ON VIEW
April 22 – 29
+ May 12 – 20
EXHIBITION OPENINGS
Friday, April 21, 5 – 7 pm
+ Thursday, May 11, 5 – 7 pm
April 22 – 29
+ May 12 – 20
EXHIBITION OPENINGS
Friday, April 21, 5 – 7 pm
+ Thursday, May 11, 5 – 7 pm
@mattiehinkley
mattiehinkley.com
Mattie Hinkley
Mattie Hinkley (b. 1987) is an illustrator and object maker from Virginia, working primarily in wood, clay, and fiber. They received their BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Craft/Material Studies and attended the Krenov School of Fine Woodworking for two years. From benches to vases, Hinkley combines traditional craft techniques with wonky forms to draw connections between the body—particularly the queer body—and its environment. They currently live as joyfully as possible in Chico, California with their partner.
No Good Place: Utopia is all around us, here and now, not as a place, but as an experience. It exists wherever feelings of absolute satisfaction are given space in everyday life, marked by a sense of alignment between a person and their holistic environment. Practices of art, craft, and design–or ACD—particularly within alternative or subcultural communities, show the reality of everyday utopia when free and open-minded pursuits of desire forge connections between personal pleasure and communal good. This view is antithetical to the common definition of utopia, imagined as an island, a foreign country, or even another planet, but always as a microcosm of perfection. This pessimistic and limiting interpretation is a carrot of hope to reach for while trudging through the muck of reality, but it undermines the power and relevance of utopia in everyday life. Subverting the traditional concept of utopia and reappropriating it as an enactable reality opens new ways of seeing and being in the world.
mattiehinkley.com
Mattie Hinkley
Mattie Hinkley (b. 1987) is an illustrator and object maker from Virginia, working primarily in wood, clay, and fiber. They received their BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Craft/Material Studies and attended the Krenov School of Fine Woodworking for two years. From benches to vases, Hinkley combines traditional craft techniques with wonky forms to draw connections between the body—particularly the queer body—and its environment. They currently live as joyfully as possible in Chico, California with their partner.
No Good Place: Utopia is all around us, here and now, not as a place, but as an experience. It exists wherever feelings of absolute satisfaction are given space in everyday life, marked by a sense of alignment between a person and their holistic environment. Practices of art, craft, and design–or ACD—particularly within alternative or subcultural communities, show the reality of everyday utopia when free and open-minded pursuits of desire forge connections between personal pleasure and communal good. This view is antithetical to the common definition of utopia, imagined as an island, a foreign country, or even another planet, but always as a microcosm of perfection. This pessimistic and limiting interpretation is a carrot of hope to reach for while trudging through the muck of reality, but it undermines the power and relevance of utopia in everyday life. Subverting the traditional concept of utopia and reappropriating it as an enactable reality opens new ways of seeing and being in the world.
The MFA Thesis Exhibitions for the Class of 2023 are interdisciplinary shows that incorporate a range of making practices unified by the overwhelming concerns these students have for their environment, their communities, their families, and their own well-being. With an emphasis on the personal, and at times the anecdotal, these 21 artists make a variety of contributions in the form of ceramics, garments, furniture, installations, paintings, photographs, poems, prints, sculptures, and videos. The nature of their work and research demonstrates the caliber and cultural relevance of our program.
2023 MFA artists (April 22 – 29)
Corinne Colpitts, Deanna Jacome, Marlena Faxon, Jordann McKenna, Allison Overpeck, Maya Parry, Phoebe Snyder, Richard Takita, Michael Tilbury, Ryan Wight
2023 MFA artists (May 12 – 20)
McKenna Bishop, Maeve Doolan, Grace Hager, Mattie Hinkley, Rebecca Laws, James Meyer, Ted Moore, Steffany Ojeda, Connor Pirruccello-McClellan, Deborah Santoro, Anthony Surratt
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Corinne Colpitts, Deanna Jacome, Marlena Faxon, Jordann McKenna, Allison Overpeck, Maya Parry, Phoebe Snyder, Richard Takita, Michael Tilbury, Ryan Wight
2023 MFA artists (May 12 – 20)
McKenna Bishop, Maeve Doolan, Grace Hager, Mattie Hinkley, Rebecca Laws, James Meyer, Ted Moore, Steffany Ojeda, Connor Pirruccello-McClellan, Deborah Santoro, Anthony Surratt
Institute of Contemporary Art
at Maine College of Art & Design
522 Congress St.Portland, ME 04101
Gallery Hours:
Wed–Sun, 11:00am–5:00pm,
Thursday, 11:00am–7:00pm