Where Land Meets Art: Maya Miller ’26 Awarded a 2026 Thomas J. Watson Fellowship</h1> <article> <h1>Where Land Meets Art: Maya Miller ’26 Awarded a 2026 Thomas J. Watson Fellowship</h1> <p>kviancou — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 20:35:12 +0000</p> <span>Where Land Meets Art: Maya Miller ’26 Awarded a 2026 Thomas J. Watson Fellowship</span> <span><span>kviancou</span></span> <span><time datetime="2026-04-06T16:35:12-04:00" title="Monday, April 6, 2026 - 16:35">Mon, 04/06/2026 - 16:35</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Maya Miller ’26 has been awarded a 2026 Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, a one-year grant that supports purposeful, independent exploration outside the United States. </strong></p><p>A double major in <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/gsfs">gender, sexuality, and feminist studies</a> and <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing">creative writing</a>, with minors in studio art and comparative American studies, Miller will travel to New Zealand, Australia, Costa Rica, Iceland, Japan, China, and the United Kingdom. </p><p>Along the way, Miller will work with farmers, ceramicists, and artists whose practices engage both land and material, as part of a project that explores “the intersection of agriculture and art, and how clay, soil, and ceramics preserve cultural traditions.” </p><p>Miller answered these questions about the Watson project:</p><p><strong>Can you describe what your Watson work will entail?</strong></p><div class="image_resized align-left media-embed-resized" style="width:314px;"> </div> <p>My Watson starts with an admittedly broad question: How can art-making reflect, repair, and reimagine our relationship with the natural world? Clay, soil, and earth are inextricably linked. For millennia, humans have harvested, cured, and shaped earth into vessels essential to daily life. While ceramic and agricultural technologies share origins, they have grown into more disparate practices in the United States.</p><p>During my Watson year, I want to explore how the intersections of ceramic and land-based work might offer frameworks, rituals, and methodologies for regenerating our ecological and social soils. I’ll spend time with farmers, ceramicists, and artists working at these intersections, learning from their practices, ecologies, and communities.</p><p><strong>In what ways does what you’ll be doing build on your existing work—and in what ways does it open new pathways for you?</strong><br><br>I’ve been working on farms on and off since graduating from high school. It’s actually what first brought me to the Midwest—to a farm in rural Illinois. Farming opened up a new sensorial language for me, one rooted in relationships with the nonhuman and the material, and one that challenged my preexisting ideas of personhood and agency.</p><p>I love the care work of tending to plants and animals. It can be meditative and is similar to clay work—both invite collaboration with materials that are agentive and demanding of care.</p><p>This past summer, I worked as a farmer at an artist residency in the Adirondacks. I spent much of my day digging in the soil, running after sheep, carrying water to the chickens, or repairing pig fencing. In the evenings, I was in the clay studio, writing, or just talking, laughing, and cooking with the artists in residence. </p><p>I started to ruminate on the parallels that typically get drawn: Pottery makes dishes, farming makes food; potters and farmers alike work with their hands. And true, there is also something deeper.</p><p>My honors thesis in GSFS explores clay as a material with epistemological agency. In its way of being, clay can act as a kind of ontological mirror and a creative methodological tool for queer and disability theory. It shows how slowness, decomposition, and bodily negotiation can be generative conditions, foregrounding interdependence and undoing myths of autonomy and control. </p><p>This work is rooted in my own experience and thus somewhat autoethnographic. The Watson year will allow me to expand my thinking outward—to learn from other people, practices, and cultural relationships to land and material.</p><p>There is a pathway at the intersection of land and ceramics that I’ve only just begun to glimpse. We are all of this earth, whether our connections feel deep or tenuous. I’m interested in living into that idea and seeing where it leads.</p><p><strong>How did 91ֱ�� shape or influence you to pursue this fellowship? </strong><br><br>The Watson was suggested to me while I was trying to narrow the focus of my honors research. Rather than dismissing my too-big set of questions, I was encouraged to consider the fellowship as a way to explore them. </p><p>More broadly, I’ve been lucky to study with professors who encouraged me to think creatively and across disciplines. In a GSFS class with Thao Nguyen, I was encouraged to pursue a project on disability studies and ceramics practice, even when I couldn’t find existing scholarship at that intersection. That work became the seed of my honors thesis. </p><p>My thesis advisor, <a href="/kj-cerankowski">KJ Cerankowski</a>, has encouraged me to push against [conventional] academic writing and explore connections that might not seem obvious at first. I love the GSFS department and how it encourages and teaches us to think in expansive and experimental ways.</p><p>I’ve also taken <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art">studio art</a> and <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing">creative writing</a> classes with amazing professors such as Amanda Hodes, Sam Cohen, Katherine Berta, and Abby Sherrill. They have encouraged me to see art as a space of inquiry—of searching, becoming, and imagining. </p><p>I also spent three winter terms working with 91ֱ�� alumnus Theo Helmstadter in his pottery studio in Santa Fe. A lifelong potter who harvests his own clays, Theo has been an incredible mentor. I’m grateful for the broader 91ֱ�� community and these kinds of connections.</p><div class="image_resized media-embed-resized" style="width:533px;"> </div> <p><strong>How does pursuing the Watson align with your career goals and trajectory?</strong><br><br>I am interested in many things—perhaps too many. I want to work in the arts, work with my hands, write, and create. A year spent exploring both art and land with artists and makers is a great gift. I also imagine some version of my future self tending to a flock of sheep, so I do intend to spend time in the hills with sheep along the way.</p><p>More abstractly, this fellowship comes at a liminal moment between student life and whatever comes next. The Watson gives me the chance to stay in that in-between a little longer—to live inside the question of trajectory, rather than trying to resolve it too quickly. </p><p>It’s a privilege, and I hope it helps me find ways of living with the kind of curiosity, care, and attention that the world, like clay, continually asks of us. </p><hr><p><a href="/fellowships" target="_blank"><em>Connect with Fellowships & Awards</em></a><em> to learn more about opportunities for 91ֱ�� students.</em></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Miller will travel to five countries to explore how ceramics and agriculture can repair our connection to the land.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2026-04-06T12:00:00Z">Mon, 04/06/2026 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Office of Communications</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4080">Fellowships</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4148">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4269">Studio Art</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2373">Awards and Honors</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25361">Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25326">Creative Writing</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing" hreflang="und">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/gsfs" hreflang="und">Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">courtesy of Maya Miller</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-article-header field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">0</div> </article> <article> <h1>Redefining the Canvas: Meena Hasan ’09 Expands the Boundaries of Painting</h1> <p>azaleski — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 19:38:05 +0000</p> <span>Redefining the Canvas: Meena Hasan ’09 Expands the Boundaries of Painting</span> <span><span>azaleski</span></span> <span><time datetime="2026-02-24T14:38:05-05:00" title="Tuesday, February 24, 2026 - 14:38">Tue, 02/24/2026 - 14:38</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Whether working on a soft sculpture or an artwork suspended from the ceiling, Meena Hasan ’09 brings it all back to painting. </p><p>“A lot of my practice is about questioning what a painting is or can be—and whether it even has to be a surface that's on the wall,” she says. “Can it hang in the middle of a space and become a wall in and of itself, or even the whole environment? I’m really interested in complicating the limits and boundaries that define mediums.” </p><p> </p><div> </div> <p> </p><p>Hasan says that her early years at 91ֱ�� allowed her to stretch these strict definitions, both within traditional mediums and in her own thinking about a career in art. As a studio art major, she focused largely on ink drawings. In a class with Professor Susan Umbenhour, she created drawings based on a nude model who was half-Egyptian, which became a significant connection for her. “Drawing from her poses just inspired me so much and made me feel seen in terms of my own family, heritage, and upbringing,” Hasan says. She incorporated those figure drawings into collages made with fabric, transparencies, vellum, and Bangladeshi textiles sourced from her family. </p><p>In the class The Nature of the Abstract, taught by then-Young-Hunter Professor of Art John Pearson, Hasan worked with open-ended prompts that allowed her to consider how her art might expand into larger bodies of work. Another faculty member, Don Harvey, encouraged her to try animation and stop motion; she also dipped into silk screening and sculpture. </p><p>Beyond her art, Hasan followed her interest in psychology, taking multiple courses in the discipline. She later became a copy and photo editor for the <em>91ֱ�� Review</em> and the art editor of the student-run literary magazine <em>The Wilder Voice</em>. “I collaborated with a lot of students,” she says. “The community I made with my classmates was hugely formative and has continued to feed and serve me well.” </p><p>After graduating, Hasan moved back to her native New York City. She split her time between internships, part-time jobs, and making art, often commuting long distances and spending late nights at a shared studio space in Gowanus. </p><p>An opportunity to spend three months as an affiliated fellow at the American Academy in Rome helped clarify her future goals. “Being there with mid-career and late-career artists—who had made whole lives out of their work—was huge for me,” she says. “I was able to see the future I wanted.” </p><p>Hasan used the time to create a body of work for her graduate school application. That work helped her move beyond thinking about identity politics “in an overly didactic and binary system between East and West,” and instead reflect on the gray areas within her identity as a New Yorker. She subsequently earned an MFA in painting and printmaking at Yale, where she was one of a handful of students who had attended a liberal arts college rather than an art school. </p><p>“We all had this strange benefit of not having been trained in a particular way,” she says. “We were all making work that was really authentic to who we were. That's what you're in grad school to figure out—your voice and your distinct way of communicating. I came in already having that.” </p><p>Today, Hasan is an associate professor and graduate program director in the fine arts painting department at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). In her teaching and studio practice, she is interested in “historic objects and textiles that are housed in Western institutions,” studying them as “affected, living objects with stories and narratives beyond those that have been assigned to them.” </p><p>In spring 2025, Hasan presented a series of works at the Old Stone House of Brooklyn, a reconstructed historic house located at the site of the 1776 Battle of Brooklyn. In the exhibit, Hasan made connections between the revolutionary history of America and that of India, referencing Tipu Sultan, the Indian ruler who fought against British forces. </p><p>One work portrays Tipu’s helmet draped on a free-standing painting easel, with two carabiners hanging at the bottom. The piece incorporates Higgins India ink, acrylic and Flashe paints, and Okawara paper—in line with Hasan’s explorations of what a painting can look like. </p><p>While admittedly often indecisive, Hasan says that her decision to focus on art came from a place of “intention, assuredness, and gratitude.” Her early years as an art student were especially important. </p><p>“I have to allow myself to doubt what I'm doing for as long as possible—to make sure that I'm confident,” she says. “And to make sure I’m not doing it just because I’m good at it, or because it's convenient. I feel lucky that I was able to explore so many different disciplines —and be around people who were really committed to them. Being at 91ֱ�� made that possible.”</p><hr><p><em>91ֱ��’s </em><a href="/arts-and-sciences/ba-bfa"><em>BA+BFA in Integrated Arts program</em></a><em> combines the rigor of an arts school with the well-rounded, interdisciplinary education of a liberal arts college. Learn more about this five-year program that’s tailored to each student’s academic and artistic interests.</em></p><p> </p><div> </div> <p> </p><p> </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">The RISD professor explores identity, history, and materiality through work that challenges traditional definitions </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2026-02-24T12:00:00Z">Tue, 02/24/2026 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Eva Recinos</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2368">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4269">Studio Art</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-article-header field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">0</div> </article> <article> <h1>Artistic Inspiration</h1> <p>awillia2 — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 23:21:17 +0000</p> <span>Artistic Inspiration</span> <span><span>awillia2</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-26T19:21:17-04:00" title="Tuesday, August 26, 2025 - 19:21">Tue, 08/26/2025 - 19:21</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Today, animals play a large role in her work, whether she’s carving a wood figurine of a cow, or working on a large relief print that features a human-like figure with the head of a bird. In the past, she has created pieces from forged iron, including Leviathan Shabbat candlesticks and a menorah with a fish shape as its base. </p><p>But Sturm-Gross calls wood her “main medium,” and in 2024, she spent three weeks as a resident artist at the Vermont Studio Center, creating new wood sculptures, including pieces made through chainsaw carving. </p><p>As a student, Sturm-Gross met supportive and encouraging professors who influenced her artistic career. This includes Associate Professor of Reproducible Media <a href="/kristina-paabus" target="_blank" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="f604c4d4-46b2-4078-9c23-9f89b7284c9c" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Kristina Paabus">Kristina Paabus</a>, who taught a printmaking course that sharpened Sturm-Gross’s focus as an artist. </p><p>“There was something about it that just clicked for me,” she says. “I’d drawn. I’d painted. But something about carving the image was a total revelation.” </p><p>That same semester, Sturm-Gross took a course on Jewish mysticism with Sam S.B. Shonkoff, who was then a visiting assistant professor of religion and Jewish Studies. The timing was significant: She saw how these fields of study overlapped, sparking her interest in combining art and religion. </p><p>“A lot of the work that I make is connected to this Jewish theological canon,” Sturm-Gross says. “I’m very invested in this idea of a diasporic Judaism that is rooted in the place where one is… Part of that has been populating these theological ideas with plants and animals that I grew up around. </p><p>“But I am even more interested in solving theological problems with my work,” she adds. “Nature and diasporic Judaism are both languages to discuss the actual point, which has a lot more to do with Revelation and has an exegetical focus. The important intermediary there is the texts themselves.”</p><p>Accordingly, at 91ֱ��, Sturm-Gross spent her days contemplating Hasidic texts and spirituality, while feeding her art practice through activities like a joinery class and a work-study program at the Penland School of Craft. She also developed the sense that as an artist, craft as a concept applies not only to the discipline of making objects, but also to the worlds of writing, thinking, and spirituality. She recalls taking a course about apocalyptic texts taught by Robert S. Danforth Associate Professor of Religion <a href="/corey-barnes" target="_blank" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="4c14e66a-042f-4069-88d7-f64d3df44c7e" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Corey Barnes ’98">Corey Barnes ’98</a>; many of these themes still come up in her work today. </p><p>After graduation, Sturm-Gross wanted to find a job that allowed her to still make art. She spent a year in Chicago working for a furniture maker and for woodworkers before moving to New York. While there, she started creating window displays for Bergdorf Goodman, a job she still does on a freelance basis, in addition to teaching at spaces like Makeville Studio. Sturm-Gross is also the art director of <em>Gashmius</em>, an online magazine “dedicated to Jewish mystical thought, practice, and culture” with a neo-Hasidic, progressive lens, as described on the magazine’s website. </p><p>To date, her work has been exhibited in group exhibitions in Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, to name a few. But wherever she is, she always comes back to nature as a source of inspiration and spiritual nourishment. </p><p>“There’s nothing more holy than the natural world, and it’s God’s most perfect art project,” Sturm-Gross said. “As an artist, I feel like I can only aspire to mimic the things in nature that I see.”</p><hr><p><em>91ֱ��’s </em><a href="/arts-and-sciences/ba-bfa" target="_blank" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="3b72b3d9-2465-48c8-9c21-0dd1037a3a87" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="BA+BFA in Integrated Arts"><em>BA+BFA in Integrated Arts program</em></a><em> combines the rigor of an arts school with the well-rounded, interdisciplinary education of a liberal arts college. Learn more about this five-year program that’s tailored to each student’s academic and artistic interests.</em></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">91ֱ�� inspired Eva Sturm-Gross ’22 to create art that combines her love for nature with solving theological problems.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2025-11-11T12:00:00Z">Tue, 11/11/2025 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Eva Recinos</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The woods of Vermont will always hold a special place for Eva Sturm-Gross ’22. Growing up, she loved being fully immersed in nature, splashing in streams and fishing.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2368">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2360">After 91ֱ��</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4269">Studio Art</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art" hreflang="und">Studio Art</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Courtesy of Eva Sturm-Gross</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-article-header field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">0</div> </article> <article> <h1>The Space Between</h1> <p>awillia2 — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 12:12:06 +0000</p> <span>The Space Between</span> <span><span>awillia2</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-09-11T08:12:06-04:00" title="Thursday, September 11, 2025 - 08:12">Thu, 09/11/2025 - 08:12</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The show focused on concepts that often challenge, and sometimes permanently change, our outlook on everyday life: loss, empty spaces, and voids.<br><br>Yellin’s sculptures and paintings often take on these heady subjects using an abstract visual language brought to life through materials like silicone, aluminum, fabric, and latex. Her artworks can carry a sense of tension: They are somehow both soft yet sharp, both alien yet familiar, industrial with bodily echoes.</p><p>This focus on creating objects that she says “evoke something more internal and emotional” than their materiality might normally bring to mind is also especially present in her 2025 exhibition <a href="https://arts.pepperdine.edu/museum/2024-2025/isabel-yellin.htm" target="_blank"><em>Mothership</em></a>.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item"> Through painting and sculpture, Isabel Yellin ’11 explores the complexities of the human experience.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2025-11-04T12:00:00Z">Tue, 11/04/2025 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Eva Recinos</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>For her 2023 exhibition <a href="https://towards.info/exhibitions/the-presence-of-absence" target="_blank"><em>The Presence of Absence</em></a>, Isabel Yellin ’11 created a series of artworks inspired by a complicated question: How do you make art that captures what it feels like to experience absence?</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2368">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2360">After 91ֱ��</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4269">Studio Art</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art" hreflang="und">Studio Art</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Yellin's 91ֱ�� faculty mentors include Eva & John Young-Hunter Professor of Integrated Media Julia Christensen and Professor of Studio Art and Photography Pipo Nguyen-Duy.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Sean Dungan</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-43580" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-cont-img-section paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <div class="image-grid image-grid--single-caption pull"> <div id="obj-43579" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-image-row paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="image-row"> <div class="image-row__images" data-cols="2"> <div id="obj-43577" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--default"> <figure> </figure> </div> <div id="obj-43578" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--default"> <figure> </figure> </div> </div> <div class="figcaption"> <div class="figure__caption"> <p>Views of <em>Isabel Yellin: Mothership</em>, Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University, January 11–March 30, 2025.</p> </div> <div class="figure__credit"> Photo credit: Courtesy of Isabel Yellin </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-43581" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p>She presented a series of silicone paintings and metal-and-silicone sculptures along with paintings by her mother, Anne Locksley, who died by suicide in 2008. The deep personal significance of the exhibition aligns with Yellin’s ongoing interest in grief, trauma, and the invisible connections that tether us to each other. She doesn’t shy away from the impact of mental health on her family; instead, she searches for ways to translate the human experience into her artworks.</p><p>Yellin’s art practice involves reading and writing about the psyche, a habit she traces back to 91ֱ��, where the <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art" target="_blank" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="99006c99-de8f-4a3c-8569-53995b102253" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Studio Art">studio art</a> major took courses in everything from philosophy to cinema. “Everything else I was doing was influencing what I got to do as an art student as well,” she says.</p><p>Faculty mentors such as Eva & John Young-Hunter Professor of Integrated Media <a href="/julia-christensen" target="_blank" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="0ee04be8-a2b6-4ce7-9fb8-12ad8c4030ab" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Julia Christensen">Julia Christensen</a>, Professor of Studio Art and Photography <a href="/pipo-nguyen-duy" target="_blank" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="1c45109d-b4d1-44cd-845c-b3f83572db83" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Pipo Nguyen-Duy">Pipo Nguyen-Duy</a>, retired Young-Hunter Professor of Art John Pearson, and former Professor of Studio Art Nanette Yannuzzi-Macias encouraged Yellin to experiment. She remembers sitting in a closet with shellac, trying to coax fabric into the forms she envisioned in her mind; in her studio, she often poured latex directly onto the floor. </p><p>“I was really interested in the body and flesh and what that can evoke in someone as an art object,” Yellin says. “I was doing all this material research into a fleshy textural fabric, things that alluded to the body. I was running around being a weirdo. And it was really powerful.”</p> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div class="body-centered-layout"> <div class="flex-row pull" id="obj-45427"> <div class="flex-row__content"> <span data-span="2"> <a href="/sites/default/files/2025-11/31_IY01A%20websize_1.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="602" data-pswp-height="768"> </a> </span><span data-span="4"> <a href="/sites/default/files/2025-11/towardsgallery-iy-4-2560x_1.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="1355" data-pswp-height="768"> </a> </span><span data-span="2"> <a href="/sites/default/files/2025-11/towardsgallery-iy-22-2560x_0.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="1075" data-pswp-height="768"> </a> </span> </div> <div class="figcaption"> <div class="figure__caption"> <p>Views of <em>The Presence of Absence,</em> Towards Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, <time datetime="2023-09-09/2023-10-14">September 9 – October 14, 2023.</time></p> </div> <div class="figure__credit"> Photo credit: Isabel Yellin ’11 </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-43587" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p>After 91ֱ��, Yellin enrolled in a post-baccalaureate program at Virginia Commonwealth University, and later spent time in New York before attending and graduating from the Royal College of Art in London. Yellin then joined her sister in Los Angeles, where she lives now. </p><p>“You really have to follow your intuition and your gut and be open to opportunities that you might not have been expecting,” she says. “There’s no clear path to making this life work.”</p><p>Yellin’s solo shows have been organized in Amsterdam, Toronto, and Los Angeles, and her work has been featured in group shows in Zürich, Berlin, and San Francisco. She also completed a residency in Sicily. </p><p>In 2023, Yellin returned to 91ֱ�� as a Visiting Artist Lecturer. She visited a few student studios and spent time with the faculty that once encouraged her at the very beginning of her career. While here, Yellin found old images of her artwork. </p><p>“I see a through line from then to what I’m doing now… [including] this interest I’ve always had in the transference of materials and using them in a new way.”</p><p>But Yellin also remains interested in pushing the accepted conventions of both painting and sculpture. “I’ve always been in between a sculptor and a painter,” Yellin said. “I look at things with a painter’s eye, but my interest in objecthood makes me make things that are more on a sculptural plane… I find the in-between of something a really inspiring, juicy area in which to work.”</p><hr><p><em>91ֱ��’s </em><a href="/arts-and-sciences/ba-bfa" target="_blank" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="3b72b3d9-2465-48c8-9c21-0dd1037a3a87" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="BA+BFA in Integrated Arts"><em>BA+BFA in Integrated Arts program</em></a><em> combines the rigor of an arts school with the well-rounded, interdisciplinary education of a liberal arts college. Learn more about this five-year program that’s tailored to each student’s academic and artistic interests.</em></p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-article-header field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">0</div> </article> <article> <h1>Crossing Mediums</h1> <p>awillia2 — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 20:56:14 +0000</p> <span>Crossing Mediums</span> <span><span>awillia2</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-25T16:56:14-04:00" title="Monday, August 25, 2025 - 16:56">Mon, 08/25/2025 - 16:56</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Virginia Wagner ’08 tells immersive stories through her art.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2025-08-26T12:00:00Z">Tue, 08/26/2025 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Lucy Curtis ’24</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Virginia Wagner ’08 is an artist in the truest sense of the word. A double major in <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing" target="_blank" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="014a68a0-b89e-4246-bb1f-649f1b194b96" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Creative Writing">creative writing</a> and <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art" target="_blank" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="99006c99-de8f-4a3c-8569-53995b102253" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Studio Art">studio art</a>, she exhibits paintings in galleries across New York City, founded an online journal called <em>Painters on Paintings</em>, and is working on a graphic novel. After teaching at Pratt Institute for eight years, she is now a full-time lecturer of painting and drawing at Purchase College.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2368">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2360">After 91ֱ��</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4148">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4269">Studio Art</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing" hreflang="und">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art" hreflang="und">Studio Art</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Chris Banks Carr</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-43042" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p>“My interests are—and have always been—at the intersection of different media,” she says. “I started as an actor and I danced and I sang, I write, and I’m interested in film. When I have an idea, it doesn’t necessarily sit squarely in one medium.”</p><p>Fittingly, one of Wagner’s explicit goals with her art is to capture a narrative. Her surreal paintings are rich with texture, featuring layers upon layers of shapes and colors that instill a level of emotion in the viewer. </p><p>“I’ve always loved stories that can transport you and take you out of your head into a new realm where you can grow or be challenged or escape,” Wagner says.</p><p>Her recent solo show <em>Backdrop</em>, which focuses on the Newtown Creek area, a toxic and ecologically problematic river where the Radiator Gallery sits between Brooklyn and Queens, explores multiple mediums and immersivity.</p> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-43043" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--default"> <figure> <figcaption> <div class="figure__caption"><p><em>Drift</em>, 2023, single-channel video. </p></div> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-43044" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p>“The imagery within the paintings pictured those fractured, fragmented green spaces,but also the actual paintings themselves—which were seven feet tall—were built out of found wood from those sites,” Wagner explains. “The backs of the pieces were visible because everything stood like a backdrop for theater. People could walk around and interact with the paintings, and also become ‘on stage’ because of the way that the paintings position bodies within the space.” </p><p><em>Backdrop </em>also featured an animation that Wagner made; in it, she used trash that she found in the area. It included an ambient soundtrack by the musician OHYUNG that “oozed through the space and helped connect all the different works,” she explains. “There was a lot of mixed media because I found it to be the best way to capture all the senses and to really draw people into this space.” </p> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-43048" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-cont-img-section paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <div class="image-grid image-grid--single-caption pull"> <div id="obj-43047" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-image-row paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="image-row"> <div class="image-row__images" data-cols="2"> <div id="obj-43046" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--default"> <figure> <figcaption> <div class="figure__caption"><p><em>Stage Right</em>, 2023, Ink and oil on canvas, 88 x 64 inches.</p></div> </figcaption> </figure> </div> <div id="obj-43045" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--default"> <figure> <figcaption> <div class="figure__caption"><p><em>Stage Right</em> (back view).</p></div> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-43049" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p>While Wagner has always been a storyteller, at 91ֱ�� she honed her skills and found both her individual voice and a sense of community. </p><p>“The creative writing program is quite strong because there’s so much individual focus and attention between the students and faculty,” she reflects. “Because of the small class size and the community nature of the program, we all grew very quickly together.</p> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-43050" class="paragraph paragraph--type--pb-el-bq paragraph--view-mode--default"> <blockquote class="blockquote--quotemark" data-text-color-red> <p>The art education that I received at 91ֱ�� was very supportive and helped me develop my individual voice. It was a ‘yes, and…’ program ... [as well as] expansive and playful and community oriented.</p> </blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-43051" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p>In fact, her time at 91ֱ�� continues to fuel both her career and work. Wagner met two of her best friends in an art history class her second year; today, one of those friends is curating at MoMA, and the other is the director of development at PS1. For about seven years after her graduation, she also worked under a number of artists, particularly painter Julie Heffernan, whom she’d originally met by bringing her to 91ֱ�� as a visiting artist; Wagner later taught under Heffernan at Montclair State University. </p><p>“If you learn how to learn, which 91ֱ�� is good at teaching, and you get into a dedicated and sustained way of working, then you can carry that forward,” she says. </p><p>To Wagner, “the best part about 91ֱ�� is the people and the rigor of thinking and the richness of ideas,” she says. “We live in a time where imagining a different political system or imagining a brighter ecological future feels difficult. I feel that the 91ֱ�� community was more willing to go out of their comfort zone and take time out of their day and make decisions to bring a slightly better world forward.”</p><hr><p><em>91ֱ��’s </em><a href="/arts-and-sciences/ba-bfa" target="_blank" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="3b72b3d9-2465-48c8-9c21-0dd1037a3a87" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="BA+BFA in Integrated Arts"><em>BA+BFA in Integrated Arts program</em></a><em> combines the rigor of an arts school with the well-rounded, interdisciplinary education of a liberal arts college. Learn more about this five-year program that’s tailored to each student’s academic and artistic interests.</em></p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-article-header field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">0</div> </article> <article> <h1>The Business of Art</h1> <p>lcurtis2 — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 21:14:51 +0000</p> <span>The Business of Art</span> <span><span>lcurtis2</span></span> <span><time datetime="2024-12-02T16:14:51-05:00" title="Monday, December 2, 2024 - 16:14">Mon, 12/02/2024 - 16:14</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Kay is a <a href="/node/3246">studio art</a> major, looking to become a practicing artist professionally. For them, all of their schoolwork and program choices revolve around this dream, which is exactly why they chose to pursue an <a href="/node/322196">integrated concentration in business</a>. </p> <p>“I find studying business incredibly helpful to my future planning,” they said. “So much of artistic professional practice is approaching yourself and your art as a business, so setting short-term and long-term goals and building a strong network is super important.” </p> <p>Not only is Kay learning skills that are valuable on a resumé, but they are applicable in a real-life setting. Through their concentration in business, they were able to work with multiple small arts businesses such as For Ewe in 91ֱ�� (owned by Lisa Whitfield ’90) and Inky Hands Print Studio and Gallery in Plymouth, Massachusetts. </p> <p>“Working one-on one with these business owners, I was able to learn about the highs and lows of operating an arts business and the motivations of both owners,” Kay explained. “The arts world can seem so large and intimidating, but through building connections with others, you're able to plan steps for your own journey by learning from them.”</p> <p>Kay chose 91ֱ�� for a few reasons, including “its vibrant queer and trans community, strong and interdisciplinary arts program, and 91ֱ��'s long history of critical and creative thinking and change making.” But ultimately, their favorite part of 91ֱ�� has been exactly what they thought it would be: the people. </p> <p>“If it weren't for the friendships I have made, the incredible professors I've had the privilege of being taught by, and the huge queer and trans population of campus making feeling like myself so normal and okay,” they reflected. “I wouldn't be the person I am today.” </p> <p>This is part of what makes 91ֱ�� so special—academics are certainly integral, but they are simply a piece of a larger experience. Kay is grateful for everyone they have gotten exposure to through 91ֱ��. </p> <p>“I think every artist I've met who has ‘made it’ is absolutely ecstatic to give me advice on parts of the professional art world post-graduation. I'm really grateful that the business integrative concentration has provided me these opportunities to learn from and build this network.” </p> <p>As Kay illustrates, when you study business at 91ֱ��, it can complement other academic interests. These skills have been the finishing touch on Kay’s time at 91ֱ��—what has allowed them to actualize their goals and learn what is necessary to succeed as an artist.</p> <hr> <p><i>Wondering how business could enhance your degree? Learn more about why <a href="/node/322196">business</a> at 91ֱ�� is unique.</i></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Why study business at 91ֱ��? For Kay Patrolia ’25, it supplemented their goals in new, enriching ways.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2024-12-02T12:00:00Z">Mon, 12/02/2024 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Lucy Curtis ’24</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>For Kay Patrolia ’25, studying business at 91ֱ�� supplemented their goals in new, enriching ways.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4268">Business</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4269">Studio Art</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/business" hreflang="und">Business</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art" hreflang="und">Studio Art</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Kay Patrolia ’25</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>