Celebrating the San José State University MFA Graduates 2019-2021
This site serves as a showcase and archive for the combined Fall 2019
- Spring 2021 graduating MFAs from San José State University.
As with so many things in our lives, this trajectory was disrupted in
Spring of 2020; the production of the exhibition and catalogue put on
hold while the world grappled with the global pandemic.
In Fall of 2020, graduates elected to combine their efforts in a joint
exhibition and catalogue featuring work from a selection of artists
from the graduating classes of Fall 2019 through Spring 2021 who were
able to participate. This website reflects the combined curatorial,
administrative, creative, and scholastic efforts during a period where
hard stops in the timeline softened; the culmination is a blending of
shared resources and efforts.
2019 - 2021 Participating Graduates
- Mape Andrews
- Andrew Andrawes
- Cleia Muggler
- Kyoko Fischer
- Omar Harb
- Mason Hershenow
- Kat Mergens
- Megan Moriarty
- Lacey Nein
- Alana Rios
- UGLYKIKI
- Monica Valdez
Overview
As a component of their degree, MFA Candidates at San Jose State
University mount two exhibits housed within one of six University
Galleries; one exhibition in their second year of study and a
culminating Thesis Exhibition at the end of their third year. In
addition to the Solo Thesis Exhibitions installed on campus, MFA
Candidates have the option of participating in a group exhibition
hosted off-site & pairing with an MA Candidate in Art History and
Visual Culture to create an entry in the annual, Lift-off Catalogue.
Past exhibitions have been installed at Root Division (SF), Incline
Gallery (SF), Pro Arts (Oakland), and the San Jose Institute for
Contemporary Art. Recent Curatorial advisors for the exhibition
include Chris Gurnder & Cléa Massiani (Co-Directors of Bass & Rainer,
SF), Kevin Chen (Independent Curator), and in this iteration, Marcella
Faustini (co-Director of CLOACA Projects, SF).
Art students at San José State join a legacy of thinkers, activists,
and innovators dedicated to the public good. They test ideas through
experimentation in the university’s robust fabrication studios, which
support the technical components of artistic production in ceramics,
digital media, metals, glass, painting, photography, printmaking, and
sculpture. Individual studios create space for deep thinking and
artistic creation; adjacent communal work areas engender peer-to-peer
dialogue and foster innovation and intellectual rigor.
Students combine their in-class experiences, faculty mentorship,
independent research, and individual studio practices to produce these
exhibitions. The transformations that occur through interdisciplinary
dialogue and pedagogical stewardship are nowhere more evident than in
these markers of educational maturation.
The culminating group exhibit and accompanying catalog, produced at
the end of students’ final year of study, reveal the synergies that
emerge from the diversity of learning practices. The artworks speak to
critical issues far beyond the University grounds; that inevitably
direct graduates' thinking, making, and far beyond their time at San
Jose State University.
Rhonda Holberton
Assistant Professor, Digital Media Arts
Art Graduate Program Coordinator
San Jose State University | College of Humanities and the Arts
Credits
- 2021 Exhibition infraordinary Curated by Marcella Faustini, co-director of CLOACA Projects, SF
- 2020 Exhibition (postponed) Curated by Alena Sauzade, PhD, Natalie and James Thompson Art Galleries Director and Collections Manager
- Catalogue Design by Diane Lee, Assistant Professor, Design Department at San José State University
- Web Design by Chelsea Thompto, Department of Art & Art History at San José State University
- Faculty Advisor, Rhonda Holberton, Department of Art & Art History at San José State University
- Installation images, infra-ordinary, Root Division. Photo: Alana Rios © artists retain copyright