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December Split Level Gallery 2024
New Voices, New Perspectives
December 4 - December 21
Opening Reception on Arts Night Out
The Quabbin Arts Association introduces "New Voices, New Perspectives,"The Quabbin Art Association, in partnership with the Northampton Center for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, presents New Artists, New Perspectives featuring 20 emerging artists from nine universities and colleges throughout the Connecticut River Valley area who wish to pursue a career in the visual arts. These artists represent American International College, Amherst College, Elms College, Greenfield Community College, Holyoke Community College, Mount Holyoke College, Springfield College, The University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Western New England University. In an effort to remove some of the barriers often experienced by emerging artists, each participating artist received a 2-year membership in the Quabbin Art Association and a $250 cash stipend to help support the development of their work. Enjoy the show!
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Quabbin Art Association (QAA) promotes community interest and appreciation for the visual arts by providing education, support, and opportunity for artists who live and work in the Pioneer Valley. Founded in 2016 by Belchertown, MA residents Denise Fontaine-Pincince and Jennifer Turner, QAA offers year-round exhibit opportunities for artists at venues throughout the Valley, holds monthly membership meetings featuring guest artists, offers artisans markets and teaching opportunities for our members, and promotes community interest and appreciation for the arts through outreach activities supported by our members and offered free of charge to our community.
PARTICIPATING Artists:
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Jenezy’s work focuses on themes of domesticity, identity, individualism, and family. Through anatomical references, Jenezy makes an effort to connect the physical and emotional state of beings, superficial and internal identities, and gendered roles within a typical American family structure. She broadly discusses concepts of lineage and history through recurring characters/figures within her work. She continues to explore these dynamics and juxtapositions through playful, saturated colors and kitschy plastic finishes, causing false invitations to private scenes of tension and animosity.
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Heeju Yoo was never allowed to explore their passions, motivations, or inspirations. Instead, they spent their time organizing a non-profit called the "Korean Cultural Service of Massachusetts," which opened a Korean library for immigrants, offering books in their native language and teaching Korean to Americans, including immigrants and second-generation children. They formed a team of translators to translate Korean poems into English to promote Korean literature in the U.S. Inspired by visual art, they gained the confidence to publish their poetry and have released four books in Korea since then. About 15 years ago, they started painting to cope with their busy lifestyle and overcome fatigue, which helped rejuvenate their spirit. They create ceramics, sculpture, and installation art, but their main focus is painting. Their works embody the poetic images they write, aiming to illustrate and visualize the invisible aspects of the soul and time.
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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We use the term "natural" to describe the world that is untouched and left alone by human intervention. In this way, human existence is often seen as unnatural. Despite how we manipulate nature and curate our unnatural synthetic environment—our homes, our bodies—we are made from the Earth, just like every other creature. How can we learn from the creatures of the Earth in their natural states?
Caly Van Leeuwen employs a blend of colors and textures that intertwine, representing humans, animals, and other living beings all within the same space. This artistic choice reflects their interest in exploring the tension between the natural and the artificially modified. Their sculptures further examine this conflict through the materials they manipulate: wool and epoxy. Wool requires a collaboration between sheep and shepherds, while epoxy is a completely synthetic material.
Amherst College
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Sarah Paradee has always loved painting even though their first instructor was a Paint-by number kit. While in nursing school, they were able to take their first painting class, lighting their passion for the art, progressively improving from that first day. They are excited to have the opportunity to continue to grow and learn more techniques.
College of Our Lady of the Elms
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Western Massachusetts artist Erin Shabunin explores chaos through her abstract ink and paper scenes, inviting viewers to lose themselves while discovering meaning in her nebulous work. By using printmaking ink without the constraints of an engraved plate, Shabunin employs a subtractive mark-making process that embraces her materials' unpredictable and ephemeral qualities. Transitioning between using a ballpoint pen and scratchpad and then returning to monoprinting has influenced the direction of her work, revealing new details that enhance her unique mark-making vocabulary. She explores the challenges of breaking away from established patterns, focusing on her stream of consciousness.
Greenfield Community College
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Eads Fouché explores the relationship between sculpture and geology by representing the
connections between space and place. His work blurs the literal and metaphorical line between the arts and geology by building sculptures based on 3-dimensional lines. Lines are more than just 2-dimensional strokes on a page; they are movements, thoughts, emotions, and 3-dimensional. They are how he thinks. While lines can divide, they also connect. Not only can they visualize a bridge between seemingly disparate concepts, but they also manifest dynamic movement, making them a powerful tool for communication. In both geology and sculpture, the 3-dimensional line is fundamental in representing form, movement, and space. Lines are how we understand geology. Whether it be 2D lines on a geologic map, segregations in the geologic time scale, a scientific figure, or 3D lines of bedding planes, science functions through lines. Eads wants to expand our understanding of line from a 2-dimensional division to a 3-dimensional connection between ideas and spaces. In the same way that the Earth draws 3-dimensional lines to create mesmerizing geologic formations, Eads sculpts pieces to illustrate the interconnected relationship between line, geology, and place.
Amherst College
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Rhaymi Porter’s work combines charcoal, acrylic paint, and photography to convey emotional intensity. They begin with a rough gesture drawing before gradually building upon it. The charcoal captures the raw qualities of art, while layers of acrylic paint add vibrant colors and energy to the composition. Rhaymi believes their photographs convey an emotional depth similar to that found in their drawings, showcasing dramatic shadows and sophisticated realism. With its ability to freeze time, photography allows them to preserve fleeting emotions—those delicate, transient moments that often go unnoticed.
By using these mediums together, Rhaymi invites viewers to reflect on the relationship between the physical world and the emotional landscape we navigate. This combination explores the tension between what is seen and what is felt, revealing the quiet, powerful truths that emerge when we take the time to look closer. Each piece uniquely reflects Rhaymi's journey, and they hope it encourages others to connect not only with their own experiences but also with the universal themes within them.
American International College
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Catalina Alexopoulos is a 22-year-old artist who began her drawing journey at the tender age of six. Initially, her focus was solely on horses, and pencils were her medium of choice. As she grew older, Catalina started to experiment with various styles and materials, ultimately discovering a passion for pastels, particularly pastel pencils. Most of her artwork is created with these pencils or regular pencils, enabling her to capture fine details that she cherishes. Additionally, she enjoys working with charcoal, paint, watercolor, clay, and oils for a more varied artistic experience.
Her pastel animal portraits hold deep personal significance, representing animals that have touched her life, whether they are still present or have passed on. Catalina finds joy in sharing these portraits with others who also know and love the animals depicted. Although her primary focus is on animals, she sometimes draws contortionists, reflecting her own passion as a contortionist. This dual talent allows her to express her creativity through both her artwork and her circus performances.
Elms College
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Mars is a Western Massachusetts-based artist and an upcoming graduate of Greenfield Community College. Growing up in Northampton, Mars was exposed to the arts extensively through both public spaces and school programs. With a strong background in art classes during high school, Mars is set to graduate this spring with an Associate’s degree in Visual Arts.
Mars's art practice is driven by a combination of meditation and movement. While creating, Mars experiences a silencing effect on the mind, transitioning from the chaos of the outside world to a focus on color, texture, and movement. Mars identifies as a movement experimentalist in the arts, and as their work expands in scale, they find that they can move more freely, infusing dynamics into each piece.
Currently, Mars is presenting a body of work titled Parallels, which is the culmination of a two-year project featuring 13 pieces. In April, Mars had their first solo exhibition of this series at Anchor House of Artists in Northampton. Parallels represents the mental, emotional, and physical landscapes that Mars navigates in daily life. Throughout the creation of this series, gravity and texture have served as anchor points, providing a framework for exploring movement within the visual art-making process.
Greenfield Community College
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Nhu Truong has been passionate about art since childhood. Growing up in an Asian household, they often kept this passion hidden. Nhu was self-taught until attending college, where they discovered inspiring art professors and enjoyed learning new techniques in their art classes. They found watercolor to be an engaging, challenging, and budget-friendly medium. Their artwork reflects the places they have visited, such as their grandmother's house in Vietnam, as well as destinations they wish to explore and learn from.
Springfield College
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Madison Deboise-Wetherell is an artist whose work reflects her life experiences, including her childhood, the environment where she grew up, her time at a private Catholic institution, her queer identity, and the trauma stemming from the intersection of these worlds. As a queer woman raised in a religious setting, Madison's upbringing has profoundly shaped her identity and artistic voice.
In this body of work, she explores the themes of trauma and introspection that emerge from Catholic youth experiences, despite not identifying as religious herself. Through a combination of multimedia illustrations and physical sculptures, Madison expresses the concept of queer children navigating religious spaces, reflecting on her own experiences.
Westfield State University
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Emma Aiken has grown up and lived in Western Massachusetts, near the shining waters of the Quabbin Reservoir. Living with so much boundless nature around them has been a constant inspiration. They started drawing when they were little and haven't stopped. Their inspiration is the towering hemlocks, intricate insect patterns and designs, and frilled fungi that grow in their local woodlands. Creating finely detailed flora, fauna, and mythical creatures from their imagination, Emma uses watercolor to wash vivid colors across the paper and fine-line pens to make their creations pop, transporting viewers into a world of myth and legend. They invite viewers to wander into the forests of their creation and to meet the beings that dwell there.
Holyoke Community College
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Bela Achaibar is interested in painting, printmaking, beading, and working with textiles. Deeply inspired by South Asian figurative traditions, the creolization of culture in the Caribbean, and Black feminist theory, she tells the stories of those she knows and loves through her artwork. She works closely with her subjects to understand how they want to be represented. Her juxtaposition of circular and linear storytelling conventions allows her to explore a broader historical imagination while also grounding her work in her current reality, thereby creating new visions for the future.
Amherst College
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Lize Brown works to intricately examine the complex journey of healing, focusing on the recognition of harm and the emotional landscapes intertwined with recovery. Through predominantly two-dimensional mixed media pieces, Lize crafts visual narratives that invite reflection on the dynamic interplay between pain and resilience. Their practice also focuses on the complexities of nostalgia, exploring how it shapes and reshapes our perceptions of the past in relation to the present. By weaving these themes together, Lize’s work seeks to evoke a deeper understanding of memory, emotion and the process of self- discovery.
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Ariana Masterjohn is a central mass artist driven by encapsulating moments of time through art. She is greatly inspired by the natural world and often incorporates natural elements into her work. Encouragement from past teachers to experiment and embrace creativity has fostered her love for mixed-media work. She invites you to take a moment to experience the beauty of the small things we often take for granted.
Western New England University
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Aj Treat is a senior at Mount Holyoke College who primarily creates art on paper and canvas using charcoal, pen, pencil, and oil paint. They prefer working on a larger scale, as it allows for more movement and lends greater impact to their subjects. Aj creates art to better understand their personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings. Much of their work features imaginative creatures or distorted figures, reflecting how their imagination and experiences influence the creative process.
Their pieces often contain narratives aimed at creating connections not only between themselves and the viewer but also at encouraging a deeper understanding of perspectives that may not be widely recognized. Aj seeks to initiate conversations around identity and how different identities affect individuals’ navigation of the world. Through these dialogues, they hope to foster greater empathy and understanding among people.
This body of work specifically explores the multifaceted experience of inhabiting a body, focusing on the inner feelings of being observed and the scrutiny that one's body faces from external viewers.
Mount Holyoke College
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As a 3D sculptor, they explore the limitless potential of humble materials like paper, paper clay, and papier-mâché. Their work seeks to transform the everyday into the extraordinary, celebrating the simplicity and accessibility of these mediums. By manipulating texture, form, and structure, they create pieces that invite viewers to reimagine the possibilities of traditional craftsmanship and materiality.
Through their sculptures, they aim to evoke a sense of curiosity and connection, showcasing the beauty in the process of building layer by layer. Each piece becomes a tactile narrative, reflecting their fascination with form and the stories materials can tell.
Springfield College
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Using painting as a lens, Sophia Jakobson mines both personal and historical archives to create multimedia objects and images that draw influence from the environment, embodiment, and queerness. Like an archeological dig, they explore materials like collage, fiber, and paint as a form of physical poetry building. With particular attention to shadow and its relationship to abstraction, they construct emotional landscapes that unearth remnants of the past, ghostly and unsayable, yet still tangible and felt. Through this process, Jakobson builds space for grief- of family, of a body that feels broken, of a world that is cruel and treacherous- and reimagines possibilities for community and care.
Mount Holyoke College
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Malyna Dansereau is a 20-year-old graphic design major at Holyoke Community College. Their work serves as a physical embodiment of their perception of the world around them. They often find themselves drawn to the ordinary rather than the exceptional, viewing the mundane with greater significance than many do. Their goal is to explore the complexity that lies beneath the surface of simplicity, using their artwork as an outlet for this investigation. Malyna extracts and interrogates the memories they associate with each item they illustrate.
In addition to emphasizing the unremarkable, they strive to work with non-traditional media to establish a direct connection between their pieces and the objects they depict. By crushing rocks to create their own paint or ritualistically burning wood to produce charcoal and ink, they consistently infuse significance into both their processes and the materials they employ in their artwork.
Holyoke Community College
Bios Coming Soon:
Valentina Cacaj