MAE Art-based Research: Capturing Moments through Studio Inquiry
MAE Art-based Research: Capturing Moments through Studio Inquiry
Exhibiting Artists
- Hanna August
- Melissa Aviles
- Bridget Bannon
- Aleisea Guzman
- Julia Schwarz
- Tala Wunderler-Selby
Dates: May 22-30, 2026
Closing Reception: Saturday, May 30, 3-5 pm with the artist talks at 4 pm
Location: Art & Design Studios, Dartmouth Towne Center Plaza, 458 State Rd. North Dartmouth, MA 02747
Gallery Hours: Daily 9 AM to 6 PM
The UMass Dartmouth College of Visual and Performing Arts presents MAE Art-Based Research: Capturing Moments through Studio Inquiry from May 22 through May 30, 2026. Exhibiting artist-teachers contribute work from AED 630 - Art Practice as Visual Research, taught by Professor Cathy Smilan during the Spring 2026 semester. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
The graduate Art Education program offers both traditional and innovative opportunities for professional art teachers and community art educators. The Master of Art Education (MAE) program is dedicated to increasing graduates’ capacity to question issues related to teaching, thinking, learning, and producing in and through the arts.
Art Education Website: www.umassd.edu/programs/art-education-mae-online
Contact: csmilan@umassd.edu, gallery@umassd.edu
Project Descriptions
An Exploration of Familial Heritage and Identity
Hanna August uses fiber arts to explore her Portuguese heritage, weaving visual responses to conversations with her grandmother to learn about her great-grandmother, who immigrated to Fall River and built her own family and community. Through discovering her familial history, Hanna also learned how strong, independent women filled the gaps in their stories through service to those who would follow. The intentional spaces in her own story (Tapestry 3) represent the narrative yet to be written.
Weaving Cross-Cultural Experiences
Melissa Aviles explores how lived experiences, self-reflection, material exploration, and cross-cultural encounters become deeply connected through the process of weaving. Rooted in time spent living in a small village along the Indian Ocean on the eastern coast of Kenya, the work evolved from moments of stillness, extraordinary natural beauty, incredible cultural connection, and the stark emotional contrast between life in Kenya and life in the United States. What began as a personal response to memories gradually evolved into a reflective studio inquiry centered on personal change through weaving.
Visual Poems
Bridget Bannon’s short films, Good Grief, are a series of visual poems that explore grief through memory, absence, and lasting connection. Through voicemail-style narration and cinematic imagery, the works reflect on the loss of a friend, the death of a father, and the layered memories held within a childhood home. Together, the series considers how film can simultaneously evoke both presence and loss, revealing grief not only as sorrow, but as tenderness, intimacy, and remembrance.
Fiber-Based Slowness as Resistance
Aleisea Guzman’s Slow down, now is a cohesive body of work developed through reflective studio processing. The series of weavings—Absence, Unlearning, and Presence—embodies slowness, from the creation process to the viewer's experience, tying process to meaning and subtly positioning it as a form of resistance. Each weaving visualizes the value of sustained labor and prolonged material engagement required to develop a new perspective on patience and resistance with gentle intentionality.
Challenging Dominant Medical Approaches Through Creative Processing
Julia Schwarz presents a series of additive sculptures addressing vulnerability, fragility and endurance when seeking medical care. The artist captures the embodiment of physical and emotional pain in her suspended figure and in unexpected fragmentations – the inside of a head, a clutched hand, and disembodied limbs. In the work, she captures the emotional state of the patient who is often treated from a clinical perspective as a set of symptoms and not as a sentient being.
Artists as Eco-Activists
Tala Wunderler-Selby creates a series of woven tapestries that examine how fiber arts practice can humanize the environment. The series of weather-data-informed weavings represents the impact of climate change at three different local points over time, raising additional questions about coastal land ownership and eco-responsibility. Through symbolism, text, and woven data, each piece aims to evoke an emotional response to environmental issues.
Art & Design Studios, Dartmouth Towne Center Plaza, 458 State Rd. North Dartmouth, MA 02747
5089998555
vlevitt@umassd.edu
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