Students of the art Department’s Masters of Fine Arts program opened their studios in the Art Lofts to the public Monday evening.
The annual Open Studios event provides an opportunity for students and community members to observe the workspaces of UW Madison’s graduate student artists. Artists were also available to discuss their work.
Each studio acts as a cramped space for art majors to live out their creative process. Walking into a studio almost felt like trespassing into a private space. Works both finished and unfinished hung and leaned on the walls. Visitors tepidly stepped around sketches and unfinished cartoons placed on couches and floors with little to no recognizable organization. Each studio gave off the feeling of a creative approach unique to the individual artist.
The artists welcomed questions about anything there was to see in their studios.
Jason Kartez, a 29-year-old artist, kept his studio walls covered with scans of dime novel covers that served as inspiration for his art. He described his work as layered bell jar forms printed with dime novel imagery. According to Kartez, the Open Studios event was an opportunity to share his work with new audiences.
Fellow artist James Pederson shared a similar view on the event.
“It’s a chance to get some feedback from people you wouldn’t regularly cross paths with,” he said.
The event was sparsely attended, but visitors came from different backgrounds. Some were undergraduates from non-art majors simply exploring the studios. Some art faculty also took the opportunity to see the student’s work
Graduate student Marina Oliveira came to support her roommate whose work was in one of the studios.
“The most interesting part of seeing the studios is seeing artists develop their styles,” said Oliveira. “It’s a nice escape to see some art like this.”
Pederson offered why he thinks seeing art can be so refreshing. According to Pederson, images online and on television are disposable.
“It takes a commitment to go out and see paintings,” he said. “My work is to show painting as an antidote to the inundation of screens we see.”
The MFA Open Lofts event served as an opportunity to go out of the way and see the work of our skilled art students.
