SFA Students; A Series
UMD announced that the School of Fine Arts would be merging with the College of Liberal Arts and announced some budget cuts. I decided to take portraits of SFA students to portray how we as students felt about these announcements and show what being an art student means to us. Each portrait contains a piece of art created by the student and a quote from them or a statistic. All portraits were taken by me which I then combined with the featured student's pieces of art and quotes in photoshop.
A classmate of mine, Jada Current, collaborated with me on the writing in this project and together we wrote an opiniated editorial to go with my photo essay. You can view the whole article here at The Bark. Scroll down to see all the images as well as the artists statement's and credit for their featured works.
Jada Current
Featured art: ‘Farmers’
“The School of Fine Arts has helped me gain confidence in myself and embrace my passion. It has given me the opportunity to be surrounded by inspiring faculty and fellow creatives. I am heartbroken that we will not get to stand alone as our own pillar at this university anymore”
Laura Hines
Featured art: ‘Untitled’
“The School of Fine Arts was the reason I came to this school. The business and science schools are not getting cut nearly as much. It is ridiculous. We should be protecting the arts and not trying to go over budget redoing a courtyard.”
Ziggy Pha
Featured art: ‘Tumblr in 2014’
“It’s important to ask ourselves: When we look at history, what do we look at? Do we look at the market and economic trends of the Middle Ages? No. Do we look at the way roads were constructed and built in ancient Asia? No. Do we look at the paintings, the architecture, and the music? Yes! Why? Because art is important. It’s the backbone of the story we will tell about ourselves. It seems like most people can name an artist from history, but can they name an economist or an engineer?”
Andrew Moen
Featured art: ‘Untitled’
No statement
Ben Hendrickson
Featured art: 'Void In My Head'
"Photography helped me express myself and navigate through difficult times in my life. This led me to be part of the UMD art experience"
Bailey Reiland
Featured art: ‘Young and Free’
No statement