This spring, the Georgia Museum of Art will host the Lamar Dodd School of Art’s Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates’ Exhibition. This exhibition will be on view from March 16 through April 22 and will feature works by 13 students.
An opening reception will be held March 22 at 6 p.m. as part of the museum’s free quarterly open house, 90 Carlton: Spring. The museum also will host MFA Speaks, a panel discussion about the works by the candidates on March 21 at 5:30 p.m.
This year’s MFA candidates, their concentrations and hometowns are Jaime Bull, painting, Marietta; Mei Ling Cann, drawing/painting, Havelock, N.C.; Rachel Debuque, sculpture, Allentown, Penn.; Stacey Elder, drawing/painting, Clarksburg, W. Va.; Adam Forrester, photography, Phenix City, Ala.; Brock Gordon, drawing/painting, Greensboro, N.C.; Clara Hoag, ceramics, Chicago; Clay Jordan, photography, Augusta; Kaitlin McShea, interior design, Greenville, S.C.; Danielle Peters, Tustin, Calif./Bothell, Wash.; Christine Roman, drawing/painting, Atlanta/Charleston, S.C.; Elliot Walters, printmaking, Chamblee; and Nicole Lea Williams, interior design, Flowery Branch.
Each of these artists will contribute to the display with art ranging from handmade paper and paper sculptures to installation art, films and abstract paintings.
“We are delighted to be back at the Georgia Museum of Art for our MFA thesis show,” said Debuque, a graduate student in sculpture. “The opportunity to share our work at the GMOA is important because it supports the careers of emerging artists and highlights the importance of creative research at the University of Georgia.”
“The MFA is a terminal degree and so the exit show is a significant event in the lives of these young artists as well as for our school,” said Gene Wright, interim director of the Lamar Dodd School of Art. “I’m very impressed with their work and having this show at the Georgia Museum puts special emphasis on the accomplishments of these graduates and the Lamar Dodd School of Art.”
The MFA show is a tradition that goes back to the friendship between Lamar Dodd and Alfred Holbrook, the museum’s founder, said Hillary Brown, director of communications at the art museum.
“It always pushes us to do new things and think more creatively,” she said.
Paul Manoguerra, chief curator and curator of American art at the museum, serves as supervisor of the project, and Melanie Harper, graduate student and intern in the art museum’s C.L. Morehead Jr. Center for the Study of American Art, is this year’s curator.