The graduating Class of 2021 occupies a distinct position in UArts’ Craft program history.
As juniors in the spring 2020 semester, their typical creative practices were upended by the pandemic, and distance learning meant students lost access to professional amenities to facilitate their efforts.
Either with help from faculty and staff in their respective concentrations or by their own devices, most students managed to secure spaces in order to conduct their research.
A year’s experience with distance learning helped students make mature work, take risks, experiment, innovate and venture into areas they might not have tried otherwise. Their work has continued to evolve and thrive, regardless of the obstacles they faced.
Each student has made excellent progress toward individuality, creating a body of work that’s unique in its perspective and vision. With an increased sense of personal responsibility, the Class of 2021 is truly prepared to begin their lives as independent young artists. UArts is proud of, and celebrates, their accomplishments.
Explore Student Work
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My altering of garments is done in a way that neither creates nor destroys anything. The organic construction process results in invasive growths that are built into the textile. I violate the garment with the sewing process while refusing to subtract any original material. My work centers around my intimate, obsessive relationship with sewing. Sewing makes me feel smart and powerful, it’s the thing I know that I do best. Deconstructing then reconstructing clothing leads to changing perceptions of the human body as clothing itself. Fashion and pattern are never important, but rather serve as a revised function. What was once protective and ornamental has evolved into sculptural form with all elements of the original at use.
Any object in the world can reference artistic intent and be brought to life with material expertise. My love of material manipulation leads me to rigorous study, exploring as much of each material as possible. In the beginning, creation of the work is random, leading me down a path to an unknown, exciting conclusion.
I first look towards the form. At the same time, I look outward for visual cues to inform my choices of line, shape, and color. I wrap things together using positive and negative space. I focus on paper cutting, creating a Chinese character or lantern in addition to using traditional Chinese literature as starting points. My ideas are complex and varied taken from both my conscious and subconscious. The work is abstract, surrealistic and personal, drawing inspiration from traditional Chinese artwork as well as contemporary viewpoints. Everyone can have a different understanding of the work. In the process of making work I get to know myself better.
My studio practice focuses on abstractions made from natural and found objects, particularly organic materials. I acknowledge the perishable nature of my materials by focusing on the progression of time through the drying of the produce, often making them fragile. I’m concerned with my own carbon footprint as an artist. It feels like it's my duty to reuse materials I already have, using anything a person would just normally throw away like the peels of a fruit.
With these fragile materials, I confront the ever-complex problems I face as a person with psychosis. I consider my work a kind of therapy. Working with my hands creates a focused environment; calming and easing for my mental health.I also create my work to help others have a better understanding of what psychosis really is and what it means to have psychosis. Although it may not be obvious to others, I constantly live with an altered state of mind. I want my work to give this understanding. Creating artwork is the key to a calm mind for myself and for others.
Fiber art is inextricably related to the hand. My goal is to bring that tangible transference of human touch into my work. Conveying the convention of story or remembrance through performance, sculpture, and installation I seek to reacquaint the viewer to the world. Landmarks of the recognizable pepper the material abstraction of the everyday.
My work is a form of kinesthetic and visual processing inspired by micro and marine biology. I start working before I can conceive of the work’s conclusion. Following compulsions and obsessions evolves into bold and expressive sculptural and/or installation work. These studies include exploring pattern, color, and texture, which is not limited to a single mode of media or technique. Intuitively working through touch by manipulating, shaping and forming, distorting and tessellating are the instruments of my practice.
My work reveals an inherent memory from long lived structures and other artifacts that once had a purpose, but are now distorted, misplaced or eroded by time. Stumbling upon random stone walls or other man-made forms in nature always ignited a curiosity of wonder and kindled an interest in how humans interact with land, nature and materials. I choose to use utilitarian structures as inspiration, but push past the idea of functional form in my ceramics.
I use hand-building techniques, such as coiling, pinching and slab construction, to explore the potential capabilities, scale and limits of clay. I sculpt and build intuitively, sometimes beginning with historical references or working from themes and ideas that capture the forms' energy and rhythm. For me, it’s a feeling that is evoked when I engage with making or discovering a form, texture or color that creates a balance between time-worn and contemporary.
My inspiration is taken from a deep spiritual practice and my relationship with nature. Through my daily intuitive routine I have become evermore self aware. While I have struggled with the demons of anxiety and depression, I am still able to absorb the beauty of life. Working in the traditions of stained glass, illustration and storytelling opens up channels of communication and expression. This activity provides focus and calm and invigorates my creative energy. My work directly responds to my surrounding environment and involves the viewer in a personal and sometimes physical way. Using visual elements of the moon’s phases, the ever changing seasons and cross cultural symbolism of wildlife allow me to reflect on cyclical themes of impermanence and even mortality. These constant themes throughout my work communicate my spiritual path to others in small symbolic ways. My windows are Illustrations of light, combining my love for image making with my love for glass.
KITSCH : something that appeals to popular or lowbrow taste and is often of poor quality.
I find one of the biggest inspirations in my work is kitsch furniture. For me, the definition of kitsch furniture is a piece that is designed to be obsolete in 15 years. It’s not intended to last for centuries. Traditional furniture made of solid wood relies on joints to deal with pressure and structural weight. Kitsch furniture does the opposite, relying on screws and glue to hold the piece together. It lacks structural integrity and as a result, is a temporary facet in our lives. Furniture has a powerful impact on our lives growing up. It has memories connected to it and it's part of our identity, whether it’s your grandma's chair or the sofa you watched the big game on with your dad. We lose that when we buy furniture that falls apart after 10 years. Making furniture to be of less quality has lots of implications. The biggest one for me is the loss of the hereditary passing of furniture. Like all things in life, kitsch is a gray topic. I want my furniture to span that divide. I think it can. By embracing aspects of kitsch and designing pieces that merge past styles into contemporary manufacturing processes, I can make furniture that continues the hereditary passing of culture while opening new avenues for creation and self-expression.
I am an artist who creates work through heritage, creativity, and passion. My name is Dashawn Mcintosh-Inniss and I grew up in Philadelphia of Barbadian descent. My work reveals a connection between who I am and what influences me based on my upbringing. My creativity has always been pulled from street art, traditional woodworking, hidden compartments, and the process of materials studies. As a young artist, I had a passion for drawing and abstract painting inspired by murals around Philadelphia. As a woodworker, my current creations are inspired by my previous passions which transitioned into wood-burning and building functional arts as I evolved into fabricating and sculptural craftsmanship.
Experiencing different trials and stages of growth, life gives me direction and focus as an artist. As a college student with limited space and privacy, I based my creations on hidden storage compartments disguised as sculptural furniture. As a woodworker, I am truly in love with displaying my knowledge, craftsmanship, and attention to detail. I demonstrate this by showcasing exposed joinery, the process of its non-simplistic design, and the fact that it’s handmade. My unique creations not only provide privacy and comfortability, but also add an elegant touch to your home decor using wood’s organic color tones.
i am a transgender woman creating works of art based on femininity, acceptance, and beauty,
i express myself through poetry, sculpture, installation, performance, and photography,
my ongoing transition from male to female,
and recurring adolescent decapitation dreams,
are immense inspirations to me,
i arouse the audience to create dialogues around sex, love, and violence,
i am haunted by the motifs of abandonment, gender dysphoria, and disease
in 2015, i was diagnosed with an underlying condition,
caused by stress and anxiety,
which has been such a strange phenomenon throughout my teenage and adult life,
this mystery continues to appear in my work.
Izzie Ashley |
Elena Gans-Pfister |
Dashawn McIntosh-Inniss |
Jingnan Cheng |
Leah Gingerich |
Seungwon Yang |
Emily Ernst |
Samantha Gualtieri |
Zaira Zarli |
Brandon Fisher |
Gavin McCoy |