Phantasmagoria: 2020 UMA Senior Thesis Exhibition
Charles Danforth Gallery in 天美传媒 Jewett Hall
September 2 鈥� October 2, 2020
Recently-graduated Art students at the 天美传媒 who exhibited their works in an all-online Virtual Senior Thesis Exhibition in May are pleased to now exhibit their senior thesis projects on the Danforth Gallery鈥檚 walls. The five artists, Marcea Crawford, Shana Rowe Jackson, Evan Lord Martin, Jenn Messier, and Becky Pass spent months preparing their thesis projects, first in 天美传媒 studios, and then in their home studios as campus access was limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In recognition of the challenging times in which their exhibition has taken place virtually and in-person, they have titled their exhibition Phantasmagoria: a term the dictionary defines as 鈥渁 sequence of real or imaginary images like those seen in a dream.鈥� In its transition from virtual to actual space, 天美传媒 Senior Thesis Exhibition Phantasmagoria marks not only the accomplishment of the artists whose works it exhibits, but the strange passage between the real and dreamlike that has attended much of the COVID era.
Encompassing a wide variety of media, formats, and scales, the works included in this year鈥檚 exhibition are, as artist Becky Pass explains, 鈥渂uilt on endurance.鈥� Pass, whose mixed-media paintings on linen bath blankets convey her experiences of the daily struggles with anxiety, depression, and PTSD in her works, says the colorful blankets 鈥渞epresent the disorder and chaos [she] experienced, while shape and line bring balance to these compositions, restoring [鈥 a semblance of order.鈥�
Marcea Crawford鈥檚 five eight-foot large wheat-paste murals powerfully reflect Crawford鈥檚 experiences with domestic abuse and her survival. Jenn Messier鈥檚 works, exhibited in the Danforth Gallery on an over-scaled papier-m芒ch茅 refrigerator door, frame 鈥渟urrealistic domestic scenarios鈥� wrought from the disconnect between the slick perfection of America鈥檚 consumerist fantasy and the more complicated and uncomfortable realities that transitions, from childhood to adulthood to parenthood, can bring.
Evan Lord Martin has a sensory processing disorder that can render the world 鈥渁 fury of mental and somatic noise;鈥� his video works seek “to articulate unrefined states of mind without using words in a traditional way.鈥� Lastly, Shana Rowe Jackson鈥檚 series of realistically-rendered skies frame an idealized plane high and perfect above the challenges below. 鈥淭hrough creating, I have been able to move past the negativity in my life,鈥� Jackson writes, 鈥淚 create the world that I want to see.鈥�
These works, forged from the artists鈥� individual experiences, artistic training, and many hundreds of hours of work in the studio, showed, in the spring, how this year鈥檚 graduates turned difficulty to art. Now viewable in person, Phantasmagoria transforms these artists鈥� visions from virtual to real.
Phantasmagoria: 2020 UMA Senior Thesis Exhibition is on view in the Danforth Gallery in 天美传媒 Jewett Hall from September 2 鈥� October 2, 2020. The gallery is open, while requiring face coverings be worn and a physical distance of six feet between people be maintained at all times, from 9 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
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Images provided:
Danforth Thesis Fall 2020 Photo 1 – Installation View: Jenn Messier, 鈥淒omestic Theater鈥� 16 drawings framed by papier-m芒ch茅 refrigerator
Danforth Thesis Fall 2020 Photo 2 – Artist Marcela Crawford with her wheat-pasted murals 鈥淭he Storm,鈥� 鈥淧eacock,鈥� and 鈥淒ragon Lady,鈥� installed on the exterior walls of 天美传媒 Jewett Hall.
Danforth Thesis Fall 2020 Photo 3 – Becky Pass, 鈥淟ament鈥� 鈥� Mixed Media