MFA students’ exhibit features traditional and experimental pieces

A tire swing and urban-inspired prints will be among the works displayed at the School of Fine Arts Gallery, which begins its schedule of student exhibits this spring with the Printmaking and MFA Painting exhibition.

From today through Jan. 24, the SoFA Gallery will showcase work from graduate students in the printmaking and painting programs.

The students whose art is featured submitted work done independently or within their coursework.

SoFA Gallery Public Relations Director Megan Abajian said the students’ work goes beyond traditional painting and printmaking, highlighting the students’ creativity and knowledge of their disciplines.

“They use different ideas and methods to broaden the terms of painting and printmaking,” Abajian said.

The show includes prints, paintings, landscapes, figurative paintings and works in experimental mediums such as pop-ups and three-dimensional forms. One artist is installing a tire swing in the middle of the gallery for people to sit on.

“We never know what we’re going to get,” SoFA Gallery Director Betsy Stirrit said.
Printmaking student Joshua Brennan has participated in the show three times and said he sees the exhibit as an opportunity for advertisement of his and other students’ work.

“It’s a way to show the most advanced students’ work,” Brennan said. “It’s all about showing the best.”

Some students will submit traditional printmaking works in the exhibit, while others will show more experimental pieces.

“They’re not just doing prints,” Stirrit said. “They’re trying things with different materials.”

Brennan’s work in the show includes a larger abstract printmaking piece and two smaller ones, which utilize elements of painting, collage and printmaking. Brennan said his artwork draws from an urban aesthetic, using everyday sightings such as stains and scratches that people often overlook or ignore.

“I pulled my inspiration from walking to class and looking around,” he said.
By contributing to the show, students also learn the procedures for hanging art and how the gallery space can change the way a piece of art is viewed.

Student artists in the exhibit want to showcase their best work and hope to find potential buyers.

Brennan said he thinks there is a legacy in Bloomington that allows these shows to attract large audiences.