappear into a cyberspace ether. What will happen to these pictures if I don't hurry and get them down, fast? This iconography forms an aesthetic pattern, a semiology of the internet. In the studio, using masking fluid, layers of acrylic paint are stenciled and airbrushed. This process physically replicates the digital experience of rendering by fragmenting the image; it recalls the use of Photoshop or the CMYK printing process. The airbrush tool itself suggests an industrial basis of image production, reminiscent of commercial painting for vehicles and the like. There is a degree of abstraction there, a disparity in the source material and the final product, because the tool is slightly removed from the artist's hand. It's a flatness that emphasizes the source, pairing the new media with the old.

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Camilla Marie Busby Dahl '16

http://www.camillamariedahl.com

Caught somewhere between romanticism, cynicism, and comedy, my work contemplates impermanence and the search for significance. It encourages a championing of humility over ego, and analyzes our human tendency to view the world through hierarchical structures. The figures in my works are unheroic and alone; they do not flaunt themselves to the world, but, rather, contemplate their place in it. And here is where hope lies, in my opinion; here, in the humble assertion that we are not in fact champions of the world, but characters within it.

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Rachelle Gage '16

https://www.behance.net/rachellegage

Rachelle Gage is a New York based graphic designer. She has experience in drawing, pattern design, photography, and crochet. She has written and illustrated two original children's books, as well as sold two charcoal drawings. Her work can be found at: https://www.behance.net/rachellegage

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Billie Kanfer '16

http://www.billiek.com

Ever since high school, I was interested in the concept of distortion or manipulation. Transforming photos of artists, friends and musicians into works of art has always been my passion. Recently, I've turned to digital art since I can use unlimited colors to make my art pop. The pieces I am submitting are just a small reflection of underlying concepts I have been working on and with for many years.

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Sonya Thorne '16

http://www.sonyathorne.com

Instructions For Reading An Artist Statement: Performer holds the statement and then (a) reads it silently, or (b) puts on their best poet voice, or (c) emails it to a friend, or (d) on finishing the reading, forgets all about it. I'm not sorry for the things I do. I am a maker, a creator of objects and a scientist of my own design; running experiments, accepting material trial and error, testing. It's a process of constant investigation and exploration. Each piece marks a moment, temporal and timeless, twisting, twisting, twisting. Every wrinkle, every dip and shadow, every hair and pore is a memory; my material body, my embodied material. An arm, raising and lowering, up and down, over and over. The grasp of a hand; reaching reaching reaching. A pen, a needle, another body. The erotic and the absurd, these inhabited machines of ours, meant for production, full of smells and fluids and noise. Excretion; dripping, dripping dripping. A sack of flesh, held together with glue, tape and thread. Neat little stitches all in a row; holding, holding holding. This tender body of mine, sweaty and swollen, bruised, cut open and built anew, with patches on patches. A quilt, intricate and old.

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Roslyn Wertheimer '16

http://www.roslynwertheimer.com

I have too many relatives to count that consider themselves part-time/hobby photographers. So, it was only a matter of time until the camera fell into my hands and soon enough, I was shooting anything and everything that I thought was worth capturing. I can't say that I have a specific style, or I like photographing one thing over the other. If I see something that catches my eye, I capture it through my camera. I feel so honored to have seen so many beautiful things in my life. I almost feel that it's my duty to capture and share them.

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