Are You Still Watching? – Senior Thesis Exhibition

Gallery Hours
M-F, 10am–5pm
Sat., 12–5pm

NATHANIEL CIOFFI 

Broken Amend/ments

This project explores the degradation of meaning through repetition and reinterpretation over time. Each of these works represents a multi-poster series. The process starts by formally typesetting each constitutional amendment. After this, the font size is systematically increased with each poster causing the language to become distorted.

This is symbolic of the repeated reinterpretation of the laws over the decades, distorting original intents, and covering up racial injustices that are written into those laws. This project raises the question, is it time to rewrite the oldest constitution?

Frustration & Isolation

These works have come out of my own reflections on feelings of anger, frustration, and isolation in 2020.

YOU ARE HERE!

This project explores the idea that we are all together in our shared feelings of loneliness, frustration, and isolation during this unforgettable year.

I am a local designer operating out of Peabody, MA. My work explores Political and social themes. Using typography, photographic media, animation, and vector illustration.

@cioffidesigns.art / cioffidesigns.art

 

PAIGE DEMPSTER 

Nihilist Dogs

There must be a meaning to life, but I have no clue what it is or what it even could be. I was filled with this existential dread about halfway through the semester, making it difficult to take care of myself beyond basic survival, let alone produce any sort of meaningful work. I have a bad habit of letting my emotions bleed into my art, as well as the lifelong artsy quirk of doodling in the margins of my notebook, so I put the two together and began drawing these strange looking dogs and combining them with garish handwritten text expressing a nihilist world view, then I finally cut the images up into small books. The liveliness of the dogs combined with the animated yet existential text create a stark contrast that make them hard to ignore, and turning the images into books cuts the image up to make them hard to understand, but able to vaguely piece together if meditated on for long enough, just like life. I knew from the beginning that I wanted these to be small books so people could take a little bit of this sentiment with them, so I included a fully pieced together image as a sticker to encourage people to do so.

I’m Paige, a graphic design student with an interest in illustration and creative writing. I’ve been going to Montserrat since 2015, but I struggled for the first two years of my college career, so I took some time off to recollect myself and set my priorities straight. When I returned to campus in 2018, my only objectives were to do my best and to not fail; just the bare minimum to survive. Now, my goals are to never stop improving, to refine my work, and still not fail. I’m still not where I want to be, I don’t know if I ever will be, but I’m at the point where I can stare at my own art and feel a spark of pride. It took five years for something so small, but compared to where I was when I started, the difference is anything but insignificant. Once I graduate, I hope to settle into freelance design work while working to publish a graphic novel my friend and I are making on the side.

@paigedempster1

 

MAY FUNDA

Adrift – Book series

My work is about depicting animals in their natural habitats and evoking feelings of being surrounded by them, as if the viewer is in the image as well. The reason I chose to focus on

aquatic animals is because they always seemed mysterious to me. They’re beautiful and complicated, and the ocean they live in is so unexplored. The majority of organisms alive currently live under the ocean, and most of the ocean is unexplored. I wanted to use colors that helped convey the peaceful feeling of each image, and the text in each image is supposed to 

complement the visuals. I used text taken from spreads in my final book that I printed last semester, to keep some continuity, and I repurposed them to fit the images I’ve added or changed for this book. My goal is to be experimental with the placement of text, using colors and font styles that complement the rhythm of the images from one page to the next.

May Funda is an animation major at Montserrat College of Art.  They have been at Montserrat for three years, after transferring from community college. They were born in Boston but lived in New Jersey  for most of their life. They grew up enjoying art from a young age, and  had lessons and art summer camp for several years. May also likes to read fiction books and play guitar. They enjoy being around animals  and learning about them, which has influenced their thesis project.

@may.funda

GABRIELLE GOMEZ

This exhibition presents the work of 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade art lessons using the Design Thinking Process. None of the works in this show are “finished” in the traditional sense. As artists, we continually work on an idea and, with the steps of the DTP, keep going back to the drawing board to flesh out our ideas until they are fully realized and problems are solved.

This process allows students to become creative problem solvers. The need to be creative thinkers and solvers is especially high during this year as students had to work with materials found at home and be explorative with art supplies that they wouldn’t normally use in the classroom.

My goal for these projects is to have students utilize their creativity to find a problem and create a solution by creating a  functional piece of art that solves that problem. In addition to that I want to highlight the necessity of students showcasing their voice with each process step to emphasize why this problem is important for them to solve. 

Gabrielle Gomez is from Dennisport, MA and has received her BFA with a concentration in Art Education from Montserrat College of Art in 2020. She has an interest in mixed media artwork. She is currently serving her Practicum at Jacob Hiatt Magnet School in Worcester, MA under Kathryn Egnaczak where she teaches Kindergarten to 6th grade art. She teaches her students about the artistic process of always being in a working period and never “finished” while also showing that art does not have to be made with “real art materials.” A mark can be made the same way with both a ball point pen found in a desk drawer and a paintbrush coated in expensive oils.

@gabi_gmz97

COLE HATCH

This final year for me has felt like a rush to the end, the rapid, unrelenting shove past the finish line as I completed my final semester at Montserrat during this insufferable pandemic. Though I am sad to be leaving this wonderful community behind me, I am grateful for the insane progress in my artwork that was made possible due to the people and classes I found here.

What you have here is a glimpse into my sketchbook from this year, various sketches and drawings from these past few months that I felt deserved a bit of a spotlight. While this is not my end-all be-all set of art, it is what I am proud of currently, and I cannot wait to blow it out of the water. My goal is and always will be to keep getting better. No matter where I work, no matter what I do, no matter what’s going on. If I can improve my art skills, I will. That is the goal. So, I hope that whoever is looking through this little gallery likes flipping through the highlights of my sketch book, and I want everyone to know that even with all this pandemic garbage going on, we can all do better, be better, and improve in out own ways. The only thing stopping us is ourselves.

Coming from a small town in Maine, Cole’s passion for art started very young, like most other things about him did. He talked early, walked early, and was doing his best to draw his favorite things fairly early too. Plastered around the house, in his parents’ offices at work, or just sitting in piles at home were the many drawings Cole burned through, usually subsisting of Dinosaurs or Japanese Kaiju causing havoc in small, colorful crayon-drawn cities. As he aged, he would continue to be seen as the kid constantly drawing rather than focusing on school work. Art pulled and pushed him through some of the rougher patches of his life, and continues to this day to be a constant object of improvement and progression, a pathway forward, for this young man. 

@kaiju__kid

EVAN HAWKES

This series of sculptures is a beginning of exploration of the idea of modularity in three dimensions and its relation to the process of making instrumental music using synthesizer keyboards and complex digital music computer programs. These sculptures are simply visually abstract forms, created by combining simple forms or “modules” in different materials. The definition of “modular” in these sculptures is loose, allowing for more possibilities of what it could be. These sculptures are an experimentation of material and form.

Evan Hawkes is a sculptor and multi-media artist. He was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in August 1996, but grew up in Beverly. From a young age, Evan knew he liked to draw and make things. In high school he played live music in bands, and also made music digitally.

He is an experienced mason, having worked for high-end companies, and also has done solo work. He has experience shooting analog and digital photography and film, recording sound, and building with a wide range of materials. This combination of different skills and interests led Evan to study sculpture at Montserrat College of Art.

@hawkes_evan

SARAH JAYCOX

In my recent work I have been exploring themes of identity and self. My work is closely related to the environment and looks at humanity’s relationship with nature; we are all a part of the natural world and yet many of us view ourselves as separate from the environment that we exist in. With so much man made architecture in our day to day lives it’s easy to view nature as a place outside of our society rather than something that we were born from and carry with us in our very souls.

Through the performance piece titled “Take Care” I challenge the idea that we are separate from the natural world that spawned us. I set up a sacred space in the woods on a hiking trail in Beverly MA, burned herbs to cleanse and soothe the soul, and hung an enchanted mirror that lets the viewer see their best self in the reflection. This altar to the self was then opened to the public, so that anyone who was willing to leave their man-made world and venture out into a different environment could cleanse their spirit and look at themselves with reverence. Humanity has become very out of touch with nature, and that connection is a vital part of our identity. In order to find and accept the self, we must find ourselves in nature. Through this work I hope to strengthen that connection within myself, and open others minds to these ideas and ways of thinking.

Sarah Jaycox is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in the North Shore area who works primarily in sculpture. Their work focuses on environmentalism as well as self reflection and acceptance. Jaycox uses a wide array of techniques and mediums to explore humanity’s connection to nature, the effect that connection has had on identity, and vice versa. 

@sarah_elyse_art 

 

MIKAYLA KING

 

For almost my whole life, I have been a dancer. It was one of the first artforms I learned to love and perform for many years. Trash is something we come across everyday, and will continue to come across everyday, it’s everywhere. Most of our trash ends up in the environment we live in. In my video work, I incorporate and perform using these two very different subject matters that seem to never encounter each other. I bring the outside world inside by “polluting” my own home with my own trash that I’ve collected. I wanted to create a performance that would give trash a use once again and make it interesting to look at. Wearing my pointe shoes, I create different visuals and sounds stepping, kicking, and dancing with the trash. 

Mikayla King is originally from Spencer, MA and has received her BFA with a concentration in Photography/Video/Film from Montserrat College of Art in 2020. Mikayla completed an internship at Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, MA, where she had the responsibility to capture, document, and edit footage of a variety of exhibitions and events. Such projects have varied from artist conversations, art workshops, lectures, and musical performances. 

She is most interested in exploring and learning about different locations where she photographs a variety of subject matter that includes landscapes, people and their cultures. Mikayla has travelled extensively, most recently being to the American West, Iceland and Spain.

@mimzliz

ILEANA MARTINEZ

With this project I wanted to do some research into life during the pandemic. Seeing news outlets and other social media highlight odd occurrences with animals crossing into human life or having a positive impact with the lack of animal/human interaction was a fascination of mine, especially when looking further into these stories and finding whether some of these things were factual or a hoax. I wanted to capture these instances in a narrative that illustrates animals and humans’ adaptation to life during a lockdown. This includes the good, bad, and odd that has changed the lives of people and animals. With each illustration you’ll be able to notice the subtle shift of some positive outcomes and some that seem more chaotic or unusual. As a whole, my work revolves around capturing nature and animals while playing with color and contrast. Combining traditional and digital, using mainly watercolor to bring it to a finish with texture and brush strokes  and then bringing it digital to play with color and depth.

You can find me in the mountains or down by the creek, creating adventures and memories that inspire me in the work that I create. My work revolves around capturing nature, animals, and environments. If not together, then individually show the beauty of natural life, focus on specific elements, and bring storytelling into my work. Many of my pieces combine traditional and digital. Using mainly watercolor, which I find to be a very versatile material. From broad washes to small opaque lines for detail, which can bring my work to a finish. I then get it into digital to play with color and depth and amplify contrast in lighting. 

@I.Martinezstudios / imartinezstudio.com

GREGORY PIERCE

 

Here is an animation about a sequestered creature trying to cope with its loneliness and the exquisite boredom of eternity. I designed this character to show the more eccentric side of my humor but also to delve into the psychology of an immortality being. This character has lived so long it has become distant from humanity. We usually see wizards or magical beings in movies or books in the jaws of some epic adventure. I thought it would be funny to show them in their downtime, Trying to add some excitement to the mundanity of everyday life using obtuse spells and rituals to cause mayhem. Much the way we entertain ourselves with indulgent things, the wizard seeks a magical cure for its boredom. I began set construction and design in the spring of 2019 and completed filming in October of 2020.

I have always wanted to make cartoons and toys. Stop-motion animation let me combine my passions to create something that was entirely my own. In school, I struggled to repress my creative energy and buckle down to traditional education. When I discovered the world of animation, it quickly became my obsession. Experimenting with sculpture and puppets, I was able to get more creative with my work. Every step was a new challenge, from learning to edit to set & puppet construction. I looked towards my favorite artist to see what to do. What I realized was; that there was no real limit to what I could do. If I could build it and animate it, I could bring my ideas to life, no matter how absurd.

@gregatr0n8 / @moonbatanimation

DEONNE SOUSA

 

My name is Deonne Sousa, an animator whose primary focus lies mainly in digital work. When it comes to the works I create, my goal is to evoke certain emotions out of my audience. I want the people who view what I create to feel particular emotions that can come in a range of forms, some they may not have been expecting. The thing that matters to me is the way in which i can visually convey a story without the use or need for speech. I rely heavily on shot selection and character design to accomplish this. One of my biggest interests lies in exploring the complexities of people and I aim to share these through the works I create. 

With this piece “Mask” I wanted to try and make something that invoked both a humorous and kind of mysterious feeling. I wanted to leave the ending to be open to interpretation so that everyone can make their own assumption on what will happen next. The ultimate goal with this piece was to make something that was fun and lighthearted for the viewer to enjoy.

Deonne Sousa is a Massachusetts born and raised animator. He has his associates in graphic design at Massasoit Community college for Art and his BFA in Animation and Interactive Media from Montserrat College of Art. He has worked on animations about learning disabilities. He was also in two exhibitions in Canton MA where he got to show his artistic prowess. Deonne Sousa is taking pride in his work as an African American artist who hopes to break out strong into the animation field. His strongest desire is to become a storyboard artist with the aspiration to even one day direct his own animated film. At the end of the day though, Deonne is the kind of person who gets his own joy from someone finding their joy in his art. He’s always ready to spread happy vibes and puts that into every piece he creates.

@dsousa90