Arts Alumnx News November 2023
Recent alumnx news from the School of Art & Design + Performing Arts Division. Arts Alumnx News is produced by the marketing and communications office in the School of Art & design + Performing Arts Division and is published monthly in the This Month in the Arts newsletter. The feature aims to shine a spotlight on news and accomplishments of our amazing alumnx. To submit an item please email arts@alfred.edu with "alumnx news" in the subject line. Please include name, graduation year, and degree.
Tammy Renée Brackett (BA 2003, MFA 2006) named Best in Show Southern Tier Biennial.
Since 2005, the Southern Tier Biennial has given rural artists the opportunity to take part in a juried professional art competition and gallery show. Every two years, artists from across New York State’s Southern Tier region submit their work to be juried by a new panel of top art professionals. The result is a stunning array of work showing the vitality of the visual arts in rural New York! This year 51 pieces from 36 artists were accepted from the 157 artists who entered over 400 works of art!
The award winners were selected in person by the 2023 jurors. One best in show, one Juror's Choice, and three Honorable Mentions were given out. Best in show receives $1,000, plus a solo show in 2024 with a $2,000 stipend.
Javaria Ahmad (MFA 2023) Solo exhibition at Sculpture Space NYC Sculpture Space NYC Center for Ceramic Arts features a solo exhibition by Javaria Ahmad (MFA '23). The exhibition Mashq, as part of its Curatorial Program series, featuring work by Javaria Ahmad, a multidisciplinary artist and ceramist from Pakistan. Mashq, is Javaria’s first solo exhibition in New York City. The show will be on view from October 20th through November 18th, 2023.
Mollie McKinley (MFA 2022) First Light: Rituals of Glass and Neon Art at the Contemporary Jewish Museum San Francisco, along with two photographic sculptures with neon. McKinley (MFA '22) is exhibiting an installation of six salt, glass and neon sculptures. First Light: Rituals of Glass and Neon Art explores art making as a devotional practice, presenting works that connect both artists and viewers to spirituality, wonder, and universal questions of human existence.
The exhibition features artworks in neon, glass, and plasma, large-scale sculptures, and installations that invite you to learn about scientific processes while inspiring deeper contemplation of the role of light in our quest to understand our place in the universe. The exhibition runs Dec 7, 2023–Apr 28, 2024. First Light: Rituals of Glass and Neon Art is an exhibition by She Bends, an organization that is dedicated to building a more equitable future for neon while pushing the boundaries of the neon medium into the realm of fine art.
Image: Tír na nÓg (Illuminated Nebula), 2023. Carved and charred salt, blown glass, neon tube filled with argon and mercury