November 10, 2022

Gallery ‘Game Day’

MFA open studios at Harder Stadium offer unique opportunity to see where artists work

Debra Herrick

Artwork of a hand holding a tablet over a laptop

Artwork of a table with a package, close pins, and pencils.

Artwork holding rocks hanging from the ceiling

Woman moving around in a yellow outfit and her face and neck painted

A sculpture laying inside a room with projections surrounding it

Telephone polls pictured in front of the blue sky

Painted clothes displayed as a person on the wall

Scrapbooked page of old newspaper images

Some wish for it. Champions work for it. It’s game day — but not on the field.

Numbering just shy of a rugby team, 14 MFA students will put their training and talent on the line at the art department’s “Game Day” open studios event, held in the artist studios under the Harder Stadium bleachers. Opening their studios for fans of all kinds, artists will show off where they work and what they’re working on, Friday, Nov. 18, from 5 p.m. to the final buzzer.

Artists include Panteha Abareshi, Kevin Clancy, Maja Skjoth Hegelund, Dannah Mari Hidalgo, Matthew Johnson, Dani Kwan, Diego Melgoza Oceguera, Hope Okere, Johnny Onionseed, Katie Parker, Lyra Purugganan, Mariana Rodela, Kate Saubestre and Lela Shahrzad.

“Expect to see varied practices and open doors and portals into our different worlds and practices,” said Clancy, who will complete his MFA in 2023. “We’re all making art with different materials and histories, and different ideals. Each studio that someone walks into will be another world.”

No need to wear team colors or “gallerina” black; open studios are informal, offering a casual entrée to direct conversations with early career artists exploring innovative modes of visual representation.

MFA open studios are free and open to the public.

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The University of California, Santa Barbara is a leading research institution that also provides a comprehensive liberal arts learning experience. Our academic community of faculty, students, and staff is characterized by a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that is responsive to the needs of our multicultural and global society. All of this takes place within a living and learning environment like no other, as we draw inspiration from the beauty and resources of our extraordinary location at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.