Students currently pursuing B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees in five different areas of Studio Art at the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design emerged as finalists in the 2024 Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition presented by the National Society for Arts and Letters (NSAL) and the FAR Center for Contemporary Art. Presented March 1, two of the contest’s eight prizes went to M.F.A. students Cassidy Kaufman (Metals) and Michelle Solorzano (Ceramics), and three were awarded to B.F.A. students Sarah Blackwell (Digital Art), Austin Clark (Photography), and Lily Nuest (Painting).
On view February 28-March 7 at the FAR Center in downtown Bloomington, Indiana, the exhibition included work in diverse media by 41 college-age artists in Indiana, with strong representation from the Eskenazi School (13 M.F.A. students, 16 B.F.A., one B.A., and three additional alumni of the B.F.A. program). The NSAL exists to identify, encourage, and provide financial support to young artists across the performing and visual arts. The NSAL’s Bloomington chapter has since its founding in 1966 awarded more than $650,000 to artists living and studying in Indiana. This year’s competition distributed a total of $5,600 to the winners.
Cassidy Kaufman was awarded the Barbara Bachmura Memorial Award for her mixed media work “Uncertain.” The work in copper and colored pencil measures 2.75” x 3.5” x 3.25.” A prize of $300 supported by the Barbara Bachmura Travel Fund accompanied the award.
Kaufman considers each vessel she creates to be an abstract self-portrait with the capacity for metamorphosis. “Through the laborious and meditative process of raising vessels, I often find myself reflecting on my past [and] healing mental wounds by transforming difficult memories into forms of life, movement, and growth,” the artist says.
A first-year M.F.A. student in the Metalsmithing and Jewelry area, Kaufman received her B.F.A. in Craft and Material Studies with a focus in metalsmithing in 2023 from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Using an intuitive design process and various metal forming techniques such as raising, forging, and chasing and repoussé, she creates organic forms inspired by life and movement.
Michelle Solorzano’s sculpture “Plantain Power” received the Nelda Christ Memorial Award, supported with a cash prize of $850 from the Nelda Christ Fund.
The painted clay sculpture draws upon the pageantry of Carnaval as observed in the Dominican Republic, where the artist grew up. Her recent work “draws parallels between the historical context of the Carnaval and my lived experiences,” Solorzano writes, “constructing a surreal narrative where my heritage engages in a meaningful dialogue with my current life.” While evoking the aesthetic and iconography of the Carnaval, Solorzano rediscovers and retells her native country’s often misrepresented cultural history.
A third-year M.F.A. student in the Ceramics area, Solorzano was the featured visual artist for the 30th annual Lotus World Music & Arts Festival in the fall of 2023, where she led visitors in Carnaval mask-making.
She earned her B.F.A. in Painting and Ceramics from the State University of New York at Potsdam. Solorzano mounts her M.F.A. thesis exhibition April 2-13 at the Grunwald Gallery, with an opening reception on April 5.
Plan to attend: M.F.A. Thesis Exhibitions at the Grunwald Gallery.
Read: A profile of Michelle Solorzano in the Indiana Daily Student.
Sarah Blackwell received the Reva Shiner Memorial Award for his video piece “Sin-Eater.” A $1,000 prize donated by the Reva Shiner Fund accompanied the award.
The video diary depicting three weeks of testosterone injections is interspersed with scans from the British Library’s Archives of natural flora, fauna, and phenomena, thereby “recontextualiz[ing his] transition into the fluctuating, every-changing nature of creation,” as Blackwell states.
Currently pursuing a B.F.A. in the Digital Art area, Blackwell describes himself as “a multidisciplinary artist who focuses on digital media, primarily videos and digital illustration. His work is inspired by his religious upbringing, interest in historical narratives, and identity as a queer individual.”
Austin Clark received the Edwin Lee Caldwell Memorial Award for his archival inkjet print, “I’ve Never Really Liked Fruit.” The award conveyed a prize of $500 from donors Elaine and Phil Emmi.
The large-scale (12” x 50”) inkjet prints of stitched-together flatbed scans of the artist’s nude body replicate a crucifixion posture, while also referencing lynched, Black bodies hanging from a tree. “Through the work, I ask my viewer to consider multiple connotations of Blackness,” Clark writes, “and pose lynchings as a modern crucifixion, as they were forms of public executions to humiliate the individual before being brought to death.”
Brought up in the Southern Baptist Church, Clark uses photography as a spiritual practice to document performances that explore his African ancestry. Currently pursuing a B.F.A. in the Photography area and a B.A. in Art History, Clark has exhibited his work at the Anderson Ranch Art Center and MassArt x Sowa Gallery. In October 2023, the undergraduate organized and helmed a panel discussion at the Eskenazi School with the Indianapolis-based 18 Art Collective of Black artists.
Read: Eskenazi B.F.A. to helm panel of Black Indianapolis artists
Lily Nuest’s painting “Peering In” (oil on canvas, 40” x 48”) was recognized by the Weller Merit Award, which conveyed a prize of $600 given by Kathy Weller. The artist is currently pursuing a B.F.A. in the Painting area.
The environments within Nuest’s paintings fluctuate between realistic spaces and mindscapes, and feature figures of ambiguous age, “represent[ing] conflicting attitudes toward adulthood and maturity during an uncertain and constantly changing stage of life,” according to Nuest. Nuest often refers to archetypal definitions and patterns in her paintings to connect with the viewer’s own experiences.
