In 1737, Gaspar Miguel de Berrio painted El Patrocinio de San José. Now housed in La Casa Nacional de Moneda de Bolivia, the canvas is one of reverent exuberance. In an aura of golden sand, Saint Joseph’s cloak gently shelters earthbound saints, separating them from the ethereal realm above. The holy figures appear attentive to Christ’s foster father, raptly gazing at the golden glinting figure. Like other Andean Baroque painters, de Berrio juxtaposed European and Pre-Columbian details, though his paintings in particular are exceptional in their subtle yet innovative reappropriations and combinations of motifs. In this presentation, I explore de Berrio’s choice to enclose the saints surrounding Joseph in relationship to Medieval images of the Virgin Mary. Though this connection has been marginally noted in the literature, a proper study of such a striking feature remains necessary to understand the adoption and modification of European iconography by Andean Baroque artists. Studying de Berrio’s oeuvre in relationship to European references, I argue that Gaspar Miguel de Berrio not only intentionally depicted Saint Joseph in a manner similar those medieval virgins in his El Patrocinio de San José , but that this artistic choice reveals the power of the Cult of Saint Joseph in the Viceroyalty of Peru.

The marble plaque showing parturition scene, from 400BC-300CE Ostia, Italy, depicts three women attending to a mother in the midst of her labor. On the left, one of the assistants holds a newborn with cloth covered hands as she observes the midwife delivering the placenta. The final attendant rings out a cloth as she locks eyes with the mother. The marble’s poignant composition draws the viewer in with its forceful narrative of childbirth. Despite its uniqueness and significance, this artwork has been neglected in the scholarship. In order to supplement the resulting deficiency, in my presentation I explore the plaque in relationship to Roman midwifery practices through period visual and literary sources. Paying special attention to the medical writings of Soranus of Ephesus, my inquiry delves into the qualifications of Roman midwives, their training, social status, and prestige. The dynamic and naturalistic aspects of the piece articulates a careful attention to Roman obstetrical, medical knowledge. Moreover, the relief demonstrates the esteem midwives held in Roman society, which is especially relevant considering the funerary function of this relief. The status of midwives is in itself a debated topic in the scholarship due to a lack of documentation, and therefore a careful study of the plaque is vital to our understanding of midwifery and childbirth in antiquity as well as its depiction in art.

In the past three years of developing my skills and enriching my knowledge as an artist, I have worked mostly with clay to express my ideas through wheel throwing. I enjoy the feeling of creating forms in the moments of spinning as my fingertips move. Abstracted forms emerge by capturing these feelings, actions and moments in my life. Though life is full of many things, I am interested in isolating what is essential and finding ways to express this in my thrown forms, and their arrangement with each other. The subtle relationship between objects and how they are perceived in a space is essential. Nothing is superficial: the scale, the shape, the lip, the surface, lighting, the height and spacing. Composing an installation through the placement of distinct forms is one of the most important aspects of my artwork because it exemplifies the relational characteristics of living things that inspire me from daily life. Clay is malleable, responsive and resilient - it offers the possibility of continually reconsidering and reinventing forms.

Kalina Chung will receive her BFA from the University of Washington in June 2016. Chung's studio experiments combine various media such as clay, glass, wood and metal. Her work's content revolves around universal themes related to human relationships, existence and interaction—our tangible/intangible connection with the natural world. The objects Chung creates are usually larger than human scale—a direct result of her attempt to visualize the manifestation of a powerful idea into a physical form. 

Kayla Fox is intrigued by the way humans examine gesture and body language. Through figurative ceramic work, she is able to manipulate familiar elements of anatomy to disproportionate and exaggerative measures. Fox’s work has begun to question the psychological interactions between viewer and sculpture, and how viewers might project elements of artwork onto themselves. Her goal is to connect to each viewer in a unique way through interpretative interaction between the sculpture, and the previous experiences viewers must draw upon to understand that work.

Indulgence, my work invites viewers to partake in an experience taken from my personal life. Asking the viewer to glimpse into my own realizations. As a Muslim, Pakistani-American my upbringing has set me apart from many of my peers. Constantly dealing with the confusions between culture and religion, I sought out to understand them individually. With the impending rise of misconstrued cultural constructs surrounding Islam, I feel determined to understand my faith according to my own happenings and knowledge. This endeavor will so forth be known as my enlightenment expedition. I turned to Islamic Sufism, which embellished the beauty of everyday life. To appreciate the natural world and processes that seem so mundane yet are full of complexities. My work focuses on recreating these realizations. The emotional complexities that are a result of these moments are translated into a piece using light and color. Working with metal, glass, wood, and clay I'm not bound by material rather I am bound by the idea that I am trying to reconstruct. Clouds, recreates the moment when I stared at the evening sky on an overcast day and felt so minuscule. Rather than it being a moment of defeat it was one of relief, calm, and wonder. The installation invites the viewer into a space that momentarily detaches them from their own environment and surroundings. The clouds are captivating and comforting, the close proximity makes the moment all the more intimate for each individual. The blue hue of the clouds overwhelms your sight completely until you find yourself lost among the clouds feeling emotions that are triggered by the installation. 

I think of the human heart as a finite collection of fragile pieces. And each time we fall in love or have our hearts broken, a piece of us is lost. However, that emptiness that we've somehow created for ourselves is replaced with another from someone else. And theoretically, if we continued to fall in love, our hearts would no longer be ours, but a collection of pieces that reflect the people we've crossed paths with and have come to love. A collection of pieces that fit together in a way that made each of our feelings for each other unique and honest. It is in the delicate nature of the human heart that I bring to life in the fragile existence of all 1001 ceramic cranes, all of which I crafted individually by hand. It is a reflection of the vulnerable individual. What may seem to be a collection of identical pieces is not. Each crane is created with subtle differences that render the connections of the piece unique. The entirety of my art is what exists from the remnants of the original 1001. In the absence of a physical piece, there exists a symbolic void that represents the connection I share to those that I love. It is a void that is rendered empty in the perspective of the outsider, but never in the eyes of its viewer. The creation of my art is alive; it is a part of me. It is with purpose that my original piece is rendered vulnerable in the absence of a few. It is in the creation of my art that gives life to the vulnerability of the human connection; it is a vulnerability to love.