UNH Today

The Museum of Art showcases two new exhibitions the Bachelor of Studio Arts and Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition April 21-May 19, 2017. The Bachelor of Studio Arts and Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition celebrates the achievements of the degree candidates graduating from the Department of Art and Art History, UNH. The Master of Fine Arts Exhibition includes candidates, Sarah D’Ambrosio and Kristen Peyton. On Wed. May 3, at noontime the MFA candidates, Sarah D’Ambrosio and Kristen Peyton will be giving a gallery talk about their work on view. The exhibition also includes one work from Bachelor of Studio Arts degree candidates, Phin Lindsay Anibal, Xixi Chen, Amanda Chisholm, John Downs, Allie R. Gregoire, Hannah Medovnikov, Adam Nastasia and Samantha Osborne. An opening reception will take place on Fri., April 21, 6-8pm. Closer Readings: New Hampshire Writers Respond to Art continues to be on view through May 19, 2017. The exhibition presents work from distinguished writers from across the State as they respond to significant works of art in the permanent collection of the Museum of Art. The Museum is open to the public and free of charge.

Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition

On display, April 21-May 19 artwork representing the culmination of their two-year program will be Sarah D’Ambrosio and Kristen Peyton candidates for the Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the Department of Art and Art History, UNH.

Sarah D’Ambrosio. Brooklyn, New York, began studying painting in 2011 at Brooklyn College where she earned her Bachelors in Fine Arts. She continued her studies at Mount Gretna School of Art in Pennsylvania, before pursuing her masters at UNH in 2015.

D’Ambrosio works are explorations of the flesh as subject. On display are paintings and drawings of her series “Boys” which deal with the sensuous nature of paint, its inherent flesh-like quality and how it competes with formal demands of the painted surface. Her work has been exhibited at York College Art Gallery in York, PA and Blue Mountain Gallery in Chelsea, New York.

Kristen Peyton, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, painter and printmaker, and muralist works from observation and invention. She received her undergraduate degree in painting from College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. During her time at UNH, she participated in First Street Gallery’s MFA National Competition in New York City, juried by Lance Esplund, art critic for the Wall Street Journal, as well as Oxford Art Alliance’s National Juried Exhibition in Oxford, Pennsylvania juried by Jennifer Samet, writer for HyperAllergic.

Peyton’s recent work represents a continuation along a line of inquiry into the nuances of color, value, form, and the mosaic of shapes that constitute our visual experience of the physical world. She explores a poetic interplay of geometric structure and organic fluidity upon a painted surface—a dichotomy readily observed in the imposition of architecture onto the natural environment, and yet discovered in nature alone. Peyton composes structured paintings that aim at depicting a satisfying harmony of control and abandon, imbued with poetic emotion and representative of the tactility afforded through oil paint.

Image credits: (top left) Sarah D’Ambrosio, Chicken Fight, 2017, oil on canvas, 48” x56”, (right) Kristen Peyton, Swiss chard, Deer Snack, 2016, oil on canvas mounted to board, 26.25” x 30”

BA Exhibition

The Bachelor of Arts Studio Exhibition features one work from eight candidates. The participating Bachelor of Studio Arts degree candidates include, Phin Lindsay Anibal, Xixi Chen, Amanda Chisholm, John Downs, Allie R. Gregoire, Hannah Medovnikov, Adam Nastasia and Samantha Osborne. A variety of works include painting, drawing, mixed media, video and photography.

The Department of Art and Art History provide an opportunity, within the liberal arts framework, for students to acquire a BA in Studio Art through a strong fine arts background for those wishing to enter the commercial art field. The BA curriculum prepares students for entrance into graduate school as well as number of vocational opportunities in museum or gallery work and creative endeavor.

Closer Readings: New Hampshire Writers Respond to Art

Closer Readings: New Hampshire Writers Respond to Art continues to be on viewthrough May 19. The exhibition presents work from distinguished writers from across the State as they respond to significant works of art in the permanent collection of the Museum of Art.

A selection of forty works from the Museum’s permanent collection by former faculty, students, and those closely associated with the State’s artistic heritage will be on view. The wide variety of work includes: James Aponovich ’71, Arthur Balderacchi, Hyman Bloom, Tom Glover ’84, John Woodsum Hatch, Lotte Jacobi, Edwin Scheier and Carol Aronson-Shore.

Image credit (right): John Woodsum Hatch, South Point Star II, (detail), Acrylic on gesso on Masonite board, 24” x 48”, Collection of the Museum of Art, UNH, 1986.4

The Museum of Art hours of operation during the academic year: Mon.-Wed., Fri. 10am-4pm; Thurs., 10am - 8pm; and Sat. and Sun., 1-5pm.; Closed University holidays. All Artbreak programs are free and open to the public. All Artbreak programs and accompanying programs are supported by Friends of the Museum of Art and Public Value Partnership Grant, New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. Follow the Museum of Art on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram #MOAUNH. The MFA Thesis Exhibition is supported in part by the Department of Art and Art History, UNH.