ARTIST TALK: JENAL DOLSON, 2020 MFA

Meet Jenal Dolson, an artist, forager and collector of objects. For Dolson, the world is full of treasure. A broken chain found in the lawn or a piece of salvaged trash – nothing is overlooked. “Objects have so many functions, and they come from something else. They have a rich functional history, a touchstone to […]

ARTIST TALK: MOHSEN AZAR, 2020 MFA

Meet Mohsen Azar. Azar was born in Isfahan just after the Iranian and Iraqi war. Mohsen came to the U.S. to pursue an MFA, and to study the state of political affairs in his own country and its global connections. As a photographer, Azar is “interested in the institution of seeing, the politics of presentation, […]

ARTIST TALK: JEZABETH ROCA GONZALEZ, 2020 MFA

Meet Jezabeth Roca Gonzalez, a multi-disciplinary artist. Gonzalez was born in Puerto Rico, “in a rural part of the island, which was like an island within the island.” She is interested in land politics, and her artwork celebrates the “island rural” traditions. Gonzalez investigates the unofficial colonial status that characterizes the relationship between the territory […]

ARTIST TALK: JONATHAN NOTWICK, 2020 MFA

Meet Jonathan Notwick, a photographer. Notwick recalls his parents telling stories about the Cold War, duck and cover drills, and neighbors who created backyard bomb shelters. His recent artwork investigates the history of weapons testing in the American landscape. Notwick’s artwork examines the spectacle of nuclear testing in the Manhattan Project, a U.S. government-led initiative to […]

ARTIST TALK: MATTHEW CAMPBELL, 2020 MFA

Meet Matthew Campbell, a sculptor and installation artist. As a trained architect, Campbell’s art practice is informed by reflections focused on social conduct and philosophic ideas. He is interested in the intrinsic relationships among material objects and relies on physics for his investigations of the structure of matter and for grasping the big picture of […]

ARTIST TALK: MAHYA AMINI, 2020 MFA

Meet Mahya Amini, a figure painter who explores “how people may look or feel inside.” She believes that humans are shaped in childhood through experiences and encounters with cultural traditions, institutions and family relationships. Amini recontextualizes her childhood memories, feelings and mental states through a tactile practice of painting, often using her hands rather than […]

ARTIST TALK: RACHEL UNDERWOOD, 2020 MFA

Rachel Underwood B. F. A. (2017) Towson University, Towson, MD Meet Rachel Underwood, a painter’s painter and environmental guardian. Her artwork investigates how human activity has affected earth’s systems in our current geological age, the Anthropocene. Specifically, Underwood is interested in “how the human animal’s impact on the planet is causing a sixth mass extinction,” […]

Artist Talk: Kyle Timberman, 2020 MFA

Kyle Timberman // Easton, Pennsylvania B. A. (2017) Millersville University, Millersville, Pennsylvania Meet Kyle Timberman, a sculptor and collector of human stories. In the tales of life, we first meet ourselves and then we meet others. Collectively, we comprise a range of characteristics and emotional typologies. Timberman is interested in investigating individual and especially shared […]

Artist Talk: Rhonda Massel Donovan, 2020 MFA

Meet Rhonda Massel Donovan, who after years of working in design, chose to toss the corporate roadmap and devote herself to artmaking. Donovan is interested in mapping human interactions and all the complexity of human relationships – sometimes painful, other times joyous, more often a mixture of both. Donovan’s paintings are the visual traces of […]

Artist Talk: Ash Lester, 2020 MFA

Ash Lester // Plattsburgh, New York B. F. A. (2017) State University of New York, Plattsburgh Meet Ashley Lester, better known as Ash. Her artwork investigates issues such as class, isolation, and stereotypes through reflections on personal experiences growing up in rural America, specifically in a settlement called Wiggletown. Wiggletown is eerily absent from any […]

USFCAM

Contemporary Art Museum at the University of South Florida