Emerging from three years of intensive studio work, the 2011 University of Oregon Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition presents compelling bodies of work from nine artists on the cusp of their professional careers, equipped for the ongoing challenges and rewards of an art practice.  The range of work reflects diverse and engaged responses to the contemporary context.  Drawing on a rich history of visual language and material practice, they are forging their own paths and cultivating new approaches.

A thesis exhibition is not an end, but rather a ‘Momentary Interruption’ that marks the beginning of a sustained and evolving future practice.

The Exhibit runs from May 7-29, 2011

at Disjecta, 8371 North Interstate Avenue, Portland, Oregon  97217, 503-286-9449

Gallery hours are Friday – Sunday, noon to 6p.m. and by appointment.

This Exhibition is a presentation of the University of Oregon Department of Art and the School of Architecture and Allied Arts to show the work of nine master of fine arts graduate students in art.

Thank you to the following sponsors for their generous support:  the Ballinger family in memory of Court Ballinger, Geraldine Leiman, the UO Duck Store, Gamblin Artist Oil Colors, and the UO Alumni Association.

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Paige Ammon

b.  Meridian, Mississippi

“Through the transformation of the material and structure of stuffed animals, my sculptures evoke new associations from these familiar objects.  The shift in form of the plush toy generates complication and uncertainty of intent, challenging our expectation of simplicity or innocence from these childhood symbols.”

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Julie Berkbuegler-Poremba

b.  Perryville, Missouri

“I am a visual hunter-gatherer.  My process requires observation and collection of images from popular media’s representation of luxury culture and high fashion.  The investigation of the media’s visual language of femininity, sexuality, and beauty motivate my processes.  I re-appropriate, reuse, and re-interpret that material and construct new images and objects.  My work seeks to reconcile personal and cultural understanding of traditional ideals of beauty, privilege, class and the plethora of female imagery present in contemporary visual culture.”

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Allison Hyde

b.  Tacoma, Washington

“The scratches on the floor where the dog used to lay, the touch of a certain red knit sweater that recalls the warm caress of my grandmother’s hands–these signifiers of memory and experience are at the core of my recent work.  Using prints, photographs, found objects and installation spaces, I explore ideas of memory, identity, and intimacy, including the beautiful failure that accompanies our desire to preserve one’s identity through the realm of time.”

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Lindsay Jones

b.  Lee’s Summit, Missouri

“My work is about my relationships with places, spaces, and landscapes. My imagery is motivated by my longing to return to places, my travel between places, the acceptance of my present place and my projections of ideas about places I want to be.  These relationships inform the visual language of my work.”

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Adrianne Martin

b.  Indianapolis, Indiana

“Through photographic imagery, my work examines various social narratives that emerge from the production of inexpensive ceramic animal figurines.  My questions revolve around ways that the transformation from three-dimensional object to that of the photograph can change ones’ perceptual and conceptual basis for viewing these animal forms and their gestures.  Within this role as artist, I can manipulate the bashful into submissive, the playful into erotic.”

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Peter Pazderski

b.  Chicago, Illinois

“Like many people today, I spend a lot of time existing within the virtual spaces of video games and social networks.  My artwork has become a cathartic means of exorcising my own addictive tendencies to technology.  Within my current installation work, Me Mario, I am exploring the collision of physical and virtual space, the value we place on digital objects, and our current cultural addiction to technology.”

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Jessica Robinson

b.  Cashmere, Washington

“My work considers the deterioration of language through contemporary technology and the parallel disintegration of an identity through popular love songs.  Through the process of technological transcription and personal translation, I create video, audio, and performance works that visually and audibly illustrate miscommunication and misinterpretation by exploring love lyrics: written, spoken, and sung.”

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Sonia R. Sinton

b.  Palo Alto, California

“My work explores the personalities of inanimate objects.  Currently, I focus on barrettes and scrunchies and their cousins, bungee cords and clamps.  Their kinship in terms of materials, design, and function, reveals they are doppelgangers in parallel gender universes.  The interaction of hair tools, hardware tools, and their companion objects, lumber and steel, creates a playful mix of fragility, grace, utilitarianism, and strength, recalling youth and infinite possibilities.”

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Josh Wardle

b.  Abergavenny, Wales, United Kingdom

“My work explores the role of language in ascribing a structured system of meaning to the world, one that presents itself as both unified and absolute.  This document, its contents, and these words are one example of such a system.”

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More Images….

text | the Department of Art Momentary Interruption exhibit catalogue

comments | the mfa students themselves

photos | sabina samiee