In the Artist's Studio

Imagine a space to call your own: white walls and the work that will fill them. Imagine a capstone year of creating message-driven art as part of a community of peers and faculty: This is Senior Thesis at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts. Step into the studio spaces of three seniors.

Anela Oh, BFA, from Traverse City, MI
“My art practice involves using materials that have a life of their own. I am neither entirely a research-based conceptual artist nor focused solely on the crafting of beautiful or functional objects. I live in between worlds. I work very intuitively with my materials, whether clay, paper, or fiber, each of them having its own unique process and technique. The art draws from my knowledge base surrounding the interactions of people of color with natural space and color theory, in a way that collaborates with the materials themselves. While building a clay structure that is five feet tall, there are moments the clay will bend in different directions because it has a memory, and I find that this push-and-pull dynamic makes my sculptures grow in truly organic ways.”

Perla Mabel Ledesma, BFA, from Boston, MA and Dominican Republic
“Plátano Girls serves to empower women. I work to empower the next generation of women to live righteously. My portraits express the virtue of living as yourself in all aspects. Beauty comes in all shapes and forms—all colors and more. I would like to see my work developing into representation of women of color, then establishing the strength of women as a fundamental aspect to be normalized in societies that do not acknowledge nor respect the role that women play. For example, American culture [centers] on patriarchy, and machismo is considered superior in Latinx countries.”

Marylu E. Herrera, BFA, from Chicago, IL
“My work focuses on my personal experiences and perspectives on mental health. I start my process by flipping through the colorful magazine pages, looking for images that strike my eyes, which keeps the effects of anxiety at bay. I cut these images, then scan them to enhance all of their vivid details, to create digital collages. I want to create a bridge for people to talk freely about mental health. All the advertisements about mental health are always dark and gray, showing the far end of the spectrum, but sometimes you are not at the edge but somewhere in the middle, like me. It’s hard to describe personal feelings, and with these images, I try to invite people to create a conversation about their mental health.”

Read the original version of this feature, and discover more stories, in the fall issue of JUMBO Magazine!