Create New + 2017 – MFA Exhibition Online

Create New +

For a generation of artists raised in the digital age, this online exhibition transitions our work from the gallery setting onto a global platform. A digital gallery without physical boundaries shares the presence of a new generation of artists. This peer juried exhibit presents the excellent work being produced by graduate students today and reflects our shared experience.

Jurors (juror statements listed below)
MFA students from the University of Montana: Evan Hauser, Brock Mickelsen, Tyler Brumfield, Cori Crumrine, Shelby Hanson.

Spring 2017

‘Hannah’ by Stephanie Palazeke,
University of Albany
JUROR SELECTION

‘Voices of Solitude’ by Brock Jensen, Central Washington University

‘collab’n’ by Robert Huerta, University of California Santa Barbara

Tyler Brumfield

Jurying a national exhibition of contemporary art was a privilege and responsibility that I approached very seriously. I looked critically at all works and evaluated them based on conceptual merit, communicative success, strength of design, and technical excellence. Each piece incited critical dialogue between the jurors, and I discovered an exciting challenge in the deliberative process. It was very difficult to pare down the 250 entries due to the quality of the work. I found myself in lively debate with my peers in order to protect works that I felt belonged in the final selection. All in all, the resulting show is indicative of a fruitful and diverse jurying process. I would like to thank all the artists that submitted work to the show for their participation, as well as my fellow jurors for their gumption and expertise. Create New.

Cori Crumrine

Clearly, this past year was a productive one for art students judging from the amount of quality submissions we received. Many works that we looked at had a heavy narrative presence, which made me wish I could have read the artist statement behind each piece. After spending an afternoon viewing and discussing the submissions, I felt the need to get back to my own studio and get to work – seeing all the strong work coming out of student studios nation-wide gave me a good inspirational kick – thanks for that! I was strangely attached to one piece in particular, Pillow Dog – Obama Dynasty by Brandon Schnir. Pillow-dog was oddly comforting in that it made me laugh and then sigh – in today’s world, I welcome comfort sources of all shapes and mediums, which was what this piece was for me. I appreciated the contemporary commentary of this piece and the simplicity in which it was rendered in clay. Thank you, Brandon, for that momentary feeling of comfort and amusement. Thanks again to everyone who submitted – let’s keep productivity a trend for the rest of 2017!

Shelby Hanson

I would like to thank the talented, dedicated artists that submitted entries to Create New +. It was a privilege to see the work of graduate students on a national level and to engage in a critical discourse about those works with my fellow jurors.

Due to the quality and diversity of the submissions, it was a difficult process to arrive at what is now the online exhibition. Additionally, the jurors came from different artistic backgrounds and hold values corresponding to those experiences. I believe this lead to rich discussion and ultimately a balance of different media represented in the show.

I congratulate those who were admitted to this online exhibition. For those that were not accepted, I encourage you to continue making and believing in your work.

Evan Hauser

Through my experience as a juror for Create New + I quickly realized the diversity and skill within all graduate students who participated in this national exhibition. It was a true delight to see so many great works, and to have a critical dialogue about the works, with my fellow colleagues at the University of Montana. I can say that no one medium was placed in front of the other, it was purely determined by the impact and the concept within the work. We discussed the work’s relevance to the field, current times, and the questions it presented to the viewer.

This experience is exceptional for many who participated. For myself as a juror, I was able to see what other artists were creating while sharing a similar experience in their career. The process enabled me to see growing trends, new techniques, and discover new artists. For many artist this could be their first acceptance into a national juried exhibition, and to those and all the other accepted I congratulate you. Thank you to all who participated and good luck on future endeavors.

Brock Mickelsen

Serving as a juror for Create New + was a fantastic opportunity and offered me unique look at what other MFA students are doing nation-wide. It is truly exciting to see the great work coming out of other programs and to catch a glimpse of trends prevalent in the field, such as what I perceive to be the continued movement away from abstraction towards more representational work. The process of jurying this show was an incredibly enjoyable yet without a doubt very tuff experience. After hours of deliberating and debating I am confident that the show we curated adequately depicts the current climate of MFA work nation-wide. I cannot express enough thanks to all of those who submitted work to the show. I am confident that the future of our field is in great hands and I can’t wait to keep an eye out for all of the participants in the years to come.