Maryland Institute College of Art?s first show of the academic year, the Foundation Exhibition, shows works from returning students entering arguably the most intense period of college.
After their freshman, or foundation, year, MICA students must decide the medium they?ll spend the next three years studying ? and perhaps the rest of their life working within.
Drawings, paintings, sculptures, ceramics, fibers, printmaking, videos, interactive media, animation, illustration and graphic design complete the litany of mediums filling three MICA galleries during the annual Foundation Exhibit.
For the show, “instructors pick two or three works from a student in their class who really got it,” MICA Director of Exhibitions Gerald Ross said.
When seeing the show last year as a freshman, exhibiting sophomore Emily Peters recalls thinking, “This is what I have to live up to,” she said.
In response to a class prompt, Revenge of the Repressed, Peters created “Feminism is Easy,” a tent filled with feminine pads. On the pads, Peters wrote items from lists she created while researching feminist art.
The tent mocks feminist art such as Tracey Emin?s “Everyone I Ever Slept With,” a tent filled with all of her past lovers? names, Peters said.
“I like to see [artists] getting past sex, religion, race or sexuality,” she said.
The Foundation Exhibit is highly regarded because it presents “raw talent and experimental” work, Ross said. “These students come in with just an incredible amount of ambition and excitement.”
Each year, MICA presents 170 exhibits, many of which give students the opportunity to share their work with Baltimore.
Laura Breski recently chose fiber work as her concentration.
“You can?t get a textured, woven surface with painting,” she said about her needlepoint in the exhibit that depicts a bird perched upon a branch held by a larger bird standing on a figure?s eye. “I wanted to play with scale and imagine what that experience would be like.”
IF YOU GO
Foundation Exhibition
Maryland Institute College of Art
» Main Gallery in the Main Building at 1300 Mount Royal Ave., Baltimore
» Meyerhoff Gallery in the Fox Building at 1303 Mount Royal Ave.
» Pinkard Gallery in the Bunting Center at 1401 Mount Royal Ave.
» When: Through Sept. 9
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday
» Reception: 5-7 p.m. Sept. 6
» More information: 410-225-2300,
