Ten works from "Please Stand By: The 2021 Stamps School Senior Exhibition" that show the collection's creative range

VISUAL ART

Please Stand By: The 2021 Stamps School Senior Exhibition banner

All 91 University of Michigan students featured in Please Stand By: The 2021 Stamps School Senior Exhibition deserve every ray of light that can cut through the darkness of the past 15 months.

You can be their sunshine and check out all the projects by the BA, BFA, and Interarts Performance students from the Stamps School's Integrative Project and Senior Studio over at stampsgrads.org.

But here are 10 pieces of art, animation, books, product designs, software, and songs that caught my eyes and ears as I perused the work of these fresh talents.

 

Skating Tree Town book by Valerie Le

Valerie Le
BA in Art & Design

Skating Tree Town book
Skating Tree Town on Issuu
(You can buy a print copy of the book at Vault of Midnight in Ann Arbor.)
Portfolio

Artist statement:

Skating Tree Town is a publication that chronicles Ann Arbor's rich skateboarding history and culture. For this project, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and meet new people, to delve further into Ann Arbor’s history, and to develop my own love for skateboarding. Having been enticed by skate culture for years and only recently dedicating actual time and effort to learning, I was pleasantly surprised to discover Ann Arbor’s ties to skateboarding. Over the course of several months, I sent out countless texts and emails, and met strangers at their favorite skate locations to interview and photograph them. Almost everyone I contacted was gracious and friendly, genuinely stoked to share their love of skating with me. As the culmination of my undergraduate studies, I applied my design training to produce a book for others to read--showing the diverse and vibrant skate culture present in Ann Arbor. Using visual design, photography, interviews, and historical archives, this book attempts to synthesize Ann Arbor skate culture and its community in a tangible way for skaters and readers to enjoy. Although this is not a definitive archive of Ann Arbor skateboarding’s history, it is a small glimpse of its culture through my eyes. All proceeds from publication sales will be donated to All Girls Skate, an Ann Arbor Skatepark initiative that gives instruction to young female skaters of all experience levels in a welcoming environment." {Source}

 

Elise Robinson
BA in Art & Design

"Shotgun City Sunshine" song and video

Artist statement:

A full year into quarantine and we’re finally ready to release this song. A lot of people accomplished a lot of cool things during this pandemic, especially artists. Entire albums were produced and released, whole collections of paintings were made, and small art businesses got their starts. It took one global pandemic, three break-ups, and four moves across the country, to get this one song somewhere that we liked. This video showcases the better half of my household’s collective mental state over the past few months. A little scattered maybe, but all around a good time. Although I’ve grown up with a recording studio in my house for as long as I can remember, I was solely a visual artist up until this past April. Music always felt kind of inaccessible to me, ironic I know. Collaborating with other creatives on this project has been so challenging in the best way. Making art individually for so long, I had to constantly check my ego but once you’re open and ready to be creative with other people and allow for blending and merging of ideas, you have so many new possibilities. I'm excited to watch how this creative medium affects my life. I think once you fully comprehend that your art doesn’t have to be for other people you can actually enjoy it. I don’t know if I’m there yet but I’m on my way. {Source}

 

Jingwen Li, a set of four utensils

Jingwen Li
BFA in Art & Design

Four Utensils
Website

Artist statement:

Many children, like my picky little sister, are reluctant to try new foods and tastes. This observation inspired me to design novel eating experiences that raise food curiosity for children between the age of four and seven. The purpose of the project is to redefine utensils, making them experimental, sensorial, and even educational. Taste is influenced not only by the taste buds but by the perception of taste through color, texture, shape, and form of utensils. Inspired by this knowledge, I developed a set of four utensils that are purposely designed to influence the sensory experience of eating by changing the perception of taste. My project is not meant to present a commercial design solution but serves as a discursive design object for people to rethink, reimagine, and raise discussion about the experience of eating. Each of the four designs has been created to simulate different senses through unique visual elements and represent the four basic tastes—sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy. These experimental utensils encourage children to enjoy the process of trying new foods by using unfamiliar objects and provides an opportunity for children to learn how different factors would influence their sensory experiences. {Source}

 

Valerie Matula, Unprecedented comic

Valerie Matula
BFA in Art & Design

Unprecedented Tunes comic

Artist statement:

Unprecedented Tunes is a webcomic that narrates my mental journey through the pandemic and the songs I grew attached to in the process. Each song used paints the emotional tone of its respective chapter, reflecting how I used them to cope with those feelings at the time. Music is an integral part of my expression, so I created a visual language to show how I experience music. By capturing the expressiveness of the lyrics and transcribing the atmospheric quality of a song, I turn the music of my heart into the muse of my art. Songs have their own narratives, but the more you listen to them, the more they blend with your own meanings. Parts of the songs are collaged into my own narrative, remixing it into something new. For me, music is a powerful force. It’s like an addiction, but it’s also like therapy. Throughout the past year, I found myself turning to music as a way to compensate for the lack of genuine human contact. We may be lonely now, but we are not alone in our sentiments. I share these songs in the hope that they may surpass our physical distance and help bridge the emotional gap between us. {Source}

 

Maggie McConnell
BFA in Art & Design

Creature animation
Portfolio

Artist statement:

Creature depicts the human ability to make a home for oneself. Self psychologists like Heinz Kohut tell us that we project the notion of home onto many diverse locations. We see our homes as extensions of ourselves and thus have complex relationships with them. As we travel between the familiar and the unfamiliar, our concept of who we are changes. Creature portrays this with the surreal depiction of individuals as they travel from the outside world to their homes. We follow one woman, Imogen's, commute between the two and see, through her eyes, others doing the same. Maggie McConnell is a 2D animator from Michigan interested in using animation to depict the notion of home. Her background in illustration helps her create small worlds she’d like to live in. {Source}

 

Sophia Linden, Horn Coral painting

Sophia Linden, Horn Coral from Collection, 2021, oil on canvas, 24” x 36”

Sophia Linden
BFA in Art & Design

Collection paintings
Website
Instagram

Artist statement:

Collection is a series of five large oil paintings depicting detailed studies of the surface of rocks and fossils found on the shores of Lake Michigan. The inspiration for this work comes from a life spent engrossed in nature and an enthusiasm for detail. As a realist painter, I began to explore abstraction with this series, removing external context and zooming in on the subject so much that it became an ambiguous pattern. The surface of stone tells a story as old as time, as remnants of organisms preserved in mineral deposits that wash up on a beach allow us a window into the distant past. The process of creating these large scale images as paintings mimics the scrutinous hunt for rocks as it takes patience and a careful, vigilant surveillance in order to notice and capture tiny details. Through this series, I want the viewer to be able to find life in these objects, to give them time for consideration, to see them as valuable. By taking the time to study the small things with abundant curiosity, we learn there is so much to discover about the world we live in. {Source}

 

Ashley Holland
BFA in Art & Design

Marble app
Portfolio
Instagram

Artist statement:

Even before covid-19, many people have dealt with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression in their day-to-day lives. One of the best conquers of emotional stress is writing things down and trying to deconstruct triggers that make one stressed. Journaling has been a proven way to assist people who have severe mental health issues due to the fact it allows people to write what they feel and encourages them to change their perspective on life. Numerous studies have been conducted to discuss how journaling and mental health are related. According to Intermountain Healthcare, the benefits of journaling have been proven to boost mood, reduce stress, and strengthens emotional functions. Marble is a journal app that helps people find the good in life. With categories ranging from journaling every day, to filling out emotion pages, it allows the user to visually see the progress over a given period of time showing how even doing small things makes a difference. By visually seeing their progress this app allows users to see their experiences and progress as a whole and will encourage the user to continue better habits, therefore, leading to improved overall well-being. {Source}

 

Sketchy book

Jay Campbell
BFA in Art & Design

Sketchy: Interrogating Fascist Flirtations in Punk book
Portfolio

Artist statement:

Sketchy: Interrogating Fascist Flirtations in Punk combines essay and illustration to explore—through autobiography, criticism, and historical documentation—the far-right's influence on extreme music subcultures. As explicit far-right ideology has become more visible in everyday culture, there is an alarming sense that fascism is creeping into our daily lives, neighborhoods, and Facebook feed. What Sketchy aims to show, through examining a specific subculture, is how fascism has always been lurking just below the surface in coded and explicit forms. It is only through awareness and action that society can push back against the fascist ideals and movements that have long been part of our history. Jay has spent the last quarter decade interested and involved in extreme music scenes: punk, goth, metal, noise, basically anything that combined provocation and pessimism that would give a lot of listeners a headache. This is where he found graphic design, making show fliers with rudimentary word processing software long before he ever cracked open an Adobe product. Since then, he has focused on visual communication, both professionally and educationally. Inspired by current events and distant memories, Sketchy is Jay's attempt to make sense of a truly hideous ideology hiding within a purposefully ugly subculture. {Source}

 

Rachel Buck
BFA in Art & Design

A Dog Named Desire film and animation

Artist statement:

Rachel Buck is an artist interested in both the natural beauty of our world and the internal landscape. Her practice is still evolving, but it primarily centers around animation and photography. This project, A Dog Named Desire, centers on my lifelong desire for a dog, and how that has manifested itself in my life without fulfillment. I began by following my interest in an alternative childhood, visualizing the dogs I wished I had growing up. I found the process of visually representing my desire cathartic and helped me find closure. Framing my desire as a companion allowed me to sit with it and permit myself to acknowledge the varying levels of dissonance and grief that accompany unfulfilled desires. With a dog which I could not touch as an effective way to represent the role desire fills in my life, I expanded my work to center around desire as a whole. Perhaps my visualization would help others interpret and manage their own desires. After all, every day we each cope with one unfulfilled desire or another, whether it be the day’s to-do list, a dream career, or a dinner that didn’t turn out right. Sometimes it is to be seen, understood, and loved. Desire is intrinsic to our existence, but it is both our greatest asset and greatest downfall. I found in my research that desire is in some ways a necessary evil; both the root of greed, jealousy, resentment, bitterness, and pride, and what drives us towards new and better things. To quote Oxford psychiatrist Neel Burton, “Without this continuous stream of desiring, there would no longer be any reason to do anything: life would grind to a halt...It is desire that moves us and gives our life direction and meaning“ Desire propels our lives forward towards discovery, learning, and growth, yet drives us away from contentment. Our world cannot exist without desires, so we must sit with the ones left unsatisfied. {Source}

 

Sara Carrier, Pulp - Room 2

Sara Carrier, Pulp: Room 2, additives, fiber, water

Sara Carrier
BFA in Art & Design
Pulp paper-made objects

Portfolio

Artist statement:

I admire and appreciate the historical tradition of Japanese papermaking which entails hours of preparation and allows for little miscalculation. Papermaking requires a keen sense of touch and an ability to feel the correct balance of additives, fiber and water. The culmination of craft is represented in Pulp through an installation of selected objects that are displayed in the same home in which I created them. Pulp expresses my dedication to the medium of paper and to the formation of an imagined setting where negative and positive space are at play with handmade forms that break from predictable flatness and ascend into light-weight dimensionality. To notice the forms singularly at one moment and then all together in the next enables viewers to navigate this work of art and craft with fresh eyes. {Source}


Christopher Porter is a library technician and the editor of Pulp.