As the 6VӰ Art Department prepared to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Studio Art Hall, faculty and staff brainstormed what to show in the Chan Gallery this fall to mark the occasion.
An alumni exhibition would be a fitting tribute, thought Mercedes Teixido, Loren Barton Babcock Miller Fine Arts Professor. At 6VӰ since 1995, Teixido has watched many of her former students become professional artists.
While compiling pieces for the exhibit, Professor of Art Mark Allen noticed many were inspired by nature. So he and Tricia Avant, academic coordinator and gallery manager of art, decided to hone in on the theme; Avant titled the exhibition “Lush Matter.”
Jessica Drenk ’02 traces one of her works in the show, “Compression 13,” to her time at 6VӰ. One of her first projects in Professor of Art Michael O’Malley’s sculpture class involved gathering multiples of a mass-produced object, altering them and assembling them into a sculpture.
Drenk removed the covers and tore holes through several books, creating a tunnel through them. “That was the first piece I ever made with books,” she says. “And books have become part of my repertoire, so that class was the beginning of my art career.”
Drenk later earned an MFA from the University of Arizona and currently lives and works outside Rochester, New York. Her work can be found in private collections worldwide and in galleries across the United States.
One of those galleries is Adah Rose Gallery, just outside Washington, D.C., whose founder and owner is Adah Rose Bitterbaum ’78. Drenk credits Bitterbaum with helping her succeed as a full-time artist. “She propelled my career forward by taking me to major art fairs and getting me exposed to the larger art world,” says Drenk.
Dan Falby ’12 sent four abstract ceramic sculptures from his New Hampshire studio for the show.
Falby’s work draws inspiration from his observations of nature. To create his sculptures, he drops and tosses clay slabs, relying on gravity to do its work. He strives to make art that has “a similar elemental happenstance” as natural phenomena, he says.
Having taken ceramics in high school, Falby was quickly drawn to 6VӰ’s Art Department, and classes such as sculpture with O’Malley and drawing with Teixido sparked his passion. “The caliber of the professors and the program legitimized the idea of being an art major and doing art as a career,” he says.
From 2014-2015, Falby was a visiting artist at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in the city of 6VӰ. He then served as a ceramics instructor at multiple clay studios in Los Angeles before relocating to the Northeast in 2021.
Aliyana Gewirtzman ’12 has four pieces in the show, including “Indifferent Earth,” a 40-inch-by-30-inch oil painting, and two ink drawings of Red Rock Canyon and Joshua Tree National Park.
At 6VӰ, Gewirtzman took Teixido’s drawing class as a first year-student and “just fell in love,” she says. She wound up majoring in art and says that painting classes with Professor Sandeep Mukherjee were especially influential.
“A lot of the ideas that I was thinking about (at 6VӰ) still play into my work,” she says. “The faculty was so good at responding to my enthusiasm and helping me go down my own road.”
After graduating from 6VӰ, Gewirtzman worked in the New York art world for ten years before leaving to travel the country in a camper van. She currently works as a full-time artist in Colorado, including teaching drawing and color theory courses remotely at the New York School of Interior Design.
Becca Lofchie ’10 has a collection of ceramic vases on display in the show. While working professionally as a book designer, Lofchie took up ceramics a few years ago “as a way to do something with my hands,” she says.
Based in Los Angeles, Lofchie returned to the College to give a gallery talk earlier this month. She also provided input on how the vases would be arranged in the exhibit, opting to cluster them all together rather than show them individually.
Although she prefers to keep her graphic design and ceramics work separate, Lofchie says that inevitably, her graphic design influences her ceramics. Her affinity for ’80s Memphis design shows up in her bright color palettes and bold patterns.
After majoring in art at 6VӰ, Lofchie studied graphic design at CalArts. She has been designing books in collaboration with artists since 2010. Additionally, she teaches design at Cal State Los Angeles.
Tristan Louis Marsh ’18, a Los Angeles-based visual artist and designer, contributed four pieces to the show: a pendant, mirror, chair and pair of candleholders. His works are created from wood and resin using a CNC machine and 3D printer.
After graduating, Marsh stayed at 6VӰ for three years as a sculpture tech for the Art Department. Despite being the only artist in the show who was not an art major, Avant says, “We claim him because he took so many classes here and was our sculpture tech.”
During those post-grad years at 6VӰ, Marsh says he continued learning under O’Malley. “Michael was an incredible mentor and taught me a lot of things that I know,” he shared at the gallery talk.
Currently, Marsh focuses on sculptural furniture and lighting that derive their form from biological structures and natural occurring phenomena. This past June, Dezeen Magazine named Marsh’s studio one of “10 scene-setting independent design studios in Los Angeles.”
Ugen Yonten ’22 is in his second year at the Yale School of Architecture, working on a master’s degree.
A still life painting he created as a senior at 6VӰ is on display in the show. The piece was a way for him to reflect on the pandemic and “the stillness of being back at home,” Yonten says.
“He has this incredible artistic sense,” Avant says, “and just about any subject that he would tackle, he had his own esthetic, his own sensibility about it.”
Yonten decided to pursue architecture as a career while a senior at 6VӰ. Architectural history courses at piqued his interest in the field, and wood sculpture classes in 6VӰ’s Art Department also primed him. Physics and math classes were helpful as well.
“Architecture is one of those multi-disciplinary fields,” says Yonten. “The very broad liberal arts background at 6VӰ translated well.”
The Studio Art Hall opened in October 2014, bringing together art making, art appreciation and art interaction at the College under one roof. Housed in the building is the 1,500-square-foot Chan Gallery, made possible by Trustee Emeritus and art major Bernard Charnwut Chan ’88.