USF Studio Art Students Host Thesis Exhibition Online

Friday, May 15, 2020
With the USF community currently working and learning remotely, graduating art students are bringing their artworks out of gallery spaces to a new virtual home online.

Their exhibition, titled “SYZYGY x M I L L E N N I A,” is a virtual gallery experience showcasing the hard work of graduating USF fine art students.

“Our BFAs and MFAs this spring semester are pioneers who push the traditional boundaries and break conventional manners to create innovative ways of making their art available with a digital setting for virtual viewing,” reflects Joo Woo, assistant professor of painting, drawing, and mixed media.

The exhibition comprises two parts.

“SYZYGY” is a show made up of works by the traditional and interdisciplinary fine artists at USF, working in mediums such as drawing, sculpture, ceramics, video, printmaking, photography, and painting.

The body of work presented in “SYZYGY” alludes to a collection of celestial bodies that have aligned with one another, demonstrating a perfect configuration and correlation between every art piece within the group.
 
“M I L L E N N I A” is a show orchestrated by Fine Artists developing their skills for the animation, video game, and entertainment industries. It is an appreciation of the past and a promise to the future of animation; a conscious display of the evolution of visual storytelling and all its counterparts that find a home in a blue lit screen.

Students express their ideas through 2-D animation, 3-D animation, digital illustration, visual development, and video game development.

While COVID-19 has disrupted the lives of people around the world, these graduating students from the USF School of Art and Art History adapted to the disruption in their own lives.

By adapting art making processes for their home environment and leveraging new tools and technology to stay connected, this year's graduating class of art students remains hopeful for what lies ahead.

Ana Pelucarte, a ceramicist, is one such student who graduates this semester. While she typically never works at home do to the messy nature of clay, she has found a new space to be productive in her kitchen at home.

“This transformation has made me realize to be more understanding and reflect on things that we have forgotten,” said Pelucarte. “I have been caught up in productivity mode that I have pushed aside many things in life. This situation is a chance to stop and slow down.”

Tamara Lee, who specializes in animation, has used the time during this pandemic to rediscover the purpose in her art practice. While she prefers to be in the classroom and be immersed in the support of her peers, she is learning from the challenge of being apart.

“I had to remember that the reason behind my work wasn’t first for others, it was for myself,” said Lee. “It’s my project and I wanted to do it for me. This quarantine helped me remember that.”

Many students, like William Valdes, found themselves growing closer to their peers through the use of social media and other communications platforms.

“The silver lining that I have found so far is that this situation has allowed me to feel a lot more connected to my peers and my friends,” said Valdes. “I think this event has made us all feel essentially a lot more human.”

Visit usfbfa2020.com to view the exhibition.