The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum is currently exhibiting Someday Somewhere, which features the works of the 2016 graduating Master of Fine Arts students.
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Arts is a production-oriented, studio art program directed toward individual development. The curriculum is designed for maximum flexibility to accommodate both those seeking advanced training in a particular studio area and those whose interests may involve more media cross-over. Graduates of the program will be prepared for careers as professional artists. The MFA is the terminal degree in Studio Art.
The students exhibiting in Someday Somewhere are: Tuana Birol; Jonatas Chimen Dias DaSilva-Benayon; Lorna Ruth Galloway; Inga Karelina; and Ivan Santiago.
“FIU has provided me with a place that encourages artistic experimentation and a venue to share new works with other students and faculty…” said Ivan Santiago, who will be graduating with his MFA this Spring 2016 and is exhibiting photographs in Someday Somewhere. “[This has bee possible] within a wide spectrum of multidisciplinary fields within the FIU Art + Art History Department and beyond.”
“Being a 2016 Masters of Fine Arts candidate at FIU means that for the past three years I have been constantly challenged to think beyond the logical, to work beyond the possible, and to deliver works of art that speak to a broad, sophisticated, and very diverse audience,” said Jonatas Chimen Dias DaSilva-Benayon, who exhibits an installation in the MFA show. “I came in as a painter, but I am graduating as an eclectic and well-round creative professional….I have a greater understanding of the theories [that] move my work, and I have a better grip of where I stand in the global artistic world. I can confidently say that none of this would have been possible if I had not enrolled in the FIU Masters of Fine Arts program.”
Tuana Birol, who created a ceramic installation with fellow graduate Inga Karelina, said, “I believe I am graduating from the MFA program as a completely transformed artist. FIU has given me the opportunity to completely change my perspective on art….I have been encouraged to look deeper and to think more conceptually….I have even shifted in my art practice and [become] a ceramics artist; an area of art that I had no prior experience with….My journey at FIU, though quite challenging at times, has been a life-changing experience. Today, I feel I am a more complete artist and person; and this was actually what I had intended to attain, when I had joined the MFA program 3 years ago. I feel blessed and grateful for having had the opportunity to be part of the FIU community and the MFA Visual Arts program.
Brittni Winkler is graduating within the Masters of Fine Arts: Curatorial Practice Track. She is the inaugural student for this track. In addition to being a student in the program, Winkler has been the FIU Art + Art History Project Room coordinator at the Bakehouse Art Complex. Her MFA exhibition is next to Someday Somewhere and relates to her research for Interior Form, a series of workshops she hosted in Fall 2015 that explored the interior state of both art and yoga and the connection between these two. From March 16th-18th and 23rd-25th, Winkler transformed the gallery on the 3rd floor of the Frost Art Museum into a yoga studio, in which she led classes at 10:30AM each day.
“My experience at FIU has shaped me as a curator by always providing me with plenty of opportunities to act hands-on in my career,” said Winkler. “[My experience at FIU helped] me to develop a new way of seeing the work that I am passionate about.”
Someday Somewhere is exhibiting until Sunday, March 27th, 2016 at The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum: 10975 S.W. 17th Street, Miami, FL 33199.
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