Student Biographies

 

Karen Boyer

Karen Boyer is from Chesterfield, New Hampshire and is a senior Fibers major at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She enjoys working with costume and sculpture. She has held positions at camps on beaches and farms, independent clothing designers, and an upcoming gallery in New York City. While at MICA, she has worked with the Community Arts Partnership at the H. Enoch Pratt Free Library with grade-school children and with the Doll Project at the House of Ruth, a domestic violence shelter. She has designed for fashion shows hosted by MICA and the Steps to the Cure breast cancer research fundraiser. She hopes to continue working with the community, research, and hands-on-making in the future; she finds them enjoyable and conducive to continuous learning.

"I come from Chesterfield, New Hampshire: there, you can smell the snow just before it comes, and later you can smell the fresh mud loosening underneath the snow that still hasn’t melted."

Kat Buckley

Kat Buckley is a sophmore Art History major at the Maryland Institute College of Art, with a minor in language, literature, and culture and a concentration in cultural studies. She did her pre-college work at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. In addition to this, she has taken supplementary classes at the Baltimore Museum of Art and plans to take other classes at John Hopkins. She has also held an internship with Nana Projects during the Fall 2008, helping as a Graphics Assistant to the annual Great Halloween Lantern Parade. She is an Art History representative at the Student Voice Association at MICA, as well as a member of the Student Disciplinary Board, the Student Leadership Focus Group, and is the undergraduate representative on the Exhibitions Committee. She plans to pursue a career in museum work and studies, as well as art journalism.

"New Jersey is scented of horses, grass, bagels, Italian food, cigarettes, and car exhaust."

Cris Cimatu

Cris Cimatu was born and raised in Maryland, Cris is an illustrator currently working and living in Baltimore city where many of his family still resides. He attended Harford Community College in Bel Air, Maryland before coming to MICA where he was the secretary and then director of the Student Art Gallery of Joppa Hall. After a run in several small local galleries in and around the Bel Air area, he started his student career at MICA in 2007. He now currently interns for Sonar Nightclub working within the promotions department.

"Baltimore smells like a wet dog after the rain. But I dig it."

Flora Choi

Flora Choi is currently a junior Painting major, Art History minor with a concentration in Curatorial Studies. She is originally from Queens, New York. She worked for a summer with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, which is a non-profit organization that gives artists from around the world an opportunity to have a studio space at their residency program in lower Manhattan. Additionally, as president of the Korean Student Association Club at MICA, she has organized an exhibition show called Mirror of the World. This past summer she worked with art dealer, collector, and gallery owner Jeffrey Deitch at Deitch Projects. Currently, she is interning at the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore. She very much enjoys the process of creating art and takes pleasure in the hands-on experience between the artist and their tools; she wants to focus more on becoming a curator or director of a gallery.

"NYC: Depending on where you are standing you can get a whiff of roasting peanuts, the smell of the sewer, falafel cooking, burnt gasoline from buses and taxis, and sometimes the smell of fresh air (at 6am)."

Maria Duke

Maria Duke was born in King George County, Virginia. After enduring the public schooling of King George, she decided to pursue Fibers and Environmental Design at the Maryland Institute College of Art. After school Maria would like to pursue studio art, gallery work, and possibly a KISS cover band in Mississippi, Tennessee, or Louisiana.

"King George County, Virginia smells like chewing tobacco."

Kyle Freeman

Kyle Freeman is a sophomore Painting major and Art History minor with a concentration in Curatorial Studies. He is originally from North Canton, Ohio. His paintings are an exploration of media, technique, color, and visual weight. He works with improvisation and in many layers. Kyle has been in numerous exhibitions and has been the recipient of various awards and scholarships, most notably the Ohio Governor’s Award of Excellence and the MICA Academic Honors Scholarship. He is also actively involved in A Neighborhood Called Baltimore, a student organization that strives to use art as a catalyst for strengthening the community. After completing his BFA at MICA, he plans to apply to graduate school in pursuit of an MFA degree in painting.

"Home smells something like birthday cake and damp dogs, grilled cheese, and cut grass–slightly musty but as sweet and sour as lemonade being peddled on lawns by five-year olds."

Barbie Hart

Barbie Hart is an Art History major at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She is a dedicated community volunteer and has focused on the enhancement of the Baltimore Art Scene for over 20 years. Barbie serves on the board of Maryland Art Place and is co-chairing the Annual Benefit and Exhibition - The 7 Deadly Sins. She is an active member of the Women’s Committee at the Walters Art Museum and is currently working on Art Blooms 2009 - The Garden of Eden. She also served on the Women’s Board at the Baltimore Museum of Art and is a member of Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art. Barbie received a BA from Rollins College in International Relations in 1983. After studying art history in Italy she decided to pursue a BFA at MICA. Barbie remains passionate and devoted to the education and enrichment of art institutions and organizations in Baltimore.

"The smell of seaweed, steamed crabs, and chickens still linger from the Eastern Shore of Maryland."

Lydia Kenselaar

Lydia Kenselaar grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey, approximately 30 minutes outside of New York City. This proximity afforded her the opportunity to take classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons the New School for Design, and the Art Student’s League. Kenselaar graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Fibers. Her work explores contemporary subject matter through traditional craft techniques, such as lace making and quilting.

"Maplewood smells like sweetly blooming gardens, wet leaves, and commuter train exhaust."

Jeffrey Kent

Jeffrey Kent who was born in Boston, Massachusetts is a self- taught visual artist and was recently awarded 2008 Best Visual Artist by Baltimore City Paper. Now, a 2010 Masters in Fine Art candidate in the prestigious Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Kent founded in 2003 spaces for artist's studios and an art gallery called the Sub-basement Artist Studios located in downtown Baltimore. The artistic vision of Kent is an important contribution to this continuous spectrum of urban cultural expression and identity.

"Baltimore’s scent is the alleys of downtown near my studio which has the worst smell of urine than the filthiest public bathroom in the world."

Carissa Holly Langer

Carissa Holly Langer resides in Dallas, Texas and Baltimore, Maryland. She is a junior pursuing an Art History major and Curatorial Studies concentration at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She spent her freshman year in New York City at the School of Visual Arts majoring in Fine Arts. She also attended the Milwaukee Institute College of Art, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Corcoran College of Art and Design pre-college. She has worked with galleries before and worked the Palm Beach 3: Contemporary, Photography and Design while in Palm Beach, Florida. Her work is mainly in oil paint focusing around the West, horses, portraiture, and photorealism. Along with her paintings she is an active horseback rider. After graduating from MICA she plans to pursue a career in museum work as a curator and paint on the side.

"Texas smells of leather, longhorns, and Joe T. Garcia’s Mexican restaurant."

Joseph Letourneau

Joseph Letourneau is a performance artist born and riased in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He graduated with a BA from Vassar College in 2007 with a degree in Visual Art, spending a semester abroad at the Glasgow School of Art during his tenure. In 2008 he received a Post-Baccalaureate from the Rinehart School of Sculpture. . Letourneau’s artwork focuses on collaborative performances, often drawing from pop culture imagery from the last sixty years, tweaking them with an odd, dark humor.

"I grew up in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Whenever I go home, I am welcomed by the smells of low tide, Portuguese meats, and the allergy-inducing fur of my two cats."

April Danielle Lewis

April Danielle Lewis was born in Okinawa, Japan in 1980. She is currently pursuing a BFA from Towson State University with a concentration in Printmaking. She received an AA in visual arts from Anne Arundel Community College in 2006 and was a Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship Nominee for the Yale Summer School of Art and Music in 2008. April is an installation and performance artist and independent curator, who lives and works in Baltimore.

"To me, Baltimore smells like a combination of exhaust, fried food, baked goods, spices, stale urine, and detritus. It’s our own stink; a stink that I miss when traveling—a stink that smells like home."

Alissa Miller

Alissa Miller is a junior Art History major with a concentration in Curatorial Studies. The class is giving her the experience she needs as she explores the possibilities of being a curator as a career. She is also interested in the restoration and conservation of art. After MICA she hopes to enter a career in one of those fields at a museum or gallery. She comes from Lititz, Pennsylvania, which is a part of Lancaster County, big Amish country and farmland.

"Lititz has two very distinct smells; one is chocolate, because it has its very own Chocolate factory called Wilbur’s Chocolates. Outside of town is farmland, which is where the other smells comes from. That smell is manure, and you can smell these smells at any given time year round."

Christina Neston

Christina Neston was born and raised in San Mateo, California. She has since lived in Central Florida, Brooklyn, New York and currently resides in Baltimore. She is majoring in Video and Photography at MICA, but works in a range of mediums. Christina has taken part of AICAD's New York Studio Program in the Spring of '08, and has participated in multiple gallery shows on campus. She has work experience instructing at Steve Yeager~ 5th Wall's Young Filmmakers Workshop and gallery experience at Rabbitholestudio in New York and The Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.

"San Mateo smells refreshing and clean. There is a bounty of eucalyptus and magnolia trees. It is the smell of the ocean rubbing shoulders with the fragrance of the mountains."

Samara Rosen

Samara Rosen is a sophomore Fibers major with a concentration in Curatorial Studies from Houston, Texas. Her art currently involves fibers effected by natural processes, such as rust and decay. During High School she worked and volunteered in Houston’s art museum district, which ranges from local galleries to the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston. She is intrigued with process, and especially the “behind-the-scene” aspect of museums. During her stay at MICA she would like to be involved with museums and local galleries through internships. Once she graduates MICA, she plans to attend Graduate school for Museum Studies.

"The smell of hickory smoke issuing from barbeque pits reminds me of the South, particularly Texas."

Rafael Soldi

Rafael Soldi was born in Lima, Peru and moved to the United States in 2004. Soldi is pursuing a BFA in Photography with a concentration in Curatorial Studies and over the past three years he has been heavily involved in and outside of MICA. Over the past year he has directed the Woodward Gallery in the Photography Department, creating a new identity and website as well as monthly curated online group exhibitions. Over the past two summers Soldi has been a gallery assistant at the contemporary photography gallery in Chelsea, New York City. Upon graduation he hopes ot pursue a career in a field that allows him to promote professional development and mentorship for young visual artists.

"Favorite Baltimore Smell: The way the air smells when fall starts to turn into winter."

Jonathan Taube

Jonathan Taube is a junior at the Maryland Institute College of Art where he is studying Interdisciplinary Sculpture. This is his second project with the Exhibition Development Seminar. In 2007-2008 he organized and directed the Baltimore Sweep Action Parade for the exhibition Beyond the Compass, Beyond the Square. His artwork incorporates action and intervention into a public theater. In the fall of 2008 he exhibited his fictional Invasive Species Containment Agency detention center in the Pinkard Gallery, where he detained numerous Tree of Heaven plants inciting sympathetic reactions and public spectacles. Taube is interested in a career of exhibition design and public art installation.

"I will always smell of Community Coffee and Chicory."

Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor is an independent artist working in Baltimore. He has an undergraduate degree in Graphic Design from West Virginia University, located in Morgantown, where he also grew up. IN 2000, he received a Master’s degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston, Massachusetts, where he focused on Installation and Performance Art. He has additionally pursued work in the field of Public Art. Because of Taylor’s similar background to the featured artist Laure Drogoul, he feels his knowledge of these topics will aid in the quality of the Exhibition, while simultaneously providing him with new skills in order to strengthen his own artistic direction. Taylor is also in the process of forming a new studio conglomerate entitled "Off the Grid Studio," located along the forested corridor of Falls Road in Baltimore.

"Baltimore: the smell of HOPE is in the air."

Sandy Triolo

Sandy Triolo is a 2nd year Graduate student at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She has participated previously in the At Freedoms Door exhibition Development seminar and is the teaching intern for this year. Sandy brings a wealth of experience from 15 years of working in Information Systems as a project manager and systems analyst. Sandy would like to continue to work on large scale collaborative arts projects, both as an artist and working in electronic media and as a team member and coordinator.