School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

SCHOOL OF THE MU S E U M O F F I N E A R TS, BOSTON
S U M M E R 2 0 0 4

PHOTO: TONY RINALDO
DEAR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS,
The Museum School challenged you to find new and different
ways to make art, to embrace a range of media and create
something highly personal. The classes you chose shaped
an education and experience unique to you, making your
art distinctive.
This freedom to design your process of art making lies at the
heart of the Museum School philosophy and educational
strength. It is evident in the images and comments alumni
have contributed to the following pages.
You’ll find Marilyn Monroe’s portrait, a can of Jeffuschewitz
Eyeballs, and a taste of Tuscany. The media include M&Ms,
shoelaces, pom-poms, tissue paper, paint, silver, wood, film,
and a hotel bed.
This collection represents but a small slice of alumni artwork.
Yet the images speak to your boundless zeal for art making.
The accompanying statements come from the artists’ own
words. Whether describing the process of art making or the
choice of materials, each voice provides background, insight,
and valuable information.
We are delighted to present this second all-art issue of
artMatters. We think it highlights the accomplishments
of our alumni and illustrates the range of expression that
derives from the freedom to think about and create art.
Please use the reply card on the back to tell us how the
Museum School’s philosophy of education helped shape
your life as an artist or observer of art. Your comments
help us expand the reach and direction of art making.
West Street, 2004. Stained-glass panel, 11 x 13 feet
NANCY NICHOLSON DIPLOMA, 1985
The intricacy of shapes created by buildings nested
together attracts me. Light and colors constantly
change while the structures remain solid and still. I
portray the nuances of light as it passes through the
buildings or reflects off them; how shadows occur
over the textures of glass, brick, and concrete, and
the wonderful cut-out shapes of the sky. Glass and
lead reflect the elements in the urban environment.
Editor’s note: The following statements are based
on the artist’s own words and reflect the tone,
thoughts, and personal insight he or she submitted
to artMatters.
DEBORAH H. DLUHY
DEAN, MUSEUM SCHOOL
DEPUTY DIRECTOR, MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON

B O N N I E M I N E O
“ Colors are often the starting point.”
marilyn mmosaic, 2003. M&Ms candy in twenty-one colors glued on
monochromatic green/silver acrylic painting on canvas mounted on
board, 42 x 42 inches
THOMAS STOCKER DIPLOMA, 1966
Since my childhood in the early 1950s I associated
Marilyn Monroe with M&Ms candy. The medium is a
metaphor for her life and death—her overdose on
pills. After seeing the enormous mosaic faces of the
saints looking down from the dome of the Cathedral
of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul last year, I returned to
Boston and created this homage.
SMFA.EDU 1

Pod Table Lamp, 2004. Paper, twigs, stone, electrical parts, 21 x 9 x 8 inches
KATHERINE AHERN ATTENDED 1989
The visual qualities and emotional content of natural light
captivate me. I explore ways of bringing the peaceful and
regenerating qualities of natural materials and light indoors.
The sculptural component of my work relies on the iconic
forms of nets, stone piles, and forests. My work is about
simplicity, integration, and well-being.
2

Untitled, 2001. Carborundum and monotype, 7 x 7 inches
LAURA TANGUSSO D IPLOMA, 1996
I am concerned with the tactile qualities evoked by ink,
paper, and the particular printing method. The techniques
I use—drypoint, monotype, and/or carborundum printing
on soft aluminum plates—yield subtle shadings and
imperfections that allude to the human presence and
process. I work with a few elements in the effort to create
depth and character with focused, spare forms. Wheels or
circles suggest continuity, balance, unity, and life cycles.
Tuscan Vineyard, 2002. Mixed media on wood, 18 x 18 x 2 inches
BONNIE MINEO BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS, 1996;
D IPLOMA 1998
Colors are often the starting point. The Tuscan landscape
inspired a series of warm, vibrant responses to a place from
another time. Only the smallest fragment exists—a leaf or
branch, an architectural detail, or shapes suggested by
nature. These often-overlooked details become the subject
of a painting that contains layers of paper and paint,
gestures, and shapes, searching for the quiet reflection of a
place and a moment in time.
Untitled, 2003. Enamel on aluminum, 10 x 10 3 ⁄8 inches
HENRY SAMELSON POST-BACCALAUREATE
CERTIFICATE, 2000; MASTER OF FINE ARTS, 2003
My paintings are battlegrounds. I often think, as a cartoon
character might, about relationships between physics and
meaning. Ultimately, my work returns to the complicated,
contradictory simplicity of wondering where I am and where
the planet that I am theoretically attached to is located.
SMFA.EDU 3

One Night in Nineteen Seventy, 2003. Two LCD monitors, bed, audio
speakers, dimensions variable
JAMES NADEAU BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS, 2001
Each artist in the “Paradise Hotel” installation transformed
a hotel room. My room was completely dark except for the
glow from the monitors. The audio was the number one
song in 1970, They Long to Be (Close to You) by the
Carpenters, and the video was a gay male pornographic
film from 1970 that viewers could see only by lying on
their stomachs on the bed. They were forced to interact
with this piece by lying on the bed as if sexually available.
I complicated the piece by screening scenes of unsafe sex,
historicizing it as pre-AIDS in a seemingly less-complicated
time. I am interested in the ways queer culture and, to an
extent, other “minority” cultures are forced to construct
histories for ourselves from the bits and pieces we salvage
as outsiders.
Ben, 2002. Gouache on board, 12 x 11 inches
LAURA CHASMAN DIPLOMA, 1969; FIFTH
YEAR CERTIFICATE, 1970
The desire to paint someone’s portrait is about my wish to
hold on to the experience of that individual—the physical
and the emotional. Notice the poetic, the odd, the beauty in
the unplanned presentation of oneself, of just simply being.
A Few (Starry) Personages, 2003. 4,800 pom-poms glued to Plexiglas
installed in front windows, translated from a portion of an image captured
from the Edison Hotel Web cam, South Beach, Miami, “Beach Augury”
exhibition, Art Basel Miami Beach 2003
WILL PAPPENHEIMER MASTER OF FINE
ARTS, 1997
We drew a rectangle on the Edison Hotel Web cam image
and watched beach-goers pass through. These images
were then marked by poms, enlarged into “pixel” poms,
and disseminated throughout the world. They became a
contemporary version of a prediction, an omen, or an
augury “reading,” the ancient practice of setting out a
rectangle and scrutinizing it for a particular period of time
to count the number of stars, birds, etc., that pass through.
4

Pool Study No. 33, 2003. C-print, mounted on aluminum, black sintra, and
acrylic, 31 x 48 inches
EMILY G. KAHN D IPLOMA, 1998; FIFTH YEAR
CERTIFICATE, 1999
I am a daily lap swimmer, with my face in the water for
1 1 ⁄2 to 2 hours. This print is an exploration. With the camera
lens partially in water I catch a very abstract look as well as
sharpness in some of the image. When a stranger walked
into my studio and said, “This is exactly how it looks,” I felt
affirmed. It turned out that she, too, is a lap swimmer.
Specimen #jf021904 (detail), 2004. Hot-melt glue, shrink wrap, polyester fiber,
metal findings, acrylic paint, shellac, 4 x 3 x 11 inches
BRIAN BURKHARDT D IPLOMA, 2003; FIFTH
YEAR CERTIFICATE, 2004
After working on a large commercial farm that used pesticides,
insecticides, and genetically modified seeds, I migrated to a
small organic farm. There, I spent most of my time on my
hands and knees pulling weeds and collecting beetles in a
coffee can. The farms reflect the history of conflicting feelings
we have about our environment: We want to preserve nature
and to control it. In my fabricated world I display the
“scientific evidence” of the changes we make.
SMFA.EDU 5

Untitled 1, 2002. Selenium-toned gelatin silver print, 20 x 24 inches
NICK JOHNSON D IPLOMA, 1978
No darkroom trickery is used in this image. I placed flagstones
in a tray of water to create the photograph with reflections. The
flagstones are often cut into shapes, chiseled, and sanded.
I painted all of the stones to remove color variations that can
be distracting in the final print. The idea to build my subjects
grew out of a difficulty finding things to photograph that
looked and felt like what I could see in my mind.
“I search for that bit of beauty
6

Tissue (detail), 2003. Installation of fourteen figures, black tissue paper,
adhesive, 64 x 15 x 15 inches each
HEATHER COX MASTER OF FINE ARTS, 1998
Each figure echoes the silhouette of my body. When
viewers wander among the 3-D shadows they generate
air currents that gently turn the hanging figures. The
forms are reminiscent of tissue-paper party decorations
gone seriously awry.
in the most ordinary of details.”
Atwater, 1998. Giclee print, 16 x 20 inches
JOHN GOUGH BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS, 1990
The photographs in this series explore Los Angeles
through its unique light, terrain, and architecture. I hope
to convey a sense of the psychology and history that give
people a feeling of place.
E U G E N I E L E W A L S K I B E R G
SMFA.EDU 7

Black Baskets, 2003. Scorched madrone burl, 1 to 12 inches
CHRISTIAN BURCHARD D IPLOMA, 1981
Pacific madrone burl changes as it dries, forcing me to step back from my work
and relinquish control for a short time while letting the wood find its own shape. My
objects tell stories. They are highly unlikely, with a life of their own. They give glimpses
of possibilities or act as metaphors, serving as a transport for ideas and things alike.
9 Hairdos, 2003. Oil on linen, 30 x 40 inches
TARA MISENHEIMER ATTENDED 1993–1995
I explore the concept of identity through the creation
of faceless portraits. What interests me is the question:
How do we, as human beings, choose to deal with
this daily, common management issue and why?
Untitled Interior, 2003. C-print, 20 x 24 inches
SARAH MALAKOFF MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN TEACHING IN ART
E DUCATION, 1997
I constantly rearranged the furniture, rugs, and functions of the rooms in my house
while growing up. Now I rearrange furniture in other people’s homes, although for
different effect. I create images that seem ordinary at first, but upon closer inspection
are fraught with instabilities. These spaces are at once familiar and strange. While
some contents are relics of the past, others operate as trophies or veneers, masking the
mundane or the flawed.
8

Diptych: Winter Night, Brookline, MA/Interiors Magazine Display @ store & café, Broadway,
Soho, (detail) 2002. Digital print from 35mm negative, 13 1 ⁄2 x 17 1 ⁄2 inches
DAVIS BLISS MASTER OF FINE ARTS, 1999
Many of us in Western society inhabit a private domestic space that is unique
to our personalities. But instead of living in total chaos or achieving an ideal state
of order, we tend to live in a space that moves on a continuum between the two
and exists on many levels: clean and dirty; entropy and stasis; cultural ideas and
lived experience; obsession and acceptance; and the familiar and the uncanny.
SMFA.EDU 9

Malfunction Junction, 2004. Wood, marker, paint, lighting, flasher
buttons, chaser unit, sound, 8 1 ⁄2 x 13 1 ⁄2 x 23 feet
SUSAN MEYER MASTER OF FINE ARTS, 1991
Fissured social, political, and aesthetic times form the
basis of this installation. The piece addresses this
cacophony through pictorial, light, sound, and
movement. The roller coaster, long a popular amusement
based on the inherent uncertainty and potential
calamity of all forms of motion, seats its passengers
as close to fear as it does to laughter. Embracing the
spirit of carnival, Malfunction Junction revels in this
uncertainty and in doing so crashes the real into the
fanciful in the shape of a question.
Beaded Silver Spoon, 2003. Sepia-toned silver gelatin print, 7 x 7 1 ⁄16 inches
CHRISTINE RODIN ATTENDED 1967–1969
I like antique things, vintage photographs, anything created
in the 1800s. This image recaptures that time. I used a Diana
camera, a plastic, toy-like camera made in China in the
1960s. They’re tricky and there’s a lot of distortion, but the
imperfection of the Diana’s lens captured the object’s
beautiful imperfections.
Font, 2003. Acrylic, fortified concrete, beeswax with damar resin, found
architectural renderings, 5 1 ⁄2 x 5 1 ⁄2 x 4 inches
EUGENIE LEWALSKI BERG MASTER OF
FINE ARTS, 1997
Surface and details, the whole and the fragment,
lightness and weight, antiquity and modernity, plans
and dreams, creation and deconstruction ... I search for
that bit of beauty in the most ordinary of details.
10

Kimono, 2003. Copper, brass, sterling silver, and plastics, dimensions variable
KOHEI SHOJI D IPLOMA, 2002; FIFTH YEAR
CERTIFICATE, 2003
Jewelry making and metal working are similar to cooking; they
are both creative processes that require hard work and technical
skill but depend on serendipitous “spices” to give them their
unique flavor. I develop my own recipes by mastering metal
techniques and researching history and culture, informing
my own work and my personal visual vocabulary.
Scroll V, 2003. Mixed media on paper, 21 1 ⁄4 x 98 1 ⁄4 inches
TRICIA ROSE (SCHWENKE) BURT ATTENDED 1995
I chose masking tape because I like the feel of it, the
matte finish, and the way it sounds as I peel it off the
roll. I use office materials and processes (tape, vellum,
photocopying) to create works that are reminiscent—
rather accidentally—of ancient handcrafts such as shoji
screens and Japanese script.
SMFA.EDU 11

Springs, 2004. Black-and-white photograph, 10 x 8 inches
CATHERINE HOLAHAN D IPLOMA, 1982;
OF FINE ARTS, 1983
BACHELOR
Bridge and Tunnel, 2004. Mixed-media installation, crocheted shoelaces,
graphite, and gouche, dimensions variable
SHEILA PEPE MASTER OF FINE ARTS, 1995
I can’t crochet and not look; I am not that good. There are
women on the subway who crochet baby clothes and
they’re not looking and it’s pretty amazing. But I look and
I miss and I don’t put the needle in the right place. But as
long as it’s structurally sound, it’s OK by me. There is a lot
in my work that’s about being technically just good
enough. It’s a kind of anti-mastery position—just enough
to get the job done so that we’re not sated in that location.
Untitled, 2003. Lithograph and dry point on stained paper, 54 x 37 inches
ROBERT A. CHARLTON POST-BACCALAUREATE
CERTIFICATE, 2003
I had done a number of prints that just didn't work. I tore them
up and was determined to make something that did work. This
print came out of a massive failure. It was very much a case of
salvaging a print via process.
12

Whop (No. 25), 2003. Mixed media on stretched canvas, 24 x 24 inches
J ESSIE MORGAN BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS, 1992;
DIPLOMA 1998
The surface of my textured canvas resembles the ocean floor or
skin close up. I apply, blend, and remove many thin layers of
paint. The layered glazes create a light-infused patina, suggesting
a glow from within, and a hint at the layers of history.
“This print came out of a massive failure.”
R O B E R T A . C H A R L T O N
SMFA.EDU 13

Panama City Beach II, 1999. Iris print on Somerset velvet paper, ed. 15, 35 x 47 inches,
courtesy Clifford-Smith Gallery, Boston
YOUNGSUK SUH MASTER OF FINE ARTS, 2001
I take several shots of a landscape within a short time to maintain
consistent lighting. Then I pull images of people from other exposures
into the shot I prefer. I manipulate the image digitally so the people
accentuate some feature of the landscape. The people are travelers,
whose presence in a place implies that they were truly present, a
part of the place even if for a short time.
14
“My paintings are battlegrounds.”
H E N R Y S A M E L S O N

Pursuit of Grace, 2003. Oil and pencil on canvas, 24 x 48 inches
JUDY RIOLA D IPLOMA, 1993; FIFTH YEAR
CERTIFICATE, 1994
I freeze and sketch “in-between” frames of videotape—frames that
aren’t visible when the tape is running. I look for transformational
action that is present but invisible until the tape is stopped. That
simple act reveals a wonderful explosion of form and color. There’s
a parallel process in life: cultivating the part of ourselves that
perceives the richness and wonder that underlie the ordinary.
Pods, 2004. Archival pigment digital print, 12 x 16 inches
ANTHONY PAGLIUCA ATTENDED 2001–2003
Harms Way, 2004. Acrylic on vellum mounted on wood panel, 10 x 10 x 2 inches
DEBORAH DAVIDSON MASTER OF FINE ARTS, 1992
The composition is topographical, map-like. The amount of sanding
and the various layers of acrylic color that emerge create images
that seem to be embedded in the painting. The surface is also
readable in another way, creating a different kind of correspondence
to language. Underlying the work is an attempt to resolve the
conversation I am always having—between wanting to reveal and
the desire to obliterate.
SMFA.EDU 15

Everybody Brought Their Own, 2003. Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches
SUSAN JANE BELTON DIPLOMA, 1979
I drink coffee; a lot of coffee. Is there is any connection
between global issues and our private, automatic behaviors—
like drinking coffee—that we engage in while we discuss
solutions to world problems?
Rolled Eyeballs, Raw Nerves, Rump Roast, 2001. 15-oz. aluminum cans,
4 1 ⁄2 x 3 x 3 inches each
JEFF WARMOUTH MASTER OF FINE ARTS, 1997
In the consumer age we devour media. I want to invert
this process: I want to excrete media. Rather than be
reconstituted by these products that I ingest and invest
in, I want to put a little bit of me in every can. In my
supermarket, you are what I eat.
Untitled (detail), 2003. Acrylic, graphite, pastel on wood, 8 x 6 inches
ANDREA MARTENS POST-BACCALAUREATE
CERTIFICATE, 2002
I examine the physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions
between human and nonhuman animals and their
environment. My aim is to foster a connection between the
subject and the viewer and to portray animals as sentient
beings, not simply numbers. The work is evolving into
broader issues of suffering and compassion, containment
and confinement, and the growing disconnect of modern
society to the natural world.
16

Fire Hydrant #7, 2001. Giclee print on Somerset velvet paper,
20 x 24 inches
GARY STUBELICK D IPLOMA, 1977
This hybrid combines the qualities of film with
the latest in digital print technology. Film allows
me to draw and paint for long periods of time
utilizing a variety of light sources, from simple
pen lights to elaborate pyrotechnic displays.
August 15th, 2003. Color print, 11 x 16 inches
DON FEENEY D IPLOMA, 1981; FIFTH YEAR CERTIFICATE, 1982
I have long been impressed by the ruins of the coastal artillery
emplacements around Boston Harbor. What an evocative setting they
could provide for a narrative loosely related to their original purpose.
This image is an individual scene from a larger “movie,” a story that
suggests events but asks what might have happened or what might be
about to happen. I like to take straight photos of these places: there is
no digital enhancement or use of filters to embellish this image. Any
technical rough edges give a feeling of immediacy and truth.
SMFA.EDU 17

C O N T I N U I N G E D U C A T I O N
Learn something new or rejuvenate your skills with a Continuing
Education course this fall. Museum School graduates receive a
25% discount. Consider the three offerings below, or check
out the full listing of courses, workshops, and special programs at
smfa.edu. For more information or to register, call 617-267-1219.
PHOTO: TONY RINALDO
Introduction to Web Design
Develop fundamental skills necessary to create Web pages, including HTML,
graphics files for images and buttons, animated sequences, sounds, and digital
movies. Examine interactivity and user interfaces to shape your own aesthetic and
vision of art making on the Web.
Fiction Writing Workshop
Learn how to craft evocative images, explore what makes a compelling voice,
and construct interesting stories. Write and revise one to two stories with the
help of class critique and workshops.
Art as Process
Discover non-traditional approaches to art making through unpredictable and
unconventional projects. A team of teachers presents techniques to encourage
exploration and experimentation. Focus on making art rather than the end product.
Media include printmaking, painting, drawing, collage, and sculpture.
SAVE
THE DATE!
MUSEUM SCHOOL
REUNION
APRIL 8–10, 2005
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us your exhibition announcements, slides of your work, and other news of your world. We’d like to keep everyone apprised
of your activities.
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