Slips, Trips and Falls

The gallery space is located in the Carnaghi Arts Building which also houses the MFA and BFA
candidate’s studios. The artists involved are Alex Adkinson, Nicole James, Leah Gossett,
Makenzie Heinemann, Tracey Milligan, Don Guevara, Madelyn Shinham, Shelby Evans, Andrew
Turner and Mary Takallou.

“We have a cohort of twelve that all come from different backgrounds and have wildly different
styles of art-making,” said Leah Gossett.

Gossett continued, “Our ‘theme’ is slips, trips, and falls, which is where we are supposed to be
right now within the program. We experiment, and sometimes there are epic failures, but we
grow from them and continue to experiment.”

Gossett entered the program creating ceramic artwork, and then shifted to textile and mixed
media. Her work combines floral fabrics and rusted nails, tool boxes and other miscellaneous
farm equipment she salvaged from her family’s farm.

Makenzie Heinemann, a painter branching into sculpture and installation artwork added,
“We’re all going through a lot of changes, so it will be interesting to see these ‘in between’ stages
of our unique practices.”

The studio art program encourages an interdisciplinary approach to artmaking. Students are
challenged to work in new mediums pushing their work not only in physical material, but in
concept. With new mediums comes new ideas, new questions.

“I would love for viewers to have questions after engaging with my own work, and these can be
questions they ask themselves, or others, questions they may have for me, or questions reaching
more broadly,” said Nicole James. James is currently researching digital collage and video
performance.

She continued, “I also hope that people get as excited as we are for our drastically different
styles, media, and ideas coming together in one gallery for the first time and how the pieces play
off of each other in the space.”

Heinemann added, “I hope people enjoy the show and find something they connect with. I think
that’s the point of art, to express what can’t be expressed by words alone, to feel connected, to
feel understood.”

“Slips, Trips and Falls” opens Friday, Feb. 21 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The gallery is located at 2214
Bellevue Way. The show is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be available.