“An Ode to the Ordinary” (left) is a 2024 piece made out of stoneware clay and epoxy by Karly Jean Kainz. “Ito” (right) is a 2023 piece made from monks cloth, acrylic yarn and blue jeans by Blanca Martinez. These pieces and more will be on display at this year’s Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition hosted by NMSU’s Art Museum. (Courtesy of the artists)
Source: NMSU News Release
Two New Mexico State University students will exhibit their work at this year’s Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition hosted by NMSU’s Art Museum.
“Making as Knowing · When I was Here, Thinking of There” will run from May 9 to July 20 in Devasthali Hall and features work from MFA candidates Karly Jean Kainz and Blanca Martinez as they explore ideas of home and personal ritual.
“The exhibition is a culmination of years spent building, connecting, reflecting and experimenting,” said renowned independent curator and writer Leslie Moody Castro. “It is an exhibition that toggles both time and place, a reflection of a present moment through the past with the juxtapositions and dichotomies that are always illuminated through both place and time.”
Join the artists for an opening reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 9 in the University Art Museum, which will also serve as a closing reception for the BFA exhibition “Truly, Lovingly, Viciously.” A series of accompanying events and programming will run through the duration of the MFA exhibition. All events are located in Devasthali Hall and will be free and open to the public.
An artist walkthrough with Kainz and Martinez will take place from 1 to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 25. Both artists will offer insight to their work and guide audiences through the exhibition. From 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 1 and June 8, the pair will lead a two-day workshop in which participants decorate handmade planters, repot them with houseplants and make macrame hangers. Registration for the workshop will be available via the UAM’s website two weeks prior to the workshop.
From 5 to 6 p.m. Saturday, July 13, “Loteria Game Nights” will close out the summer activities. Martinez invites the community to join her in playing Loteria, a tradition and game that has inspired some of her work in the exhibition.
Curated in response to the exhibition and its events, UAM Collections Curator Courtney Uldrich and graduate assistant Olivia Juedeman are presenting a selection of works from NMSU’s Permanent Art Collection. “Selections from the NMSU Permanent Art Collection: 2024 MFA Thesis Exhibition” will open alongside the MFA exhibition and run until July 20.
As part of a museum/gallery research internship course offered by the art department, Juedeman was able to conduct studio visits with Kainz and Martinez in order to curate pieces from the Permanent Art Collection that aligned with practices and concepts found in the MFA exhibition.
After earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from NMSU, Martinez has used her time as a graduate student to delve into personal relationships and identity using craft materials and textiles.
“I have found that working with textiles can be a soothing and repetitive process,” Martinez said. “Whether it is crochet or tufting, there is a meditative routine of continuing an action over and over again. This allows room to evaluate and reassess my memories or family history. My identity comes from the shaping of what has been passed down to me and as I reconnect with my history, I transform the materials that I have learned from my grandparents into a reimagined truth.”
Originally from Wisconsin, Kainz finds the concept of place to be the center of her work, seeing herself tethered between Wisconsin and New Mexico. Drawing inspiration from functional ceramic ware, house plants, collected shells and rocks, selective colors and line drawings, she explores how objects of importance follow people from place to place, no matter where they reside.
Despite the differences in process and inspiration, Kainz spoke about how her and Martinez’s work naturally came together for the exhibition.
“Having grown a great friendship with Blanca, I feel that things came together quite naturally, as we work well together,” Kainz said. “When we started working on things, we were set on having the pieces intermingled with each other, allowing a deeper conversation between our works. We saw this as not only an opportunity to challenge ourselves, but as a precursor to the future, to continue working collaboratively with our peers.”
Visit https://uam.nmsu.edu/exhibitions/exhibition-pages/making-as-knowing-when-i-was-here-thinking-of-there-en.html for more information on the exhibition and a detailed calendar of all associated programs. The UAM is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday on 1308 E. University Ave. Visit uam.nmsu.edu or call 575-646-8036 to get in touch with the team.
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