CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Graduate students in the School of Art and Design will present multidisciplinary artwork that represents the culmination of their graduate education in an exhibition at Krannert Art Museum.
The Master of Fine Arts Exhibition will feature the work of 11 graduate students in graphic design, industrial design, metals and studio art – painting, sculpture and new media. The exhibition, which opens April 21 with a 5 p.m. reception and runs through April 28, features a breadth of artwork and displays the range of training of the artists and designers.
Studio artist Preetika Rajgariah’s work explores the expectations of women and their place in society, as well as the complexities and perceptions at the intersection of Indian and American cultures. Considering the relationship between women and their bodies, Rajgariah sculpts fabric-covered “soft bodies” that function as abstract representations of different women or different aspects of her own personality.
Rajgariah uses textiles, adornment, collage and paint to create artwork inspired by her personal narratives and memories.
“The work is about rethinking the ideals that women have to stand up to or conform to, and being put in these spaces and boxes. I like to challenge that using my body,” Rajgariah said.
Her installation includes a video that shows her covering her forehead with sindoor, a red powder used in wedding ceremonies in India. In this performance-based work, Rajgariah uses her own body to challenge cultural standards and expectations.
Mike Hansen doesn’t deal with abstract bodies, but real ones. He is an industrial designer with an interest in health care. Inspired by a grandfather with lung cancer, he designed an oxygen tank that would be easier to move and travel with than current models.
His work in the MFA Exhibition is an app he designed called ConnectED to improve a patient’s experience in the emergency room. It provides patients with information about what to expect and what is happening in terms of their treatment. The app lets a patient view health data and provide a family medical history, as well. For long hospital stays or waiting room time, the app provides entertainment in the form of TV and podcasts, and it allows patients to order food or leave the room for a meal or a bathroom visit without fear of missing the doctor.
“I enjoyed creating the app much more than I thought I would. I do love the physical world, thinking in three dimensions and getting my hands dirty,” said Hansen, who enjoys woodworking and has built furniture and tea sets in his home woodshop. This combination of physical product design and digital tool building reflects an important component of current industrial design.
Ale Carrillo-Estrada is a metals artist whose work focuses on issues of identity, U.S.-Mexico border culture and social justice. Much of her work deals with the character of being in-between, both in terms of the distance between two things and also the communication between them.
Carrillo-Estrada created new work for the exhibition, inspired by a correspondence with a Nigerian refugee seeking asylum in the U.S. who has been detained for more than a year. In the installation, two metal cage-like structures hang from the ceiling, connected with a steel chain. The cages are etched with words and phrases from letters exchanged between the pair.
In an adjacent space, Carillo-Estrada has installed a sculpture of two birds connected by a long, fine chain with ladders incorporated into the chain’s design. In a video installed between the sculptures, two people, each holding one of the birds, slowly cross an international bridge between Mexico and the United States. This performance-based work is an important component of Carillo-Estrada’s installation.