March 4–May 14, 2022
1262 Palmetto Drive
90013 Los Angeles CA
A ceramic unicorn skeleton, salt and queer desire, mycelium growth, the politics of shade in paint, and poetry on camouflage netting. All conjure the USC Roski School of Art and Design MFA in Art 2022 graduates: Jessica Taylor Bellamy, Erin Eleniak, Franchesca Flores, Lainey Racah, and Sophia Alana Stephenson. Despite spending part of graduate school in various degrees of social isolation, the group became a close-knit and determined cohort. Their exhibitions have strong connections to ecological theories and fluidity, which the artists work through with humor, the uncanny, fantasy, poetry, camp, personal and historical narratives, and material inventiveness.
While the artists’ use of materials—eco-handmade plastics, spinach, scavenged car parts, “free dirt” found on Craigslist, encrusted salt—is foregrounded by their physical presence, equally present are personal narratives, collected texts made into poetry, literary and filmic references, and archives in the form of newspapers and images. This group works across many mediums at once: from painting to video, from sculpture to ceramics, from printmaking to installation, with performance often present in recorded form. USC Roski couldn’t be more thrilled to share their MFA thesis exhibitions.
USC Roski MFA Thesis Exhibitions at the USC Roski Graduate Gallery, Los Angeles:
Erin Eleniak, “Journey to the End of the Cul-de-sac,” March 4 –11, 2022
Franchesca Flores, “mater-ials,” March 25–April 1, 2022
Lainey Racah, “Internal Violet,” April 8–16, 2022
Sophia Alana Stevenson, “…a perpetual sunrise,” April 22–30, 2022
Jessica Taylor Bellamy, “Present Myth, Future Fantasy,” May 5–14, 2022
Photos: Ryan Miller / Capture Imaging.
The Master of Fine Arts in Art program at the USC Roski School of Art and Design is a two-year, full-time, studio-based program located in the center of Los Angeles, home to a vital local art community and international gallery and museum scene. With a select cohort enrolled each year, the program provides a unique experience that focuses on interdisciplinary and wide-ranging experimental, creative, and intellectual exploration. Students work closely with USC Roski’s internationally acclaimed faculty, as well as an expanded community of leading professional artists, critics, and curators who participate in the weekly Visiting Artist and Scholar Seminar and the Resident Artists and Scholars Program.
The USC Roski MFA Art is designed to maximize each student’s individual studio experience, and its instructional model is focused on critical dialogue as provided by regular studio visits with faculty and guest artists and scholars, and group critiques with student peers. Students also take courses with USC Roski’s renowned Critical Studies faculty that emphasize tracing intellectual and artistic histories, understanding the complexities of theories applied to the visual arts, and addressing global art practices. Program electives provide a broader platform for experimentation and encourage students to explore the expansive possibilities for complementary fields of research at the University of Southern California, one of the world’s leading research universities.
