CFA Students
Featuring the works of 27 visual artists from BU School of Visual Arts’ MFA programs in painting, sculpture, and print media & photography, the exhibition marks the fourth collaboration between CFA and Piano Craft Gallery.
Among the exhibiting artists are current graduate students, recent alums, and the first full cohort of MFA Print Media & Photography students. This exhibition showcases works across various media, in the fields of painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, bookmaking, printmaking, and photography.
Amalgamy marks the fourth collaborative exhibition between BU School of Visual Arts and Piano Craft Gallery, a partnership supported by close alumni connections with Piano Craft President Erik Grau (CFA’10) and curator Kamal Ahmad (CFA’16).
“The 50 artworks in the exhibition are curated to flow seamlessly, allowing each piece to be appreciated without interruption. Over the past four years, I have been continually surprised by the fresh ideas and relevant subject matters brought by each new cohort. This year, their collective familiarity, developed through working closely together at BU, offers a cohesive yet diverse viewing experience. The exhibition includes a wide range of media, from sculpture, video, and painting, to sounds, interactive works, prints, and fabrics, removing any boundaries to fully engage the students in the curatorial process,” says Ahmad, a multidisciplinary artist, working in painting, video, and print media.
“As the curator of Amalgamy, I have sought to explore the dynamic space between the students’ inner and outer worlds, their profound personal experiences, and shared universal narratives. This exhibition navigates the interplay between silence and sound, softness and hardness, and the juxtaposition of the two, such as the sounds of breaking concrete alongside the gentle murmur of water. By curating this space between contrasting elements, we invite viewers to meditate and experience something deeply personal and unique.”
Our partnership with BU School of Visual Arts has been immensely meaningful. As the curator, my goal extends beyond merely showcasing student work; I aim to immerse them in the entire exhibition process, from choosing the title to participating in the installation process, thereby enriching their educational experience toward preparation for their future artistic endeavors. As a BU MFA graduate, alumni, and artist, I am honored to create these opportunities for the school that also shaped my artistic journey.
The works presented in this exhibition bring awareness to the breadth of collective interests across the three participating MFA programs. Second-year Sculpture student Joseph Metrano (CFA’25) writes, “While the work in some cases reflects the nature of its material – be it paint, lumber, ink on paper, canvas, fabric, photographic paper, clay, salvaged electronics, or even the artists themselves, in other, perhaps most, cases, the material is instead asked to accomplish something outside the scope of its expected use, deliberately antithetical to and aware of modernist architect Louis Kahn’s oft-cited platitude of ‘letting a brick be an arch.’ As would be expected, such experimentation has fostered much formal diversity, but the commonalities cannot be ignored. It is through critical analysis of this dynamic that Amalgamy was born: a collection of seemingly disparate objects that, upon closer inspection, reveal themselves to be intimately linked via an elaborate network of conceptual, material, and practical leitmotifs, all resulting from a nearly incessant exchange of ideas during the exhibiting artists’ two years in their respective programs.”
The goal of fostering exchange is shared by Piano Craft. Ahmad reflects, “Our partnership with Boston University School of Visual Arts, now in its fourth year, has been immensely meaningful. We have tried to provide a valuable platform for students to exhibit their work beyond the school, fostering professional growth, and networking opportunities within the art world. As the curator, my goal extends beyond merely showcasing student work; I aim to immerse them in the entire exhibition process, from choosing the title to participating in the installation process, thereby enriching their educational experience toward preparation for their future artistic endeavors. As a BU MFA graduate, alumni, and artist, I am honored to create these opportunities for the school that also shaped my artistic journey.”
Along with an annual Piano Craft exhibition, BU School of Visual Arts has additional recurring partnerships with galleries in New York and Venice, Italy.
Amalgamy
On view from May 31 – June 23, 2024
Piano Craft Gallery
793 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02118 • Fridays 6 – 8 pm; Saturdays and Sundays 12 – 5 pm
Participating Artists
Painting
Andrea Lee Manning (CFA’25) • Cody Robert Hook Bluett (CFA’24) • Dylan F. Mintz (CFA’25) • Hannah Stoll (CFA’25) • Jacob Salzer (CFA’24) • J Grace Giordano (CFA’25) • Lemuel E. Saputra (CFA’25) • Miranda Pikul (CFA’25) • Nasiri Guzman (CFA’25) • Noah Wertheimer (CFA’25) • Sam Bittaker (CFA’25) • Sidharth Shah (CFA’24) • Sophie Thervil (CFA’24) • Sylvie Mayer (CFA’25) • Téa Chai Beer (CFA’24)
Print Media & Photography
Delaney C. Burns (CFA’24) • Emily Taylor Rice (CFA’24) • Jason Parent (CFA’25) • Jerry Rodríguez Sosa (CFA’25) • Shannon Johnson (CFA’25) • Susan Swirsley (CFA’25)
Sculpture
Alyssa Grey (CFA’24) • Helena Abdelnasser (CFA’24) • Joseph M. Metrano (CFA’25) • Mae-Chu Lin O’Connell (CFA’24) • Maithili Rajput (CFA’25) • Ziwei Sun (CFA’25)
