Michelle A. Smith
Studio Arts (Sculpture) | michelleannsmith.com | IG: @michelleannsmith11
Michelle A. Smith was born and raised in Northern Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts: Sculpture degree from George Mason University in 2021. Smith is currently in the Master of Fine Arts graduate program at James Madison University where she hopes to completely immerse herself into the process of creating while building her art practice. Ultimately, Michelle wishes to teach, thus, bringing her love of art to the wider community and perhaps offering some degree of the same type of therapeutic benefits that she believes art holds for everyone.
Kareena Solanki
Studio Arts | IG: @kareena.solanki
Kareena Solanki is from Mumbai, India currently undertaking her MFA in Studio Art at James Madison University in Virginia. Her work is synonymous with her Buddhist practice of self-reflection and awareness, where she forges new relationships with environments while defying existing social, political, and preconceived notions through rituals. She uses her body to trace invisible spaces within the subconscious and meditate on the materiality of the senses. Her work traverses time, transience and transformation through film, photography and performance.
Yulin Yuan
Studio Arts | yulinyuanart.com | IG: @yulin_one
Yulin is a multi-disciplinary artist who was born in China and immigrated to South Africa with her family at a young age. After obtaining a BFA from the University of Cape Town, she is currently an MFA candidate at James Madison University in the United States. Her work primarily involves the use of collage, video, and photography to juxtapose imagery.
She is fascinated with constructing narratives and investigating the subject of intersectional identity by reflecting on her connections to her family, culture, and lineage.Yulin's artwork delves into modern China and explores the dynamics of relationships within first-generation immigrant households.
Grad Solo Shows | Spring 2023
Kareena Solanki
What message are you trying to convey with your solo Exhibition?
At this point, I think more than the message, I’m trying to find ways of asking new questions in the spaces that I’m interested in. Some of which originate from my Buddhist practice such as the oneness of self and environment, transience, ephemerality, and existentialism. These are some of the main things that I’m interested in right now. Through my work, which ranges from film, performance, and photography. and the material choices I’m making through these mediums, I’m trying to find my own way of expressing my senses.
Did you have any struggles while creating this work? If so, how did you find solutions? Are you satisfied with the outcome?
It's a lot of trying and failing and figuring out what to do next because it’s more like the ideas, the visuals, and the thoughts are in my head. Being able to shape it visually in the form of an experience and in the form of what it’s doing to the viewer is still a big challenge for me. I’m still working on this translation. And also the ability to create spaces that have a certain aura or certain presence, that’s something I’m working on in my performance art practice. I’m diving deeper in my first year and figuring it out as I go.
If this work has been shown before, how has it evolved from the last iteration?
I’m trying out new things at this point, not having them all workout, or making material choices, and being like “ok this is what I want to stick with, this is what’s not working for me”. So at this point, I’m really diving more into research and figuring out the choices I make in my work. I guess it is evolving in terms of learning what is not working, I think the more you cancel out what's not working you start finding ways of where you need to be going, I think that’s how I look at it right now.
Michelle Smith
What are some of the messages your work conveys?
With this Solo, I was playing with different ideas. My previous work was very dark and heavy. Sticking with the same theme of emotion, dark thoughts, mindscapes, and depression- I wanted to insert more joy and the potential for positive outcomes. I am thinking of this space as a mind space, a retreat within, a safe space to experience these emotions (the ceramic pieces used here as a placeholder for these twisted and contorted feelings) and to be okay with what they are, to honor their existence, thus rendering them less powerful.
What struggles did you overcome while creating this work?
I made several components of this show at different times, most over Winter break, but all working with the same intention– mood, and feeling– but with different mediums. There are the pour painting experiments on wood that are reminiscent of psychological Rorschach Test ink blots, extruded ceramic obelisks used as stand-ins for emotions and moods, and then the draping and twisting of sheer, black fabric throughout the room. The fabric represents the swirling thoughts that are ever present, can physically get in your way, but still can be navigated and seen through… I don’t know, there’s a lot more there yet to explore.
Bringing all the elements together was a struggle in such a confined space and limitations on where and how I am allowed to hang things in the crit space are always an interesting challenge. I found solutions by just playing. I’m not sure if it is the right outcome or iteration of these ideas, but I’d like to try it again in a different space.
Can you speak a little about changes your work has gone through recently?
Yes, the running theme has changed. It has hopefully transformed into a more approachable environment where the viewer feels a little more at ease while investigating the message I am trying to convey and doesn’t go away feeling worse than they did before coming into the space or wanting to run screaming out of the room!
Yulin Yuan
What message are you trying to convey with your solo?
The message I’m trying to convey is a space that is very similar to how I grew up. Where I had to carve out an environment for myself that either joins both worlds that I was constantly exposed to and I am searching to create that kind of space that resonates with other people who also had to do similar things. More like an escapist thing but also a healing form of space for people who had similar experiences.
Did you have any struggles while creating this work? If so, how did you find solutions? Are you satisfied with the outcome?
Yes I had a lot of struggles that I went through. First of all I am very much an introvert, so my process of working through this requires me going to different people’s houses, talking to them, engaging with them and constantly putting out my energy. And also inserting myself into their space was not easy for me. However, I did find it getting easier as I do more, I think sometimes you just get used to it, right? I’m not fully satisfied with it because I actually want to do large ensembles of people that I can do this. I am looking for more ways to get more participants but I am still in the process of doing that.
Because I only had certain amount of time within the households, I had to deal with a lot of improvisations in my process. I couldn’t have done a lot of meditation over the choices that I made to create the scenes that I created. And I wasn’t exactly satisfied with that first when I created this work because I felt like I didn’t truly connect with them. It always felt very rushed. But I feel the second part of my work where I was able to collage them and kind of create them through fragmentation, I was able to really look at each one of the objects and see them fully and then also manipulate them to fit my personal narrative.
If this work has been shown before, how has it evolved from the last iteration?
This work has been shown before, previously I just had them hanging. Because it is printed on fabric I wanted to create movement, however before I had them like hanging in a very straight line and although there is movement as people walked through, like the wind shifted a little bit, I wasn’t fully satisfied because it still felt very flat to me. So this time I utilized the nature of fabrics and was able to kind of manipulate them in the way of movement. So maybe they are a little more engaging and less static and I am happy with that change.
