Ouroboros: 2022 Mills College Senior Thesis Exhibition

Not on view
3/29/2022 - 4/17/2022
Organizing institution: Mills College Art Museum

Ouroboros: 2022 Mills College Senior Thesis Exhibition is a unique opportunity for students to work with a curator and present their work in a professional art museum has been a long-standing tradition at Mills since 1955. This year's presenting artists are Angela Amaro, Alessandra Bolger, Daisy Copperwaite, Ray Lewis, Yessy Mendez, Angelica Navarro, Ashley Tesmer, Ellie Welsh Ferreyra, and Taya Wyatt. Utilizing a wide array of mediums from painting to sculpture and video, the artists in Ouroboros invite the viewer to imagine alternate realities, question one’s relation to everyday objects, and reflect on living with mental illness.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the graduating class will host a unique interactive performance piece, Memento Mori–a memorial and procession to celebrate life at Mills. Open to all, the students encourage participants to join them in song and ceremony to grieve the loss of Mills College and honor the legacy of this beloved institution.

THE ARTISTS

Angela Amaro uses acrylic, sculpture, and video to explore biology, zoology, and alternate evolution. In an alternate dimension, Angela describes the creatures of a distant past with their physiology and behaviors.

Alessandra Bolger is a nostalgic artist whose painting and photography are a form of cinematic daydream--returning to the theme of nature versus industrialism throughout many of her works. Alessandra aims to preserve fleeting moments, pay respects to the experience of loss in life and embody the desire to return to a place that no longer exists.

Playing on the line between Form and Function, Daisy Copperwaite’s work explores the idea of The Icon versus The Reproduction. Their installation includes a series of two- and three-dimensional objects that are used to emulate a sense of artificial comfort through a warped familiarity.

Ray Lewis constructs a personal mythology that examines themes of otherness, connection to nature, and inner spiritual and emotional states. Their most recent work navigates the labyrinth of COVID-19—using ceramics, painting, and video to commemorate three long years of isolation and collective grief.

Yessy Mendez’s artwork is a direct visual guide to the misinterpretations and contortions of reality in their mind. Through painting, drawing, and mixed media they express and exaggerate heavy and deep emotions that transform within them while juxtaposed with playful and vibrant colors that evoke the opposite feelings.

Angelica Navarro presents a collection of vibrant paintings that took years in the making. Through her sharp linework and vivid attention to detail, Angelica's art provides her an outlet to express her vulnerability and describe the hardships that come with navigating her mental illnesses.

Through painting, drawing, and animation, Ashley Tesmer creates a world for which everyday people can experience and enjoy. Their work incorporates their identity and real-life experiences as a sense of understanding.

Ellie Welsh Ferreyra uses paint, clay, and photography to provide a window into life with chronic pain. Their work uses bright colors and abstract forms to depict subjects normally hidden beneath skin.

Through Taya Wyatt’s multimedia work, she explores the theme: Erasure of Exposure. Erasing the exposure one has endured, whether traumatic or other, allows the mind not to dwell on the pain, but to look to the future to determine, “How do I move forward?” Wyatt creates each piece with this question in mind while offering a form of therapeutic space for herself in the process. This has aided her in developing knowledge and growing creatively through self-reflection, as well as gaining an appreciation for personal solitude.


PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Opening Reception
Saturday, April 2, 2022
5:00-7:00pm, Art Museum

Human Art Museum
Wednesday, April 6, 2022, 12:00-1:00pm
Using body paint and inspiration from their own artwork, the senior thesis artists will transform your chosen body part into a work of art. This body and face painting event puts an interactive spin on the senior thesis exhibition. Until now, the work displayed in the senior thesis show has had one home: the walls of the Mills College Art Museum. This event allows the participant a chance to embody the art and take a small piece of it home - at least, until it washes off.

Memento Mori Mills College
Wednesday, April 13, 2022, 5:00-7:00pm
Join the senior thesis artists for a farewell and remembrance of Mills College. The event will include a participatory ceremony and procession to commemorate the legacy and grieve the loss of Mills. Attendees are encouraged to bring a small memento to be buried in a ceramic urn made by the students. We hope you join us in our celebration of life at Mills College.