BFA & MFA 2020 Exhibit Video Tours

Over the course of the Fall 2020 semester, the Katherine E. Nash Gallery was proud to present the annual Department of Art BFA and MFA thesis exhibitions. We are excited to offer a series of in-depth exhibition video tours featuring the work of these two talented cohorts! Explore the BFA thesis exhibition Starpower and the MFA thesis exhibition 4,5,6.

Starpower (BFA Thesis)
November 10 - 20, 2020
Watch Nora Peterson's full video compilation. 

A star forms slowly over time, gathering and compressing material, growing hotter and denser with each rotation. Once this material reaches 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit, nuclear fusion occurs, and a star is born. To make something out of the unknown immensity that surrounds you is a miraculous act. This group of 16 artists was presented with such a daunting task as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. 

With works ranging from sculptures constructed in the garage to living room photoshoots, from paintings large and small made in bedrooms to late-night hours perfecting an animation, these artists have shown unwavering commitment and ingenuity. As Director of Undergraduate Studies Paul Shambroom put it best, “The work of this talented and dedicated group bears the mark of this time, but it is not defined nor limited by it.” Artists in the exhibition include Elise Bonnes, Jane Borstad, Ciara Cagemoe, Madeline Chamberlain, Genevieve Desotelle, Christian Hastad, Jessica Hill, Sarah Hubner-Burns, Alyssa McCathie, El Meaux, Tim Neumann, Nora Peterson, Taylor Robers, Evelyn Staats, Beth Thelke, and Cheza Willis.

4,5,6 (MFA Thesis)
September 8 - October 17, 2020
View images of the exhibition.

Simcha Smith
As humans, we are a culmination of so many little parts. But what happens when those parts become obscured? Who do we call family when our ancestry has been shrouded? Through the use of materials that feel sacred, yet mundane, Simcha Smith's installation Lucy, the Same Night investigates human origin, ancestral connections, and processes of decay and preservation. 

Website: www.simchamsmith.com
Instagram:@simcha.smith

Kuab Maiv Yaj - Koua Mai Yang
Hnav Hmoob - Wear Hmong is an on-going intersectional investigation of Hmong textiles that began as a durational performance and series of self-portraits. Kuab Maiv Yaj - Koua Mai Yang Yang has an obsession with what she terms “the traditionally dressed Hmong female ghost”—a saturation of images that have become synonymous with representations of Hmong culture. This layered installation features video projection, sculpture, photography, and found objects that challenge dominant representations of Hmong culture.

Website: www.kouamyang.com
Instagram: @kouayang

Lauren Flynn
How do we navigate between attunement and habit? How does this awareness, or lack thereof, play out in the objects we choose to share space with? Through large-scale mobiles, interactive artist books, and resting sculptures, Lauren Flynn creates a quiet, yet active space for contemplation. Flynn is interested in objects that are open to movement or suggest the potential for movement, but that also respond to the movement of our bodies.

Kevin O'Meara
For Kevin O'Meara, what began as an artist book entitled, The Housemate, has grown into an evolving installation including large scale photographs, assemblages of collected notes, images, and small objects, and a series of shirts that act as a proxy for friends, both living and dead. O'Meara examines the relationship between care and capitalism, and the ideas and structures that frame institutional spaces of treatment. 

Website: www.kevin-omeara.com
Instagram: @kevin__omeara

Roger Ourthiague Jr.
Through choir music, prose, colored lights, strange sounds, and candles within the pamphlets, Roger Ourthiague Jr. introduces the character, Propaganda, both an embodiment of its definitions and tropes, and an infinitely complicated entity with corporeal account. This work is an investigation of a formattable persuasion tactic and is political at its core. It is not political in a specific sense; it mediates the complexity of today’s polarization giving space for apolitical contemplation. Watch the full video animation of Propaganda as part of the installation.

Website: www.rogerojr.com

Erika Terwilliger
Through laborious processes of dyeing, weaving, and forming clay, Erika Terwilliger’s installation, Second Stomach, investigates the evolving relationship between tool and maker, utility, and value. For months, Terwilliger sorted, recorded, weighed, dried, and stored all her food waste. She is interested in domestic systems that move in cycles, in processes of generation and preservation.

Website: www.erikaterwilliger.com
Instagram: @erikaterwilliger