| Gauri Gill: The Americans Born in Chandigarh, India, Gauri Gill received her BFA in Applied Art at the Delhi College of Arts in New Delhi, India. She earned her BFA in Photography at the Parsons School of Design, New York in 1994, and MFA in Photography at Stanford University in 2002. Since August 2003, she has been teaching photography at the American School in New Delhi. In 2007, her work was shown at India International Center, New Delhi; Newark Museum, New Jersey; Musee Quai Branly, Paris among other places.
Image Credit: In the home of Avtar Singh Gill, Yuba City 2001. From The Americans by Gauri Gill More Info |
| MFA Documentary Film Thesis Screening (IN SCREENING ORDER):
Frontier Youth by John Kane
Ray, Ariel, and Alondra are young people growing up in Douglas, Arizona, and Agua Prieta, Mexico, two neighboring border towns marked by high levels of border security and undocumented migration. Through their perspectives, the film explores the meanings of the border and the tensions of young adulthood on each side.
In Suspension by Emmanuel Dayan
In a neo-natal intensive care unit, a chaplain, a mother, a doctor and a psychologist spend their days and nights around babies whose lives are never taken for granted. Human contact often gives in to medical imperatives, and death is never far. The film looks at the ways these people deal with the omnipresence of technology and a reality which is often out of their control.
Under A Storybook Sky by May Lin Au Yong
An exploration of the space between reality and make-believe, the film peers into the curious charm of America's oldest storybook theme park- Oakland's Children's Fairyland, through the eyes of its best volunteer, 9-year-old Melyssa.
Operation Falcon by Tim O'Hara
Since the war began, an estimated 20,000 Iraqis have worked for the United States as interpreters. Though these individuals now face retaliation from insurgents, the visa program for interpreters is limited to 500 spots a year. Watch from both the U.S and Iraqi perspective as a Marine does everything he can to help his former 'terp' escape danger.
Dear Angela by Evan Briggs
Angela is a 40 year old mother of two living in Pasadena, California. Jacki is a 40 year old mother of seven serving a 40 year prison sentence in Gatesville, Texas. Through a unique prison pen pal program these two women forge an unlikely friendship, finding common ground in their tragic pasts.
Imitating Life by Kelcey Edwards
A playful, essayistic look at camouflage in its many guises. This film burrows a wormhole through the seemingly unconnected realms of fashion, nature, military, and art.
Nutkin's Last Stand by Nicholas Berger
Something is rotten in England. A plague of North American gray squirrels is threatening the beloved native red squirrel. This has triggered outrage among many Britons and a wide range of organizations and individuals have stepped forward to take up the red squirrel's cause.
The First Kid to Learn English From Mexico by Peter Jordan
9-year-old Pedro's reluctant journey through elementary school in pursuit of the American Dream, which he describes as a "nightmare." Confused by the seemingly contradictory forces of love and punishment that adults impose on him, Pedro forces these same conditions upon unsuspecting animals he encounters along his way.
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| Transient: MFA Thesis Exhibition Matt Jones explores space dimensional theories and their interaction with time. In his complex sculptures, time and space become one with the object, change is movement and vice-versa. The movement of his intricately crafted pieces is sometimes mechanically based, and sometimes is affected by gravity. He also plays a duet with his video work, often in constant interaction with the sculptures within the installation.
Jones received a dual BA in Psychology and Studio Art from Dartmouth College. He has shown his works at the Albuquerque Museum, the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, and Box Gallery in Santa Fe.
Lordy Rodriguez's language of mapping is beyond familiar. He takes the viewer into a tour to 'Terra Incognita', (unknown, unexplored territories of the artists imagination). Sometimes his maps create a sense of dislocation at a first glance, but we may decode the
drawings, sometimes as abstractions, sometimes as identity exercises, or as a country invented by ourselves. The real mapping takes place in our minds.
Rodriguez obtained his BFA degree from the School of Visual Arts, New York. He recently exhibited his artworks at the 10th Annual Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul Turkey, Orange County Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and Galerie Ane de Villepoix, Paris, France.
Naomi Vanderkindren's photography becomes a fictional vehicle that takes the viewer into a trip to the past only to arrive to the present. Lonely abandoned buildings portrayed by the artist are not necessarily a metaphor for nostalgia, but more of a fact of some unknown time and place.
Vanderkindren received her BFA degree from the San Francisco Art Institute. She recently presented her work at the James Cohan Gallery, New York, Forth Worth Community Arts Center, Fort Worth, Donna Seager Gallery in Marin, CA, and Rayko Gallery San Francisco.
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| Art History Lecture Series: Michael Ann Holly The roundtable with Michael Ann Holly is on Friday, May 9, at 12 - 1 PM at the Nathan Cummings Art Building, Room 103. The Melancholy Art *Art Bulletin (March 2007) LXXXIX* will be discussed. Copies of the readings are available at the Art & Architecture Library. More Info |
| Design Unbound Examples of works are Gift Boxes, created by Thomas Both, for packaging t-shirts and other textiles that reveal a small corner of the gift to be given, disrupting the typical rules of packaging; Jelly Lamp by Capra J�neva, made of machined aluminum, silicone rubber and compact fluorescent, with interchangeable color gels that take the shape of the light bulbs beneath them; Obliteration Scarves by Scott Witthoft, made of various materials such as linen, satin, fleece velour, spandex and wool with iconography sewn on the scarves based on obliteration marks used by Japanese postal workers in Manchuria, China in the late 1800s; Popcorn Cubes by Jesse Silver, wherein Silver suspended a flame in a water vortex and constrained fire within a maze to pop popcorn into perfect cubes; Wave Machine by David Ngo, a hand-cranked automata made of wood, bike belt, metal rods and screws, which expresses not only a visual and auditory wave but emphasizes the inherent beauty of the mechanism.
Participating artists include Andreas Braendhaugen, Andrew Taylor, Capra J'neva, Carissa Carter, David Ngo, Ed Browka, Elysa Fenenbock, Emilie Fetscher, Francisco Franco, Ge Jiang, Jean Hsu, Jesse Silver, Peter Gleason, Scott Witthoft, Simon Weiss, and Thomas Both.
Andreas Braendhaugen holds a BA from the University of Oslo, where he attempted to unify the fields of psychology, cultural history, Hindi, and linguistics. Since then he went on to work as a journalist and a graphic designer. His favorite things include print media, grand pianos, and improvised travel.
Andrew Taylor was born in Palm Springs, CA. He thoroughly enjoyed the 7 years it took him to obtain Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley. He likes to work with his hands and (occasionally) his mind.
Capra J’neva was born in a cornfield during a thunderstorm but swiftly found herself more at home in the city. She has shown her artwork professionally since 1990 in galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, where she was represented by the prestigious Augen Gallery. She’s had the good luck to tour the world doing performance art and other things she loves, such as fashioning mud pies into buildings. She’d rather be writing.
As a former geologist, Carissa Carter enjoys fusing her background with a wide-reaching interest in design. Currently, she loves molding, mapping, and awkwardness. Originally from Boston, she has an undergraduate degree from Williams College, and a MS in Earth Science from UCSC. She worked as a geologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), and US Geological Survey (USGS) before coming to Stanford. Since joining the Joint Program in Design, she worked at IDEO and in the User Experience group at Google.
Before his transformation, David Ngo was employed as an Aerospace Engineer creating science fiction concepts involving lasers, satellite clusters, and lunar bases. Wanting to combine his creativity and passionate energy into something tangible led him to the world of Design. Since then he has fully embraced his work with a unique sense of humor, wonder, and delight. His thesis is an exploration on making “play” a more integral and meaningful part of our daily lives.
Ed Browka, born and raised on his family’s farm, merges his connection with the earth with his years of engineering - everything from medical robotics to baby strollers.
Elysa Fenenbock graduated from Stanford University in 2005 with a BA in Studio Art and a minor in Dance. After graduating, she worked as a freelance designer in San Francisco, interned for RedStart Design, and developed Elysa Designs, a jewelry design company. During her time in the Joint Program in Design, she has expanded her design focus from jewelry to include a deep concentration in textiles as well as other media. She expects to receive her Master of Fine Arts in June 2008.
A fifth generation Montanan from Missoula, Emilie Fetscher loves the outdoors. She began her studies in engineering as a self-proclaimed pretendgineer before the mountains of the Wasatch & Chugach called her away. She recently came down from the mountains to share her love of design with everyone in her life but she often returns to those high places to find inspiration and joy. A lifetime of dancing and playing has put a nearly constant smile across her face and an unending desire to have others smile with her. She hopes that everyone takes the time to enjoy life and play.
Francisco Franco was the sole member of a design guerrilla operating in the mountainous regions of Northern Mexico. Obtained a BS in Mechanical Engineering by the ITESM in Monterrey, later infiltrating the core of the automotive industry. An insatiable creative itch forced him out into many other ventures. Now in the 2nd year of the masters program in Product Design at Stanford, his interest revolves around exploring elegance and interplay in form, interactive systems and sustainable human behavior. Always interested in the democracy of art and the relation between nature and human craft, Francisco hopes that his experience at Stanford will help him find his way into the cosmic papaya.
An “overseas” Designer, the unique cultural and education background gave Ge Jiang a unique point of view.
Jean Hsu is a second year Master’s candidate in the Joint Program in Design and will receive her MS in Product Design this spring. Her design interests at the moment include social eating experiences and sleep related soft goods. Currently, she conducts innovative user research for Google and Eazo, a PC startup in China. Her former career was in electrical engineering working with lasers and microprocessors.
Jesse Silver, a second-year student in the Joint Program in Design, came to Stanford with a background in human factors, application development, recording engineering, and woodworking. His main drive is the need to see if the crazy ideas that pop into his head are indeed possible and in this pursuit, he has suspended a flame in a water vortex, constrained fire within a maze, and gotten popcorn to pop into perfect cubes. And somehow it all made sense at the time.
Peter Gleason studied engineering on the east coast before coming out west and becoming a designer proper.
Simon Weiss loves the variety and expansive experiences to which the design process can be applied. He became an engineer to learn how to solve problems, but not until he became a designer did he realize that 'problems' aren't the only things that can be solved. Design and the design process can be applied to so many different spheres of life, industry, and business. Through design, he will make the world more livable. Weiss is working towards a Master’s Degree in Product Design at Stanford University. His expected date of graduation is May 2008. He has a diverse design skill set that enables him to engage challenges including products, services, business practices, and strategy. Central to his design process are abilities to communicate visually, prototype in a variety of media, and function effectively in diverse teams.
Scott Witthoft - A thought wrangler set adrift told me to head this way. I had read the letters, but it was a new road just the same. Sometimes that showed itself in this or that, but really it was just time alone. I remember mostly everything and it is likely we have already talked about this.
Thomas Both is a designer, engineer, and artist interested in human-centered design, needfinding, beautiful objects, experiences in space and through time, flipping expectations, simplicity, elements in repetition, defining the design problem, and considered details. He earned a BS in engineering for Harvey Mudd College in 2003, and is currently completing a master’s degree in the Stanford Joint Program in Design.
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| Age of Everything: First Year MFA Exhibition Reed Anderson deconstructs, reconstructs, paints, collage and silk screens his works on paper. Images, such as elaborate flora and fauna, are cut into paper. The paper is then folded and painted, thus stenciling mirror images that create a complex weaving of positive and negative. The paper is utilized as both tool for creating the image and as image itself. While at Stanford, Anderson has stripped away his maximalist approach, exploring subtle minimal marks and paper forms.
Anderson has shown his work internationally since 1998. His work resides in public collections that include The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Olbricht Collection in Essen, Germany, and the Burchfield-Penney Art Museum in Buffalo, New York.
Michael Arcega presents �Loping Honoring� (2007), a video projection of an operatic rendition of the Lupang Hinirang, the national anthem of the Philippines, with lyrics translated into English by passing the original text through a spell checker. Like many of Arcega�s works, this piece is informed by cross-cultural collisions and uses a humorous approach to reveal and confront the darker regions of human behavior.
Arcega received his BFA at the San Francisco Art Institute and has presented work nationally at venues including The Asia Society in New York, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the De Young Museum in San Francisco, The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, and the Berkeley Art Museum.
Kazumi Shiho utilizes an astonishingly broad range of media, including paper, steel, sheet rock and computer coding in a process that transforms and reconfigures the material in transitional stages. Ever watchful for the unexpected, Shiho relates location, structure and viewers in a way that links them together with the elements of communication and non-communication.
Shiho was born in Tokyo and received her BA from Tokyo National University of Fine Art and Music. She has recently presented work at the Hungarian Multicultural Center, at ZAIM in Yokohama and has been an artist-in-residence at the Skowhegan School.
Cobi van Tonder creates multifaceted work in a variety of media including interactive art, sound and video, and explores new areas of perception, sensory experience and interactivity. Her present work, �Fault Room�, is a video and sound installation that queries viewers as to the relation of sound to image, of content to container, and viewer to point of view.
Van Tonder received her BA in Music at the University of Witswatersrand in South Africa. Her sound and media works have been exhibited internationally in South Africa, London, Stuttgart, Toronto, Ogaki Japan, Antarctica, New York and Seoul.
Jina Valentine�s present work, �Consumption�, is of variable dimensions and consists of handwritten text on dry-erase whiteboards. She writes, �I have not made an object, rather I have decorated a found object with content. The desire to add words to an object�suggests the object is incomplete without them��
Valentine grew up in Philadelphia, received her BFA at Carnegie Mellon University and has worked as both an artist and curator. Her work has been featured at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Drawing Center. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Skowhegan School, the Atlantic Center for the Arts and at Sculpture Space.
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