Many spectators gathered at the Main Gallery at CSUN to view the various works of graduate art students at the Masters of Arts and Masters of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibit on May 7. The exhibit is available Monday through Saturday all throughout May 2016, so that the public can view photographs, ceramic sculptures, and paintings graduate CSUN students have worked on for months and even years.
Rosario Lopez-Sampieri, CSUN graduate art student, has incorporated her interest in the American dream and the beauties and struggles that relate to her own family. In Lopez-Sampieri’s photographs her main focus is to showcase the career of her own mother as a cobbler. One of her pieces is called “Mama” on pigment print which shows her mother concentrated on her cobbler work.
“My mom has the American dream, which for her isn’t necessarily money or fame but it’s a way for her to go through life and provide for her children,” said Lopez-Sampieri. “I am an undocumented student and so for a long time I didn’t have financial help but my mom’s work got me through college and that made me feel really inspired by her and her work.”
Just like Lopez-Sampieri, many other students took a deeper and more personal approach to their artwork. The spectators gazed at the work of Krista Bonelli, visual arts graduate student, as she explained the many self-portrait photographs she took of herself and layered, to form a canvas with many hidden visuals of herself.
According to Bonelli, her work is based around resin, photography and time. She takes one picture everyday of a particular month and then she layers them by month.
Another works that can be seen at the exhibit are the ceramic sculptures of Hazel Straight, graduate art student, makes objects that existed throughout history and time. Her work ranges from a realistic ceramic Victorian telephone from the 1940’s to a portable ceramic sewing machine from the 1890’s.
“I made a ceramic phonograph that took me about two weeks in separate parts that I assembled and the stove took me about a couple months to make,” said Straight. “I draw everything on a sketch book to see how I want the object to be and then I sculpt it and draw on to the form with a pencil. I draw a design I want on the form and then I carve it, which takes some time.”
Straight lives through her work by wearing vintage clothing during her exhibit and drives classic car on a daily basis.
“I am trying to invoke a sense of nostalgia to the viewer, so I dress the part,” said Straight. “I basically live through my art work every day.”
The artists were all around their artwork to answer questions to the viewer and the exhibit was filled with family members, students and professors that attended to support the art.
“Finishing my degree at CSUN has been such an amazing experience, “ said Bonelli. “No matter the path that I may take in life, I will always carry with me the advice and knowledge I received from my incredible mentors while pursuing my degree at CSUN.”
For more information MFA website, http://www.csun.edu/mike-curb-arts-media-communication/art/master-fine-arts-mfa.
