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MAR 29–APR 17, 2022

OUROBOROS: 2022 MILLS COLLEGE SENIOR THESIS EXHIBITION

An annual exhibition featuring the work of graduating studio art majors, the senior thesis exhibition provides a unique opportunity for these young artists: their first show in a professional art museum. This year’s presenting artists are Angela Amaro, Alessandra Bolger, Daisy Copperwaite, Ray Lewis, Yessy Mendez, Angelica Navarro, Ashley Tesmer, Ellie Welsh Ferreyra, and Taya Wyatt.

THE ARTISTS

Angela Amaro uses acrylic, sculpture, and video to explore biology, zoology, and alternate evolution. In an alternate dimension, Angela describes the creatures of a distant past with their physiology and behaviors.

Alessandra Bolger is a nostalgic artist whose painting and photography are a form of cinematic daydream—returning to the theme of nature versus industrialism throughout many of her works. Alessandra aims to preserve fleeting moments, pay respects to the experience of loss in life and embody the desire to return to a place that no longer exists.

Playing on the line between Form and Function, Daisy Copperwaite’s work explores the idea of The Icon versus The Reproduction. Their installation includes a series of two- and three-dimensional objects that are used to emulate a sense of artificial comfort through a warped familiarity.

Ray Lewis constructs a personal mythology that examines themes of otherness, connection to nature, and inner spiritual and emotional states. Their most recent work navigates the labyrinth of COVID-19—using ceramics, painting, and video to commemorate three long years of isolation and collective grief.

Yessy Mendez’s artwork is a direct visual guide to the misinterpretations and contortions of reality in their mind. Through painting, drawing, and mixed media they express and exaggerate heavy and deep emotions that transform within them while juxtaposed with playful and vibrant colors that evoke the opposite feelings.

Angelica Navarro presents a collection of vibrant paintings that took years in the making. Through her sharp linework and vivid attention to detail, Angelica’s art provides her an outlet to express her vulnerability and describe the hardships that come with navigating her mental illnesses.

Through painting, drawing, and animation, Ashley Tesmer creates a world for which everyday people can experience and enjoy. Their work incorporates their identity and real-life experiences as a sense of understanding.

Ellie Welsh Ferreyra uses paint, clay, and photography to provide a window into life with chronic pain. Their work uses bright colors and abstract forms to depict subjects normally hidden beneath skin.

Through Taya Wyatt’s multimedia work, she explores the theme: Erasure of Exposure. Erasing the exposure one has endured, whether traumatic or other, allows the mind not to dwell on the pain, but to look to the future to determine, “How do I move forward?” Wyatt creates each piece with this question in mind while offering a form of therapeutic space for herself in the process. This has aided her in developing knowledge and growing creatively through self-reflection, as well as gaining an appreciation for personal solitude.