Graduates Showcase Artwork at BFA Art Show

Silver City, N.M. – Eight graduates presented their art work during the Bachelors of Fine Arts Speak Out Exhibition at the McCray Gallery last Thursday night. The event was intended for the students to express their ideas, thesis and material of their art to an audience.

The eight students are Mike Garner, Corina Silva, Atziry Apodaca, Mariah Thornburg, Grecia Rivas, Kourosh Amini, Sky Klaus and Krissy Ramirez.

Garner calls his work “Curve Ball of Life.” Before becoming an artist, his life was going as planned and on the right track. However, a “curve” was through at him at one point in his life. With this in mind, when producing his work, he “looked at the world with a different eye.”

Silva as a child loved the outdoors and nature, especially the forest and ocean. In her work, she “brings these two environments together” to “express different moods, emotions and interpretations” that happened in her life. Silva, who taught at El Grito Head Start in Silver City, aims to use art as a teaching method.

The art work for Apodaca represents herself. She feels that expressing her feelings and emotions through art is better than concealing them. Her art highlights “these suppressed feelings and the chaos that can occur when they are not released.” The name of her work is called “Conceal Don’t Feel.”

For Thornburg, she has loved art since a child. Before oil painting, she was interested in photography and other artistic styles. However, this did not fulfill her as an artist. Painting and drawing gave her a “certain rush of adrenaline.” With her work, she not only wishes to express herself but to give the viewer a “connection with the work” as well.

Rivas jumped back and forth between being an artist and engineer. In the end, she chose to become a fulltime artist because it was a “way to express…thoughts and feelings.” As she explores the idea of immigration, activism is what is expressed in her art. She uses “different artistic mediums as vehicles to represent the voice of others who are scared to speak out.”

Amini’s work blends culture with culture. With imagination and color as his focus, he “wanted to break stereotypes and create something beautiful.” His artistic works meshes North African, Persian and ancient tribal art into one. This idea comes from the works of Carlo Bugatti who joined Roman and Moroccan designs.

Klaus’ work is intended to “explore why people dress the way they do.” The idea of fashion came to Klaus thanks to her mom who was also into the subject. Music was also an influences, especially musicians such as the Beetles and Jimmy Hendricks. In her photography, her photos begin with the early 1900s and works its way up into present time.

Ramirez’s work is called “Building Blocks of Me.” Her work is surrounded by cinder block. Cinder blocks can be characterized as strength and stability. However, Ramirez portrays this in an opposite manner in her work, as they are broken and coming to pieces. This is because it “reveals the vulnerability and uselessness a stable object can become, in the same ways humans can becomes.”

All eight artists’ work are on display for the public in the McCray Gallery until May 5.