2019 MFA thesis exhibitions

The School of Art & Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago is proud to announce our 2019 MFA thesis exhibitions.

Featuring artists: Leticia Bernaus, Stella Brown, Daniel Carroll, Kylie Clark, Sarabeth Dunton, Isaac Gilmore, Javier Jasso, Ted Kim, Nancy Sánchez Tamayo, Malte Stiehl, and Tamara Becerra Valdez

All exhibitions to take place in Gallery 400, an integral part of both the University of Illinois at Chicago’s and the city of Chicago’s vibrant contemporary arts scene.

2019 MFA thesis exhibition 1: Now & There
Opening reception: March 22, 6–8pm
Exhibition: March 22–30

The first of two University of Illinois at Chicago MFA Thesis Exhibitions in Studio Arts, Photography, and Moving Image, featuring artists Leticia Bernaus, Stella Brown, Daniel Carroll, Malte Stiehl and Tamara Becerra Valdez.

With close attention to the connection between place and identity, each artist featured in Now & There analyzes the overt complexities ever present in memory— whether collective or personal, actual or imagined.  Memory, often considered a mercurial human function, is one that wavers and is ever-changing. Although fluid in nature and multi-layered, memory follows specific and real paths, shaping our understanding of ourselves and one another. Likewise, nostalgia remains in constant flux, susceptible to the analysis of remembering and forgetting, unaware of its successive distortions, vulnerable to manipulation, predisposed to being long dormant and periodically revived. The artists shown here grapple with themes of dislocation and familiarity. They employ strategies that highlight materiality while exposing the intimate relationship between object and viewer. Through their unique practices, the artists in Now & There negotiate memory, and as an extension- nostalgia, as a site to explore untold, unseen or forgotten histories.

2019 MFA thesis exhibition 2: A Nameless Familiar
Closing reception: April 12, 6–8pm
Exhibition: April 6–13

The second of two University of Illinois at Chicago MFA Thesis Exhibitions in Studio Arts, and Moving Image featuring artists Kylie Clark, Sarabeth Dunton, Isaac Gilmore, Ted Kim, Javier Jasso and Nancy Sánchez Tamayo.

The pieces included in A Nameless Familiar investigate the myriad ways memory and nostalgia manifests within contemporary art practice and the here and now. Memory, more specifically the ways in which one remembers, whether rooted in factual experience or imagined, directly effects our perception of the present. By the same token, nostalgia, defined as a yearning for the past, performs an important role in our lives and is often tethered to the everyday. Here, each featured artist negotiates the complexities of our relationship to memory and examine reoccurring themes of intimacy, desire, longing, and power. Through varied approaches aimed at challenging the entangled relationship between memory and nostalgia, the works presented in A Nameless Familiar encourage the viewer to confront their understanding of the function of memory as well as re-contextualize their comprehension of loss, death and transformation.

Screenings featuring UIC alumni

Friday, April 5, 2019, 7pm
The Nightingale, 1084 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Guest Screener: Jesse McLean

Sunday, April 28, 5pm
Filmfront, W. 18th St.
Guest Screeners: Mike Gibisser, Mary Helena Clark, and Zachary Hutchinson