Subject To CHange:
2023 senior thesis Exhibiton
On View April 21st- May 13th
Open Monday- Friday from 10am-4pm
Kwasi Bediako
The graphic design in my career keeps improving every time I try something new. My work in graphic design is rooted in the rich cultural practices of my native country, Ghana. Every time I attend a cultural festival held every year in Ghana, it makes me fall in love with their culture. An interesting part of the culture is an event called Chale Wote Street Art Festival, which involves art, music, dance, and performances in the streets. The festival brings together local and international artists and patrons by creating a platform for their performances and also appreciating their work. The cultural interaction makes me want to learn more about different cultural practices. My inspiration to learn about artwork was a Ghanaian artist by the name of Isshaq Ismail. He emphasized on increasing racial awareness and appreciating African culture in the west, which acted as an eye-opener to me. Cultural interaction, racial awareness, and appreciation of African culture connect to my art by showing desire, resilience, power, joy, and interest in it.
My culture is also what makes me keep moving forward in art too. When I talked to my uncle about how African art is unique, he told me it is like a special representation of nature and its various forms. It also focuses on being abstract rather than realistic. Just like what i'm doing for my senior projects, it will be abstract and one-of-a-kind. This is the first time I am going to do my cultural art physically. Back then, when I did it for posters or cards, I usually used Adobe Illustrator; I would say that is my strength. Every time I have a choice to make between InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator, I always choose the Illustrator tools as they are just so easy to use. Watching videos is far more beneficial, and the information is simple to grasp.
Instagram: @kwasii_b
Courtney Broyles
Courtney Broyles’s work is a culmination of her experiences in Ballinglen Ireland over the summer of 2022. She was granted the opportunity to attend Andrew Wykes’s workshop, where she and a small number of her fellow classmates traveled to Ireland and got to experience the beauty of the landscapes and the amazing talents of artists from around the world. Courtney's work is focused on engaging the viewer to see the beauty and inherent aestheticism of nature and the translation of that idea through paint into a pleasing visual image.
Courtney belongs to the Hamline University graduating class of 2023 where she will finish her education with a double major in Studio Art and Finance.
My senior project is a collection of works based on the experience I had while studying abroad in Ballinglen Ireland. I was scheduled to go on this trip abroad my freshman year but due to delays caused by Covid it was delayed for two years before I was able to go. I was extremely fortunate to be able to go considering the global situation and ongoing pandemic. I also was lucky enough to have the entire trip paid for by funding from the Ehlers Fellowship, which was a huge help as I would not have been able to afford the trip otherwise.
Over the course of the trip I got to draw, paint, and photograph the countryside of Ireland. I had the amazing opportunity to work with artists from all over the world with all sorts of different levels of expertise and experience. Each artist offered a different perspective and view of the world, which was reflected in how they approached their works. In addition to being an incredible experience, I learned many things that I have been able to incorporate into my own collection of works.
My main goal with this series of compositions is to create a work that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. This involves balancing the use of warm and cool colors and tones as well as working with the images I took in Ireland to create a composition that moves your eye in a natural way from one area of the painting to the next and back. I worked to create natural pathways for the audience's eye to follow as they view the painting. I believe this is what creates a painting that someone can look at repeatedly or for a long time without losing interest as each time they view it their eyes can pick up on additional or different details and patterns.
The materials I am working with are mainly acrylic paint with the occasional use of charcoal. I am working on canvases that are 10 x 30 inches. The canvas size is quite narrow, which is institutional in how I choose and develop my compositions. The size of the canvas forced me to be highly selective of the images I chose to work from as much of the photographed image would end up cropped from the painting. I have created five works that follow this theme of limited composition.
Lisette Caballero
Janell Hammer
Janell Hammer is a multidisciplinary artist based in St. Paul, Minnesota. She earned her BA in Studio Art from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. Starting with a background in painting, Janell turned her focus toward printmaking and fiber art during her time in undergrad. Janell has worked as the Studio Manager for artist Allison Baker and as Gallery Assistant for St. Paul-based Soeffker Gallery, and Boston-based, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery. Currently, she works as the Visitor and Administrative Coordinator for The Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies where she has a hand in the operations of a nonprofit arts organization and residency program. Janell’s work focuses on framing classical themes and motifs through a contemporary and feminine lens. Investigating the intersections of nostalgia and grief associated with going up during the turn of the century. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin, including the Soeffker Gallery, Paradise Center of the Arts, and the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Center. She has also curated exhibitions at Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, and most recently, “Artifactuality”, at NE Gallery Factory. While art remains a large passion in her life, she is an unrivaled, self-titled cat lady at heart.
Through the work, I seek to recontextualize what it means to find comfort in familiarity. To reconstruct expectations by combining and dissecting image, purpose, and lived experience against established motifs within the artistic canon. Working to reclaim and find a sense of self and community through an extreme in ritual and routine.
The use of fiber within my work allows me to examine the discomfort and familiarity of my femininity through the lens of my own nostalgia. Bringing light to a growing feeling of disconnect, somewhere between the lines of certainty and uncertainty, coupled with sadness and curiosity. With the reproductive nature of printmaking and the scale of which my installations take, there is a nod toward the aggressive repetition necessary to encapsulate the work. As well as its juxtaposed nature; aquatint printed on fiber, and the use of a tufting gun as a conveyor for yarn. Bringing attention to the harsh nature in which an aquatint is made; etching into a copper matrix with acid, as well as the brute quality of a tufting gun, both works resulting on or as delicate fiber entities.
While the work draws on classical motifs and references, it relies on the implied familiarity of domestic objects and recognition of established iconography to create a sense of safety and well-being. And where there is an artifact quality, there then prompts questions about the harmful nature of assumptions about what might be unassuming. Bringing attention to how the context of the work shapes the way in which the viewer chooses to consume it. Why do white walls ask for an air of importance to be given to the work?
An important theme in my art revolves around nostalgia and grieving for the past. Anchored by a fascination with the way in which classical-inspired sculpture has been stripped of its original colors and context, reducing it to a sanitized version of its former self. A neo-neo classism if you will. By adding color back through my work, I touch on the audience's refusal to see outside of their own experiences. So while there is a child-like presence to my work because of it, there also stands a feeling of melancholy. Recalling the simplicity found in adolescence, which over time, becomes void. Parallel to the aging and weathering of antiquity through history.
By reimagining classical works through the practice of fiber art, printmaking, and painting, I work on challenging the notion of what perfect is and encourage a deeper appreciation for the imperfect and the familiar. My work is a playful and thought-provoking exploration of the complexities of identity and history and a celebration of the beauty and comfort that can be found in everyday patterns and textures.
Instagram: @janellhsart
Kelly Hart
Growing up Latina, I would see triggering things on the news and media happening to the latinx community. Protests in my home country, Venezuela, countless media stories of the negatives of being an immigrant, and an overall negative societal view of visible ethnicity. While it’s important to see those things and have conversations about what latino people face, I always wanted to see more latino joy. When searching for a senior project idea, my professor told me about the term “Glimmer”. Glimmer was coined by licensed clinical social worker Deb Dana, who says the word “refers to small moments when our biology is in a place of connection or regulation, which causes our nervous system to feel safe or calm”. I fell in love with the word and from there, my project formed. Since Latino joy is something I always wanted to see in the media, I wanted to take this opportunity to ensure that I was the one to show it.
Glimmer is a mixture of videography, photography, and audio. It follows three generations of latina women, showing and speaking about one object that is most significant to them. Their Glimmer. I hold my friends and family very close and they have a really big impact on my life.
The three women I chose are my little cousin Mia, my best friend Kamila, and my grandma Carmen. The opportunity to bond with them over this project has brought so much joy in a stressful time. I am so thankful to be able to experience life with them.
Mia, even at such a young age, you carry yourself with such grace and love to the world. You make me so excited and hopeful for the future.
Kamila, you have shown me how to find beauty through tough times and within myself as well. Your love, mind, and creativity amaze me everyday.
Abuela, who I am and who I am becoming is because of you. There aren't enough words in the world to thank you for everything you have done for me.
Gracee Hurley-Brown
Yoora Lovaas
Yoora is a queer Korean-American self-taught artist from Minnesota. As an illustrator and graphic designer, their work focuses heavily on the exploration of their life as a Korean adoptee, and the complicated emotions that come from that experience. Yoora also often incorporates their sarcastic and witty sense of humor into their work, giving an interesting juxtaposition between lighthearted and funny, and introspective and melancholy. Using digital art programs like Procreate, they create bold and colorful lineless illustrations as well as work done in a painterly style. They also enjoy making short comics, little doodles, and sketches. They are currently a student at Hamline University, earning a degree in Digital Media Arts with a Graphic Design concentration.
Being a Korean adoptee is about loss.
A person once told me “there’s no greeting card for that” about my situation, that there isn’t a Hallmark card for “Sorry About Your 23 And Me Results Containing A Small Amount Of Colonizer DNA That You Didn’t Know About And Is Now Going To Make Your Day Worse”. So I made it. I made several.
I decided to make a series of greeting cards for these highly specific situations and feelings I’ve dealt with as I’ve processed my adoptee trauma as an adult. Each of them is based on a stage of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Each story told inside reflects the stage the card is based on. Acceptance is empty because I feel as though I did my process of grief backwards; accepting my identity as a child and being unable to cope with it as an adult.
Emily Mckenzie
As an anthropology and forensic science student, I am consistently challenged to expand my way of thinking as it pertains to culture, thanatology, and anatomy. My passion for forensic science and anthropology translates into my artwork. My mind finds itself pondering on questions related to these subjects and answering them through art.
What is real? Who determines real? Do we really need tangible things to understand if something can or could be real? And what is out of our reach? My goal is to make art that looks like it is something from another world while also teasing the possibility that my creations could be real. I do this by making certain parts of my art “human-like”, mainly I try to incorporate parts of the human body in most of my art pieces. I believe this allows for audiences to create a kinship with the pieces and helps them buy into the credibility of these extraterrestrial creations.
My purpose is to capture human emotions, behavior, and body and then produce those feelings in my artworks. A lot of my art can be morbid with dysmorphic tones, however, the description of my works takes on a more humerus tone. As a way to mask the uncomfortable nature of my creations and advertise them in the same way that we advertise ourselves as well as the, we advertise the things around us.
Madeline Randall
Madeline Randall (she/her) is a developing graphic designer based in the Twin Cities whose work focuses on her own understanding of the body. She is a senior at Hamline University pursuing a bachelor's degree in Digital Media Arts and English. She hopes to pursue a career in editorial and layout design after she graduates. Her style is based in loose representation. She often includes little pieces of herself in her work, usually hidden in the design so only someone looking for it will notice. Madeline struggles with multiple chronic illnesses and hopes her work can normalize and educate about the misrepresentations and misunderstandings of chronic illness.
I grew up in a family that kept secrets surrounding illnesses and medical information. There was a certain shame around being diagnosed and nobody around me ever talked about it. When I was diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses early on in my childhood, I felt shameful about it. This shame led me to a lonely road of processing my diagnosis by myself.
Embody details stages of processing a chronic diagnosis. Separated into four sections, viewers are taken through denial, anger, grief, and acceptance, all feelings I have grappled with throughout my chronic illness journey.
I have denied that my doctors had diagnosed me correctly. I have been angry that I have to live with illnesses most people don’t even know about. I grieve the healthy body my illness has robbed me of. But I have also accepted that my illness is not my fault and does not make me less of a person. I still have these feelings of denial, anger, grief, and acceptance. Sometimes all of them at once. There is no right way to process a chronic diagnosis. All of these stages can be felt at the same time.
This book is heavily reliant on illustrations to evoke feelings in readers. Words are included lightly to show some of the thoughts I think about day to day while experiencing my own chronic illness. My work is very based on rough representation. I like to make images that roughly look like something recognizable but with enough abstractness for them to be able to be interpreted in different ways. I often find myself sketching out ideas early on in the process and sometimes I will include pieces of those sketches in the final product. My messy art style often allows me to add little pieces of myself hidden within the illustrations for those who may be paying attention.
Instagram: @madelinenrandalll
Nolan Sherburne
Nolan Sherburne is a Minnesota-based artist specializing in filmmaking and graphic design. With a strong background in video editing and digital composition, Nolan has worked in various creative capacities, including as a theatrical lighting designer at Hamline University, a video editor for the Center for Global Environmental Education, and a production assistant on the PBS documentary, 'Northern Nights, Starry Skies' released in early 2023.
Nolan's work is centered around exploring the uncanny, realistic, and relatable, often with a twist that is thought-provoking and unsettling. Through his art, he addresses the pressing issues of modern society and highlights the need for social change. His unique blend of technical skills and creative experience positions him as a promising emerging artist. Nolan is currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Digital Art from Hamline University, which he is set to complete in May.
I have always been interested in the goings on in the world around me, past, present, and future. I quite frequently hear older people complain that 'this younger generation has it so easy' and 'things were much harder back in my day'. They talk about how 'nobody wants to work', ignoring how the cost of living has increased exponentially. When people talk of these younger generations 'killing' different businesses and industries I think about how we just can't afford all of the luxuries they grew up with. These things have inspired me to explore the times that raised me, the world I grew up in, and all of the world events that influenced now only who I became, but who my generation has become. What better way to showcase the world we are inheriting than through film.
I become an observer of this compilation of events from the day I was born to the present. The events of my lifetime flash before all of our eyes. This project serves to remind the viewer of the things people my age have personally experienced and lived through. It acts as educational reporting of these events, and as commentary on the statements and criticisms above. Conducting research into these events allows me to remember and reflect upon them, seeking to better understand how they have impacted me. This is also my hope for the viewer, that they are able to reflect upon these events and understand how they have been impacted. I hope viewers are able to take away a sense of community, and an understanding that we have all faced really good times and really bad times, and that we are in this together. There need not be a competition for who had it rougher, but rather a community working to create a better world for all.
The film consists of a mixture of personal archival footage and appropriated news footage, as well as an aural soundscape created from collected sounds. The video and sound tell a similar story, but they are not codependent. Watching the video is one experience, closing your eyes and listening to the audio is another altogether. Putting them together is yet a third experience, fully unleashing the overwhelming nature of the piece. The video is compiled and composited in Adobe Premiere Pro. The replay loop and the gradual transformation of the human figure, which is created from photos of myself at different ages, is designed in Adobe After Effects, and the audio is mixed and mastered in Adobe Audition. The final piece is projected onto the wall, sized accurately to my height at those ages, and played on repeat. While there is a clear point at which the story repeats itself, there is no clear beginning or end. This is representative of the cycle of history, events repeating over and over. The only escape is to walk away.
Aidan Stromdahl
Instagram: @DJ.FunSize
Aidan Stromdahl would consider himself a swiss army knife when it comes to photography, throughout his experience, he has photographed nature, landscapes, architecture, portraits, events, and music performances and there is no challenge that he isn't willing to take on and learn. Though Aidan has been shooting photos for 8 years, he always finds something to take away from the shoots to help aid his creative process and procedure.
During his time at Hamline Aidan worked for the school's newspaper (The Oracle) gaining multiple front pages and was a photographer for the Hamline marketing department while also doing freelance work. When Aidan is not working on photos he likes to go on nature walks (and take wildlife photos), explore different forms of art such as printmaking, or enjoy music from his vinyl collection.
These photos are the result of my residency as a photographer at the Dakota Jazz Club. I was interested in how after being open for almost 40 years, the Dakota has remained one of the hottest jazz clubs in Minneapolis as well as delve into what makes the atmosphere enjoyable, and how the staff of the Dakota makes it the best experience for the patrons, and what makes the performances of the Dakota memorable. Music has always been a big influence in my life, I have always enjoyed going to see live music at venues across Minneapolis and there hasn't been a venue that has captured the feeling like the Dakota. After shooting photos and learning the history throughout the month of March I came out with a better understanding of how the staff and venue play such a big part in a musician's performance as well as honing my photography skills and learning how to shoot music performance photography.
I was given permission by the Dakota Jazz Club staff and the performing artists to attend sound checks and photograph the live performances. I used sound checks as a way to learn about the group and how they perform and to best capture them during the live performance. When it came time to the performance I tried to shoot as much as possible with as many angles. I feel these photos capture the atmosphere and what a performance looks like at the Dakota, as well as the personalities that come out when the musician is performing.
Alex Yang
Alex Yang (he/him) is a Hmong-American artist based in Minnesota who creates digital illustrations exploring themes such as shared experiences, and diaspora within the Hmong community. Some of his most notable works are his “Ladies of the Hmong Diaspora” illustration series depicting and visually preserving the textile traditions of Hmong folk throughout Southwest China and Southeast Asia. With his artwork, he strives to reconnect with his roots, empower people to embrace their heritage, and invite Hmong representation into spaces.
The story of my people is inscribed as batik motifs in the pleated folds of our mothers’ skirts, forged into the silver rings worn around our necks, and fastened onto our hips with sashes. I created this illustration series to illuminate the symbolic interconnectedness between specific pieces of traditional Hmong attire and the story of the Hmong people’s exodus out of Southwestern China and into Southeast Asia. I intend to uphold the cultural and historical significance of these traditional clothing items so that current and future generations of Hmong Americans, as well as those who are curious to learn about our culture, can come to understand why these garments hold such significance to the Hmong people.
Through my choice of creative medium, digital illustration, I reference the nostalgic patterns and colors of traditional Hmong clothing while incorporating graphic elements, such as visual patterns, to bridge the traditional clothing pieces and the stories that they carry. In creating this body of work, I honor my ancestors’ stories and pay homage to the traditional garments made with centuries of great craftsmanship to record our collective experiences and way of life.
Instagram: @alexyangart
