Pratt Institute’s Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) program will present “Fleeting Objects,” an exhibition of works of photography, painting, sculpture, and video by 20 second-year M.F.A. students as part of the “College Art Association (CAA) New York Area M.F.A. Exhibition” at Hunter College. Each student will have one piece in the show, which is on view at Hunter College/Times Square Gallery at 450 West 41st Street through April 9, 2011. The exhibition will be celebrated with an opening reception from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, February 11. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
The exhibition will be held in conjunction with the 99th Annual CAA Conference and Centennial Kickoff and will feature the work of students from 20 M.F.A. programs within 100 miles of New York.
“Fleeting Objects” is curated by Pratt alumnus Benjamin La Rocco (M.F.A. ’04) and features work by students Emily Auchincloss, Eric Douglas Breeding, Becky Borowicz, Carolyn Butler, Robert Caruso, Goseong Choi, Charles Evans, Ryan Gilmartin, Julie Goll, Jane Huntington, Angela Jann, Jessica Johnson, David Livingston, Anthony May, Gail Victoria Braddock Quagliata, Nikki Romanello, Cory Sellers, Holly Senter, Amanda Sullivan, and Ryan Turley.
“I selected the title ‘Fleeting Objects’ to evoke the feeling of precariousness. It is as though these works were made in transit or on the brink of departure,” said La Rocco. “Though the media and forms of the work in this exhibition are various, the transient sentiment in each is pronounced,” he added.
In addition to Pratt student participation in the M.F.A. exhibition, a number of Pratt faculty members will participate in the CAA conference from February 9-12. The conference is designed to unite major artists, scholars, and professionals to elaborate on the core concepts behind visual art.
Fine Arts faculty members Allan Frame, adjunct associate professor; Donna Moran, chair; and Kit White, assistant professor, have been selected to feature work at the New York Academy of Art, as part of “Put Up or Shut Up,” a group showing of faculty and student artists from prestigious M.F.A. programs in the greater New York Area. The goal of this inaugural exhibition is to engage in the discourse between teacher and student, reflecting the challenges and growth presented to each as a result of their pedagogical relationship. The show will run concurrently with the 2011 CAA conference and the 7th CAA New York Area M.F.A. Exhibition at Hunter College through to March 6 at New York Academy of Art at 111 Franklin Street in Manhattan.
Eva Díaz, assistant professor, History of Art and Design, will speak on “The Evidence of Things Not Seen: From Document to Site in the Work of McCallum/Tarry” as part of the “Imagining Art History in Proximity of Race” program on February 10.
Shirley Kaneda, professor, Fine Arts, and Suzanne McClelland, visiting associate professor, Fine Arts, will participate in “Studio Art Open Session: Abstract Painting at 100” on February 10.
Anita Cooney, chair, Interior Design, and Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, acting chair, Fashion Design, will co-chair “Studio Art Open Session: Green and Sustainable Art” during which Rachel Miller, visiting instructor, Fashion Design, will speak on the topic of “Transient Interconnection” on February 11.
Sheila Pepe, special assistant to the dean for academic affairs, Art and Design, will speak on the topic of “Rehearsal for the End of Ephemera” as part of the February 11 “Performative Tendencies” program.
Hazel Siegel, visiting assistant professor, Interior Design, will co-chair a Studio Art Open Session entitled “Textiles and Social Sculpture” on February 12.
Jim Costanzo, adjunct associate professor, Fine Arts and Media Arts, will speak on February 12 about “The Second Whiskey Rebellion: A Distillation of the American Spirit” as part of the “Dark Matter of the Art World, Part II” program.
Ayreen Anastas, visiting assistant professor, Undergraduate Architecture, will participate in an in-depth conversation with Jaleh Mansoor of Ohio University.
La Rocco is a Brooklyn-based independent curator and artist. He is represented by Janet Kurnatowski Gallery in New York where he has had solo exhibitions in 2005 and 2006. He is also a contributing writer and art editor at The Brooklyn Rail and a visiting professor at Rutgers University and SUNY Purchase.
The CAA promotes the visual arts and their understanding through committed practice and intellectual engagement. CAA includes among its members those who by vocation or avocation are concerned about and/or committed to the practice of art, teaching, and research of and about the visual arts and humanities. Over 14,000 artists, art historians, scholars, curators, collectors, educators, art publishers, and other visual-arts professionals are individual members. Another 2,000 university art and art-history departments, museums, libraries, and professional and commercial organizations hold institutional memberships.