Shaping Origins
2016 UMA Senior Art Exhibition
May 13- June 3, 2016
Graduating UMA art students share their persectives through art
UMA's Senior Art Exhibition, Shaping Origins showcases the work of 8 graduating UMA art students from May 13th to June 3rd at the Charles Danforth Gallery. An opening reception will be held at noon on May 14th immediately following the university's commencement ceremony.
This year’s exhibition demonstrates each artist’s transcendence of the formal elements of art through a range of concepts. These fundamentally diverse themes include video game realities, abstracted shadows, recontextualized architecture, anatomical structures, gender issues and mental chaos.
The artwork of each artist, which includes photography, printmaking, painting, mixed media, and drawing, are presented in a body of work developed throughout the year as part of their thesis projects.
The exhibiting artists are:
Miranda Lynn Dixon, from Lewiston, Maine
Karen Giles, from Vassalboro, Maine
Mike Hidalgo, from Waterville, Maine
Christina Lahaye, from Sidney, Maine
Clinton Pettengill, from Winthrop, Maine
Roxanne Rollins, from Augusta, Maine
Rachael Marie Sloat, from Boothbay, Maine
Jessica Smith, from Brunswick, Maine
The Danforth Gallery is located in Jewett Hall. Gallery hours are Monday - Thursday 9:00am - 5:00 pm, Fridays 9:00am - 2:00pm.
Miranda Lynn Dixon
Miranda Lynn Dixon, a mixed media artist from Lewiston, Maine, strives to find beauty in unorthodox places. While using chemicals to create and alter her work she attempts to find harmony with the chaos and peace within the destruction. Her goals are to earn her MFA in Art, and ultimately teach.
Karen Giles
Karen Giles, an illustrator, fine artist, and mom from Vassalboro, Maine, works in charcoal, acrylics and pen and ink. A lifelong equestrian and former therapeutic riding instructor, she finds inspiration in the beauty, power, and grace of horses. In 2006, she published a children's book called Day Lily, A Chincoteague Pony's Journey. Karen is the Director of the Robotics Institute of Maine. She is also a member of the Kennebec Valley Artists Association, Institute of Equine Artists, Union of Maine Visual Artists, and the Maine Writer's and Publisher's Alliance.
Mike Hidalgo
Mike Hidalgo is a multimedia artist who works in welding, printmaking, oil painting, graphite, charcoal, eraser, and black and white photography. He resides in Waterville, Maine, with his partner Ed and his three dogs. He plans to stay in Maine as a professional artist. His project is a gay male perspective on the Seven Deadly Sins. His work is in graphite, charcoal, and eraser. This series includes depictions of Gluttony, Lust, Sloth, Wrath, Pride, Envy, and Greed and informs the viewer that the morals that bind heterosexuals also bind homosexuals.
Christina Lahaye
Christina Lahaye, a printmaker from Sidney, Maine, lives with her husband and two children. She enjoys all aspects of art, specializing in printmaking. She is inspired by nature and mystery. Her work captures shadows of organic forms and transforms them into ambiguous images.nsion with in my work.
Clinton Pettengill
I seek to express the intensity of my personal socioeconomic struggles through my figurative paintings. This work is a direct reflection of the liminal place I find myself in, exploring my feeling of guilt and inadequacy as a mother. My palette reflects the emotional tension I am confronted with daily. I stretch my canvas with hand cut nails as if they were tanned animal skin exposing the visceral connection to my children and shedding the past years of emotional turmoil that great struggle creates, pulling from a growing personal resilience that has been forged by strife and the determination to prevail.
I embrace imperfection in all its manifestations in an effort to find contentment and the true underlying enlightenment.
Roxanne Rollins
Roxanne Rollins, a photographer from Augusta, Maine, explores her immediate environment, especially the streets. She approaches her surroundings with a strong understanding that with just a slight tilt of the head everything can change. She works with fragments of architecture to create slightly off-kilter interpretations of life’s everyday landscape.
Rachael Marie Sloat
Rachael Marie Sloat, a mixed media artist from Boothbay, Maine, combines translucent color washes and dramatic mark making to investigate natural forms. Her series Transcending Flesh is an intimate and whimsical exploration of anatomy and artistic expression.
Jessica Smith
Jessica Smith, a photographer from Brunswick, Maine, takes the beauty of nature and transforms them into chaotic digital images. Her future career goal is to become a freelance photographer.