Four of our undergraduate art majors were recently accepted into multiple MFA programs with full and partial scholarships.
“These programs are incredibly competitive,” said Gyan Shrosbree, assistant professor of Art. “This year, we had all four of our applying students accepted to several programs each.”
Genevra Bell, daughter of Maharishi International University faculty members Ken and Juliette Daley, graduated from MIU in 2009, earning a bachelor’s degree in fine arts with an emphasis in ceramics.
Although her clay pieces were also vehicles for illustration, she never thought she would one day make a living drawing animals.
MIU BFA grad and two-time Fulbright scholar Cherie Sampson’s has her feet firmly planted on the ground on her organic apple orchard midway between Fairfield IA and Columbia, MO – where she is a professor of Fine Art at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Sampson’s recent work, Dissecting the Blossom, was filmed in that orchard and features her performance of Bharatanatyam, Indian Classical Dance, which she has studied since 2009.
Holly Manon Moore arrived at MIU with a BFA in printmaking from West Virginia University (WVU), where she studied with renowned printmaker Will Peterson. While working on MIU staff, Holly was able to complete the art department core courses. “Everything I learned at WVU fell into place,” she tells me. Holly was the first person at MIU to mount a one-woman show in the Unity Gallery, and completed her CV with an MA at MIU in Education Administration.
2013 MIU BFA graduate Hilary Nelson’s steady progress towards a career in art has been both thoughtful and reality based. “You can progress on your own,” she tells me, “but a BFA program can speed that up. It can be a huge push.”
Canadian artist Olga Campbell is one of my all-time favorite people and best friends. For this interview, we sit on the sunny back deck of her home, overlooking the English Bay and Vancouver’s North Shore Mountains.
Current MIU student and 2015 BFA graduate Kenzie Wacknov knew from an early age that she was an artist. “Both of my parents are artists and encouraged me,” she says. Kenzie also credits two early mentors, ICON Gallery owner Bill Teeple and MSAE art instructor Greg Thatcher, for giving her “techniques and the space to be free and independent.”
I’m unsure where to begin my interview with MIU 2013 BFA graduate Elee Torres. Do we start with his Tasty Buns Patisserie, his avant-garde runway fashions from EcoJam 2015, or “Caravan,” his final BFA Final Show using cloth, paint, thread, wood, and re-purposed objects?
MIU BFA graduate Alexandra “Alex” Gabriel has come full circle in a journey she shares with me at Revelations, one of her favorite meeting places in Fairfield.
It felt too informal to interview artist Tony Ellis (full disclosure: my husband) at home in my pajamas, so we moved our early morning interview to Café Paradiso. After ordering a tea for him (a Brit) and a cappuccino for me (addicted), we start the interview.
