Can you introduce yourself and your art practice?

As a painting, sculpture, and installation artist, I am committed to providing the viewer with a utopia free from complex emotions and negative feelings. Creating art is a process of healing myself.

I am currently an MFA student of Minneapolis college of art and design who is working as the graduate assistant at MCAD gallery and curated an exhibition called “ Soft Power” recently.

Where did your inspiration to curate Soft Power come from?

I am very interested in the use of various materials. The main content of this exhibition revolves around fibers and patchwork and based on this, I focus on factors such as the matching of materials, the choice of colors and the use of space to select the works.

In addition to this, I browsed through the artists’ statements to find works that matched the power of softness.

How did you make selections for the exhibition?

This process of selecting the work was actually really difficult. I hesitated for a long time because there were so many great artists and amazing works. I chose works mainly on the theme of soft power. Factors such as the material and color palette between the works and the size of the gallery space all needed to be taken into consideration.

Do you have any advice for future curators? 

I don’t know if I have a lot of good advice for future curators since I curated an exhibition for the first time. But I have learned a lot through this experience. The great artists are concentrated in a community. So it is essential to integrate yourself into this community. Curating an exhibition not only needs to look at each piece of the artwork but also the meaning behind each piece, and how it fits into the theme of the exhibition. It is also important to make connections between the works.

Thank you Joy for spending time to chat with me! Thank you to all the exhibiting artists! Below is more information on their work.

Allison Baker, Hamline University

Isabel Barbuzza, University of Iowa

Jamie Bertsch, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Rachel Breen, Anoka Ramsey Community College

Shan Bryan-Hanson, St. Norbert College

Melissa Dorn, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design

Alondra Garza ’21, MFA, Augsburg University and MCAD

Alison Gates, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay

Tracy Krumm, Maine College of Art and Metro State University

Rachel Merrill, Grand View University

Liz Miller, Mankato State University

Teresa Paschke ’85, Iowa State University

Erica Spitzer Rasmussen, Metro State University

Eun-Kyung Suh, University of Minnesota Duluth

Laura Wennstrom, Anoka Ramsey Community College and Bethel University