MFA student work to show at Grunwald

The Grunwald Gallery of Art will present its MFA Group Show beginning Wednesday, with plans to hold a reception 6 p.m. to 8 Friday.

The exhibit showcases the work of first and second year master’s students, who are still on the road to completing their degrees, Grunwald Director Betsy Stirratt said.

One MFA student exhibiting on Wednesday is Bill Bass, who is set to graduate with an MFA in photography in 2016.

Bass contributed three different prints to the show, each exploring the idea of representing physical and digital images.
 
One print is a white piece of paper, which Bass photographed and then transferred into a digital language. He layered the three different representations on top of one another.

“I got surprising results, because I don’t know what I’m doing most of the time,” Bass said. “They’re meant to more clearly represent digital and physical manifestations of the same thing.”

Students create their art in studios and follow their work throughout the entire process of displaying it in a gallery.

Each student thinks ahead about how they want their work to appear in the physical gallery, and decides on lighting, space and other considerations, Stirratt said.

Bass decided to keep his installation simple and pin the three prints onto the walls without frames, he said.

Linda Tien is a metalsmithing and jewelry MFA student set to graduate in 2016, and is exhibiting two pieces in the upcoming show.

One piece is a multimedia work made of rubber, cardboard, foam and other materials that represents a build-up of emotions. The piece resembles a physical growth, similar to a mushroom, which Tien used as a way to describe her piece.

Tien’s other piece is a video installation about how people emotionally prepare for their days.

The video is not projected on the wall, but is instead displayed on an iPad in order to make the experience more intimate, Tien said.

The projection is presented with two mouth pieces that hook onto each side of the mouth, pulling upward and creating a forced, creepy smile, similar to how people prepare their emotions for their everyday activities, Tien said.

“It’s a personal experience when you are watching the video,” Tien said. “It is supposed to make you reflect.”

Some students who are exhibiting their art in the show will receive awards based on their pieces, from several sponsors including the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Friends of Art and the Grunwald Gallery.

These awards range from $500 to $750, and each sponsor has its own criteria.

“We take a look at their work in the show and we decide whose work is the most accessible, among other things,” Stirratt said about Grunwald’s criteria.

Whether or not students win awards, their participation in the event provides a chance to see other artists’ work.

“It’s a nice opportunity to bring people together and see what each other are working on,” Tien said. “You get to see work in the setting that it was made for. That gives it an extra layer of meaningfulness.”

Follow reporter Alison Graham on Twitter @AlisonGraham218.