ABOUT MCAD
MCAD’s Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies program is a community of makers, thinkers, researchers, and creative professionals working in a mentor-based, interdisciplinary environment. Our four-semester curriculum is designed to expand your thinking as you take advantage of the Twin Cities’ vibrant art and design scene. Students are invited to be strongly self-directed as they set personalized goals to guide each semester, as well as their overall time in the program.
2023
Like a Little Tlaquepaque Vase or Como Jarrito de Tlaquepaque
Solo exhibition by Ivonne Yáñez / Jurors: Christopher Delisle, Kaitlyn Walsh, Zoe Cinel
Like a little Tlaquepaque vase or Como Jarrito de Tlaquepaque is a solo exhibition of soft sculpture and mixed media installation by Mexican artist Ivonne Yáñez. The title alludes to the popular expression “Es tan frágil como un jarrito de Tlaquepaque” which in Spanish refers to an overly sensitive or emotionally weak person. Yáñez takes this reference and applies it to the fragility of the clay used to create vases. While clay is fragile, Yáñez’s sculptures are soft and made out of pink quilted fabric: the material transforms this object into a body that will never break. On the external surface of the vases the artists added images of Tarot cards mixed with traditional Mexican lottery games. As the artist states: “I am interested in finding similarities between traditional games for children and the traditional tarot deck, as they both are used as vehicles for divination. Working with soft fabrics translates the permanence of the material as a metaphor for the permanence of the future or destiny: for example “La muerte” (The Death) is a card that represents new beginnings or the end of a journey”.
About the Artist
Ivonne Yáñez is an interdisciplinary artist and fashion designer from México City. In 2023 she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts Program from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She holds bachelor degree in fashion design from both the Universidad del Valle de México, México City, and from the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, in Milan. While presently, she is focusing on creating immersive installations, her background is in fashion media and retail design in México City. Her work has been exhibited at Fresh Eye Gallery, Gallery 148, and Gamut Gallery, all in Minneapolis, MN. She has worked with Minneapolis Textile Center as the Program Coordinator of the Continuum Exhibition and at Fresh Eye Gallery as a Teaching Artist.
Documentation by Kali Morrison
2022
Có nắng vàng trên bàn tay nhỏ (All the light in your hand)
Solo exhibition by Genie Tran / Juror: Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara
Có nắng vàng trên bàn tay nhỏ (All the light in your hand) focuses on the chaos and tenderness of memory and identity. Influenced by the artist’s family albums and branded advertisement archives, the exhibition features large sheets of handmade paper filled with collages of personal and found images, objects and texts. The collages represent a generative cycle of remembering and moreover, a record of time expressing a living desire for love and connection.
As stated by the artist: “Through making, I recycle old photos and written archives in order to make new blank sheets of paper, which the visitors of the space are welcome to take. These smaller sheets are letters made to be carried and transformed into new memory. Touching them, all the love is in your hand.” This is Tran’s first solo exhibition in South East Minnesota.
About the Artist
Born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Genie Hien Tran, or Trần Phan Minh Hiền, is a visual artist and writer based in Minneapolis, MN. Her work takes the form of installation, collage and poetry and explores the concepts of home, belonging and immigrant identity. Tran received her BFA in Illustration at University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire in 2018 and her MFA in Visual Studies at Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2022.
Documentation by Kali Morrison
2021
GHOST OF THE NEGATIVE
Solo exhibition by Jocelyn Figueroa / Juror: Alex Buffalohead
GHOSTS OF THE NEGATIVE is an intimate examination of a complicated family archive: a collection of photos taken by my great-grandfather, Satoru. He was a photographer for the Japanese army during the invasion of China in World War II. His purpose in the occupation was to document the impressive might of Japan’s military for the homeland: the creation of propaganda. Instead, Japan’s subsequent loss to the United States cast a shadow of shame and disgrace over the images.
Upon his death, my great-grandfather’s archive of over 400 wartime photos was banished as a scattered heap in a forgotten dresser within a shadowed storeroom. This is where they remained for two generations.
The paintings found here bring these photographs to the light. Images from the archive are carefully painted with white primer onto a synthetic white parachute cloth. The primer appears matte, catching the light in a manner different to the cloth. Therefore, the images become visible only through a trickery of light. The white paint on the white surface obscures the subjects contained within, indicating that this is a history too shameful to speak of above a whisper.
About the Artist
Born in Kyoto, Japan, Jocelyn Suzuka is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus on fibers, painting, and sculpture. She received a BFA from Moore College of Art and Design in 2015 and is a current MFA candidate at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Her work centers on the transfer of memory through tactile objects, inherited legacies within family archives, and the generational cycle of historical trauma.
2020
Electric Arc
Solo exhibition by Emma Beatrez / Juror: Sophia Chai
(body vibration, memory friction, information fog, shifting sound, overtone, fluid image, sculptural transparencies, imposition, grid, meditation, resonance, emptiness, fluidity, space, transference, system, funnel, presence, frequency, light, sound, material).
About the Artist
Emma Beatrez is a transdisciplinary artist from Minnesota. They graduated from Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2020 with a MFA in Interdisciplinary studio art. Beatrez received their BFA with an emphasis in oil painting at North Dakota State University in 2018. Their recent work deals with ritual, body, proxemics, desire, and simulation through material, light, sound, and scent explorations.
