This spring quarter, four exceptional CHASS graduate students will be presenting their MFA projects in Riverside, at the Barbara and Art Culver Center of the Arts. Pui Shuen (Tiffany) Chow, Kellie Flint, Merideth Hillbrand, and Ji Hyun Won will be displaying their thesis exhibitions on Saturday, April 27 beginning at 2pm.

What is she presenting?
A collection of landscape paintings. Flint questions what it means to make a landscape painting in this fraught ecological moment.

What inspired the works?
Flint works in specific landscapes and traces their forms. She remains attentive to moments of discovery and is interested in the how history connects to one’s experience.

“I am attracted to making a painting that points to a place or idea outside of itself,” Flint said. “I hope to make something tangible - an object, a painting – in order to enact the intangible nature of these experiences. I believe that visual art and in particular, abstraction, offers a kind of knowledge that oftentimes does not subscribe to the normative, verbal, linear processes of thought.”

What will she be doing post-graduation?
Post-graduation, Flint will be teaching two summer courses here at UCR, and will be looking for further employment in teaching or environmental nonprofit organizations.  For now, she will continue to make her work in the southern California desert.

What is she presenting?
A series of large-scale paintings, including several diptychs, or foldable two-paneled canvases, and one 15-foot long triptych, a foldable three-paneled canvas, alongside smaller works and drawings. She has taken her knowledge of art history and art theory and has drawn from previous research to incorporate it into her studio practices.

What inspired the works?
Chow questions where and how to push contemporary painting in new directions, and strives to promote self-discovery through her art.

“The idea of ‘looking at looking’, and using fragments and different ways of mark making to construct an image and the painting,” Chow said.

What will she be doing post-graduation?
Post-graduation, she plans to continue creating art and maintaining her studio practice, and plans to pursue a career in teaching.

What is he presenting?
Won will be presenting a large art installation that includes a multitude of drawings, sculptures, paintings and publications.

What inspired the works?
Inspired by “Forests are Forests: A Study on Societies,” which presents questions such as “If 100 trees in a forest were cut down, would the forest still be a forest?” alongside answers such as “Forest will still be a forest, even if 100 trees are cut down, however, the forest will not be the same forest, if you are in the forest.” The study then presents these questions and answers in relation to society and military.

What will he be doing post-graduation?
Post-graduation, Won will be teaching a class at UCR, and plans to continue pursuing and creating art in his local studio.

What is she presenting?
Hillbrand will be showcasing an art installation of sculptures based on different forms, such as furniture design, product packaging, and plumbing.

What inspired the works?
Hillbrand was initially inspired to mix materials and art forms on a trip through Vienna, Austria, Prague and the Czech Republic. Her art references her travels and recontextualizes everyday objects to show how they shape our life experiences.

“Most of these works are inspired by a trip I took last fall to view the work of early modern architects, designers and artists,” said Hillbrand. “This trip influenced my sculptural installation for the thesis exhibition where I reference some of the places I visited through material and forms, while mixing them and sometimes even clashing them together with everyday objects from my own life.”

What will she be doing post-graduation?
Hillbrand will be spending her summer teaching at UCR, and plans to pursue teaching and continue her studio practice in Los Angeles.