Reading

Satellite: MICA’s Grad Show Recap

Previous Story
Article Image

GRL PWR to the People

Next Story
Article Image

IF I RULED THE WORLD: AFTERWORD

Alex Ebstein on the MICA MFA Fine Arts Thesis Exhibits Hosted Off-Campus

MICA’s fine arts MFA exhibitions, curated this year by the indefatigable Doreen Bolger, occupied both the exhibition spaces on MICA’s campus and expanded into satellite locations. This year participating venues included North Avenue’s Space Camp, City Art’s Gallery CA, and the Copy Cat’s Penthouse Gallery. Organized into thematic groupings, however loosely associated and realized by the end of the semester, the division of the work into smaller group exhibitions allowed each graduate student ample space to present their thesis projects and the real-world experience of working closely with a curator and peers.

In Gallery CA, three artists, Joyce Anitagrace, Chad Fisher and Li Zhang, presented work that dealt directly and more abstractly with the figure.

Joyce Anitagrace’s installations included sticks and abstract works made with clothes and familiar fibers:
DSC04543 DSC04544

Sculptor Chad Fisher included bronze torsos and figurative sketches:
DSC04545

And photographer Li Zhang’s photo series of reclining nude women:

DSC04547

Around the corner, the works at Penthouse sprawled dramatically to fill the massive floor of the Copy Cat.  Pieces by Selina Doroshenko, Ryan Severance, and Simone Kearney each took up separate walls and corners of the gallery, presented more as three solo projects than a cohesive group show:

Selina Doroshenko:
DSC04551

Ryan Severance:

DSC04553 DSC04550

Simone Kearney:
DSC04552 DSC04555

Installation view Ryan & Selina:
DSC04556

Space Camp’s winding exhibition space included works by 5 artists and was darkly lit with spot lighting for the various installations.  Artists here worked in a variety of media, shifting in exciting ways from the small and intimate to the large and site-specific.  While the array of work was interesting, each of these artists could tackle a large-scale solo show:

Kyle Kogut worked in the most diverse set of media, including video, works on paper, and sculpture both large and small.  His work included some of my favorites:

DSC04590

DSC04589 DSC04595 DSC04594 DSC04592DSC04591

Kei Ito’s video piece was made into a room-scale installation: projected image, process and supporting materials all merging into an elegant, kinetic, enormous sculpture:

DSC04585 DSC04588

Cheeny Celebrado-Royer’s installation presented textures and impressions of Naga City, through miniaturized cinder blocks and distressed paint and building materials:

DSC04596 DSC04598

Michael Benevenia included a series of mixed-media sculptures precariously perched:
DSC04583 DSC04579

Opposite the sculptures, large-scale paintings by Taha Heydari counterbalanced the narrower palette of Benevenia’s sculptures.

DSC04581

MICA’s satellite spaces included more intimate groupings of work than the campus spaces in less formal settings.

MICA Grad Show Recaps are written in conjunction with MICA’s Graduate Studies Office by Alex Ebstein.
 

Related Stories
The Current Exhibit at BmoreArt's C+C Space is the First of Three Based on Our City of Artists Book

City of Artists, BmoreArt's first full-length book, sold out in December, but is now available through a second printing

The best weekly art openings, events, and calls for entry happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas.

This Week:  I don’t dream of labor exhibition ongoing at the Galleries at CCBC, Visiting Voices: Supporting Disabled Artist-Educators and Learners lecture at MICA's Hurwitz Center, Womxn of the World Poetry Slam at the Baltimore War Memorial, Trans Day of Visibility at Red Emma's, and more!

Exhibits featuring Rebecca Strzelec, Rebecca Marimutu, Rosa Leff, and Kelly Walker

Rebecca Marimutu’s "Portraits (Contact),"  Rebecca Strzelec’s "365 Grams," and Rosa Leff and Kelly Walker’s "A Fine Pairing"—at Goucher College, Baltimore Jewelry Center, and Creative Alliance, respectively—made me reflect on my relationship to myself, womanhood, and the women who shaped me.

What better event to host on International Women's Day?

As women's rights are being assaulted across the USA, a fashion show that challenges the status quo–and also, everything we think we know about pubic hair.