Early Bird

Art graduates showcase their work in online symposium

The Roadrunner community is invited to view students’ inspiring senior experience projects.

By Lindsey Coulter

June 1, 2020

Typically, Metropolitan State University of Denver Department of Art students cap their senior experience course with a dynamic, art-filled symposium at the Center for Visual Art. Graduating seniors present their work and research, engage with attendees and celebrate their growth and achievement. As with many things, however, the COVID-19 pandemic upended that tradition.

Instead, the Bachelor of Arts graduates — together with Matthew Jenkins, associate professor, Art — developed an online symposium to showcase their work. The site features the work of 19 students; 12 are graduates of the Art program, and five are graduates in Art History, Theory and Criticism. This year, their research spans the globe, exploring the art of ancient Egypt, Rome and Peru, and modern societal issues — including the pandemic and mental health — inspired original works.

“I’m really proud of the perseverance of these students, and I look forward to hearing about their future accomplishments in the art world,” said Jenkins.

The symposium includes:

Series of Confinement (pictured right)

Melina Piotowski

Continuation. Creativity. Change. Social.

A Concept Designers Journey: Exploring the Art of World Building

Evan Albert

Entertainment Design. Art. Technology. Sub-creation. Science Fiction.

Ancient Egyptian Women Showing Agency Through Stela

Mia Casias

Gender. Ancient Egypt. Women. Stela. Agency. Egyptian Art.

Coercive Control

Susanna Anderson

Video Art. Installation. Domestic Abuse. Isolation. Educational Art.

Group 53

Carrie Bosveld

Family. Healing. Recovery. Bond.

The Exploratory Nature of Carolee Schneemann’s French Influences and Travels

Julie Merwin

Feminist Art. Body Art. French Influences. French Feminism. Performance Art.

#COVID-19 of 2020

Stephanie Maraggos

Institutional Critique. Public Health. Coronavirus. Animated Gif.

Verlassen Schönheit (Abandoned Beauty)

Jacqueline Holloway

Digital Manipulation. Extinction. Abandonment. Emptiness. Beauty. Story. Dreamscape.

Liminal Life: Human Becoming

Susan McNeff Skokan

Ephemeral. Installation. Transformative. Photography. Alternative. World Building.

An Exile’s Journal

Francheska Martinez

Pandemic. Isolation. Trapped.

Absence

Julia Bernard

Cinematography. Isolation. Mental Health.

Mater Sanguinis

Sheridan Furrer

Painting. Ceramics. Contemporary. Religious. Political. Symbolism. Existentialism.

Cincture of Estate: Adapted From the COVID-19 Pandemic

David Humphrey

Jewelry. Metals. Family. History. Fishing.

Land Art, Collectivism and the Anthropocene

Emilie Luckett

Environmental Art. Art Collectives. Climate Change. The Anthropocene. Indigenous Art. Post-colonial Theory. Neo-Marxism.

Do You See What I See?

Annalise Hoerter

Dyslexia. Learning Disability. Awareness. Action.

Women in LDC Countries Are My Sisters

Christmas Paw

Feminist. Empowerment. Abstract. Environmental. Gaze. Education. Migration. Burma Civil War. Culture Broker.

Written in Stone: Understanding Early Inca Expansion and Worldview Through the Architectural Program of Pachkuti Inca

Cullen Toole

Inca/Inka. Architecture. Walls. Ashlar. Andes. Non-western.

Remembering to Forget: The Paradox of Damnatio Memoriae and Its Effect on the Collective Memory of Roman Society

Meghan Jones

Semiotics. Destruction. Memory. Hegemony.

When Worlds Collide

Margaret Sykora

Photography. Print. Meta-weave. Pattern.