Reflections on the UH School of Art Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibitions
Date/Time
Thursday, April 27, 2023
12 pm-1pm
Location
Blaffer Art Museum, café area
FREE and open to the public
Description
50th Anniversary Program
Lunchtime Roundtable: Reflections on the UH School of Art Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibitions at the Blaffer Art Museum. Join us for the conversation and lunch, provided by the museum.
Moderator:
Aaron Parazette (Professor, Painting, School of Art).
Featuring discussants: Debra Barrera (Artist Education Coordinator, Public Art UHS), Youngmin Chung (Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Operations, Blaffer Art Museum), Melissa Noble (Director, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, and Coordinator of Interdisciplinary Initiatives, KGMCA), Phillip Pyle (Artist, Master of Fine Arts Candidate, School of Art, UH).
Join us for a lively roundtable conversation with arts professionals and past and future UH School of Art MFA artists to explore the Thesis Exhibitions at the Blaffer and their role in careers of arts professionals as they stay connected to the Blaffer and the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts.
Presenters:
Debra Barrera is an artist based in Houston, Texas. She graduated with an MFA from the University of Houston in 2010 and has since been included in numerous exhibitions nationally including a solo exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston as well as exhibitions at the San Diego Museum of Art, and the Art Museum of Southeast Texas. Her work is in the permanent collections at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and has been published in Art in America, New American Paintings, and The Houston Chronicle. In 2015 Barrera was artist-in-residence at Rice University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy where her work is now a part of the public art collection. Barrera is also co-owner and creative director at Jonathan Hopson gallery, a curatorial concept gallery bringing national and international artists to Houston. In 2019 Barrera received a prestigious Joan Mitchell Grant.
Youngmin Chung is Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Operations at Blaffer Art Museum. Her career path at the museum started when she took part in the Internship Program while pursuing her M.F.A. Upon graduation, Chung began her career trajectory at the Blaffer as Assistant Registrar. She was promoted to Chief Registrar in 2008, and then to Chief Registrar and Exhibition Manager in 2012. Before her current role, which she has held since 2020, Chung served as Interim Director of Blaffer Art Museum between 2018-2019.
In these capacities, Chung has overseen the accomplishment of more that 250 exhibitions including 20 exhibitions that travelled to as many as sixteen venues nationally and internationally, including Tony Feher, which received front page Arts coverage from The New York Times.
Melissa Noble is Managing Director of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts and serves as Coordinator of Interdisciplinary Initiatives for the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts and oversees the Interdisciplinary Arts Minor. She has been on the faculty of the School of Theatre & Dance in the McGovern College of the Arts since 2013, where she has taught movement techniques to actors and dancers and served as Head of Recruitment for the Dance Program.
Noble’s 25-year career as a movement consultant and choreographer spanned theatre, dance, and opera. She has held positions at the University of Washington, Juniata College, the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and the Houston Grand Opera Studio. Her work has been seen with the Pacific Performance Project, Stages Repertory Theatre, Robert Davidson Dance Company, Aero/Betty Aerial Dance Theatre, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Meany Hall of the Performing Arts in Seattle, On the Boards in Seattle, and the Manhattan Movement and Arts Center in New York. Noble has an interdisciplinary education, with a B.A. in Art and Art History from the University of Northern Iowa and an M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Practices and Emerging Forms from the School of Art at the University of Houston.
Aaron Parazette came to Houston in 1990 as a Core Fellow of the Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In 1994 he was awarded a Mid-American Arts Alliance, NEA Fellowship, and in 2005 he received an Artadia Prize. Reviews of his work have appeared in ArtPapers, Art in America, the Houston Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, the New Art Examiner, and the New York Times.
Phillip Pyle, II is a visual artist, photographer, and agitator based in Houston, Texas. He is also the graphic designer and retail manager at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Pyle’s primary interests are race, humor, advertising, sports, and popular culture. Mining imagery from sources diverse as mass consumer culture, contemporary advertising, to ephemera, historical imagery, and hip-hop, Pyle introduces a complex vision that derives from a robust comedic foundation while also looking at the abstraction and transience of our values, and beliefs. Pyle has interned for Congress, cut film at River Oaks Theatre, toured the south with a Punk Rock/Rap band, produced a sketch comedy show on Houston Public Media, and most recently was selected for the 2021 Texas Biennial. Pyle is married to Leah Binkovitz who is currently working on her PhD in Sociology at Rice University. They have two daughters.
Parking/Visitor Info
Free parking for this event is available via the six complimentary marked lot spots directly in front of the museum entrance and at the Elgin Street Garage parking (4224 Elgin Street). To take advantage of complimentary Elgin Street Garage parking, please first park in the garage, obtain your machine ticket, and bring the museum front desk upon arrival.