UARK Painting & Drawing at 211 South

WAITING, WORKS BY BRIT BORCHER & MADISON SVENDGARD, AT 211 SOUTH

AUGUST 12 - NOVEMBER 4, 2022

211 South is pleased to present a new two-person exhibition, Waiting, which features a selection of paintings by Brit Borcher and Madison Svendgard. Borcher and Svendgard are the winners of 211 South’s second annual University of Arkansas MFA Call for Art launched last spring. Curated by Kellie Lehr, the exhibition will be free and open to the public from August 12th until November 4th, 2022.

In Faith Wilding’s iconic feminist monologue, “Waiting,” women, WAIT. Wilding’s performance condenses the entirety of a woman’s life into a 15-minute, monotonous, repetitive cycle of waiting, “waiting for life to begin...waiting to be myself...waiting for him to tell me something interesting, to ask me how I feel...waiting for things to get better.”

Routines of waiting, waiting for transportation, affirming text responses and breaks at work are ever present. The word “waiting” has become synonymous with prolonged stress. Many wait for feelings of isolation to end and for opportunities to reconnect. Even more, wait for decisions that will affect their livelihood. Though these two artists approach image-making differently, one representationally, one abstractly, as women, Madison Svendgard and Brit Borcher share in the act of waiting.

Waiting for release...Madison Svendgard considers how narrative has the potential to create dualities within spaces. Relieving the viewer and herself of bodily restrictions, Svendgard creates alternate realities to drop into, creating opportunities to experience where fiction and reality slide in and out of one another - a daydream of what lies beyond.

Waiting for things to get better...Brit Borcher uses the autonomous space of her paintings to explore what is difficult to locate, both emotionally and intellectually. With generous intention, Borcher compresses layers of painted imagery and linear drawings to create portals for the viewer to cross into and consider what lies beyond accumulated stress and anxiety.

Together, with the curatorial assistance of Kellie Lehr, Madison Svendgard and Brit Borcher have come to appreciate Wilding’s words and see them as a way for their work to coexist. “Waiting,” alongside Faith Wilding’s “Waiting,” may now stand as an act of resistance, reflection and refusal.

Maryam Amirvaghefi, Curating Visionary

Meet Maryam Amirvaghefi, Assistant Director of UArk’s FNAR Gallery, Instructor of Art and most recently, Curator of ‘Foresight Prevents Blindness’, an exhibition at UArk’s FNAR Gallery featuring artworks created by artists intimately connected to the region known as the Middle East.

With works ranging from narrative-driven video, to meticulously hand-embroidered patterns and beading, to a full-scale installation of a teenage retreat, artists Wafaa Bilal, Yasmine Diaz, Amir Fallah, Alia Farid, Jordan Nassar and Sheida Soleimani assist Curator Amirvaghefi in highlighting the unique perspectives developed from, as the exhibition catalog states, “a life splintered by cultural history and geographical bias”.

Amirvaghefi recently agreed to answer questions about her experience during the development of the project titled, ‘Foresight Prevents Blindness’ on view at UArk’s FNAR Gallery until February 27, 2022.

Maryam Amirvaghefi Assistant Director FNAR Gallery/Instructor of Art University of Arkansas

The exhibition catalog cites World Health Day, 1976, as the source for the title, ‘Foresight Prevents Blindness’. How did you arrive at the World Health Organization’s focus on preventative measures against blindness as an intersection for the artworks presented?

MA: When I was thinking about the title for this show, I was thinking about finding something that shows the reason behind why I decided to curate this show instead of something directly related to the Middle East. In 1976, many countries in the Middle East issued commemorative stamps for the occasion, including Iran, which featured an eye embedded in an impossible square, itself being an optical illusion. For me, the idea of preventing blindness is similar to fighting against stereotypes, the stereotypes of calligraphy and veiled women that so many people think of when they think of Middle Eastern. I believe the selected information that people receive from the news is an optical illusion.

The idea that culture and identity can be global, reaching beyond geographical locations, is woven throughout the exhibition. What interested you in this point of view? 

MA: As I began to think through various aspects of the exhibition, I felt it was important to include artists from different countries throughout the Middle East. In addition, I wanted to have a variety of artists born in the Middle East and living in the U.S.; artists who may have been born in the U.S. but have cultural connections to the Middle East, and artists born in the Middle East then stayed there. Not surprisingly, each artist captured unique stories and commentary related to their specific history.

What was the time span from inception to actualization while researching artists and their work?

MA: The core of the idea was the same from the beginning to the end, but artists and work changed several times. Putting together a show based on the geographical location creates a lot of limitations for a curator. There are 18 countries in the Middle East, and because of shipping restrictions, I had to find Middle Eastern artists currently living and working in or around the U.S. I was challenged by my desire to maintain variety and at the same time include artists who related to the ‘awareness’ idea in my mind.

Not only are you a curator, but you are also a working artist. Did you ever consider your artwork in dialog with those included in the exhibition? 

MA: Yes, as a native of Tehran who moved to the U.S. in 2015, I've had a complicated relationship with both the U.S. and my home country of Iran. Due to policies enacted by the U.S. government, I can't return home, yet I don't feel like I am accepted as a citizen within this country either. The sense of 'floating' between various spaces (geographically, politically, religiously, and culturally) became more pronounced, prompting me to look at other Middle Eastern artists whose work is also based on complicated relationships with their culture and the U.S.

As an artist/curator, did working on this project raise any new questions for you?

MA: Definitely. I started thinking about my role as an artist and curator here at the University of Arkansas and, in general, about the balance that I would love to have in my work. I keep these questions in mind when I talk about my identity versus my individuality as an artist.

Take us behind the scenes for a moment. What decisions had to be made to present this exhibition? How often did the plan on paper match the eventual hang in the FNAR gallery?

MA: We usually start with a plan about the placement of artworks but are remain flexible in moving them around. For this show, I knew that I wanted to hang Jordan Nassar’s work facing the entrance of the gallery. It created a surprise moment for our audience upon entering the gallery. It also introduced, starting with Jordan's work, the idea of diverse voicing - the contrast between Jordan's work with Wafaa Bilal or Sheida Soleimani’s works.

Galleries can be sites for activism and social justice; as a curator, what was the greatest challenge to presenting this exhibition and its voice to the community?

MA: Part of my curatorial philosophy was to bring artists/artwork that challenge our students (many of which are first-generation and haven't left the state). Many of our students are craving to understand the world beyond this region, but I hoped to open their eyes to the wider world... not just American discussions related to both the Middle East and the U.S.; and how students from Arkansas can become more informed.  

Do any of the pieces included in 'Foresight Prevents Blindness' have an uncomfortable history?

MA: Yes, works from Sheida Soleimani and Wafaa Bilal are different for me, personally.

For instance, Wafaa Bilal's work in this show: the main character in Waffa's work is Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq when Iraq invaded Iran in 1980. It is interesting for me to see work from an Iraqi artist who has an identical feeling about Saddam as I do. At the same time, I can't escape the feeling that looking at six various-sized Saddam busts on display in the gallery is not pleasing. It reminds me of that sad moment in our history. 

Also, Sheida Soleimani is an Iranian artist who used cut images of political characters' faces and hands. For me, it is not hard to figure out which politicians these hands, eyes, or lips belong to; most of them are dictators responsible for ruining our lives.

If contemplating interactions between a work of art and its viewers, do the individuals who visit UArk's FNAR gallery play an active role in this exhibition?

MA: I would say, yes, in Yasmine Nasser Diaz’s Installation! Her Installation is designed to be immersive and interactive: viewers are encouraged to come in and look at each element closely and have the experience of being in a teenager's bedroom. It is the experience of allowing someone into your room and revealing a private part of yourself.

What part of the exhibition surprised you? Are there new connections or threads of ideas that appeared to you after seeing the show fully installed?

MA: The influential role of their personality visibly present in their works! Though a common denominator is that each artist creates work referencing politics, gender, and stereotypes, if you pay attention to the artworks individually, there is something unique and personal present as well. It is one reason why these artworks are special and powerful.

One consideration you hope visitors to UArk's FNAR gallery take with them after experiencing this exhibition….

MA: I would like them to have a more comprehensive view of the Middle East, which doesn't just focus on the Middle East's media portrayals, but a more humanistic lens that focuses on how familial and governmental history has impacted individuals (and their loved ones).

UARK Painting represented in NWA Regional Exhibition

Our Art, Our Region, Our Time opened September 30th at the Joy Pratt Markham Gallery inside the Walton Arts Center. The exhibition marks the 30th Anniversary of the Walton Performing Arts Center and serves to showcase artistic excellence from across the NWA region.

UARK Painting past and present were featured in the show. Including current BFA Student Meredith Tinkle, current MFA candidate Jonathan Virginia Green, and Assistant Professor of Art Neil Callander- alongside former BFA student Sara Schellenberg and former student Kellie Lehr. Congrats!

Show runs from September 30th - November 5th. More info on the exhibition can be found here!

MFA Studio Sounds

Listening. Receiving. Interpreting. Recalling. Evaluating. Responding.

The interaction with sound is almost unavoidable, either to make it or take pleasure in it. Many artists find music plays a significant role in their lives, whether for enjoyment in listening, the opportunity for emotional response, performing, or creating.

UARk graduate students enrolled in Neil Callander’s Painting Seminar were recently asked to share what music or sound fills their studio space. Curious as to how these creatives curate sound to motivate their practice? Click on an image to visit a playlist.

Newsweek features UARK School of Art

You may have seen the post on Instagram, but how excellent is this bit of press? Newsweek has featured the U of A School of Art as one of the "Leading Art and Design Programs of 2020”.

The University of Arkansas School of Art, in the Fulbright Colleges of Arts and Sciences, offers degrees in Art Education, Art History, Graphic Design, Studio Art, including ceramics, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture….

The University of Arkansas School of Art, in the Fulbright Colleges of Arts and Sciences, offers degrees in Art Education, Art History, Graphic Design, Studio Art, including ceramics, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture….

The Art of Hybrid Teaching

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Grad school applications. The submitting, the waiting, the meeting of deadlines - the experience that leads to institutional access for artists, is again, quickly approaching. For prospective MFA candidates looking to broaden their graduate school experience with teaching, it can be challenging to understand what that looks like right now, mid-global pandemic. As an applicant during the last grad cycle, I considered the prospect of teaching to be a deciding factor. After much online research, I had only a limited view of what form painting instruction had taken on and less so of what a teaching assistantship might entail.

Good news. I landed at the University of Arkansas, and what I discovered as a first year MFA student here, is that painting instruction is thriving within online platforms and traditional classrooms simultaneously. Online students enter the physical classroom via projection on a studio wall while a classroom camera returns the in-person students to the virtual classroom. Behind this beautiful loop of continuous communication are two professors, Associate Professor of Painting, Kristin Musnug and Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing, Neil Callander.

Each professor has graciously answered questions regarding their hybrid model of artistic instruction that includes Painting 1, Landscape Painting and Advanced Painting. My wish is that by sharing this short interview, we might assist prospective graduate students in painting a more complete picture of the possibilities and challenges that lie ahead in teaching.

Let’s start with the classes you are teaching and how those classes meet…

KM: An advanced class, mostly in-person - the students have individual studios, and Painting 1, also meant to be hybrid, but at this point most of the students are remote.

NC: This semester I'm teaching Painting 1 and Landscape Painting—both in a hybrid instructional model. We are trying to maintain as much in-person instruction as we safely can. 

What are your main safety concerns and how do you address them?

KM: The safety protocols in place on campus seem pretty effective. The main challenge is getting a good sense of the students’ view of their source and their work from six feet away.

NC: Of course COVID-19 is the most concerning at the moment. In Landscape Painting we are able to hold class in-person most of the time because our classroom is outdoors. In Painting 1 there are the dual concerns of COVID-19 and teaching students how to safely paint with oil at home and in the studio. In both classes we are relying on Zoom, recorded lectures and tutorials, file-sharing software and lots of emails.

How important is flexibility right now and where are you finding it most necessary?

KM: Flexibility is absolutely required this semester, both for me and the students. There has been a lot of shifting in the first weeks.

NC: There is such a thing as being too flexible, and this semester has me walking that line. I don’t want to flex to the point that the curriculum has no clear structure, but have given in to slowing the pace and relaxing my attendance policy.

How do you keep students engaged when working remotely?

KM: Definitely a challenge. It’s harder for them to get to know each other when they aren’t working together in the same room. We break into small groups for remote critiques and discussions so that they get to know some people better and interact on a regular basis.

Instead of doing in-class demonstrations, in Painting 1 we are making tutorials that can be watched or re-watched at any time. It’s made me more conscious of how information is delivered and led to re-evaluating how I present things in order to be made more clear.

NC: Same as in-person; they need to feel connected to their classmates, trusting of me and excited about the material. I have genuine enthusiasm for painting which I am not shy about sharing. The connection to classmates is tricky; we keep our Zoom videos on, they present their classmate’s work, they hold court on the class via GroupMe. Unlike in the classroom, students can just turn to ghosts when working remotely - that’s definitely a challenge.

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What are you most concerned about in regards to your students’ well-being and their education?

KM: Things are going to fall through the cracks - emotionally, financially, educationally. It’s hard to keep as close an eye on them. Most of the students are not as isolated from each other as they were last spring, so that’s a good thing. It’s still not the same experience, though.

NC: I think their well-being and education are inextricably linked. Happy, healthy people are people who are learning and growing. Learning a craft (such as painting) has such benefits (book recommendation: Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work), and I do worry about the loss of craft in our society generally. This semester has me feeling this acutely when trying to help students solve a painting problems remotely.

Based on your own experience teaching during a global pandemic, what advice would you give to those entering into an online teaching situation for the first time?

KM: Mainly, that it isn’t going to be the same as an in-person class. Things might need to slowed down and that’s not always a bad thing.

NC: I was extremely frustrated when mourning what I love about the classroom - Fall semester energy, painting with my students, working side-by-side students to solve painting problems - until I gave into the fact that this semester cannot resemble a normal semester. It’s its own thing.

What does a daily “win” look like to you right now?

KM: When the remote students are doing as well as the in-person students.

NC: It’s all about the students. If they show signs of life, better yet curiosity, better yet enthusiasm, and best yet passion, then all is well.

Adam Fulwiler on Studio Break Podcast

What do a deep longing for the blues of Lake Michigan, a background in music performance and an interest in game theory have in common? Listen to artist Adam Fulwiler’s recent interview with Studio Break podcast to discover where this collection of inspiration intersects and informs an ambitious painting process that champions the position of unknowability in a culture obsessed with instant access .

Studio Break is a podcast hosted by David Linneweh with a focus on providing a platform for visual artists to share their work and provide an in-depth look into their studio practice. Fulwiler was selected as one of Studio Break’s 2020 graduate student competition winners last May by juror Tim Kowalczyk.

Visit the link below to listen to his recent interview with David Linneweh on the Studio Break podcast.

http://studiobreak.com/adam-fulwiler/

Summer 2020 - Drawing Marathon at the New York Studio School

“This summer was a difficult time for many students and artists. Lots of residencies and educational opportunities shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, I still had the opportunity to create and converse with Graham Nickson and other faculty at the New York Studio School as. This year the Drawing Marathon went virtual.

NYSS is known for its marathons that were implemented by its dean Graham Nickson. The marathons are two week long intensive programs where participants are pushed hard to achieve a new understanding of a medium. Originating with drawing, the marathons since have extended to include sculpture and painting. I was awarded a scholarship from the NYSS, as well as an award through the School of Art at UARK to cover my tuition. Furthermore, I was able to apply for a Summer Project Grant through the School of Art to help cover the expense of materials.

As a student I was asked to draw for two weeks beginning at 9am and ending at 6pm. I was prompted to draw from the live models that attended the course virtually while exploring different aspects of drawing that ranged from the technical to the metaphorical. Nickson and other instructors who ran the marathon provided critical feedback on my work daily. I left the marathon with an invigorated appreciation for drawing that will undoubtedly feed into my artistic practice.” - Jonathan Green, MFA

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12 Questions with Fall 2019 MFA Graduate, Ziba Rajabi.

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1. Can you tell me a little bit about you?

My name is Ziba, a recent MFA graduate from the School of Art at the University of Arkansas; currently, I am based in Arkansas, Fayetteville.

2. What first inspired you to begin making art?

Ever since I remember, I have been making things with my hand or painting on any surface that I could find around me. In high school, I was pretty sure that I want to pursue art as my future career.

3. What is your studio like?

I have a desk that I use to work with my laptop, write or make drawings. I have covered the whole floor with two layers of thick plastic sheets and two layers of canvas. I make all my paintings on the floor.

4. Do you listen to music when you're painting? What are some artists you're currently listening to?

Yes, music is like a fuel for my productivity engine. It helps me focus, and rhythmically move my body and hands to make marks on the canvas. Recently, I have been listening to jazz-fusion music such as a brilliant album by Mahan Mirarab "Persian Side of Jazz", as well as Tigran Hamasyan, Siriya Ensamble, Mohsen Namjoo, and Ibrahim Maalouf.

5. Can you talk a little about your process?

I never start a painting on a blank canvas. There is always the residue of the past paintings on the canvas when I start a new one.

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6. What ideas are you exploring in your work?

My work is about my relationship with places and how the history of places is intertwined with people's personal history.

7. Who/What are influences for your work?

Persian traditional design, especially rug and tile design, has extremely influenced my work. In contemporary art, I am inspired by Helen Frankenthaler, Molly Hartung Zuckerman, and Alan Shields.

8. How do you overcome 'failure'?

I see failure as a new possibility and try to transform the failed practice into something new. Otherwise, I just learn from it.

9. How do you seek out opportunities?

In my dead times, I seek opportunities online, for example, the CAA website, and if something looks related to my practice, I apply for it during the weekend.

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10. If you could go back in time and give yourself advice as an incoming 1st year grad, what advice would you give?

Be more flexible and open to new ideas and possibilities, and do not wait until the third semester to open up. ;)

11. What is the most exciting thing you've done or accomplished so far, related to your work?

I think there are two equal things in terms of accomplishment: Artist 3 60 grant and Vermont Studio Center residency.

12. What are you working on now?

I am working on a new series that represents delicates moments in Persian architecture design while I am studying Islamic art philosophy and aesthetics.

Thanks so much to Ziba for taking the time to answer these questions! Be sure to listen to her recent interview on the Studio Break podcast - LINK. To see more of Ziba’s work visit her website - LINK.

Taylor Loftin wins Young Painters Competition

Congratulations to MFA Painting candidate Taylor Loftin for winning the Young Painters Competition 2020! His concrete painting die Erde V won 1st place. He’s slated to have a solo show at Miami University and give a lecture in Spring 2021.

Through a generous gift from William (Class of 1936) and Dorothy Yeck, of Dayton, Ohio, Miami University has a unique opportunity to provide students and the community at large with opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of contemporary art through an annual national competition.

Started in 1999, the Young Painters Competition features artists aged 25 - 35, who demonstrate excellence. The juror, chosen from nationally recognized painters, museum directors, curators and art professionals, selects 10 finalists. Each year's winner is awarded the $10,000 William and Dorothy Yeck Award and the painting becomes a part of the permanent collection at Miami University. Alternating between representational/realism and non-representational painting, this competition assures a prominent national role for Miami University, rewarding and inspiring the creativity of talented young artists.

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Sam King's collaboration with JOBS Band

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JOBS are announcing a new 7” single, a collaborative project with Arkansas-based visual artist Sam King, out November 22nd on Ramp Local. In the fall of 2016, each artist began a new body of work, sharing different iterations with each other in pen-pal fashion, making adjustments to the songs and visual pieces based on the others artistic response. The result of that three-year process is two new tracks by JOBS and five new visual pieces by Sam King, represented in the form of a seven-inch vinyl record documenting the four paintings and one low relief sculpture.

12 Questions with 2019 MFA Graduate Hannah McBroom

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1. Can you tell me a little bit about you?

I grew up in Mississippi and went to MSU as an undergrad. I decided to go to the University of Arkansas after taking a year off. I recently moved to Overland Park and have all my plants spread out in the house. I love Thai food and going camping in the spring and fall. I have a fear of motorized machines and get a migraine if there is a scented candle lit in the room. 


2. What first inspired you to begin making art?

Peer pressure. My friends in high school were making art pieces in Mrs. Pigg’s classroom during 5th period and I wanted a way to skip athletics. I feel in love with using the supplies in her classroom and dreamt of being an artist one day. 


3. What is your studio like?

At the moment my studio is floating somewhere between my desk in my bedroom where I work on sketches to downstairs in the actual studio where the painting happens. I’ve been enjoying the bedroom more because there’s a window overlooking the neighborhood and I can see people walking by with their dogs. The downstairs studio is next to the water heater and ac unit which is completely surrounded by concrete, wooden beams, and duct work. A month ago I invested in some noise cancellation head phones so I could focus on what I’m doing without the hum of the units distracting me. 


4. Do you listen to music when you’re painting? What are some artists you’re currently listening to?

Usually I’m listening to Morten Lauridsen. A lot of time it’s The National or Lake Street Dive. I switch between mildly depressing and melodic to upbeat music. The upbeat music is generally to keep me awake in the afternoons. Recently I haven’t been listening to anything. My roommate’s cat has made his primary place to lounge during the day on my bed behind me. I’ve been enjoying the purrs while I’m fussing over a sketch with a cup of tea brewing slowly next to me.

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5. Can you talk a little about your process?

I gather a lot of material in my head, like watching a butcher pick out fish from the ice or the look a roommate gives you in the hallway last Tuesday at 9:30 pm. Out of all those moments I channel them into two different concepts I’ve been working with the last few months: how do I show vulnerability without censorship and how has my body been shaped by outside forces. I make a lot of sketches around certain ideas I have about these ideas and make studies of how they would look and feel in a certain space. I’m imagining these smaller oil paintings blown up to 6’ in scale and in a room where people are milling in and out. Would they notice the veiny arms of this woman standing in the kitchen or the mark making that’s providing the structure of her knees? So I experiment in the early stages and see what could possibly work. If the painting feels dead then it’s time to change it up. If I’m bored with a painting it’s just not going to work. 


6. What ideas are you exploring in your work?

I worked with coordinators for shows on what works could be shown this year. I ran into a lot of restraints when it came to showing pieces that contained nudity or results of violence. Some coordinators were all for it but couldn’t show the pieces because of viewers who might disagree with those images. I want to show paintings that can vulnerable moments or things that might be uncomfortable for some viewers. How can I make an image that isn’t so easily flagged as immodest? Can I make a painting that has a penis in it and make it “modest?” I want to play with that border between modesty and depravity a bit. Not to make someone uncomfortable but to show the similarities between the two. Can a painting have a penis in it without being sexual? How can a viewer who’s not familiar with trans bodies become engrossed with the image/painting despite their discomfort with a penis or something sexual in nature? I want to make that moment more for myself because there’s things I still need to feel from my own paintings.    

Another way in looking at this is studying how my body or idea of a body has been shaped by others. I’m living in a suburban neighborhood for the first time ever. There’s strip malls and upper middle class people running around everywhere. My last home had queers and struggling families trying to get by. I never had to think about my appearance or what I wear to throw out trash at 7 am on a Wednesday. So my identity as an artist and person is shifting. With that shifting I’m going back and trying to articulate these smaller moments of how my identity as a trans woman has shifted the last several years. What does it mean to have an authentic self? Can you create an identity without outside influence? How much of my identity has been shaped by sex, academia, and my personal life? So part of my paintings now are about finding an identity while situating outside a traditional binary. Some of the paintings I’m working on now is my body or a friends that’s uncomfortable with being in a situation like the bedroom or grocery store. 

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7. Who/What are influences for your work?

A lot of female painters like Lisa Yuskavage and Cecily Brown. Women who worked against how women were expected to paint at the time and instead focused on what they needed their paintings to do. There’s several art museums and galleries in KC so I’ll go there and get a massive art high and run home and knock out an area on a painting I was struggling with that week. There’s so many good drawings and paintings there. 


8. How do you overcome ‘failure’?

Failure was always a bad word even when I was in grad school. I resisted failing so much i failed at the thing I was trying to do the first two years. I recently started making watercolors because there’s a level of failure built into the process of controlling pigmented fluids. For me I’ve been leaning into failure more as a way to create new marks or to find out things about what my process could be. For me the only way to overcome failure is try new things and stop sitting on the same habits. The studio is about messing up and I enjoy the process of shifting through every possibility for a solution. 


9. How do you seek out opportunities?

I go to events, talk to people, check online, catch up with old friends/contacts. A lot of the opportunities this year came from putting myself out into the world and trusting that it would give back. I’ve been very fortunate that the relationships I built while in grad school have given me opportunities to show and collaborate. My favorite thing to do now is go to show openings and mingle with people several times a month. Generally after a few times people tend to remember my face and we have conversations about the art world. 


10.  If you could go back in time and give yourself advice as an incoming 1st year grad, what advice would you give?

“Don’t let your pride get in the way of doing something really dumb. You will fail so lighten up a bit. Actually, if you could just be even dumber and just do that thing your professor kept suggesting you do, do that but on a whole other level.”


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11.  What is the most exciting thing you’ve done or accomplished so far, related to your work?

Too many! I’ve had so many opportunities this year to showcase and sell work, meet new people, go to new places. What I’m really proud of is starting a studio practice in a new city without stressing over finding a day job. I’ve had time to experiment and research new avenues while making work in the studio. 


12.  What are you working on now?

I’m working on a series of works about how trans bodies are formed under different moments. A lot of the images I’ve been developing are from personal experience but are influenced by friends stories of struggles and triumphs. Everything’s in oil but I’m started everything out with a smaller sketch/oil study. I wanted a way to screw up on a smaller scale so I could find out where all the good parts were for the larger pieces. I’m also researching material for a book I’m writing with a friend on how the porn industry has affected the representation of transwomen outside that industry. It’s most likely going to take several years to research and produce.

12 Questions with 2019 MFA Graduate Jody Thompson

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1. Can you tell me a little bit about you?

Ok, so I’ll keep this one kind of simple. I am originally from southwest Louisiana and spent 20 years on the east coast in NYC and New Jersey before moving to Fayetteville for Grad School. I am a recovering alcoholic and have been sober for over 10 years. My cat is named Willow.


2. What first inspired you to begin making art?

In 1980, I watched the movie Xanadu for the first time. It is one of those movies that is so bad, that it circles back around to being good. It was a musical about an artist who falls in love with one of the nine greek muses of mythology. The music is, literally, big bands of the 40s meets roller disco and hard rock. I have a tendency to find a movie and watch it hundreds of times. I would go back and forth between wanting to be Sonny, the artist, and Kira, the muse. It was about this time that I started watching bob Ross every Saturday morning. I asked my mama to get me an oil painting set. I would sit and watch one of his episodes, and then, after it was over, run back into my room and duplicate what I had seen him do. Eventually, she wanted to put new carpet in my room because mine was covered in paint. She made a deal with me that if I wouldn’t paint in there anymore, she would enroll me in oil painting classes.

3. What is your studio like?

Opposite of my home. Where my home is organized, neat, and always clean, my studio is not. My friends in nyc used to call my studio the Seven room, after the movie “Seven”. Its always been a little scary. Not so much anymore. I need to be able to glance around and see a full spectrum of the definition of “beautiful”. I also tend to leave brushes and pallets and anything that I am working on where it is when I leave the studio. When I am getting ready to go into the studio, showering, putting on my clothes and such, I am mentally already in the studio. Thinking. I am seeing what the game plan is for the day. By the time I drive to the studio and walk in the door, there is no sitting and getting ready. I just walk in, put my bag down, and pick up a brush.

4. Do you listen to music when you’re painting? What are some artists you’re currently listening to?

What I listen to in the studio depends on what I am doing in the studio. If the painting needs predictable, repetitive marks that don’t require a lot of decision making, I like cheesy, pop music or audio books that have to do with fantasy. If what I am working on has to do with layers of materials or more formal interactions on the surface, I listen to classical, any metal music that has layering, movie soundtracks (interstellar, 2049, arrival, etc.). when working with gestural mark or active movement on the surface, faster, more chaotic music is required. And when all else fails, Tori Amos always saves the day.

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5. Can you talk a little about your process?

Questions 2, 3, & 4 are definitely part of my process. However, I do not begin to paint what I am thinking about. I think; I read; I research; but when I walk into the studio, as Ive said before, I do have a plan or an idea of what direction I want to go. However, I do try to keep an open mind and try not to limit my decision making process to much to specifics. For instance, if working on realism, painting skin, I know that I am going to using flesh tones, but I wait until I am looking through tubes of paint to decide what hues I want to use. When focusing on materiality in a painting, I may know that I am wanting to use resin to achieve a veiling effect. I wait until I am digging through different materials to mix with the resin before I decide what to use. When working in a geometric, abstract way, I may know that I am looking to create gradients of tone and value. I look at the texture of the surface before deciding what material to use.

I usually have 4 or 5 paintings going at a time, so that when I get to a stopping point on one, or just need to not look at it for a while, I can move on to another one to keep the momentum of making going.

6. What ideas are you exploring in your work?

I am exploring the process of memory and the mutability of perception. I have third person memories from my childhood that makes me question what is real. I view memory as a combination of abstraction and realism. Sort of how dreams morph and change through the process of experiencing them. I am exploring what it means to be a white, gay man in America and how that experience has been influenced by the hegemonic, patriarchal, white society that I fit so easily into. Im exploring the influence evangelical christianity has had on masculinity. I am exploring camouflage, how we perceive something can be manipulated without having to change the truth, the literal structure of it.

7. Who/What are influences for your work?

Make-up tutorials on youtube; Caravaggio; music that moves back and forth and is layered; when I form an opinion about something that I am 100% sure of and then find out I was wrong; ancient technology theories; monkey bars; shooting stars; friction; seismic images; archaeology; certain hashtags on instagram; severe weather, meditation

8. How do you overcome ‘failure’?

Because the surface of a painting is very important in establish the history of what the painting, the actual object, went through to be its final self, failure equals process for me. There is not a point where I stand back from a painting and think, “wow, that painting is a failure” and then throw the canvas away. Even if I paint over it completely, the textures that it brings to subsequent layers end up being necessary. Also, there have been paintings, the stretched canvas or object itself, that I finally just stopped painting over. I have put them in storage only to find them 10 or 20 years later. That much time away has given me the space to grow and change as a person. This emotional distance inevitably has allowed me to either solve the problems or paint over it and use the textures.


9. How do you seek out opportunities?

Opportunities as far as showing/selling work, have come from networking and building relationships with other artists and professionals WITHOUT the specific intention to show/sell work. While I do apply for shows, it is the personal relationships with other likeminded people that place me exactly where I am supposed to be.


10. If you could go back in time and give yourself advice as an incoming 1st year grad, what advice would you give?

They are not going to change their minds and tell you that they don’t want you here. They are not going to kick you out for making too many paintings. When you don’t know what you are doing, make more things to look at. Keep taking notes WHILE YOU ARE MAKING!!!! Your own words will tell you what you are thinking


11. What is the most exciting thing you’ve done or accomplished so far, related to your work?

My thesis show was one of the most accomplished moments of my career so far. The freedom and time to devote all of my resources for 1 year to building a huge, amazing body of work was something that I had only dreamed of being able to do. Selling work is always wonderful, but deciding, at 44 years old to go back to grad school, and finish that 3 years with flying colors…. That’s freaking amazing.

12. What are you working on now?

My thesis left off with seeing how trompe l’oiel realism could be in conversation with geometric abstraction. I am pushing that notion to begin to use figurative painting with many different types of abstract methods. Questions 4 - 8 are ongoing.

Sara Schellenberg at Mt. Gretna

“I attended the Mt. Gretna School of Art Summer Intensive Program, which is a seven week painting program in Mt. Gretna, Pennsylvania that emphasizes landscape painting and figure drawing. This program was a transformative learning experience, due to the rigorous schedule, the incredible rotating faculty, and visiting lecturers and critics. Not only was I able to learn from a set of amazing painters and artists from around the country, but this program also included trips to museums and galleries in New York and Philadelphia. This program was an incredible experience for me because I was able to work alongside other serious painting students in an intensive setting and because I also had the liberty to pursue independent projects outside of class-time, which allowed me to experiment with my improved skills. I returned from Mt. Gretna even more excited about painting than I was before.”

- Sara Schellenberg

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John Yau visits Fayetteville and the School of Art

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The award-winning poet, art critic, and writer for Hyperallergic came to the School of Art as a 2019-2020 McIlroy Family Visiting Professor. John Yau held a group discussion with the MFA students, gave studio visits to the MFA Painting students, and lectured at the Hillside Auditorium during his visit. Outside of the university, John Yau also participated in a poetry reading at the Fayetteville Public Library.

Ashley Nielsen at Ox-Bow

This summer, I was given the privilege to attend Ox-Bow school of art for a week of class. The course I took was The Portrait as a starting point, which covered material I already knew, as well as expanded my knowledge on portraiture, color, light, as well as expanding my knowledge on what a portrait can be. To put it simply, Ox-Bow is a magical place, one where artists are nurtured and encouraged to explore their artistic passions, all while in an incredible location that feels like a refuge from the world around us.

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BFA Student Justice Henderson in Rome Summer 2019

“I went to Italy with the School of Art in Rome program this summer. I took ARTS 495V Space, Light and Points of View with Dylan DeWitt in which we used light and optics to explore the relationship between the 3D and 2D world. I also took ARTS 495V Special Topics: Perspective on Rome, History and Drawing with Kasey Ramirez in which we translated the city and its history through observational drawing. I learned so much from just being in Italy, specifically Florence, Capri, Procida, Venice and of course, Rome, that my five-week adventure brought the pages of an art history textbook to life. I am thankful that I got to go and would recommend for other students to study abroad, too.” - Justice Henderson

@UARKpainting #UARKpainting