Long Distance: MFA Exhibition Catalog

LONG DISTANCE

SACI, Studio Art Centers International, Firenze

This catalogue is published in conjunction with the exhibition “Long Distance”, held at Le Murate Arte Contemporanea, Firenze, April 9-25, 2015 The exhibition features the final projects of graduating students in the MFA in Studio Art program at SACI, Firenze Director Karen Yurkovich Instructors Academic Course Daria Filardo, Pietro Gagliano’ exhibition

Curator Daria Filardo Artists Gwynneth Alldis, Jessica Daynes, Molly Di Grazia, Christina Gednalske, Walker Keith Jernigan, Horacio Lizardo Jr., Danielle M. Schaefer, Radha Rose Tague catalogue

concept Pietro Gaglianò photo credits Christina Gednalske, Radha Rose Tague acknowledgments

Valentina Gensini, Le Murate, Comune di Firenze, The Round Table participants: Tommaso Sacchi, Luca Bertolo, Francesco Lauretta, Robert Pettena, Alfredo Pirri, Pietro Manzo, Justin Thompson; All the SACI Instructors.

The MFA in Studio Art program at Studio Art Centers International is a very special program at a very special school. It’s the first MFA in Studio Art program offered at a US-accredited educational institution in which all course work is completed abroad.

Students spend two years at SACI in Florence. They work in studios in the heart of the city’s historic center; regularly meet with emerging and established artists, critics, gallery owners, and other members of the arts community; and travel throughout Italy and to major cities outside the country—such as London and Berlin— where a good deal of contemporary art is being made and great art of all kinds is being displayed.

The first graduates of this program, whose work is featured herein, are not only creative artists but courageous human beings. They are true pioneers—emerging artists who recognized in this new program opportunities they could find nowhere else. Their energy, vision, and commitment have made it possible for all at SACI to discover new ways of thinking about art and education.

As these eight students go on to make careers internationally as artists and educators, their impact upon—and contributions to—the SACI community will be felt for years to come.

Foreword David Davidson, Ph.D. Dean Studio Art Centers International Florence, Italy

EXPERIMENTATION / CONNECTION / ART NETWORK / ART PRACTICE / DEVICE/DISPLAY / CRITICAL KNOWLEDGE / STUDIO VISITS / FIELD TRIPS / DIALOGUE Congratulations to this first year of MFA graduates for their strong final show, “Long Distance”, at Le Murate, Florence. The show demonstrates both the range and rigor of these young artists.

The two years have been an intense experience in which I have gotten to know and work with these talented students and helped form the path of their artistic practices.

We have encouraged them to develop their individual strengths and to explore diverse approaches, methods, and technologies. The program has involved many nationally and internationally known artists, curators, historians and gallerists to situate artistic practice at the center of a system which is a complex, intertwined and continuous dialogue. We have travelled extensively to see events and shows and artist studios to contextualize the student’s work and development within a contemporary debate.

I would like to thank all the artists and instructors who have contributed to the program but especially my close collaborator, the curator Daria Filardo, who shared and seconded my vision for the program and without whom the work would have been impossible.

Her generosity, intelligence and critical dialogue was indispensible to the formation of the students over the two years and to me.

Finally, thank you to Gwynneth, Jessica, Christina, Horatio, Walker, Molly, Radha and Danielle. Your passion to grow and engage was fundamental and while I am very sad to see you leave, I am most grateful for this experience and look forward to the great work you will do in the future.

Introduction Karen Yurkovich, Director Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art Program

“Long Distance” presents work completed by students in the Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art (Painting or Drawing) degree program at Studio Art Centers International (SACI) in Florence.

This two-year program instructs and guides students who intend to pursue careers internationally as artists, and focuses especially on contemporary Italian and European art and culture. The title “Long Distance” alludes to geographical distance: a path from which one can see far away, movement leading to a place distant from one’s point of departure. “Long Distance” evokes multiple directions and suggests different analyses and reflections on painting. In each of these works by eight young American artists, the medium has been processed, deconstructed, and made into a spatial object while retaining a pictorial component. Materials, shapes, colors, and spatial research are presented in complex and differentiated forms that require clear and careful scrutiny. The exhibition raises the question: How to be an artist? To answer this simple question, we must reassess the role that education plays in stimulating and nurturing emerging artists. We must deepen our understanding of the creative process so that we can foster artistic growth by encouraging independence of spirit, coherent dialogue, openness, and experimentation.

The show is hosted at Le Murate Spazio Arte Contemporanea a public cultural space in the city of Florence which in the past centuries used to be a monastery and then a jail, and has now been converted into cultural spaces. Six artists show in the Sala delle Colonne and two of them have their work in two former cells.

Each piece points to a different path that the artists have taken in these two years, and each piece is at the same time a synthesis and a point of departure for new research. Gwynneth Alldis has worked on the sedimentation of memories through relationships.

Two works are presented in the space, a painting series,

Long Distance Daria Filardo, Professor Academic MFA Seminar “Sessions,” and a sculptural one, “Impressions.” The painting series engages with portraiture in two interconnected ways: sessions of studio time for portraits of friends and colleagues, people she knew portrayed from life. While painting, the artist recorded a conversation with the sitter that served as a basis for

the memory sessions, which produced the second series. Painting is understood as a time based experience that elaborates both observational and psychological approaches. A similar experience is articulated through sculpture: a physical trace from Florence’s pavement is registered and transformed in vertical sculptures, the texture of the impressions are the memory of a personal history.

All the work of Gwynneth Alldis deals with the experience of proximity and the relation she had with this city, building a new identity placed in the time and encounters she had.

On the contrary, Radha Rose Tague elaborated a body of work connected with her own past history and the multiple sense of belonging experienced in her life, which was split between California and Costa Rica: “Home,” “Ventanas,” “San Buenaventura.”

Painting, in various forms as traditional canvases or applied as impressions on polaroid support, has portrayed a landscape of the two places. We don’t clearly identify one place or another, the places come from memory and a sense of recognition, of a certain mood, sensation, colors, athmosphere. The ambiguity of not recognizing speaks of the research of unifying the differences and the fragments in building an identity placed in multiple places, perceived as a whole.

Danielle Schaefer elaborated her body of work on the theme of family bonds, on its strength and fragility. The metaphor she used has been that of the Koi fish (a real element in her family life).

In representing the fish, she investigates movement, fluidity, captivity, group life, temporality. Three big plexiglass surfaces (“Defend”) are painted with vivid colors through a subtractive action and suggest the ever changing possibility of a relational life, continuously adjusting to the context. The same subject appears in series of recycled cds, “Adapt,” which form a long line where the image has been formed through the use of different techniques

such as painting, applicaton of gold or silver leaf, scratches, burned surface, etc. The fish silently flow on reflective surfaces.

The fragility of bonds, always susceptible to fractures, is present in the beautiful blooming sculptures “Mend,” broken pieces of cd glued together but still in a precarious state.

Continuous construction and deconstruction as a form of exercise that always produces new forms, not definitive but open to rearrangement is the subject of the research of Horacio Lizardo Jr. In “The Elements” the painting experience is expanded through a complex relationship with other mediums such as drawing, ceramic, sculpture and obviously painting. All of the mediums blend in new organisms that every time find a perfect equilibrium but leave themselves open to be redefined. The elements of the works are considered as foundations, bricks, and for the artist the images of the art of the past can also be considered in this way.

“Pittori Italiani” in fact proposes the intervention of a veil of gesso within the construction of the image proposed. Pages of a book on Italian art are placed on a table, each image as a little veiled portion that reveals in a new way the underlying image. Art is always a language open to be reworked.

The intersection of languages has also been the subject of ongoing investigation by Christina Gednalske, throughout the time she has spent in Italy. A perfect synthesis is achieved in the work “40,000 Ombre,” an installation that encompasses painting, the idea of photography, and light projections. The work is the result of her work with an anthropological photographic archive in Florence that contains pictures from the Italian colonial past.

Christina transformed and transferred some of the faces in these photographs through painting on glass. The portraits flow in the air and their shadow is projected on a white table. Light restitutes, saves from oblivion and completely transforms these initial photographic portraits into a time-based experience that through painting comes to us, new viewers of history.

The history of the materials, the implications of painting in space, the rescue from abandonment–these are the themes of “Relevance,” a painting installation by Walker Keith Jernigan which engages the

viewer through its delicacy and danger. Scattered materials such as iron, wires, various tools, and painting substances are given the form of flowers. The installation recalls the fragile and temporary nature of flowers. At the same time, the nature of the materials suggests a larger metaphor in which beauty and violence are two

poles of attraction.

The show hosts the last two works in separate cells of the Le Murate complex. In one Jessica Daynes elaborated an installation that has different elements such as painting, sound, and object.

At the core of the work “The Beautiful Grey” is the relationship the artist had with an old Italian woman. The time spent with her in her domestic space has been captured in painted diptychs which portray the house in its vacant state, and filled with life. During this time, in each of the rooms portrayed the artist recorded a conversation the viewer can listen to while looking at the diptychs.

The space also contains a ‘relational object’ the two women did together: a scarf, which is testimony to the everyday as a beautiful experience.

The second cell contains the work of Molly Di Grazia, areconstructed personal confessional made of wood, painted surfaces, and sound.

This work, “Booth,” deals with the interest the artist has always had in The Catholic religion and its rituals. The confessional is an installation that can be used by visitors. They can sit inside and engage in a dialogue with the sound coming from the central part of the structure. A voice whispers and poses questions about the possible manifestations of the practice of confession and its modern understanding. The work investigates an intimate experience and offers a meditative space in which the separateness and the solitude can deepen the understanding of an internal dialogue.

In the space other painted/sculptural elements complete the confessional construction.

p. 9-10 Christina Gednalske, “40,000 Ombre,” Installation View p. 11 Christina Gednalske, “40,000 Ombre,” Detail p. 12 Christina Gednalske, “40,000 Ombre,” Detail p. 13-14 Horacio Lizardo Jr., “The Elements and Pittori Italiani,” Installation View p. 15 Horacio Lizardo Jr., “The Elements,” Detail p. 16 Horacio Lizardo Jr., “The Elements,” Detail p. 17-18 Gwynneth Alldis, “Sessions and Impressions,” Installation View p. 19 Gwynneth Alldis, “Sessions and Impressions,” Detail p. 20 Gwynneth Alldis, “Sessions,” Detail p. 21-22 Radha Rose Tague, “Home, Ventanas, and San Buenaventura,” Installation View p. 23 Radha Rose Tague, “Home,” Detail p. 24 Radha Rose Tague, “San Buenaventura,” Detail p. 25-26 Walker Keith Jernigan, “Relevance,” Installation View p. 27 Walker Keith Jernigan, “Relevance,” Detail p. 28 Walker Keith Jernigan, “Relevance,” Detail p. 29-30 Danielle Schaefer, “Temporary,” “The Preciousness of Life,” Installation View p. 31 Danielle Schaefer, “Adapt,” Detail p. 32 Danielle Schaefer, “Mend and Defend,” Detail p. 33-34 Jessica Daynes, “The Beautiful Grey,” Installation View p. 35 Jessica Daynes, “The Beautiful Grey,” Detail p. 36 Jessica Daynes, “The Beautiful Grey,” Detail p. 37 Molly Di Grazia, “Booth,” Installation View p. 38 Molly Di Grazia, “Booth,” Detail p. 39-40 Molly Di Grazia, “Booth,” Detail

Captions

How far have you gone in these two years?

These past two years have been truly transformative for me as an artist.

When the program began our first trip was to the Venice Biennale and I remember feeling like I was jumping off of a cliff. It was overwhelming, terrifying and exciting and that experience activated this inner questioning that I carried with me during this entire time. I started to contemplate my medium of paint and my enjoyment of painting from life and the relevance of both in a contemporary landscape. I came to the realization that as an artist it was more important for me to focus on the process rather than giving all of the power to the final result. I learned this through working in performance art where I developed this discipline and I was able to bridge that with my painting and sculpture foundation. This was the biggest change I observed in my overall artistic practice because I had always put the importance of the outcome before all of the research.

Where does this work come from?

This collection of work derives from two projects conceived over the past year that are rooted in my personal nostalgia of Florence. These layers of fragmented memories are depicted through the people and the physical landscape of this place. Through painting, I created a series of one hour portraits of people I have met here over the years. In my studio I recorded the audio of each conversation I had during these “Sessions.” The first part of the project linked me to my past foundation as an artist working from life and observation. These sessions became very intimate and vulnerable experiences. When a person is in front of me, I am so aware of his or her presence that it influences the way I paint because there is always the anticipation of the big reveal at the end and being painted can be a very bare experience. I noticed that each person brought something to initially distract themselves to pass the time but ultimately the situation allowed our conversations to grow incredibly deep, honest and personal. I wanted to explore how I remember people especially because these “Sessions” were allowing me to reconnect to those from my past and to connect more to people from my present. I was fascinated by how transparent these memories are, how much we project ourselves onto others, how much we

Gwynneth Alldis 1986 - Big Sur, California make up to alter the past and ultimately how much we forget. I became interested in how removing the person from my painting process could alter how I paint. For the second part of this “Sessions” project, I returned to the audio of each conversation and I challenged myself to paint the same people from my mind while listening to what we had talked about months

before. I also removed the original painting of them from my sight, because it was really important for me not to translate people but to capture them and experience them. This process allowed me to really focus on their words as opposed to their physicality. Trying to remember their features was like trying to dig them out of the canvas and it forced me to paint in a new way. I used my brushes more like excavating tools searching for some form of identity. I found that their personal psychology shaped more of my perception of them as I tried to paint the new portrait. The “Impressions� are a serious of sculptures that are specific personal memories from living in Florence over the years. This project started as a series of charcoal rubbings I did every time I experienced a deja vu moment while walking in Florence. I would stop and capture the texture of the ground where I had a flash of memory and it was a way for me to archive my experiences. The continuation of this project moved into sculpture because I wanted to make solid objects to immortalize these significant moments. I started making these same impressions through pushing clay slabs into the physical texture of the space. I molded them and created plaster sculptures resembling the style of traditional sculpture stands with the impression on the top surface. I wanted long pillars rising out of the ground, as if the impression had been pulled out. In this second part of the project what was revealed to me was a new identity of space, because the original clay impressions filled in the negative space of the texture I was trying to capture. I have always been intrigued by the concept of negative space, what is around an object that defines an object and that dichotomy of moving forward and moving back, I equate with being strong and being vulnerable. Each sculpture is a representation of a specific personal memory defined by the place where it happened but these sculptures have been transformed into actual objects representing spaces that do not exist in reality.

Where are you going?

During my time in Florence I discovered performance art as an important language for me to explore in my artistic practice. I have found liberation in using my body as a tool to examine the intricacies and complexities of my personal relationships through reducing them to a simple repetitive gesture. My performances encourage endurance in an intimate state that

challenges me to meditate on my body, something I once felt trapped inside. I am continuing to focus on the process and nurturing the time necessary to develop a work that remains pure to myself. Above all else I know that it is important for me to continue to work in an authentic way that cultivates sharing experience.

How far have you gone in these two years?

When I first started the MFA program I knew I wanted to create works that were interactive for the viewer, works that were able to be experienced and not simply passed by. The challenge for me was finding the point that mattered in creating art, how to make it more than just a visual on a wall.

Over the past two years I have learned technical skills in various areas but I was also humbled to grow my sense of humanity. It was a journey of discovering myself and defining what art is to me, as well as how to make it matter to someone else.

Art has the ability to raise awareness and to challenge social norms, but it also has the ability to heal. I have found that creating artwork can go further than just placing an object on a wall; it is something that can be fully experienced by heightening the aesthetics to match the work completely.

This I believe can allow viewers to take away a moment, a memory and an experience they can share with others.

Where does this work come from?

“Non ho piú voglia di vivere,” said an elderly woman one day. Surrounded by family yet feeling alone, it is one of the saddest things I have heard from a woman who has accomplished so much. The moment I heard this phrase I knew something had to change. Alba Giovannelli, the grandmother of my partner, is someone whose body is weakening with age yet empowered with a strong mind. This contrast placed her spirit into a type of darkness due to this daily struggle and the continuity of this pattern every day.

“The Beautiful Grey” came from my desire to find Alba’s enjoyment again in the daily routine, and to bring her from this dark mind frame to a regular state of being (a happy medium, a beautiful grey). I am neither a doctor nor psychiatrist, and as such I did not approach her as one. Rather we approached each other as human to human, I asked her questions about her life, her stories, and her skills. She is an incredible cook, so I asked her to teach me how to make her favorite meal. She is a skilled seamstress, so I asked her to teach me how to knit. I never mastered these skills, but that was not the focus, the focus was on reminding her of her own importance to herself and her family. Through sharing and teaching within the daily routine we naturally found the gems that make the everyday worth living.

Jessica Daynes 1991 - Cairns, Queensland - Australia This was a work focused on the process rather than the final outcome. The piece that was shown was four diptychs, each with it’s own audio player and headphones. The center of the room displayed a scarf created by Alba that was a positive turning point during my time with her. There were also a selected number of original photographs that were in relation to the audio

piece spread around the room. The paintings were focused on simplicity, both in style and display: one described the space where Alba lives; the other described the enjoyment within that space. The headphones played actual recordings of the moments captured in those locations that illustrated both the atmosphere and the “gems” that arose naturally. An intimate, sensory approach was needed to display the delicacy of the work.

As an artist, but more so as a human being, I believe the beauty of this work came entirely from Alba’s willingness to share. She humbled me by arriving with her family to the opening night to see the work. As I watched her experiencing the piece I saw again her willingness to share: telling a viewer about the people in the photographs, telling another of the recipe of the food that was illustrated, describing the spaces and how they connected to one another. Surrounded by family she was reminded of her importance, that she is not alone, and personally it was a truly touching and wondrous moment to see. This is a style of art that I desire to continue to create: artwork with a humanistic process that can be experienced personally by each viewer.

Where are you going?

My artwork has taken a large shift in this past year for all the right reasons.

I will continue to create works with sensory and aesthetical approaches for the viewer, as I believe it helps create moments to be experienced. I am also interested in working with people, with groups and within the public space. I have a passion not to make pictures, but to help others and, with their permission, share those moments with the people around us. This to me is why I have decided to become an artist, to be a mediator, to help others also create. It is an art of sharing vulnerabilities, struggles, and successes–and illustrating that we all share similar stories, that we are all human. I want to create works that are interactive, that awaken viewers and allow them to also be a part of the work, to not just simply be a passerby, but to be an active creator themselves. Personally this gives creating art a purpose that I will continue to strive to achieve.

Why am I doing this? Because I want to show that art is more than just an object, it is an experience.

How far have you gone in these two years?

These past two years have signified a major development for me artistically.

Before beginning the MFA program I had built a language in painting that was definitely my own, but could have risked becoming too predictable had this opportunity not arisen. Moving to Italy to attend SACI gave me the chance to learn and incorporate new techniques into my practice, and as a result I was able to execute pieces from a more faceted dimension than what I was able to attempt previously. While this means I have left some things behind, it has also brought me closer to the work I want to make.

Being here has allowed me to articulate my motivations, refine my vision, and deepen my knowledge of the things that influence me.

Where does this work come from?

The installation at Le Murate evolved out of my interest in religious rites.

I have always been drawn to the architecture, theatricality, and ritual­based structure of the Roman Catholic system and the ways it infiltrates daily life and culture in Italy. Specifically, by being in Florence where so many great examples of the ideals of Renaissance Humanism are to be found, I began to pay closer attention to depictions of the connection between the soul and the body, the sacred and the profane. In the church, emphasis is placed on transcendence, holiness, ascension­­on a literal scale, you are always looking up, beyond, above. At the same time these things are to be reconciled with (and possibly achieved through, or in spite of) the imperfect vessel of the human being with its mortality and other shortcomings. In different periods in art history, the earthly body is shown as elevated and made in a sense more beautiful because of its capacity to suffer which is then conveyed as a route to salvation. What can sometimes seem like a contradiction is very often blurred in a manner that suggests we lift our eyes to the heavens while keeping our feet on the ground. How then does one proceed to live in accordance with both realms? Part of my research involved reading the Catechism out of a curiosity about how this particular tradition answers that question: and, indeed, the compendium I used was entirely in the form of questions and answers. I was especially struck by the entries that appeared to have no religious or doctrinal motive

Molly De Grazia 1984 - San Francisco, California but rather stemmed from existential mysteries that everyone at one time or another finds themselves pondering. It is a selection of these inquiries that can be heard emanating from inside the “booth.” The act of confession, in combination with constant, repetitive prayer, is one of the methods prescribed by the Church as a means of lightening one’s spiritual load, and

which has a secular parallel in the moments when we unburden ourselves of our secrets, sometimes simply by acknowledging them to ourselves. It is a strange transaction in which quantity produces a reduction­­. It was this tension between accumulation and release that intrigued me, and every element in the installation addresses this in its own way, underscored by the fact that each piece involved a repetitive process in order to be made.

This speaks to the act of art­making itself; there is always a degree of ritual involved in the execution of a work, and a place in the mind of the artist that is continuously trying to realize something hitherto unproven and unseen.

Where are you going?

I am staying in Italy for the foreseeable future, where I will continue my practice alongside other forms of work. Being located here also brings a proximity to many other countries and cultures, and I look forward to seeing where further travel leads me.

How far have you gone in these two years?

I have traveled thousands of miles to return home. This home is nowhere specific and everywhere at once, shaped by two sets of cultures, families, and friends – Italian and American – that now define my place in the world.

I remain between, oscillating in an almost-balance – always somewhat of an outsider, yet somewhat belonging. In this middle space, I am no longer rooted anywhere and, therefore, must remain grounded within myself, finding a place both within and outside of my physical location. The process is a difficult one; each day brings new questions regarding my role and identity. From one moment to the next, my particular position can change from infuriating and strenuous to peaceful and filling, as the search for a place within my Italian and American lives continues to present difficult questions and beautiful possibilities. Within this journey, the effort it has taken to maintain even a fleeting sense of balance within my life and work – the constant wavering to and fro – is nothing in comparison to the perspective I’ve gained, the awareness I’ve grown, and the sense of being that has shaped my identity.

The growth I’ve experienced as both a person and artist has been immense. I’ve watched myself develop through my work, creating a dialogue and practice in which I am not just a maker, but also an observer, reflector, critic, and supporter. Working with outstanding artists and professors has been invaluable to the process, inspiring me to use added mediums – photography, video, movement, installation, and writing – within my art. I’ve learned to side step and shuffle into new methods of making and looking, to approach my work and life from all angles, and to question everything I believe to be true. My work has loyally, and sometimes alarmingly, reflected the intensity of my journey by revealing the depths of my experiences and relationships as they occur. I’ve excitedly found this process to be one from which I cannot hide. Art, now, is not simply something I do, but the method through which I live and process the world.

Where does this work come from?

My time here has been an exploration of expanding connections regarding layers of duality that construct my life – self, family, culture, and history –

Christina Gednalske 1989 - Mankato, Minnesota to discern my place and identity as it relates to the existence of everything else through various mediums. My final piece emerged from researching a time and context distant from myself, continuing with themes of placement, gaze, and memory. In a collaboration with the Archivo Photographico del Museo di Antropologia Firenze, I was confronted with “The Other”

of the 19th century in a collection of approximately 40,000 photographs of minority cultures, catalogued and organized by type and location. The beautiful images clash with the context in which they were taken, and I quickly found myself, over a hundred years later, extremely aware of a difficult position towards both subject and photographer. “40,000 Ombre” attempts to navigate this outsider’s gaze, transferring thirteen of the photographic negatives to painted positives, handling, projecting, and enlarging these identities into the same realm in which the viewer resides. The paintings and resulting shadows portray the thirteen images in a light and context beyond their original construction, still changing within the finished forms.

The gazes depicted are heightened by an ignorance of the photographic device used to capture their likeness, while an alternate viewing space nullifies the power and distance a camera normally provides. To look is to step within the realm of this honest, searching gaze, aware that the identities, however archived, possess shadows as present and telling as our own.

Where are you going?

In the cultural mix that I now inhabit, it is clear that I have little choice but to remain in a state of being both here and there whenever I go. I see this dilemma as a gift – a chance to maintain constant movement and change, which I value tremendously. My life will continue within this middle ground, with new questions and inspiration driving my work as I search for my position and relationship to everything I face. Thus, perhaps, I am not going anywhere, but remaining everywhere within the multiple places that I consider home, searching, also, for additional spaces of being. As I continue to work and live predominantly in Italy, embracing my various mediums and growing my practice through continued collaborations, both individual and institutional, I hope to do so also in my U.S. home. Moving between the two countries to strengthen their connection is both what I want and need, and my work will continue to reflect this unstable yet beautiful obligation, accompanying me along the way. Though a difficult journey with no resolution, this divide is something that only my own movement and work can fill, and I am thrilled to try and do so.

Home. Non è una parola semplice, but a word that embodies each place where I’ve discovered myself.

How far have you gone in these two years? ...A long long way. I think the best way to convey the distance I traversed as an artist is for me to conduct a linear review of the physical displays of my works over the last two years with some short references to the concepts that emerged, instead of trying to interpret any transformations.

Atlanta, GA - USA - Two years ago I was building white walls for a going away show in my mother’s basement. The walls were built to secure a small labyrinth inside the space I grew up painting and living in. Most of the works were hung eye level on the white, plywood walls. The over-flow was dealt with accordingly. One painting hung knee high on an exposed cement wall to avoid windows and murals. Another two were hung down from a small over hang covering an air conditioning vent on the adjacent, exposed cement wall, also covered in spray-paint murals. One small painting was situated on an easel on the same line, in between the two paintings a meter from the wall.

Firenze IT - The first showing here in Italy took place in the underground passageway of Le Cure. The paintings of Salvatore, the man who resides in the space, were hung on the one white wall in the mural mines of Salvatore’s public art collection. These small works on board, gartered in white wooden frames were situated inside larger black frames previously drawn onto the wall by another artist. The paintings were illuminated by the stale pink and yellow lights of the underpass.

Firenze IT – An exhibition at Xenos Arte Contemporanea, a damp converted space that was once a silver factory, which included a large red safe. Two paintings depicting views of the space faced one another at the narrow entrance of the gallery. One set into the concrete wall, the other mounted on two steel bars protruding half a meter off the wall. In the middle section of the space, one painting rested on two white wooden blocks on the floor in a small alcove above the stairs to the basement. Across from that a construction of small works painted on a variety of materials grew from the floor up. Separating the deepest section of the space from this middle space, I secured a transparent wall and painted on it.

Trento IT - Next a painting show / month long residency at Boccanera gallery about the construction of memory with paintings of personal photographs. First thing I did was have the walls painted midnight blue.

Walker Keith Jernigan 1989 - Atlanta, Georgia Paintings were placed on the floor, hung on the walls and a self-portrait painted in the gallery was set into one wall. In a small room inside the gallery was an old door with two small painted canvases mounted in cut holes. The door was reflected in a pool of still water, filling a creek I chiseled in the cement floor.

From this point I began to focus directly on the relationship between the art object and the exhibition space. This ongoing research revolves around a series of painting experiments called “Hanging Devices” that use the depiction of the body’s change from a living, breathing entity to still object as means to study the art object’s transformation in exhibition.

Where does this work come from?

This past year I conducted a research project inside Sollicciano prison, Scandicci IT. Initially the project was focused around relating to another through composing portraits with three inmates, both me of them and them of me. The work flowed in and out of this concept. The administration asked me to do a small painting workshop with ten or so other inmates so I did this as well. It started as a portrait painting workshop similar to the other, but evolved into a flower painting workshop where I brought flowers in and did my best to teach some techniques of painting what one sees.

Simultaneously I was working in my studio on “Hanging Devices” and had begun making some flowers from studio over-flow and broken tools. As more and more drawings from my time at the prison circulated in my studio I began playing with some portrait ideas. It was while working on a triptych of one of the men that the marriage between my studio and experiential researches was consummated.

While my exploration of my craft had me breaking down the elements of painting my research inside Sollicciano inspired me to introduce other materials of decay and abandonment. By depicting something as delicate and appealing as a flower with material as sturdy and dangerous as rusty iron, a system of dualities was cultivated, connecting all things confined to the body to the constant struggle of relevance that is escalated for the incarcerated.

Where are you going?

For me there is no specific answer. The best I can say for sure is that I will continue to attempt to understand the world around me and express my findings in hope of being a productive individual participating in my society by doing the best with the tools I have been given. As an artist...

How far have you gone in these two years?

I have gone a long way in two years. It was an incredible journey with many challenges to overcome and problems to solve. This experience was life changing because I was able to be part of something special, especially in its beginning. Being one of the first group of talented young artists and with the help and guidance of the faculty and administration I have laid down the foundations for my future as an artist and become aware of the contemporary art world from the European/Italian perspective.

Berlin, Bologna, London, Milan, Rome, Turin and Venice are just to name a few of the places I visited to see contemporary art. I truly believe that traveling, and meeting new people has given me the tools to learn and understand how the art world operates on many different levels due to being confronted by contemporary art, visiting these amazing places and meeting interesting people working in the art world. I feel that my work has matured and changed. I have absorbed much of the art I have seen at art fairs and in museums, and it has been digested and manifested itself into something totally different in my mind. I have synthesized different ideas from different artists to create a unique way of expressing myself through my art making process. By arriving in Italy already prepared to view contemporary art from the European/Italian perspective I humbled myself, kept an open mind and I listened to others. I believed because I listened and applied criticism to my work I freed myself from my possibly restricted point of view. I exceeded my own prior expectations of two years ago. Looking back at the person I remember when I arrived, I see a naive and unrecognizable person, someone I am not today.

Where does this work come from?

This body of work has been developed inside the studio and has become an extension of myself. My work grew exponentially, increasing in quality and concept. The work comes from material that is found or made in the studio. It’s an accumulation of objects made of elements. I focus on creating and integrating different elements together. I believe material is what supports society, creating foundations for communities to live in. This is what I am searching for. Structures made of material to support my work

Horacio Lizardo Jr. 1985 - Grand Rapids, Michigan so that every object can become part of a grouping to form one body, a community. My work is material composed of other smaller forms, which together form a larger composition. Supporting structures encase objects made of objects, which are studio refuse that include small paintings, sketches, ceramics, stones and pieces of wood. The black metal structure

that supports my work is integrated into the work itself, which operates in a sculptural format. This makes it possible to arrange and constantly rearrange the smaller objects within and outside. This structure has been a literal foundation that supports my ideas and work. This research requires a form of freedom to deconstruct and reconstruct the works for the purpose of applying new ideas acquired from critical thinking. This research has led me back to figurative work returning into my paintings in the form of reproductions. The deconstruction of the figure using gestural marks of gesso would be considered stupid white if not for the foundation of the figure underneath it.

Where are you going?

I will be leaving inspired, motivated and full of momentum. I am confident in my abilities as an artist and will always try to have a positive attitude.

By having a positive outlook on life I feel that success will just be right around the corner and come, as I am open to it. With hard work there can be the possibilities of new opportunities and experiences that can only be possible through studio discipline, reading and research. As an artist I will work until my last breath. I have the will power to create works of art and succeed in becoming a working artist doing interesting things for the rest of my life. The profession of an artist is a 24/7 profession and it doesn’t have a retirement plan. I am glad to have become an artist because I don’t have to worry about ever becoming unemployed because I will always be working in my studio or doing other interesting things related to art. I have a five-year plan and within five years I plan to accomplish mostly everything on my list. I would like to be living and working between Michigan, California and Florida. I would like to visit Japan once every 2 or 3 years and Italy every summer. I hope to become an international artist traveling to the places I love and admire. I am also thinking about perhaps teaching at the university level part-time after I’ve gained a few years of actual experience living and working as an artist. I believe that it’s important artists do become educators sometime during their careers.

How far have you gone in these two years?

Growing up in a small town, south of Buffalo, NY, community and family ties were built and remained strong, ultimately having a major impact on my artwork. As an artist and a NY State certified art educator, opportunities presented themselves to share my love for creating. With multiple district budgets being cut, I was inspired to use recycled materials in my artwork and design. My work while living in Florence, Italy the past two years has grown immensely while always projecting a sense of connection through music, material, molding and metaphors of life here and life back home.

Music has continuously influenced my production of work, my closeness to others and to the physical aesthetic of the material. Even the absence of music intrigues me. Upon my arrival, I continued working in a stylized way that was initially inspired by a 3rd grade student of mine. I composed tight mosaic-like portraits constructed of recycled CD fragments. But after visiting and being in “awe” of the work shown at the Venice Biennale and the Artissima art fair in Torino, I soon felt trapped by the fixed iconic images.

While embracing life here in Italy and searching for new meaning in my work, I found myself drawn to listening to music of local street musicians.

I was inspired by the effect the music had on the surroundings rather than the artists themselves. Florence being a multicultural city, and myself being an outsider, I loved seeing people from different cultures understanding and enjoying the same music regardless of their spoken language. This idea of connection through music strongly influenced my work. “Within Alterity”, a group show in Cortona, Italy, was a huge breakthrough for me.

I was inspired by the Etruscan Museum and created a piece according to my initial reaction to the space. The show enabled me to experiment with abstracted images, new materials and alternate ways of installing artwork.

The challenges I overcame with my fragmented CD Plexiglas floor piece are what made the work successful. From then on, my current work has been influenced by challenging myself to labor with new materials and experiment through multiple disciplines like painting, ceramics, photography and jewelry/metalsmithing.

Where does this work come from?

Danielle M. Schaefer 1989 - Buffalo, New York This series of work is influenced by my relation to, and obsession with Koi fish. My family began building a pond in our backyard over 12 years ago.

It started with mapping out blueprints, breaking ground, landscaping which plants would go where and selecting a few small Koi fish from a farm.

With years of hard work and nurturing from my father, mother, brother and

myself, along with Mother Nature, the garden blossomed and the Koi grew and multiplied. Our family has had to overcome many traumatic events and struggles within the last seven years and we always found safety in the garden. It became a haven, a consistent spot to gather, share thoughts and comfort one another. After many days and nights sitting surrounded by the beauty of this sanctuary, I couldn’t help but be drawn to the graceful movement of the Koi fish. They swim united with other Koi yet captive and fragile in a world they have no control over. For me, Koi is a metaphor for family and life. By incorporating methods of alteration, subtraction of paint and fragmentation of materials, I explore this metaphor of life’s fragility, the state of being temporary. Despite the negative connotation that comes along with being temporary, my research with this work is focused on realizing and appreciating the positives of this state. “Adapt,” a continuous line of numerous recycled CDs that have been modified by flame, tool, paint and blade to change its purpose, promotes the idea of being flexible and conforming to any alterations life throws at you. “Defend” represents the protection and preciousness of one’s inner self by keeping the painting captive, facing the wall yet allowing the beauty of light to shine through its transparencies from within. And “Mend,” carefully welded together sculptures of fragmented CD scraps, embodies the metaphor of being fragile and having to pick up the pieces of life and creating anew.

Where are you going?

In the studio it is important for me to continue working with recycled materials and investigating various ways of re-use. I have discovered that the subtractive style of painting on Plexiglas allows me to confront and mold my emotions while being receptive to alterations of the material. I would like to develop this style and research several other surfaces to subtract from. Being a multi-media artist I will continue exploring methods and push for the best collaboration between painting and sculpture. Working as a graduate teaching assistant under artist and SACI MFA in Studio Art Program Director, Karen Yurkovich, my love for sharing my passion for teaching and mentoring solidified. An art professor position at the university level is in my future. In all of my work there is a common link of being inspired by my environment, to personal connections and current emotions.

It is my dream to one day open my own artist’s gallery where I can share and show other artists’ work alongside my own. Over the last two years I have personally and professionally matured profoundly while living in Florence. This city has become a second home and I am joyous to take what I have learned here to my next venture in life.

How far have you gone in these two years?

My work has grown immensely throughout the past two years. It’s strange to think back to the work I was making when I first came to Italy, and my thoughts and motivations at the time, and even my ways of being as a person, because they have all changed very dramatically. I’ve grown much more sensitive and considerate as an artist, and more observant as a person, due in part to working with so many outstanding artists who have awed and inspired me during my time here, and also to my surroundings in this beautiful country. Walking down the streets of Florence, every wall, every sidewalk is filled with little visual treasures to delight the observant eye, and I find simple cracks or shadows upon a wall truly thrilling in a way I never expected. I think this has been key to the growth of my work: not only noticing and understanding little details such as the play of light and color on an object, but truly being delighted and thrilled by these subtleties. I say my work has changed, but I think what I really mean is that it has gone deeper into itself, and the work I am making now is a truer form of what I am seeking to understand and express than I had been able to make before. I feel that I have a stronger relationship with the work, and a better understanding of what it requires of me. I couldn’t have said two years ago what I imagined my work would be like today, but I feel I have gained a lot of competence and confidence as an artist and I am very happy with what I have accomplished.

Where does this work come from?

These works come out of an exploration into myself and some of the experiences which have been foundational forces in forming my character and identity. The early half of my childhood I spent in my native home of California, and the latter half was spent in Costa Rica, when my family relocated there. Because my young life was split in such a way between these two cultures, I find my sense of self split somewhat, in certain ways, and my sense of belonging to be nebulous at times. I think before I came to Florence I had a notion of myself as belonging everywhere and nowhere; of being culturally anonymous, in a sense. However living in another very different culture for these past two years has really brought to light for

Radha Rose Tague 1989 - Montrose, Colorado me just how much the American and Costa Rican cultures have influenced me, and how much a part of me they both are. Within these paintings I have combined imagery from my childhood home in California with the landscapes of my home in Costa Rica to embody the state of commingling of these cultures within which I exist. While I am sharing a part of myself

through these paintings, I consider them most successful when they are able to transcend my personal narrative to connect with others in a meaningful way. Though they originate from a personal history and comprise much symbolic significance, at their core they are really about painting.

There is a certain potency of communication that painting embodies which I don’t find in other media in the same way, and these works for me have truly been about embracing and exploring the depth of the medium and its power for communicating the intangible.

Where are you going?

I feel that I have made significant strides with my work in terms both of technical facility and of understanding my motivations and what I really want from my work, and I want to continue that momentum forward. I have explored a lot of new media and new ways of working over the past two years which have changed my art in many ways, and I expect to continue incorporating those influences into my practice. Photography has become an important part of my creative self; it allows me to communicate with myself in a different way than I can in painting, and while it is perhaps a more intimate act which I pursue mostly for my own peace of being, the work I do in photography always has an important impact on the rest of my practice, and I know it is something I will continue, and refine. During my time here I have been able to open myself up, to allow my work to become much more personal and important to myself, which I had been unknowingly resisting. I think this was an important step; letting go of some of the notions I had of what my work should be, and instead letting it be what it needs to be. Most importantly I have begun to take the act of painting itself as subject matter, to allow material aspects such as the struggle with the paint, the subtleties of color and the flow of the brushstrokes to be the primary interest of the work: to allow my paintings to exist and thrive firstly as paintings, and secondly as stories, symbols or metaphors. I see the continued pursuit of this way of working as the avenue I need to follow as I move forward with my work. I have taken just a few steps along it, but my work has grown immensely already, and I look forward to seeing the work I will be making in another two years’ time.

Le Murate, Florence - 9-25 april 2015