Athens, Ga. – Since the 1940s, the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia has shown the work of Master of Fine Arts degree candidates at the Lamar Dodd School of Art. This year’s exit show takes place April 8 to May 14, with a free opening reception at the museum April 7 at 5:30 p.m. The exhibition will be up through UGA Commencement, with a slightly longer run than usual.
This year’s graduates present a wide variety of work, diverse in medium, theme, scale and style. They are Thomas Bosse, Reid Brechner, Julia Megan Burchett, Ellie Dent, Jamie Diaz, Arron Foster, Meirav Goldhour, Zachary Harris, Ariel Lockshaw, Shuk Han Lui, Jonathan Nowell, Amanda Scheutzow, Stephanie Sutton and Dan Vu.
An accomplished group of artists, many of these candidates have been exhibiting their work in galleries and shows across the country for the past few years. Drawing and painting are more often incorporated into video and sculpture than hung traditionally on the wall.
This tendency toward creating tactile, engaging and three-dimensional art reflects current trends in contemporary art practice. For example, Bosse has used his training in metalworking to create cups in which he will serve drinks to visitors during the opening reception, creating an interactive experience. Foster is a printmaking student who animates his prints in videos he creates and displays alongside the more static images.
Sarah Kate Gillespie, the museum’s curator of American art and curator of the exhibition, worked closely with the candidates to ensure their pieces would be installed with utmost integrity. With works that require large amounts of wall space, power outlets, video projectors and other electronic components, organizing this show offered a logistical challenge, but she said it remains “one of the highlights of our calendar.”
Gillespie also pointed out that some of the students’ work will appear in nontraditional spaces around the museum. Although the majority of their installations will be in galleries, Lockhart’s paintings will stretch down the 60-foot wall of the Patsy Dudley Pate Balcony and Diaz is creating a ceramics assemblage that will sit on the floor near the museum’s Tiffany stained-glass window.
Related events include the opening reception April 7 at 5:30 p.m.; “MFA Speaks” on April 20 at 5:30 p.m., in which each student will discuss his or her work; and 90 Carlton: Spring, the museum’s quarterly reception (free for members of the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art, $5 non-members) on May 12 at 5:30 p.m. All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise indicated.
Museum Information
Partial support for the exhibition and programs at the Georgia Museum of Art is provided by the Georgia Council for the Arts through appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. The council is a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Individuals, foundations and corporations provide additional museum support through their gifts to the University of Georgia Foundation. The Georgia Museum of Art is located in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex on UGA’s East Campus. The address is 90 Carlton St., Athens, Ga., 30602-1502. For more information, including hours, see georgiamuseum.org or call 706-542-4662.