The Opening Reception

2009-04-26T09:58:00.001-07:00

A few shots from the opening...

The Show

2009-04-24T06:53:00.000-07:00

A few months back the MFA grad students at University of New Hampshire decided to put together a show of grad students in other MFA programs around the country. We were asked to invite two artists who were currently in, or recent graduates of other programs around the country, show work of our own, and talk about how we were associated. This show is the result...

The Groupings

I have known Megan Rogers and Suzie Schireson only since they came to teach in the art department at UNH this academic year. We all are graduates of undergraduate programs at different art schools, and we studied at different graduate programs. However, we have in common our belief that representations of the human figure still have the power to convey the deepest emotions and the most complex human experiences possible.
-Gregory Poulin

Suzy Schireson, Megan Rogers, and Greg Poulin

Suzy Schireson

Megan Rogers

Greg Poulin

"When viewing these paintings it is important to consider three things. Brendan and I are twins. We have the same interests and work together well. The Philiadelphia Phillies are World Champions."
-Graham Loper

Graham Loper

Brendan Loper

The Observed
“Will Reed, Aron Wehr, and I met a few years ago at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). I guess the common denominator was Sangram Majumdar, a painting professor we all respected at MICA. Through him we met each other and became friends. You gravitate toward professors that have things that you want to learn in school, and that have similar ways of looking at art. All three of us are interested in the observed world, it comes out in different ways, especially now that we’ve moved on to grad school, but it will always be the common link between us.”

-Alan Rushing

Alan Rushing, Will Reed, and Aron Wehr

Alan Rushing

Will Reed

Aron Wehr

Real and Artificial
“Lana Stephens, Brian Kelley and I studied together at the College of William and Mary. The Bachelor of Arts program at the College emphasized painting and drawing from life observation. We worked under the guidance of professors Brian Kreydatus and William Barnes, both of whom encouraged intense observation and practiced it in their own work. Lana, Brian and I became committed to the discipline of developing our perceptual skills and it has remained an important part of all of our work. Brian’s interests have remained fixated on the observed interior space while Lana and I have continued to pursue our interests in implied narrative. She and I have both remained interested in making art about women’s lives and the perpetuation of various types of artifice. I believe our liberal arts background encouraged us to find parallels between “separate” fields of study - between art and the artifice of our lives. ”

-Erin Murray

Lana Stephens, Brian Kelley, and Erin Murray

Lana Stephens

Brian Kelley

Erin Murray

"Chris Carter, Carly Slone and I all attended Wright State University for our undergraduate degrees. We also all attended the Chautauqua Institution, but separately. Chris Carter and Carly Slone attended the University of Washington in Seattle for their graduate studies. The three of us come from a program at WSU that is very much invested in formal explorations of visual art with a heavy emphasis placed upon direct observation. That the three of us have moved away from a faithful recreation of the visible world in no way represents an abandoning of our previous education, but rather shows that the strength of that education allows us to move confidently forward in our own direction."

-Christopher Dolan

Christopher Dolan, Chris Carter, and Carly Slone

Christopher Dolan

Carly Slone

Chris Carter

Translation of the Land
“Jessica George and I are both interested in painting the landscape in a way that captures the physical as well as metaphorical feel of using paint to describe the land. As a landscape painter, I try to convey the feeling of a specific moment in time with color temperature and value as well as physical texture of the paint. With our similar locales in the north east, Jessica George and I are instinctively conveying similar effects in our translation of the land to paint.”
-Dustin O’Hara

Dustin O'Hara

Jessica George

Interior Worlds
"Tyrome Stewart, Aaron Lubrick, and I attended Columbus College of Art and Design for our undergraduate degrees. This is an institution that emphasizes painting from direct observation, a connection that is apparent in the work shown. I enjoy the ways in which Tyrome and Aaron’s works focus on interior worlds, either through exploration of an interior space or by coming to terms with oneself through self-portraiture. These are themes I also explore in my work by painting spaces that I inhabit." -Suzanne Dittenber

Suzie Dittenbur, Aaron Lubrick, and Tyrome Stewart

Suzie Dittenbur

Aaron Lubrick

Tyrome Stewart

MFA Invitational:Close Associations

The Opening Reception

The Show