Current Student Research

 

Olivia Arau McSweeny

Printmaking
araumcsw@ualberta.ca

My research examines the roles of hope and resilience in navigating personal, communal, and cultural responses to climate change and other interconnected crises. I do this through my studio practice in printmaking and the expanded fields of sculpture, and socially engaged art practices. My prints and other works are often figurative, placing myself and other subjects in domestic and natural environments. In these scenes, plants and fungi abundantly grow from the body, the furniture, and every corner of the space, creating moments of sanctuary that link the growth to these out of place ecosystems directly to systems of love and care.

When we focus solely on climate doomism, we rob ourselves of any opportunity to imagine –and perhaps one day live in– a reality that can survive the current state of the world. But what does hope look like? This crisis is everywhere, it looms large over our small selves. And yet, we are not just ourselves. We are interconnected and exist in echoes. Ecosystems are built of species and species of individuals and individuals of cells, and so on. And planets make up galaxies which in turn make up universes; the micro reflects the macro and vice versa. Hope may look like doing something small and aiming for a ripple. It is a reminder that caring for the world means caring deeply for ourselves and our communities. This approach is fundamental in keeping up the momentum of environmental movements and feels worthy of exploration, as urgency and fear can motivate change but hope in the context of meaningful action maintains it.

 

Kate Bang

MFA, Painting
kbang@ualberta.ca

 

Zahra (Mona) Dehghanzadeh

MFA, Intermedia
zdehgha2@ualberta.ca

 

Carla Gilday

MFA, Intermedia
crgilday@ualberta.ca

 

Aynaz Raoufian

MFA, Intermedia
raoufianaynaz@ualberta.ca

 

Maria Rosati

MFA, Printmaking
rosati@ualberta.ca

 

 

Sheryl Spencer

Printmaking
sdspence@ualberta.ca

My art practice focuses on objects and things that surround us. Some of these objects are chosen and acquired for usefulness, some of these objects are acquired for pleasure or curiosity. When we take responsibility for objects, we give them a purpose- a life- within our surroundings. Sometimes, we are the first or only owner of an item, and wholly responsible for its timeline. Other times we collect items that come with remnants of another life, and with them, various potential timelines, and entanglements. These objects have origins, and stories – known or unknown. Just as we have agency to select the objects we keep around us, these objects have something about them that causes our desire or necessity for interaction.

In addition to personal belongings that we become entangled with on a physical level, I am also curious about certain public objects that invite metaphor, and emotional or intellectual entanglement, whether that consideration is personal, or more broadly or publicly considered.

As well as the consideration of the entanglements between people and things, I incorporate the idea of the “numinous” object. The term “numen” describes a spirit or soul. Not only do I work with the idea that objects have agency, but I prefer to examine the augmented possibility that objects also have a spirit that causes a deeper reverence for the items around us. My recent work explores some of the interactions and entanglements I have experienced with objects and their underlying potentials, agencies, and spirits.

I believe the interaction we have with any object or item, public or personal is worth considering artistically. Whether the interconnection between ourselves and objects or things is physical, or perceived, there is something important in the idea of what connects us to the world, our world, and our imagination.

 

Yongxuan Zheng

MFA, Printmaking
yongxua1@ualberta.ca