SIX
2021 - 2022
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
ART EDUCATION
STUDIO ART
ART HISTORY
THEATRE
INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
DANCE
A LETTER FROM THE CHAIR...
BRITTNEY PIEPER
Serving on the College of Fine Arts Leadership Council these past four years has been an absolute honor. I grew alongside the organization and have watched it transform from year to year. Through the Chair position from the last two years, I have gained an ultimate sense of appreciation for the various departments of the College of Fine Arts. Student dedication is continually the stand-out quality that makes me proud to serve on the Council, in addition to being a CFA student myself. One of my favorite projects has always been the SIX Magazine because it truly allows us to showcase this talent and dedication. Despite all foregoing challenges - from online art classes to the many papers and late nights, each department can relate to the struggle to create. However, those within this magazine serve as the proof: creation cannot be stopped. To all current , past, and future students, never stop creating! From the Council to you, we are so proud of you and will continue to show your artwork. Without further ado, please enjoy the 2021-2022 SIX Magazine.
THEATRE
"ARE YOU READY BLACK PEOPLE?" A Self-taken full-body portrait of timeless Black Exposition.
JD LEE
H. MARIE DUALITY "It felt like there were two people living in one body. I woke up, and whether I put on jeans or leggings made a difference. Whether I put on a tank top and a jean jacket or a sweater made a difference. Believe it or not, whether or not I looked in the mirror – and at what angle – made a difference. My hair color made a difference. Some days I wake up and forget that my hair isn’t burgundy anymore, that now it’s black, which I like better but it still makes me feel a certain different type of way. Sometimes I wake up and forget that I have tattoos, and wonder why my fingers are covered in black dots and lines, until I remember that I felt that those symbols were so important to me that I needed them etched on me forever. I then remember that I only have tattoos on the right side of my body, by choice, leaving the other half of me a clean slate. Once I talked to a friend that told me he didn’t understand why people get tattoos, that there’s no symbol he identifies with more than his own skin. Though I didn’t quite agree, it still struck a chord. I think to myself often now: do I identify with my own skin? What if I don’t? Is that a problem? Suddenly I was sucked into a spiral of thoughts that resulted in the realization that maybe I’d forgotten I was a person, not just a mind that was carried around by a body which I adorned with ink, jewelry, and clothes. Those identified me more than my own skin, and maybe they shouldn’t. Not that I think we all should be walking around naked, but maybe we need to take a moment
to actually look at our skin: look at the way it ripples and folds; look at the way it gets sliced open, bruised, irritated, dry, oily, wrinkled—and instead of immediately going into problem-solving mode to try to fix it, to just see it for what it is, and see that it’s ours and only ours and our skin acts and reacts and looks different than everyone else’s, and maybe that’s a beautiful thing. Now I see my sense of humor in my freckles, I see my creativity in my long and slim fingers, and I see my culture in the stretch marks on my hips. We should identify ourselves by our own skin, but we can never get close enough to someone else to identify them by theirs. Their actions themselves must show us who they are. Maybe a lot of the problems in the world are caused by the fact that people identify others by their skin, and maybe the solution is to see that it’s just the skin they were born with that they need to survive. Maybe that’s the answer to the question of justice, to the question of discrimination, assumptions. Maybe that’s the answer to saving humanity. Now I wake up and t and instead of doing my skincare routine for the sake of fixing it, I do it as an act of love for my skin, a ritual to thank my skin for keeping me safe and from falling apart. And then when I go out into the world, I see people for their smile, for the way their eyes fall on me when they see me, for the warm embrace they give me, or the way they turn their head away. Now I feel like one person, not two. Maybe I realized that when I saw that I only have one skin."
When I first started writing this piece, I wanted to communicate how it felt to be disassociated with my identity when I based it on external factors rather than internal factors. But then it became something bigger, something more important. I realized that not only do people identify themselves based on facets that have little significance, they identify others by these aspects too. I hope I bring a new perspective to the table that might make a difference for the better, both in the individual and in the community.
REBECCA MOORE MY SUNKEN HEART I hang my sunken heart before you with the hope of revitalization I know that which lies within you my only hope for salvation My heart speaks tenderly of truth and just a meeting so honest; does hope meet us? My troubled words make fool of me dare I speak in vain or mutiny Divine creation lay in our mitts a sacred space born of bliss You’ve seen my heart you know it’s true I’d give my life in wait for you Fractured Friendships I’ve built denial around your absence Hollow memories of a fractured friendship once rife with communion We’re separate now Aware of the ever-present shame and guilt etched between us I feel faint in your regard My Sunken Heart is a compilation of three poems about the various forms of heartbreak, loss, and yearning. In “Solemn Slumbers”, I grapple with the capricious nature of love once honesty has met a conversation. In “Sunken Heart” I express the devotion and yearning that one experiences when potentially losing another. Lastly, I have included the poem “Fractured Friendships” because I equate the loss of friendship with the loss of romantic love. To me, they are synonymous in nature. Lost friendships are often heartbreak with no name. I write my poetry with the hope of resonating with the hearts of others. Cultivating a space for honest – and sometimes dramatic – reflection.
STUDIO ART
KRIS IBARRA ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
Within my senior year, I created a character to carry the weight of my echoism; a coping mechanism developed in response to narcissistic abuse. Patience the Cat, a meek purple feline, is a goofy metaphor for my timid behavior behind everyday affairs. In Elephant in the Room, I wanted to explore the fear I get entering healthcare spaces examining my mental health. When choosing to be vulnerable, I often find myself belittled and threatened in these areas of assistance. It’s difficult to unmask your illness while everyone else is clowning around. The stuffed toys Patience stares at above the canvas characterizes two parenting styles: authoritarian and authoritative. The narcissist, a bear blinded by a “Happy Birthday” badge, sits next to a velvety elephant, the nurturing teacher. To reference my own childhood experiences, I would often look to my parents for comfort and support during doctor visits.
ALLISON BOROFF PORTRAIT WITH ABSTRACTION
My current approach to portraiture is an exploration of abstract elements such as distortion, application of media, and creating color palettes outside of the borders of flesh tones. My use of colored pencils marked two essential shifts in my artwork: the way I started to focus on the application of material, and my experimentation with color. I use colored pencils in a way that mimic fluid paintbrush strokes on a canvas. I became interested in the way I can use the movement of my mark making to imply more of a figure than I actually draw, and creating a piece that feels woven within itself through its interconnected markings. With this method, I tend to create works that appear to have been given breath by their surrounding environments, without ever fully becoming separated from them. This particular style is one that I wish to explore in a large scale and long term as an emerging artist. My use of color has also been largely experimental, where I seek to go beyond naturalistic palettes to create palettes that rely more on what I feel or intuitively think rather than what I see from an image. A more recent idea, as seen in my submission Self Portrait in Negative, that I want to explore is my self-portraiture and the effects of coloring and angling. I want to combine the idea of “unflattering angles” and taking the inverted colors of a figure to create an image that can be seen both as is and under a filter that reveals a second image entirely.
KATHERINE MICHELLE ESTRADA CURIOUS.
I enjoy thinking about how as humans we can put so much meaning and importance on various life concepts yet still find ourselves at times to feel an existential crisis and question everything we have known. It is fascinating to me how complex the human psyche can be or at least how complex it may appear. In my artworks, I tend to focus on topics regarding the mental fragility of humans, focusing mostly on different experiences and events that can trigger bittersweet feelings. In this piece, I touch on the topic of suicide, particularly the idea of suicide as a means to bring one peace. I decided to approach this idea by personifying death and giving a perspective of “What if death were to crave death himself?”. It appears to be morbid, but I sought to show an existential dread through the eyes of something that we as humans are either afraid of or seek as a means of relief from this life. Here you see death ponder about basically his own self and jump into a decision that will change the only life he has ever known much like how as humans we go through moments where we question everything we have ever known in this life and are curious of things that go beyond the life we know on this Earth.
MAKENZIE HEINEMANN BABY AT THE WATERFALL
I am investigating the way I experience nature, as a screen for mental projections. The landscape itself is a regenerative space for transformation, and there are apt metaphors for growth, decay, and renewal. But there is also a struggle to confront the violent past and present of American land ownership. Through abstraction I make visible the unseen forces at play. I give positive value to the negative space between bodies. I’ve been creating work through a very wet process, allowing the fluid materials an agency within the creation. The process of responding to liquid movements confronts the tendency to fix ideas, bodies, and feelings into locked positions. Instead, my goal is to develop more complexity within my own understanding of things, people, and concepts as respective bodies in movement.
KATHERINE CINTRON
CHERRY PICKER
Most people view the lingering effects of the pandemic as a loss of opportunities, especially for budding college students who must adjust to a new life that was already unknown and stressful. I delve into the theme of finding oneself through the midst of this confusion, where people can try to take over your well-being by searching within you to discover who you truly are when you aren’t even sure yet. The various designs of the surrounding hands signify a different figure of trust in one’s life that may pry into our inner self, such as parental roles, significant others, or even career related persons. These people ‘cherry pick’ the best aspects of you, pulling apart one small sliver they might enjoy while revealing the rest of your unwanted vulnerability; a part of you that will continue to grow if left unchecked. This leads you to a massive insecurity in who you want to impress and the person you want to become in life. The post-it note on the person’s right eye signifies how we hide these struggling and confusing emotions within us. As the viewer, we realize the chance to pry beneath the post-it note, acting as another hand in the piece and uncovering another gruesome weakness that ripples in the manifestation of a traumatic scar. And yet, as depicted by the blooming red fuchsias as a symbol of confiding love, we continue to move forward and heal by learning how to trust those around us again.
ANDREW TURNER WHAT REMAINS
I’m a digital artist from Columbus, Georgia journeying through rural Georgia farmland, down the forgotten Coast of northwestern Florida and across Bayou Country of southern Louisiana photographing landscapes and architecture that serve as ghostly reminders to stained abrasions of our past. I use the landscape as a metaphor for loss, memory, and trauma to the human body. At the age of thirteen I was diagnosed with sarcoma, a bone and tissue cancer, this shaped the lens in which I view and experience the world. During the creation of this series of images my father also was diagnosed with cancer. Having lived the experience before, I was terrified of what awaited for my father and family. The impact of the disease stretches beyond the diagnosis or treatment, it is something that will always be there within the scars of me and my fathers skin. The work I create is a reflection of this idea. I use isolated and abandoned landscapes alongside decaying or wounded architecture as portraits to display the emotional and physical impact cancer can take on the mind and body.
INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
ARIANNA DANTES
TRIPTYCH: AN EXPERIENTIAL JOURNEY Kirsten Darling-McQuistan once said “mistakes and lack of technical accuracy can add to the richness of the drawing.” The following piece is a redraw of a hotel project in Wynwood, Miami. The concept is centered around “Hidden Gems” and seeks to celebrate the rich and vibrant nuances of Miami, from its artwork to architecture to tourist activities. This piece seeks to create an experiential journey for viewers. Moving beyond literal representations of spaces and architectural drawing conventions, the idea was to produce works of art to further celebrate the design concept while also allowing users to engage with and react to it. Using Revit line drawings of the perspectives, I investigated how to emphasize the concept in a more contemplative and emotional sense as opposed to the realism of typical design software renderings. Rather than producing directly what one sees, this body of work aims to digitally transform spaces. Experimenting with Photoshop enabled me to used art as a form of communication. The process left a lot of opportunities for self-discovery and, in a positive sense, unexpected results. Despite the fact that art does not always provide a clear, definitive answer, it produces rich and complex conversations about people’s perceptions of the world.
JAMES KLAVON IN NEPHILIM'S WAKE In Nephilim’s Wake is a series of worldbuilding concepts centered on creating fantasy horror inspired by interpretations of Biblical creatures and the visual mythos of religious art. The series is named for the Nephilim, a somewhat unknown population from the Old Testament and adjacent external Biblical texts who are often interpreted as a bridge between humanity and angels. The works featured here from this collection focus on the creation of characters. The first piece, The Nephilus, reimagines the notion of the body as a holy temple and presents it as an airship, soaring in front of the sun with a coterie of lesser beings, as remora flock to a shark. The second piece, Saint Worms, takes inspiration from traditional artistic depictions of saints, emphasizing the elements of the nimbus and the symbolism of the hands of earth and heaven. Their lithe forms are simultaneously full of agile beauty and twisted horror at their manipulation of the human form.
CIARA IGLESIAS SRO HOBBY LOFT PROJECT The Single Resident Occupancy Hobby Loft Project challenged students to design a lofted dorm for a student who practiced a hobby with very little space, and many other requirements to comfortably accommodate a college student. The hobby assigned to the design was flower arranging. The concept that drives this design is the flower itself providing a sense of growth and refreshing living space for the student. The concept is demonstrated through repeating organic shapes and curvilinear lines creating unity. In contrast, linear lines and geometric shapes give a feeling of stability, with both organic and geometric forms referencing the perfectly imperfect design seen in flowers.
The open floor plan allows natural light to fill the space, and the solar panel satisfies the client’s desire for a sustainable design while also emulating the function of leaves. Integrating textures in the design calls back to nature and parts of flowers. Multifunctional furniture and architectural elements allows the student to have storage and a functional space for flower arranging. The two prominent ‘way cool’ features implemented in the design are the flower wall storage and the countertop trash bin. The storage wall contains removable buckets to fill with water, flowers, and other greenery to create flower arrangements. The countertop trash bin allows for the student to swipe away any unwanted stems. Overall, the design provides a highly functional, bright, and positive space that encourages the student to engage in flower arranging, as well as a living space that promotes creativity and provides comfort.
TYLER WILLIAMS TRUE HONOR During my spring semester, sophomore year, my Furniture design professor tasked our class with designing, modeling, and fabricating a set of furniture solely based on a single character. The pieces were supposed to represent them and compliment their personality as if they were actually theirs. After careful deliberation, I decided to choose a character that I had connected with since I was young: Prince Zuko, from the Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender. To create a successful assembly of furniture, we not only had to know our characters but understand them. Feel what they felt, think how they thought, and create a visual representation of those traits. With Zuko, I decided to mitigate my thoughts by breaking down his major chapter traits to get to his core and the very foundations that made him the character he was. From this, I found Devotion: To his nation and nationality, Longing: For community and companions, Strength: Within grace and determination, Acceptance: To new possibilities. It is from those core principles that came True Honor, a memento to Prince Zuko, and the person he taught me to be. The furniture was specifically designed to be a flat-pack set, meaning there could be no additional adhesives such as glue or tape. The process started in AutoCAD and was later taken into SketchUp and Fusion 360 for modeling. Hardwood was laser cut for precision and colored acrylic was cut for decorative inlays. The process included a combination of 2D/3D modeling, laser cutting, and 3D printing.
CELIA PENA TIFFANIE MARTEAU ELISABETH GREGORY
REIMAGINING STROZIER LIBRARY: BALANCING NATURE With high considerations of safety requirements prompted by the pandemic, the redesign of the Strozier Library’s first floor Learning Commons accommodates the needs of students and library staff. Located at Florida State University, the design concept of the institutional redesign is Balancing Nature. The commons area will be the heart of the academic library where the design will incorporate natural elements to improve performance and motivation. Similar to the operations of the brain, the balanced space should satisfy both sides of human nature: rational individualism and social structures. Rational individualism focuses on the analytical and logical sense of the left side of the brain, whereas social structures are portrayed through the emotion and creativity of the right side of the brain. Furniture arrangements for both collaboration and individual spaces will cater to a variety of learning styles to match the university’s learning culture. Despite the differences in the learning spaces, the unified design will maintain a sense of connection through the aesthetic and functional selection of materials and lighting. By using architectural forms and features of the space, wayfinding strategies should ease the experience of the users by infusing the rejuvenating color palette and providing distinct circulation zones. In relation to the Fractal Theory, rectilinear shapes will be incorporated into the design to stimulate a tranquil response from the users. The cohesive design will embody spaces for socializing and solitude to provide efficiency and concentration for all users.
HALEY VALTZ 123 PARK OVERLOOK: A RESIDENCE FOR AGING-IN-PLACE Nestled away in the suburbs of Austin, Texas, the Kimura’s desired a residence that incorporates “aging in place” upgrades that allows them to stay in the house as they age. The design meets Universal Design principles and accessibility standards while accommodating their daily needs, lifestyle, hobbies and providing additional comfort for visitors. The residence considers the necessities for an older resident and serves varied family member ages and abilities to make aging in place seamless. The design focuses on accessibility, spaciousness, and safety to allow for accommodation for walkers or wheelchairs in the future. The design for 123 Park Overlook embraces the traditional Japanese philosophy known as Wabi-Sabi. The philosophy of WabiSabi is a world view centered on accepting imperfection in the natural world. The aesthetic highlights asymmetry, simplicity, and honors natural objects and forces of nature. The interior reflects the forms and elements found in the local area of Austin, Texas, by valuing authentic materials and an organic color palette. Minimal and straightforward décor supports the clean lines and overall seamless flow from the interior to the exterior. Providing functionality for the users connects the traditional and modern features that the clients crave. Overall, the design allows for easy transitions between spaces, embraces universal design, and integrates future aging in place.
THE FOREST BREATH CHILDREN'S BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CLINIC
XINYI XU The objective of this project is to design a behavioral health clinic in Cleveland that specializes in treating children with mood disorders as well as other disorders like autism and substance abuse. The design aims to create an open, calming, and welcoming environment by introducing nature and positive distractions throughout the space, as well as to reduce stress for both patients and staff by providing access to private seating areas, clear sightlines, natural elements, and views outside. The design concept is the spirit of the forest. Forest is the heart of the mystical power of life. Lives come and go but never cease to exist in the forest, as they exist in a cycle. The treatment is a healing journey for these children to obtain their new lives. The design will be inspired by the theme of forest spirit, which supports healing and growth. The goal of the design is to provide users with a sense of control, social support, and positive distractions.
MARIE CURIE
VICTORIA PERREE
Coined as the “Mother of Modern Physics”, my intent for this piece is to bring awareness to Marie Curie, a French physicist who is the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice. She is shown wearing a turn-of-thecentury clothing common for her progressive nature. Overhead, a halo sits that resembles the outer, middle, and inner elemental rings of polonium, the highly radioactive element that she discovered. With this, she was able to discover the basis needed for techniques of x-ray and radiation treatment. Her technologies helped save the lives of soldiers in World War I. With this notable advancement, I chose to present this piece upside down as she turned the physics world “upside down”.
ART HISTORY
BRITTNEY PIEPER INDIGENOUS RESILIENCE IN TIMES OF COLONIZATION, SEEN THROUGH THE "MASS OF ST. GREGORY" During the early Spanish colonial period, Indigenous people consistently negotiated their beliefs through art. Specifically, when recreating biblical stories, they often employed their own beliefs, techniques, and symbols. In the feather painting, "Mass of St. Gregory" (c. 1539) made by the School of San José de los Naturales, the Indigenous artists recreated the European print, "Mass of Saint Gregory" (c. 1490-1500) by Israhel van Meckenem. However, rather than conforming to an exact recreation, the artist was able to transform this biblical story into something else entirely. Unfortunately, at this time, there is not sufficient scholarly interrogation into Indigenous objectives with their artwork. Further, art historians often portray the Indigenous beings in a light of inability to understand European life. However, with the continual transformation of European reference-art, we have to ask ourselves, are these feather paintings evidence of Christian conversion, or are they representative of negotiation during colonization? This paper will argue that due to the independence and dedication to Indigenous culture, the feather paintings represent a negotiation of a complex colonial culture during times of colonization. To do so, the paper will first address what early colonial arts consisted of, then it will discuss the visual analysis of the piece and compare it to the "Mass of Saint Gregory" (c. 1490-1500) print. Further, it will describe the intense labor of feather painting and introduce another feather work, Jesus at the Age of Twelve and Weeping Virgin (c. 1590-1600), for comparison.
DANCE
MEG MURPHY HEAVENLY BODY ( D A N C E R P H O T O G R A P H E D : E M M E T T H IG G IN S )
These photographs are from "Heavenly Body", a dance film created in an abandoned church in Orlando, FL. The film looks at the idea that the physical building a church occupies is not necessarily as sacred as the bodies that fill it. Spirituality is something that can be carried within the body and transcends material items. It attempts to question who and what can be considered heavenly and showcases the beauty to be found in dismantling tradition.
KISA LI 劫 , SELF-
DECONSTRUCTION
The film follows the journey of the protagonist (Kisa), who has severe mental disorders: depression, anxiety, and PTSD. The story will follow the protagonist’s misfortune, drowning in this endless nightmare. Interspersed between the misty world and confusion reality, what is real? Can she escape? The purpose of this story is to offer the audience an immersive experience that will provide insight into the traumatic internal world of the dancer herself.
SCAN TO WATCH
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR CO-EDITORS
NICOLINA MORRA
KATHRYN BOUCHER
TYLER WILLIAMS
2021 - 2022
SIX
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS LEADERSHIP COUNCIL