Cirque du Clue; Aaron Jackson's Thesis Show

Aaron Jackson held his MFA in Illustration Thesis Exhibition at CherryLion Studios; the opening was July 29th. The invitation foretold the theme of the show: "A freaky take on the classic board game reminding you to THINK BEFORE YOU JUDGE".

The thrust of Aaron's thesis was to present the idea of tolerance in a familiar, accessible and fun way, so he rethought the classic board game Clue, and changed the setting to a circus side show, populated with all manner of fringe characters. The game board became the circus grounds and the cards represent all the characters, weapons and props that might be associated with the circus.

All of the artwork was executed in acrylics, then refined in Photoshop. Each original painting was hung in the show, as were the finished, printed game components.

Several old friends and alumni as well as current student were on hand.

Alan Hawley and Andrea Sipl were there along with one of Andrea's co-workers at Carter's, and Katrin Wiehle came in all the way from Germany just to see Aaron's show! (Not really, but it was great to see her!)



Nazanin Kani and Semin Chun catching up (apparently Obekr and Sandee had some catching up to do as well)

Congratulations, Aaron. It was a great show!

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An Opportunity?

This is a great post from Tim O'Brien via Drawger. All young and aspiring illustrators and designers should read and heed.

Semin Chun's MFA Thesis Show

After about eight wonderful years of knowing and working with Semin Chun, she has completed her MFA work, mounted her Thesis show, and is ready to take on the world.

I have had the profound privilege of teaching Ms. Chun all along the way, from her freshman year in Foundation Drawing at Atlanta College of Art, all the way through her BFA in Illustration at ACA, and her MA in Illustration Design at SCAD-Atlanta, and finally to her MFA in Illustration at SCAD-Atlanta. She had a few bumps in the road along the way, from visa issues to her mom fighting and finally beating breast cancer, and worrying about which degree would be best for her, but in the end, she reached her goal and did it with style, grace, and humor. We are all so proud of you, Semin, and wish you only the very best!

Semin's thesis takes the form of a book entitled "The Great Animal Race; The Legend of the Eastern Zodiac", and is a retelling of how the animals came to represent the 12 Zodiac birth years.
This is the first page of the story.

The images were created using scans of various colors and textures of mulberry paper and "cutting" the paper in Photoshop as a digital collage.

Semin has done many pieces using traditional cut-paper collage, but this digital version allows for more flexibility in color and design, and in the end, very closely replicates the traditional paper look and feel.

The show was at StudioPlex, but not in the usual space. Instead, Semin had her show in the Sales Office, which worked out perfectly for her one-person show. The space has seating which was great for casually thumbing through her beautiful book.




SCAD Vice President P.J. Johnson is such a tremendous supporter of our students and comes to almost all the shows. That's Semin's mom on the right, all the way from South Korea!


Prof. M. J. Kim taking a look at Semin's book.


Prof. Mike Lowery trying out some new material. That's MFA candidate Obekr Orhan, Prof. Goñi Montes, and recent MFA grad Solongo Monkhooroi politely chuckling for Mike.


Congratulations, Semin! We are so proud of you and will truly miss you.

MFA Thesispalooza, Part III

Solongo Monkhooroi's MFA Thesis Show is up at Dewberry Gallery. The opening was Friday evening.

"Monsterous Imaginarious" explores monsters from different cultures around the globe. Many of the "monsters" are women, and some are depicted as beautiful and alluring rather than hideous and disfigured. This makes them even more sinister as they draw their victims in before they have their way with them. There are twelve paintings that depict these dark and strange beings, and one large mandala entitled "COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS".

This piece is the largest at 36X36", and the rest are 24X24". All are acrylics on wood panels, and the edges are finished in silver leaf. Solongo makes her own gold paints with powdered gold and acrylic medium or glue.
Solongo carefully researched these mythical monsters and depicted them in their native environments and in appropriate periods in time. 


"Medusa"


"Vampire"


"Banshee"


"Werewolf"


MFA candidates who came to support Solongo:
Obekr Orhan, Julia Berman, Sean Twiddy, Aaron Jackson, Solongo, Nazanin Kani and Semin Chun.


SCAD Vice President P.J. Johnson and Prof. Brett Osborn, Dean of Fine Arts, were very impressed.






There's even a Medusa Munny! All of the work is for sale, and you can inquire through her website.


Julie and I and the rest of the faculty are very proud of you, Solongo! Best wishes as you head out into the art world. I know we'll be seeing you in the best art and illustration publications soon and for years to come.

MFA Thesispalooza, Part II

Juxtapose- Ethan Mongin and Alan Hawley

Ethan Mongin and Alan Hawley held a joint show at StudioPlex on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta.


It was an interesting show because the work is so different in content and execution.
Ethan's work is line-driven and deals with his own visual reinterpretations of classic literature. It is about pattern and line and works just as well in black and white.


One of Ethan's pieces from the "Treasure Island" series. The lines are inked by hand and color is added digitally.


An image from Ethan's "Alice in Wonderland"series. All of Ethan's Thesis work can be seen here.


Alan's work, on the other hand, is hard-edged but not dependent on line, and deals with mythological gods, heroes, and apocalyptic scenarios of death and destruction. Alan is more interested in color and light, and built his thesis work around a series of specific two-color relationships; each piece in his 12-image thesis relies on two dominant colors to give each image the perfect palette for the narrative, and to make each piece visually unique from the rest.


"Plague of Rats". All of Alan's pieces are acrylics on illustration board.


"Death Dragon"


Ethan and his wife chatting with Julia Berman.


Alan and his mentor, Bryan Stelfreeze, always teaching. And Asa Ayers and Jay Montgomery

Great job, guys!

MFA Thesispalooza!

SCAD-Atlanta's Illustration Department has, for the past several years, enjoyed some amazing MFA candidates streaming through our doors, and this year is one of the biggest and best groups yet. In the past three weeks, four of our star students have mounted their Thesis Exhibitions, and have made us all very proud.The first of the shows this spring is...

Sandee Chamberlain's show, "Colorful Curiosities", was held at Little Shop of Stories in Decatur. It was the perfect venue for her show that contained all of the artwork that was created for her picture book entitled "Hugh", the story of a little bird who taught his friends all about colors. Sandee is also an animator, and created an animated version of her delightful story.


Sandee and her proud (and relieved) dad!


Each page from the book as well as all of the character art was printed and framed for the show, and the animation was on a loop running on a laptop for everyone to see.


Sandee and Prof. Julie Mueller-Brown


Sandee's posse; Sean, Duncan, Aaron, Asa and Alan "The Enforcer"


Obekr Orhan; International Man of Mystery


Yohei!


Prof. Mike Lowery
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Congratulations, Sandee! Well done! And best wishes on your new job on the faculty at Art Institute's  Decatur campus!