"Selections from Thesis Projects in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department" Exhibition

SVA Chelsea Gallery

poster for "Selections from Thesis Projects in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department" Exhibition

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School of Visual Arts (SVA) presents “Selections from Thesis Projects in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department,” an exhibition that brings together books, figurative paintings, comic books and narrative series by 19 students graduating from the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department. The exhibition is curated by faculty member David Sandlin.

Using egg tempura on gesso panels, Emma Augylius created a series of portraits of children’s faces, balancing idealized beauty with a slight awkwardness and a sense of distance. Augylius’ thesis advisor is faculty member Peter McCarty.

Matt Barteluce’s children’s book The Rubber Duck Chronicles: It’s a Wide, Weird World is the first volume of a series highlighting the maritime adventures of a duck named Pip, his brother Squeak and their dozens and dozens of cousins. Inspired by the true story of a container of rubber ducks that was lost at sea and tracked by oceanographers over the course of two decades, this series introduces ocean life to children. It is mixture of text and images, with ink, watercolor and digital color. Barteluce’s thesis advisor is faculty member Mirko Ilic.

Jonathan Bartlett says of his thesis project, “This series of work is not a series. The images should be read individually, as different stories within themselves. However, the shared principles which hold them all together are the sense of mystery and emotion and the use of metaphor. As a result, the work relates as a cohesive body of illustrations with one collective voice.” Bartlett’s thesis advisor is faculty member Yuko Shimizu.

Wes Benson created a series of oil paintings inspired by recent photographs he has taken, primarily of locations in New York City and Coney Island. Benson’s thesis advisor is faculty member Tomer Hanuka.

Kristy Caldwell’s children’s book The Wrong Color is the story of a happily self-absorbed boy named Warden who takes personal offense at the arrival of a new piece of furniture in his house. He focuses on its most irritating feature - the color - and takes out his aggression on all other objects in the house of that color. Ink, markers and digital color create the atmosphere of this 40-page picture book. Caldwell’s thesis advisor is faculty member Rachael Cole.

Created using black-and-white brush and ink drawings, Siyu Chen’s comic book Alice in Wonder City is an adaption of Lewis Carroll's classic book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In Chen’s version, Alice is a Chinese girl who follows a rabbit-headed man to Wonder City, New York. She meets the characters from the original story - the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts - who all reside in iconic parts of New York City. Chen’s thesis advisor is faculty member Paul Buckley.

Christopher Darling created a graphic diary based on Nick Pope, a script written by L.A.-based screenwriter Christopher Stanton. The diary chronicles the everyday life of an awkward sophomore in high school in 1987. Ridiculed for the large birthmarks on his face, Nick takes refuge in his diary, where he chronicles his insecurities, his search for sexual identity and his occasional struggle with depression. Darling’s thesis advisor is faculty member David Healtey.

Using nib pen, ink, watercolor and the computer, Anne Emond created an illustrated novel about a girl named Frances who spends much of her time alone telling stories to herself. Frances is visited by the ghost of her mother’s childhood idol, an actor from detective movies named Bay Callahan who takes her on a bizarre journey. Emond’s thesis advisor is faculty member Lauren Redniss.

Anat Even-Or’s comic book Wandering on tells the stories of five different dreams. Each story shows a different dreamer and is executed in a slightly different comics format. Even-Or’s thesis advisor is faculty member Jillian Tamaki.

Sarah Knotz children’s book The Sick Day tells the story of Sophia, who, while passing idle hours in her bed, imagines the changing colors of light transporting her to environments far outside of the walls of her room. The images in the book are made in Photoshop from scanned pastel drawings. Knotz’s thesis advisor is faculty member Christopher Silas Neal.

Thomas Knowler’s animation explores the relationship between inspiration and urbanization. All line work in the animation was hand-drawn with pencil, then scanned and colored digitally. Knowler’s thesis advisor is faculty member Bill Plympton.

J. P. Peer created a series of paintings about an island inhabited by monks and soldiers. As resources on the island are depleted after years of wasteful living by the soldiers, the two groups are forced to confront one another. Peer’s thesis advisor is faculty member Natalie Ascencios.

Inspired by California “ghost towns” that the artist has visited, Laura Peyton created her illustrated book Elizabeth Clarke’s Forgotten Town. The book weaves together the stories of a girl growing up in a 19th-century Gold Rush town and a modern-day boy who travels to the same town and discovers her ghost. All the paintings are mixed media on board. Peyton’s thesis advisor is faculty member Teresa Fasolino.

Using a variety of techniques including painting with gouache, drawing with pen and ink, watercolor and digital coloring, Andrew Roberts created a series of cover illustrations for The New Yorker. The images focus on issues related to both New York City and the nation as a whole, including the expanding presence of bicyclists on New York streets, the health care debate and global warming. Roberts thesis advisor is faculty member Edel Rodriguez.

Clay Rodery’s series of drawings takes on the perspective of Dororthy Gale from Frank L. Baum’s The Wizard of Oz as she documents her adventures in Oz. Rodery’s thesis advisor is faculty member Matthew Richmond.

Using oil on paper and wood panels, Kelley Hensing created a series of portraits of carnivalesque characters, which suggest how humans interact with nature in what the artist considers its wild, harnessed and corrupted forms. Hensing’s thesis advisor is faculty member Donato Giancola.

The exhibition also includes work by Nathan Bulmer, whose thesis advisor is Mark Newgarden; Jeffrey Dalessandro, whose thesis advisor is Carl Titolo; and Brendan Leach whose thesis advisor is David Mazzucchelli.

The MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay is designed to maximize students’ opportunities as figurative artists, from the conventional gallery wall to the full range of 21st-century media. The program fuses the development of creative thinking with technical and communication skills. Additional focus is placed on best practices in navigating the visual art marketplace while empowering students to choose making art as a way of life.

[Image: Emma Augylius (2010) tempera on panel, 9 x 12 in.]

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Schedule

from April 30, 2010 to May 15, 2010

Opening Reception on 2010-05-04 from 18:00 to 20:00

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