On September 9th, to conclude the MCAD MFA Fall Exhibition The Back of Beyond, the MFA program hosted a panel discussion which was moderated by our new MFA Director Ellen Mueller. Twelve MFA students participated in the discussion, introducing themselves and their work to the audience and discussing their response to the show’s theme, the wilderness.

Director Ellen Mueller moderated the panel, engaging students and attendees in deeper discussions of material, form, and methods by which they investigated what it means to encounter the wild. The Back of Beyond explored themes of the wilderness in all its iterations. From the organizers, “Definitions of the wild are intrinsically linked to our definition of ourselves – it is ‘the other’ which runs parallel to the human narrative.” During the panel discussion, participants and audience members discussed these personal definitions and how they were manifested in the work in the show.

Participating artists included: Alonzo Pantoja ’20, Anika Schneider ’19, Camilo Aguirre ’20, Clarissa Odin ’19, Hallie Bahn ’19, Harry Gao ’20, Heather Lamanno ’19, Kendall Dickinson ’20, Roshan Ganu ’20, Ryan Clancy ’20, Xavi Chen ’20, Xintong Yang ’20

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For more information:

The Back of Beyond Panel Discussion
The Back of Beyond Reception