Persist : Recent Painting Graduates from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Exhibition Dates: September 6 – October 27, 2018
“When approached by THELMA to have a student show it was difficult to decide how to narrow down the pool of students. The best part of my job as an Assistant Professor of Painting at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh is the opportunity to work with promising and engaging students on a yearly basis. Ultimately, I decided to choose from recent graduates that are persisting to make work regularly. Maintaining a strong studio practice in spite of life’s trials and distractions truly is at the heart of being successful in the creative fields. The art in this group show is exclusively work that has been created post-undergraduate study and is a testament to the heart, dedication, and determination that these emerging artists have.”
“In the classroom, particularly in advanced study, it is my primary objective to challenge and support the students to find the strength of their own individualized creative voice. Abstraction, representation, color, scale, medium, and content become tools to be used and activated based on intension. From there, it really is up to the student to take the next step to find their way of articulating an idea and to embody what it is to be an artist. The work displayed here is a reflection of that embodiment.” – Trina May Smith
