As we start a new semester, we are pleased to introduce our fall 2021 MFA faculty.
Criticism & Theory I
William G. Franklin
MLS, minor in Art History – University of Minnesota
BA, Mass Communication and Rhetoric – University of Minnesota
William G. Franklin is a bilingual educator and an independent art curator. Franklin has curated more than a dozen exhibits locally and served as panelist reviewing applications for grants and artist-in-residency programs. His most recent curatorial project is titled Rituals, the exhibit focuses on artists’ daily routines and ritualistic objects. He teaches Introduction to History of Art and Design 2 at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and Contemporary Art at Saint Cloud State University. Franklin is teaching the graduate seminar Criticism and Theory 1 to MCAD’s MFA candidates again this coming fall. Franklin is authoring and curating an upcoming Afton Press publication on Latin Art in Minnesota with the initial support of the Minnesota Historical Society Legacy Grant. He is a recurrent Visiting Instructor of Spanish at Carleton College.
Graduate Critique Seminar 3
Avigail Manneberg
MFA, University of Minnesota
BDes, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design
Avigail Manneberg is a Minneapolis-based artist. She works in varied media, such as painting, drawing, video, and performance. Her most recent body of work is in direct response to the chaos experienced by those fleeing conflict. “At a time of continual flux, my art grapples with national and cultural identity through the case study of my own history in relation to my home country of Israel.”
Criticism and Theory I
Emmett Ramstad
MFA, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
BA, Oberlin College
Emmett Ramstad’s sculpture and participatory works investigate the infrastructure of daily life by modifying the scale and function of familiar household objects. Ramstad lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he works as a lecturer and teaching artist at UMN, MCAD and COMPAS.
Graduate Critique Seminar I
Isa Gagarin
MFA, Virginia Commonwealth University
BFA, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Isa Gagarin is a visual artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Educated in painting and drawing, Gagarin works across disciplines with a focus on site-specific installation. Using mixed media including painting on silk, canvas, newsprint, and other materials, she combines her interest in color and materiality with an installation process that responds to the formal and spatial qualities of site. Gagarin’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including solo presentations at Page Bond Gallery (Richmond, VA), Midway Contemporary Art (Minneapolis), and Hair + Nails Gallery (Minneapolis).
Graduate Critique Seminar 1
MFA, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
BA, Grinnell College
As an artist and writer, Regan Golden-McNerney’s images and essays explore how relationships within nature are constructed and evolve overtime. Golden’s large-scale collages and intricate drawings are inspired by persistent plants thriving in the wild urban prairies and forests found across the Twin Cities.
Her artwork has been exhibited in solo and group shows both nationally and internationally, including Gallery 44: Centre for Contemporary Photography in Toronto, Gallery 400 in Chicago, the Cue Foundation in New York City, and the Soo Visual Art Center in Minneapolis. She has received grants and fellowships from the Jerome Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, and the Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Recent publications include, “Seeing Plants: Vision and Botany in Contemporary Art” in MnArtists and “Collage as a Way of Living” in March International Journal.
Graduate Critique Seminar 3
MFA, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Peng Wu is a design activist and an interdisciplinary artist dedicated to creating socially engaged art in public space. His work combines the power of design thinking with contemporary art strategies to address various urgent social issues including immigration, modern medicine and health, environmental sustainability.
Thesis Preparation I
Stevie Ada Klaark
MFA, Cornell University
PB, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University
BFA, University of North Dakota
Stevie Ada Klaark is an artist, writer, and educator who presently lives and works on occupied Dakhóta and Anishinaabe land. Their multidisciplinary work is invested in the new future economy of care.
