Virtual BFA thesis exhibition planned to open May 11

05/05/2020

Since COVID-19 began changing Americans’ way of life, almost all SUNY Cortland students have done their academic work remotely without stepping foot on the campus they left in mid-March.

But three determined Bachelor of Fine Arts candidates still need to mount a professional display of their drawings, paintings, mixed media and video installations in the university's Dowd Gallery in order to graduate.

So although generally no students have been actively studying on campus since spring break, two of the trio of artists will arrive later this week at the gallery in the Dowd Fine Arts Center to install their bachelor’s thesis work in the Art and Art History Department.

Two of the three seniors — Maryam Adib and Darien Fernandez — between May 8 and 10 will carefully mount their final projects from a safe social distance with one another while gallery director Jaroslava Prihodova looks on, taking pictures and offering help when needed. The third, Sarah Zielstorf, will have a video viewing set up on her behalf.

The three-person exhibition will be available to view from Monday, May 11, to Monday, May 18. Plans are underway for a virtual tour and exhibition slide show to be accessible on the Dowd Gallery’s website, when new software ordered for the task arrives in Cortland.

“I have been working with our Campus Technology Services for the past four or five weeks to see if we can acquire the necessary software and hardware for the virtual tour,” Prihodova said. “The gallery has been approved for the project. I am hopeful we will be able to not only utilize the technology for the BFA show but also document our current exhibition, the SUNY Design Exhibition.”

Bachelor of Fine Arts candidates are represented by the final collection of artworks, writing and oral presentations that fulfill the year-long thesis requirement in the program.

Adib, Fernandez and Zielstorf will deliver the traditional artist’s talks, but these will be video recorded and may be viewed on the Dowd Gallery website in mid-May.

The gallery will not hold a public opening reception in accordance with the New York state regulation concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.

A live question-and-answer session with the candidates is planned to be delivered on an online platform that has not yet been determined, at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 14.

Tours of the exhibition at Dowd Gallery on the corner of Graham Avenue and Prospect Terrace may be available for individuals or a group of five or fewer people. The status of group tour availability will be updated closer to the opening date. The visitors will be expected to wear (personal) masks and the gallery will provide hand sanitizer.

For an appointment, please contact Prihodova at 607-753-4216.

Maryam Adib

Adib’s series of paintings and mixed media installation are titled “Alchemy of the Spirit.” The overarching theme of her project deals with race, social thought and stereotypes.

Adib_painting_WEB — Maryam Adib will display works like her 2020 oil-on-canvas painting, "Beginning of the End." Shown above left is a detail from Darien Fernandez's 2020 spray paint and oil on canvas painting, "The 7th Titan."

A senior transfer student and freelance mural artist in the Ithaca, N.Y. area, Adib specializes in painting. She explores ideas embedded in a social construct during the slavery period and how the effects permeated the lives of African American women. The work examines the way American racism has evolved after slavery, uncovering how racism affects contemporary African American women. She focuses specifically on the realm of reproductive rights and the representation of the black female body.

“This is a feminist issue being looked at through the specific lens of black womanhood,” Adib said. “I am emphasizing the resilience and strength of black women. I want to depict a story of oppression and pain and how that pain can be transformed into beauty, power and strength.”

Adib’s work won third place in the 2019 Student Select exhibition in the Dowd Gallery and she has artwork on display in the university’s Memorial Library.

Darien Fernandez

Fernandez’ paintings, titled “Life on Your Feet,” reflect his personal connections to pop culture through a filter that encourages imagination and personal narrative.

“Life on Your Feet” aims to provide a unique perspective on the fixation of sneaker culture and the impact it has on young people’s lives, according to the student from West Burlington, N.Y.

“Sneaker culture is a micro accumulation of a variety of influences such as art, science, music and sports,” Fernandez said.

“I am indulging in whimsical thought processes that create scenes meant to emphasize the influence this phenomenon brings to the modern world,” he said.

Fernandez strives to understand the power objects like sneakers carry on young consumers, revealing the extent to which major companies like Nike or Adidas can have on developing minds. His work constructs a storyline intended to raise questions about the ways in which individuals choose to perceive reality, as well as the value systems that influence our daily lives.

A 2015 graduate of the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, Fernandez received a 2015 Gold Key for artwork submitted to the Scholastic Art and Writing Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He earned the 2015 Dedalus Art Foundation Scholarship Grant, where the winners exhibited in a group show at the Industry City’s gallery in Brooklyn, N.Y.

At Cortland, Fernandez exhibited his work in the 2018 Best of SUNY Student Art Exhibition, a 2019 community display by the Cortland Repertory Theatre Art Exhibition and the 2017 and 2018 SUNY Cortland’s Student Select juried exhibition, capturing First Prize in the 2019 show. He spent a summer abroad in Dingle, Ireland, studying landscape painting and drawing.

Sarah Zielstorf

The video installation by Zielstorf, who has specialized in new media design, shows how one can make art out of the traumatic experience of losing one’s home. “Where is Home” exposes Zielstorf’s feelings of loss of her family home due to a foreclosure.

The emotions are represented by digitally layered archival photos from her family’s home and contrasted with current photos. Sound and other visual elements from her home environment are integrated into her video work as elements intensifying the personal trauma. The installation offers a glimpse into the world that she is losing while using illustrations and video content to communicate her experience of living in a tenuous situation.

Zielstorf's artwork has been shown at several Student Select exhibitions in the Dowd Gallery. She also has created promotional material through her internship as a graphic designer with SUNY Cortland Auxiliary Services.