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University of Nebraska–Lincoln

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MFA THESIS EXHIBITION I OPENS MARCH 20


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Joseph Pintz, Bread Pan, earthenware, 11 x 17.5 x 3, 2005..
Lincoln, Neb.--The first of three MFA Thesis Exhibitions opens March 20 and continues through March 28 at the Eisentrager-Howard Gallery in Richards Hall on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln City Campus. A reception will be held on Friday, March 24, from 5-7pm in the Gallery. Featured in this first exhibition are Sarah Firth MacMillan, ceramics, Joe Pintz, ceramics, and Melinda Yale, printmaking.

Special gallery hours for the MFA Thesis Exhibitions are Monday-Friday, noon to 4pm.

MacMillan's show is entitled "Depth of Field."

In her artist statement, she writes, "In our increasingly grey concrete world, it is above all the garden's color that I find arresting. I marvel at the profusion of color and pattern in a flowering fruit tree, as well as the intricate details in a single blossom. By highlighting this beauty for my audience, I hope that they, too, might take leave of the mundane and succumb to enchantment."

MacMillan is the recipient of a Hixson-Lied Graduate Fellowship, where she has worked as the Student Docent Program Coordinator at Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden. Her recent exhibitions include "Tugboat Presents:" at the Hot Shops Art Center in Omaha and the "Juried Members Exhibition" at the Haydon Art Center in Lincoln. She was the proprietor of Nine of Cups pottery studio and showroom in Glen Margaret, Nova Scotia, from 1996-2004. MacMillan received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in ceramics from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, her Bachelor of Education from the University of Western Ontario, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography from the University of Michigan.

Pintz's exhibition is entitled "Poetics of the Commonplace." Pintz's current work explores the role that domestic objects play in fulfilling our needs both in a physical and an emotional level.

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Melinda Yale, Blades and Bundles, 10 x 17, relief, intaglio, lithography, chine colle.
"They are based on mundane objects from the domestic realm, concurrently referencing traditional pottery and other implements associated with the hand," he writes in his artist's statement.

Pintz is the recipient of a John W. McDonald and Othmer Graduate Fellowships at UNL. He received honorable mention in "The Art of Fine Craft Exhibition" at Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2005 and a juror's award in "Pots: Objects of Virtue" at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, California, in 2005. Pintz received his Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and urban studies at Northwestern University and did post-baccalaureate studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

"Melinda Yale's MFA Thesis Exhibition: Drawings and Print" will include her work relating to the genre of graphic art that draws upon the communicative power of humor as a helpful tool for dealing with the anxieties of a complex world.

"In my drawings and prints, I use absurd form and bold color to invent abstract characters that seem both familiar and strange. For me these personified images, in their strange vignettes, exist to symbolize moments of psychological interest, emotive crisis and social tension," she writes in her artist's statement.

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Sarah Firth MacMillan, untitled. Photo by Larry Gawel.
Yale is the recipient of a Hixson-Lied Graduate Fellowship. Her recent solo exhibitions include "Beans and Blades: Works on Paper" at Straw, Sticks and Bricks in Lincoln in 2005 and "Containment: Prints and Books" at University Place Art Center in Lincoln in 2004. Her recent juried exhibitions include "Visual Voices" at the Haydon Art Center in Lincoln in 2006, "New Prints/Autumn" at the International Print Center in New York and Chicago in 2005, and "Haydon Juried Members Exhibition" at the Haydon Art Center in Lincoln in 2005. Yale received her Bachelor of Art degree in studio art from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.

The Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibitions continue in April. MFA Thesis Exhibition II runs April 3-11 and includes MFA candidates Carlos Guerrero, painting, Jeremy Johnson, painting, and Dennis Schmickle, graphic design. A reception will be held on April 7, from 5-7pm. MFA Thesis Exhibition III runs April 17-25 and includes MFA candidates Jennifer Ghormley, printmaking, Jen Lukas, graphic design, and Dan Perry, sculpture. A reception will be held April 24 from 5-8pm.