BFA/BA Graduating Seniors’ Exhibition

University Art GalleryDepartment of Art

College of the ArtsCalifornia State University, Stanislaus

500 copies printed

BFA/BA Graduating Seniors’ Exhibition 2010

University Art GalleryDepartment of ArtCollege of the ArtsCalifornia State University, Stanislaus

May 12 - May 28, 2010

This exhibition and catalog have been funded by:Associated Students Instructionally Related Activities, California State University, Stanislaus

Copyright © 2010 California State University, StanislausAll Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher.

University Art GalleryCollege of the ArtsCalifornia State University, StanislausOne University CircleTurlock, CA 95382

Catalog Design: Kristina Stamper, College of the Arts, California State University, StanislausCatalog Printing: Claremont Print and Copy, Claremont, CACatalog Photography: Courtesy of the Artists

Contents

Director’s Foreword ...............................................................................................................................4

Introduction by Gordon Senior ..........................................................................................................5

BFA Images and Artist Statements ....................................................................................................7

BA Images and Artist Statements ...................................................................................................21

Acknowledgments ...............................................................................................................................36

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Director’s Foreword

The University Art Gallery is very excited to present this year’s BFA/BA Graduating Seniors’ Exhibition. This exhibition and accompanying catalog showcase the many talented artists graduating this year from the Department of Art at California State University, Stanislaus. As Gallery Director and Associate Professor of Art, I have had the distinct pleasure of working with these students in their endeavors to complete their degrees. I have been continually amazed at the hard work and dedication that our students have to their craft of being artists. As a result of their accomplishments, I am very proud to be able to call these graduating students “colleagues”. I would like to thank the colleagues that have been instrumental in this exhibition, Kristina Stamper of The College of the Arts for the catalog design, and Claremont Print and Copy for their expertise in the printing of this catalog. A great amount of thanks is extended to the Instructionally Related Activities Program of California State University, Stanislaus for their gracious support of this exhibition and catalog.

Dean De Cocker, DirectorUniversity Art GalleryCalifornia State University, Stanislaus

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The annual BFA/BA Graduating Seniors’ Exhibition is a celebration of each student’s time in the Department of Art at California State University, Stanislaus. This department fosters a friendly and supportive atmosphere and the closeness of our students sustains them on their future journeys.

The artwork in the 2010 exhibition is diverse both in material and in method, and reflects the wide-range of ideas that students have developed, both during their time in class and independently. I find it interesting that within the United States graduation is considered commencement. This is a highly appropriate term as this exhibition is not only a calibration of their achievements, but also the beginning of a transition into the real world where their art practice, and the self-reliance this engenders, will give them the strength and resilience to achieve success.

Gordon Senior, ChairDepartment of ArtCalifornia State University, Stanislaus

Introduction

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BFA Images and Statements

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Amelia Carranza

My artwork deals with subjects personal to me that deal with my family. In portraying them, I attempt to make a sort of record of their importance in my life. I think my painting and drawing them in most cases is also an attempt to get closer to them and understand them. I think this is the only way I can achieve this, through art, as I feel I am unable to get close to people. I am not social for reasons I do not know. It doesn’t bother me, but I understand it deprives me of many valuable experiences I could have otherwise. I sometimes use photographs of members of my family and insert them into surrealist settings. I believe that I capture who they are in my eyes yet they are still mysterious, even to me. This represents how I can live with somebody yet never get to really know who they are. There will always be mystery. I attempt to portray that in my art.

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Family 2010mixed media

10” x 12”

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Joshua Danner

I am drawn to the interplay of conflicts and cohesion between civilizations, which I draw from my own mixed ancestry, as well as the pervasiveness of ritual, religion and ideology within society. In my work I try to present a visceral, raw, unpolished, humorous and sometimes cynical and absurd view of the changes and transformations that cultures and people undergo. I am particularly drawn to working in interactive and time-based modes of presentation such as kinetic sculpture, video and installation art as they allow me to create pieces that exist and change in time. I find working this way allows me to express my concepts in a more lucid and lively way then I would be able to realize through a static media such as drawing or painting.

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Instant Enlightenment (Oum Machine) 2009cabinet, acrylic paint, modified sprinkler valve,

PVC “flue” pipe, light switch and pneumatic hose

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Jennica Dinnell

People call me a fixer: someone who always needs something to mess with, to nourish, to heal, and to fix. Taking imperfect pieces of myself, I glue them together, always knowing I will never be perfect. Like scars, the pieces never seem to heal seamlessly. By bringing this concept from myself into my art I have realized I will never be done discovering. Breaking and fixing, breaking and fixing - the possibilities are endless. When I pick an object to deconstruct and reconstruct it my take me weeks to figure out what to do with it. I have taken teeth molds and shattered them just to put them back together. I chose teeth because in my opinion they are gross and I can’t stand anything involving the mouth. I used to have nightmares about waking up one morning to find all my teeth shattered. This is one of my biggest fears. I have constructed objects out of matches. I chose matches because I love the smell of a freshly struck match. I pick objects that mean something to me. I believe by doing this it invites the viewer to look into my sculptures and allow them to create an interaction between themselves and the piece. However, the interaction is not only with the finished piece but also with what the piece is made of.

I have more recently started exploring printmaking. Although I have always thought of myself as a sculptress, I enjoy printmaking for exploring my ideas that don’t necessarily work as sculptures. I see my prints more as outlines for possible sculptures. However, my prints can also work on their own. I currently have an on-going series of chest x-rays and CT scans. Again, I am focusing on the chest because it has personal meaning. Going back to my initial idea of deconstruction and reconstruction, I will break these forms down eventually and recreate from them.

Two strong influences in my current work are John Baldessari and Robert Rauchenberg. Both artists have taught me how important it is to control the viewer’s reactions and their emotions. By obsessing over their work, and studying it thoroughly, I believe I am starting to catch on. Although extremely difficult, I have been focusing on creating problems within my work that the viewer is forced to try and solve, thus inviting participation. By breaking and fixing, my work has developed a constant dialect of constructing and deconstructing forms that reference my own body in its growth and decay, injury and healing processes. In this way, the obstacles in my work form analogies to my problems as a human being that my viewers are able to relate to.

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Support

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Daniel Morrissey

Throughout our lives we cling to memories of the past - foggy snippets of what used to be. We grow up and the memories slowly fade to dim glimpses of how we used to be or used to think about the world. Like everyone, I myself am guilty of hindsight contemplation of how things used to be, however I try to live in the here and now as much as possible.

Through my art I generate imagery that intrigues me. The abstracted figures and shapes find themselves in landscapes that seem, in some cases, familiar or recognizable. Perhaps a memory from the past pushing its way back into my consciousness. Still, others seem faint, ambiguous and sometimes strange. It’s exciting and surprising to me how some of these images evoke emotion and thought both in myself and in the viewers of my work.

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Thicket 2010mixed media

34” x 34”

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Larry Quintana

“The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.”- Robert Henri

I grew up in an environment that encouraged and supported the arts. At seven years old, my neighbor was an artist with Disney, deep in the development and design of Disneyland in 1955. Paul Langley’s Disney image filled studio, and home full of abstract expressionist paintings and Calder-style stabiles with Herman Miller/Ames furnishings, became a place of wonder and inspired me to live my passion.

I have been lucky enough to have developed my art skills and provide for my family with a long career in graphic design. My direction in graphic design was set in the mid 70s by strong influences of Dick Phelps, a California Hard Edge painter, design instructor, and a day long chance meeting with Herbert Bayer (Instructor, Bauhaus 1921-28). I have reached a point in my life where I can now take the time to use my life experiences and education to create a more personal vision.

My current work explores color, textures and compositions with a strong base in digital capture as source material, mixed with traditional art mediums. My early influences in the 70s embraced the passion of Motherwell, DeKooning, and Helen Frankenthaler, later discovering Rothko and the Color Field painters, notably Morris Louis. Recently John Baldessari has opened me to mixing strong imagery, color and layers with commercial sign materials, crossing the line between painting/printing and sculpture. Early work in screen printing and etching exposed me to “layering” and the joy of creating multiple image editions. I see the “layer” approach influenced a lot of my work and paved the way to working in digital imagery. Digital photography and video, serves at times, as my sketchbook. Digital printmaking on various substrates is, for me, an extension of the time honored methods of printmaking of the past – lithography, intaglio and screen printing.

My goal is to continue to explore combining traditional methods and mediums with new media such as digital and video in single or installation pieces.

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Fire Within 2008digital print

18” x 22.5”

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Ben Serpa

With my artwork, I currently focus abstractly on fields and agricultural icons I grew up around. When I originally began this series of paintings, I tried to be too exact and too representational of what I saw as a landscape. To mix things up, I began to use dirt with the paint to create a rougher, harsher looking surface and drew some success with my fields in that manner. Incorporating another medium allowed me to open and do what I had been doing (painting boring landscapes) and give my work a fresher look. At the same time, I began to experiment with charcoal and pastel on a dirt surface, seeing how the results of a dry medium react with dirt as opposed to a wet one. After working this way for a few months, I slowly began to go back to using paint only, but learning from my earlier dirt paintings, I used the oil paint itself as a texture to convey a movement of paint, of color, and of the field itself. My goal is still to paint valley landscapes (in both their beauty and ugliness), but to capture the personality of each field, render each one uniquely, and not just paint a pretty picture.

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Untitled 2010oil on canvas

23” x 20”

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BA Images and Statements

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Clifford W. Bailey

Finding a purpose for making a statement.

In my work I have always tried to find a method to capture the attention of the viewer. Strong repeated imagery forces the viewer to examine the subtle changes between each frame. The state of heightened awareness created by the repetition makes a connection between the viewer and myself. I used the repetitive image as a foundation to build the rest of the composition. I later manipulated the tone and texture to keep the viewers attention. The first impact with the viewer can only keep them for a moment. The next level of the piece is the manipulation of the print surface. I started my career studying exclusively in 3D works so my display of my 2D works is as important as the piece. The shadows cast by the mount for the print creates a unique environment were the separation of the pieces make the viewer study the edges and the empty space between. I incorporate the whole area of display into the piece making each display hanging a unique experience. The flaws in the wall and lighting of the space can never be exactly replicated. My goal is to have the viewer consume the moment that I have given them with my work with the understanding that it is unique. I will never have their same attention again. The first impact they feel with my work is as much a part of my artwork as the piece itself.

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Smoking Graffiti

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Jenn Laughlin

I am an artist because I have been given the ability to create. I employ a multitude of means to create my art including, but not limited to painting, printmaking, collage, sewing, embroidery, knitting, and various other techniques. My art is the result of a personal questioning of surroundings, experiences, and thoughts.

My ultimate goal is to layer ideas to render a closer look at the everyday, while maintaining a preference in delving past the surface. I feel that each piece takes on a personality unique to itself, which allows me to make decisions as I go. If I say that a piece has turned out well, it means that it has risen to a level that I did not originally envision.

The techniques, colors, and tools that I choose depend on the mood I wish to convey at first glance. Because I am inspired by the ever-changing properties of life and nature, I shift between color palettes to reflect this constant motion.

With my work, I am exploring the relationship between individuals and creation by questioning a range of issues and objects that peak my interest. I am also fascinated with the systematic order found in nature in contrast to the ambiguity of organic forms. I have been fortunate enough to be allowed the time and resources to cultivate myself as an artist, and feel that my work will continue to grow as I continue to explore the world around me.

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Untitled 2010mixed media

12” x 12”

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Mario Montes

I can find beauty in nothing and in that beauty, everything! However, it lasts for an insect’s breath before being drawn into the tidal hammer, crashing into what I’ve meagerly scratched into paper or canvas; leaving nothing but pieces of ideas; disconnected. My art is the representation of an unfinished moment; a passing thought, pushed aside by another and another. It is the art of the meantime.

In this way I draw connections to my artistic forefathers, Vincent Van Gogh, adrift in the madness of nature’s capacity for beauty, and Marcel Duchamp, who opened the boundaries for artists to express these weighted ideas through whatever vessel they find. It is this relentless depth and spacious range of expression that form the structure wherein my artwork is created.

In a sense, I leave no stone unturned in my examinations of creative expression. At any moment I may be pursuing Neo Expressionist methods to weave the iconic and symbolic meanings of professional football, video game culture and comic book super hero imagery, or I may be creating spacial planes, endless yet streaming with ethereal bands representing the psychological inner workings of the expanding brain. This in turn mirrors the process by which the artwork was created.

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Untitled 2010mixed media

32” x 48”

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David Nunes

My work is an exploration of art itself. What makes an artist an artist? What makes art art? The volatile nature of its definition is mystifying and is the kindling by which my “artist” fire smolders. With this eager curiosity, I explore the world of art through some of the most rudimentary, most basic mediums on this earth: charcoal, paint, and clay. With these tools, I become an “artist” and make “art” through observation, interpretation, and creation.

My work has always had an emphasis on structure, composition, and form. My goal and desire is to keep this form and create art with a meaning - with a desire of its own. My interests are emotions and relationships. Such as in the world of music - a piece of music needs to have emotion. Both played and sung with emotion. Whether or not it is an emotion I share, the impact of the connection or compassion of that dialog is what drives me to create. This relationship is like any other relationship and the emotions that are built or formed between that meeting is what I want to try and represent with my work.

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Collection 2009oil on canvas

11” x 14”

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Tara O’Fearna

As an artist I, like to let the media inspire me. The materials I work with are various because of the fact I love a large aspect of the art scene. I have not really been able to focus on only doing one style of art. I feel that it would be difficult for me to only do one style of art work for any long duration of time. I find myself jumping from painting, to photography, to sculpting, etc. Art in all is a passion I thrive on. I thrive on learning different techniques of creating new and old styles of art. My work is not limited to just a few types of art - I enjoy many types of art such as photography, drawing, painting, sculpting and much more. I try and let my surroundings inspire my mind into what I want my art to transform into. It is exciting when my brain gets a electrifying current of inspiration, because then I am on my way to another piece of art work. I find art many places I go, even if it is from a dream. My recent work has developed from my unconscious. I love painting texture and working with colors. In my sculpture I love working with the dimensional shape of objects and their forms. In photography, I love working with the contrast of light and dark, and the different view points and angles of the camera. I love the line structure in my drawings. I love so much about art and what I do. I have a strong passion to do art and I want for people to feel passionate about my art.

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Twilight Lake 2009mixed media

44” x 68”

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Lauren Publicover

My memories are some of the things I treasure the most. In each work of art, whether through color or figurative imagery, I try to incorporate hints of my childhood and figures that have meaning or direct connection to my memories. I have explored mediums from carving, to oil painting, silk-screening, graphic design, and most recently, mono and relief printmaking. I feel a piece is more successful when I crave the process through which it is made. In stone, I polish and polish until I see the beauty of the stone and feel the smooth surface. In silk screening, I enjoy every step from computer to printing on the press. In oil painting, it is the application of the paint that drives me to try to finish a piece. In printmaking, however, the reward is both the process and the product. I have allowed my interest in birds and flight, as well as other meanings, to affect my most recent works. At first these pieces were “just birds.” But now, they have become statements about my inner feelings, both past and present. I can communicate through these birds and the imagery I allow myself to portray. Through my art I can make statements that I would never say aloud or write. These images in a way have become a personal part of me.

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Untitled 2010mixed media

8” x 16”

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Kristin Showalter

Theatre has influenced my artwork in an immense way. I like to think of my pieces theatrically, in a sense that I am creating a space for abstracted characters to live and play in. I work mostly in painting and printmaking because they allow my ideas to come to life and metamorph quickly. Recently my work has been about change, growth, and development. This metamorphisis has been the spark for my literal imagery, butterflies. What makes them most powerful is that they are a direct reflection about what has been going on in my life. I have also been exploring the relationship between performer and audience member. This exploration has led me to create a series of pieces about various audiences in various places.

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Transcendence 2010monoprint/blockprint collage on panel

12” x 12”

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Alyssa Souza

What began as a journey to improve my artistic ability and earn a degree, became a journey into the very heart of God. These past four years of my life not only saw the development of my technical skill as an artist but my maturing as an individual with a purpose and plan to pursue my Creator with every breath. My art is a deep reflection of that continuing journey. My work has transformed from mere artistic studies to expressions of what my soul holds dearest. Each piece of art that I now create means more to me than paint on a canvas, which is the result of everything that I have learned both in and out of the studio. My goal as an artist now has shifted from merely displaying my abilities to showcasing Truths of my Savior, Jesus Christ. In each of these pieces, whether obvious or not, there holds a deep meaning rooted in my own life experience and the hope that I have found. Humility is based on Revelation 5:5, where Jesus is called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. He is described as a lion yet in humility He became a lamb of sacrifice for the redemption of our souls, which is reflected in the red drips.

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Humility

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Acknowledgements

California State University, Stanislaus

Dr. Hamid Shirvani, President

Dr. James T. Strong, Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs

Mr. Daryl Joseph Moore frsa, Founding Dean, College of the Arts

Ms. Susana Gajic-Bruyea, Vice President for University Advancement

Department of Art

Gordon Senior, Chair, Associate Professor

Dean De Cocker, Associate Professor

Jessica Gomula, Assistant Professor

David Olivant, Professor

Dr. Roxanne Robbin, Professor

Richard Savini, Professor

Dr. Hope Werness, Professor Emeritus

Rowena d’Mar Shimun, Administrative Support Assistant

Christian Hali, Instructional Support Technician II

Jon Kithcart, Equipment Technician II

University Art Gallery

Dean De Cocker, Director