Posts tagged graduate students

As students leisurely inspect the engaging body of work on view at the Graduate Thesis Exhibition, their musings are interrupted by a loud crack resounding throughout the custom-constructed galleries. The sound emanates from Shush, a wooden statement piece rooted in psychology. Its hammer slams down on a lever that pummels a bronze face. 

“It’s a metaphor for the influences that silence us – whether they are subconscious or blatantly obvious to us, ” notes Quintin Rivera Toro MFA 13 SC, the creator of the piece.

After a few good whacks at the opening, the fulcrum snapped. The sculptor stood guard to protect the piece from further damage. “Sorry everyone. It’s out of commission for now,” he said. “But I’ll get it back in working order.”

Students were also drawn to Good Object 2, a large installation by Anna Huemmer MFA 13 SC made of orange traffic cones. “There’s so much to see,” said one student while making his way through the crowd. With almost 200 grad students showcasing work at the show, it’s a definite understatement.

The exhibition continues through June 1 in the Rhode Island Convention Center.

The biggest and most anticipated student exhibition of the year opens tomorrow – Thursday, May 16 from 6–8 pm. And while some grad students may not be quite ready, the rest of us can’t wait to see the work they’ve thrown their hearts, minds and incredible skill into making this year.

The Graduate Thesis Exhibition totally transforms the Rhode Island Convention Center’s cavern of a space – Hall A – into an edgy contemporary gallery showcasing the work of almost 200 students from all 16 graduate departments.

So know that the handful of images shown above are just a tease (click on them for credits). You’ll need to go see for yourself – either at the opening and/or any day thereafter from 12–5, through Commencement day, June 1.

Graphic Points

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Grad student Remeike Forbes MFA 14 GD got a shout-out in the New York Times a couple of weeks ago for his “sleek design” of Jacobin magazine and its accompanying website. The well-conceived and produced quarterly – which the Times calls an “improbable hit” that’s bringing “Marx to the mainstream” – is only up to issue #9, but is already making its mark.

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In a great article explaining the genesis of the Jacobin identity, Remeike notes that “no image is truly neutral and attempting to dissolve a visual identity in the acid bath of high modernism isn’t a design solution.” He goes on to acknowledge that “some of the most powerful visual marks have been formal disasters. Take for example the clinched fist, perhaps the most prolific tool in the Left’s graphic arsenal. It’s messy and difficult to recognize at smaller scales – semantically, it can be beaten into a meaningless pulp through poor application, as it so often has – but as the Wisconsin fist proves (another hideous iteration of an already ugly form, but a brilliant one at that) it can still be powerful when done right.”

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Remeike’s work for Jacobin is done through Position Studios, a two-person venture in Providence that has also produced such great stuff as HouseTab (an app for calculating shared expenses) and Fertile Underground (a local workers’ coop).