News
2013
June 8- September 14, 2013
SJSU MFA Grads in NEXTNEWCA at the San José ICA.
Two 2013 MFA graduates have been selected to exhibit their thesis artworks at NextNewCA at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. Barbara Boissevain (MFA Photography, 2013,) and Jennifer Groft (MFA Spatial Art, 2013,) will exhibit their work along with 13 other MFA graduates from 11 MFA programs across the state, including: University of Southern California (UCSC), San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), California College of the Arts (CCA), Claremont Graduate University (CGU), Mills College, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), San Francisco State University (SFSU), University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), University of California Berkeley, and Stanford University. “The works in the show reflect broad perspectives present in the contemporary artistic landscape that explore innovative approaches to new media, installation, photography, painting, drawing and sculpture.” (SJICA.)
Above: Jen Groft, “Within Her Breath,” 2011-2013. Fir, redwood, steel.
May 17-19, 2013
CADRE Students Exhibit at MAKER FAIRE
Students from SJSU’s CADRE Lab for Digital Media Art exhibited interactive projects at this year’s Maker Faire festival in San Mateo. Student projects ranged from 3D virtual environment programs to games from the SJSU Game Development Club played on “old school” arcade cabinets.
One project, called “Quakebot,” visualizes recent earthquake activity by using CNC technology to physically “poke” epicenters into a miniature sandbox in the shape of California.
A collaborative project called the “Litewall” includes the contribution of over 90 people, each building a super-sized pixel. This giant “DIY” pixel screen was created to allow art students to write their own software programs, including interactive games.
Above: “Quakebot” and “Litewall” photograph by Jillian Strahler.
MAY 3-19, 2013
MFA LIFT-OFF Exhibition
Nineteen graduating Master of Fine Arts students from SJSU’s Department of Art and Art History are featured in the current issue of Content Magazine. To read the article, click here. The students will exhibit their thesis art projects at Art Ark Gallery from May 3-19, 2013. Designed by independent curator and art writer Christian L. Frock, the exhibit illustrates the depth and breath of the department’s MFA program.
Graduating students represent the Pictorial Art, Spatial Art, Photography and Digital Media Art programs in the Department of Art and Art History. The artists are A R A, Armine Sargsyan, Avery Palmer, Barbara Boissevain, David Kempken, Elena Polanco, Esteban Salazar, Gloria Huet, Jacqueline Donecho, Jeffrey Opp, Jen, Jonathan Huang, Kat McKinnon (KGM), Lan Liu, Marianne Lettieri, Meiru Huang, Sieglinde Van Damme, Wesley Wright, and Yvonne Escalante.
The MFA studio art students collaborated with MA art history graduate students to produce a 100-page publication for the Lift-Off 2013 exhibition. Copies will be available at the exhibition and can be ordered here.
April 19, 2013
Yvonne Escalante (MFA Spatial Art, 2013) took second prize at the 2013 de Young Student Showcase for her piece, Kernel of Truth. Twelve Bay Area universities and art schools participated in this year’s exhibition.
APRIL 19, 2013
17th Annual Student Showcase at the De Young Museum
Sixteen MFA Students and two BFA students from Pictorial Art, Photography and Spatial Art have been selected to exhibit work in this year’s New Generations Student Showcase. The exhibition runs from 9:30 AM to 8:45 PM on Friday, April 19th. SJSU exhibiting artists include Brittney Cathey-Adams, Tamara Danoyan, Yvonne Escalante, Scott Gorham, Meiru Huang, Gloria Huet, Kristen Jones, Lan Liu, Kat McDonald, Sam Metcalf, Galen Oback, Avery Palmer, Esteban Salazar, Kurt Salinas, Thomas Sanders, Aimee Santos, Biagio Scarpello, and Wesley Wright.
Above: Spatial Art MFA student Biagio Scarpello with his piece, “Stress Relief,” which was awarded first prize in last year’s student showcase at the de Young. Images via Flickr.
April 19, 2013
Iron Pour at the SJSU Art Foundry
The SJSU Sculpture Guild will host its bi-annual Iron Pour at the SJSU Art Foundry, located at 1036 S. 5th St in San Jose. Students and faculty from Mission and Gavilan College will join SJSU Spatial Art faculty and students in this half-day event, with hot metal at 1pm. For information about observing the iron pour, please contact Spatial Art Lecturer Ryan Carrington at rtcarrington@gmail.com.
Click here to see videos of previous semester’s iron pours.
April 2, 2013
Melanie Mandl: From Tiny Town to Tinsel Town
Filmmaker and artist Mandl will discuss her work in light of how her history of working
in the entertainment industry has shaped her process as a fine artist. She works in
a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, and installation, stop-motion animation
and puppeteering; much of it has the quality of fairytales that collide with technology.
Mandl will also have an exhibition in the Freight and Cargo Galleries at the SJSU
Foundry, opening April 4, 6.30-8.30.
March 8, 2013
“Dirty Brushes” Student Club Begins Phase Two of Campus Mural
Students in Pictorial Art have resumed work on their “Better Than Blue” mural project, painted on a section of blue construction wall surrounding the Student Union. The students are recreating artists’ self-portraits that they have selected. The collection includes work from important European, Southeast Asian, North and Central American artists from the fifteenth through the twentieth centuries. Students pictured: Stephen Leber, Brandy Damian, Charles Thompson and Shannon Belardi are painting the portraits of Anita Rée, Egon Schiele, Suzanne Valadon and Henri Matisse.
Click here to view Youtube video.
FEBRUARY 27, 2013
SJSU MFA Students Present at Pechakucha Night
Eighteen graduating MFA candidates from the Department of Art and Art History presented their work to the public at a “Pechakucha” Night at Café Stritch in downtown San Jose. PechaKucha is a global phenomenon in which participants discuss 20 images for 20 seconds each before an audience. Artists pictured above, left to right: Esteban Salazar, Kat MacKinnon, Jeffrey Opp, Meiru Huang, and Wesley Wright.
February 6-23, 2013
MFA NOW Exhibition in San Francisco
Three SJSU Master of Fine Arts students: Barbara Boissevain (Photography,) Jonathan Huang (Spatial Art,) and Kat MacKinnon (Spatial Art,) were selected to participate in the MFA Now 2013 Juried Exhibition at Root Division in San Francisco in February. The exhibition showcased work from visual arts MFA programs at SFAI, UC Berkeley, CCA, Mills, SJSU, SFSU, and Stanford. Pictured: Jonathan Huang’s ceramic and mixed-media piece, “Lumakad,” installed at Root Division.