class of 2009

taken by Michele Tecco

Studio Visit: Katie Miller

Katie is a first year glass grad. She works with beeswax castings of her body that she then duplicates/replicates and mirrors, though she is hardly predictable. One of my favorite things about Katie is that she has lots of tattoos and weird things in her ears like me, but we both drive suburban mom cars. I guess having a reliable car is one of those things that goes with being responsible...her studio is awesome, nice and warm but really loud. Those damn undergrads...

What are you working on?
My work is influenced by how the body's posture is reflective of life experience and the emotions within. I am curious of the reoccurring symmetry in nature and use my own body to investigate bisymmetry. I combine these interests to create sculptures reflective of the body's struggle to exhibit emotion as well as perfect bisymmetry.

What are you excited about right now?
Beeswax and contortionists. Cultural politics of body modification, hindu yoga postures.

Where's the best place you've been this year?
Arches National Park and Colorado National Monument

and so it goes......

General Studio Shot, she has the right diagonal half, sharing it with Zach Whitehurst:

Work area:
A piece of her body, beeswax smells so good:Beeswax melter thingy and fluids:

Storage area for beeswax parts, her studio is a treasure trove of body parts, you should go look!

MFA Thesis Exhibition: Info!

Temple Gallery
259 North Third Street,
Philadelphia
Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 11 am – 6 pm

MFA Thesis Exhibitions, Spring 2008
Mayumi Nagayama, March 19 – 22
Kimberly Brandt, March 26 – 29
Jerry Kaba and Tamsen Wojtanowski, April 2 – 5
Jenny Buffington and Daniel Loren Ostrov, April 9 – 12
Elisha Conrad and Joan Dreyer, April 16 – 19
Dylan J. Beck and Rachel Dobkin, April 23 – 26
Karen Kirchhoff and C. Pazia Mannella, April 30 – May 3
Lauren Abshire and Andria Bibiloni, May 7 – 10
Sarah L. Kurz, May 14 – 17
Zach Whitehurst, May 21 – 24

All Galleries
Elkins Park
Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Louise Radochonski, MFA Thesis Exhibition, March 19 ‐ 22
Vincent Balistrieri, MFA Thesis Exhibition, April 16 ‐ 19
Daniel Bruce, MFA Thesis Exhibition, April 23 – 26
Cavan Drake, MFA Thesis Exhibition, May 7 – 10
Shelby Donnelly, MFA Thesis Exhibition, May 14 –17
Melissa Laine Scotton and Daria Ujma, MFA Thesis Exhibitions, May 21 – 24

Penrose Gallery,
Elkins Park
Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm

Christopher Hall, MFA Thesis Exhibition, April 23 – 26
Minhee Seo, MFA Thesis Exhibition, May 7 – 10
Ronald J. Cala II, MFA Thesis Exhibition, May 14 – 17
Jessie Sayward Bright and Rae Ann Spitzenberger, MFA Thesis Exhibitions, May 21 – 24

Studio Visit: Kate Dowell

Kate is a first year ceramics artist. Her studio is almost as small as her, its located near the asexual bathroom near the ceramics rooms. She works from the body, though never worked so much from the body until she came to Tyler. I asked her questions, the third question changes every time (if you hadn't caught on).

What are you working on?
In clay, I am working on a figure in the "tornado safety position" which for me, as a child, was a position that invoked anxiety and dread. More importantly its a position of an anticipated attack. The carving represents a problem or disorder from the mind taking over, and the figure knows it, hence the position. So I guess its about trying to protect yourself from what you know is coming, what you are predespositioned for, but letting it happen at the same time. I'm also working on wire and paper self-sculptures from my measurements that are see through and I am researching psychology -- especially interested in heuristic vs. algorithm logic.

What are you excited about right now?
Spring. I'm tired of being cold. It sucks. My studio is cold. I'm excited about my classes too.....but it is still early in the semester. :)

Can you make a cake?!
Well, from the box yeah. Not from scratch. When it comes to decorating however, I think I'm pretty good. (she is good...some of her work from first semester was very cake-like)

General Studio Shot:

I like seeing what people pin up in their studios, inspiration, pictures:
The current work of art:
Pictures from her 15 credit review:

Town Hall Meeting Info!

*******Associate Dean Sharyn O'Mara will be holding a Town Hall Meeting for Grads only on Tuesday, February 19 at 11am in PE110.********

TwoFold Exhibition: Part 1

So the painters went to Boston, MA this weekend to hang their work at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and to take Mass Art's grad painter's paintings back to Tyler for Part 2.

The Twofold Exhibition goes like this: Tyler work will be hung at Massart from February 2 to February 14, in the Doran Gallery and Massart work will be hung at Tyler from February 21 to March 1st, in Tyler Gallery. There will be a closing reception! Details when available!

I stole some pictures from Sheryl Oppenheim!

The Doran Gallery is Big! Its located in the Artist's Residence!

Sheryl's Painting:

Charlotte's installation:

Studio Visit: Erin M Riley

Erin is the only first year fibers major, working primarily with weaving. She asked herself three questions that she will ask the other grads when she does a studio visit with them.

What are you working on?
Right now I am working on two things. Over break I made a wall loom in my studio and now I am weaving words on it with wool soaked in white latex paint. I got the words from a craigslist ad I posted about wanting to know the things parents always said in arguments (if you have any, I would like more!). I am also weaving a tapestry on my floor loom, another car crash, with wool that I dyed crazy colors and then I am going to bleach it all out.

What are you excited about right now?
I am very excited that I technically have two looms in my studio now. One is basically strings on nails but its working as a low tech loom. There is something about parallel strings, lots of them, on all sides of you. Its great to lie on the ground and look up at. That, and the fibers symposium is happening soon and the Massart painters are coming to Tyler for the Twofold exhibition. But that stuff is in March, February is just another month to get through.

What did you have for breakfast?
Today I skipped breakfast, I had a vegan chocolate chip cookie that I made and then opted for a vegan chicken patty at the Starving Artist. That place is terrible, but its cheap.

Now for pictures:

Floor loom, dyed yarn.

Wall loom, part of the words...

Very messy desk:

Equally messy yarn closet:

Picture of the beginning of the next tapestry..just blank color for 48"...

.....Then a car crash!

Thanks for looking, I hope to do this for everyone, let me know when you are available!!

Studio Visit: Shelby Donnelly

Shelby is a second year fibers grad, we share a studio space and she is pretty awesome. She is experimenting with materials and image, she works with a small budget using materials that everyone has access to. Most recently, aluminum foil and garbage bags as well as adapting traditional techniques to suit her need, such as dying paper in boiling water acid dye or using insect screening to create monumental sculptures. And I asked her the same questions:


What are you working on?
Getting over mental hurdles. I am making the hands of God and a very tall column with a female bust at the top....a sort of futuristic caryatid that is trying to touch God's hand. I am working on creating and epic myth about the struggle to be better, to exist, to love....

What are you excited about right now?
Anxiety and excitement are never far apart. The future. Human nature. Body contact. Making feelings visable. [blankness] Creating 3d form. Silver. Noises that I cant recognize. Magic invading the realm of the real. Erasers.

What is your favorite food?
Right now Cuban food. It has fish, fruit, beans, rice and the best alcoholic drinks. It feels food to eat when cold and needing sunshine.

The ribbon ladder and shadow:

In progress sculpture:

Drawings, dyed paper, sewing, collage:

The new sewing machine, equipped to sew aluminum foil and trash bags all day long:

A drawing, hung on the wall of her studio...Shelby comes from a 2d background, she has her BFA in printmaking and makes a lot of beautiful drawings:

The Barber Shop presents

Painfully Obvious
by Chad States

While visiting my parent's home, I went through a box of my childhood photographs and belongings. I found no drawings of tanks or planes or army men – instead I discovered drawings of horses, rainbows and teddy bears. Inspecting family photos and school portraits proved just as disconcerting. I was looking at a box full of evidence that was full of clues, so painfully obvious, of my sexual identity that anyone could see it. Gleaning a survey of photographs and belongings that I feel point towards my gay identity long before I had ever articulated it to myself, this personal investigation asks the viewer about their own notions of what signifies gayness and whether these signs can be seen as proof of an identity.

Saturday February 9th 2008
6-8pm
1852 Tulip Street, Philadelphia, PA

A roaming exhibition space, The Barber Shop presents the work of visual and performing artists in the Philadelphia area. For the 2007-2008 school year, The Barber Shop continues to support both current and recently graduated Tyler School of Art students, as well as graduate students in the arts at Temple University's main campus and artists from outside the Philadelphia area, exhibiting each artist for a one night solo show. Having moved out of its original space, the gallery now operates at varying venues, as each artist is curated along with an apartment within which to show their work. Roaming from home to home, The Barber Shop presents not only site-specific work but also context-specific and event-specific work, allowing for the unique quality of the home to become an intrinsic part of the work or event presented there. Tyler alum Walsh Hansen and current Tyler graduate student Kimberly Brandt co-direct and curate.

thebarbershopgallery@gmail.com

Grad Photo Show in Elkins Hall

The Grad Photo Department just hung a show of their current work on the first floor of Elkins Hall. It will be up from January 20th - February 15th. Check it out!

(Let us know what you think....)

Michelle Tecco

Tamsen Wojtanowski

Dave Kube

Karen Kirchhoff

Kerry Kolenut

CANCELED: Kiki Smith Lecture at Penn

AN ARTIST'S SOURCES

KIKI SMITH

Wednesday 23 January 2008
5:00–6:30 pm

Harrison Auditorium, Penn Museum
3260 South Street, Penn Campus
(accessible from 34th Street entrance)

"Basically, art is just a way to think," says acclaimed feminist artist Kiki Smith. "It's like standing in the wind and letting it pull you in whatever direction it wants to go."

First Post

Tyler School of Art Grads are now on the internet publishing themselves.