Transference Exhibition 2023
Transference: Impressions of Many
May 18 - June 1 2023
16 Artists, 16 Impressions of the Human Condition
Exhibition photos courtesy of Ashley Dunkin
My senior exhibition at Savannah College of Art and Design was exhilarating yet, at the same time stressful and challenging. All senior year we had prepped for this show. Each of us creating a senior collection, refining our artist statements, and posting on our social media platforms. When spring quarter hit, it was only a short 7 weeks to pull together a show for 16 artists! From the messy politics of choosing a theme and name for the exhibition to deadline changes, we all had our hands full. To top it off, many of us had other final classes to attend at the same time.
Come May 18th, we finally opened Transference: Impressions of Many to the public! As stated in our exhibition statement: "This show draws from the psychological concept of transference, wherein individual feelings or thoughts are subconsciously projected to unrelated objects, to explore how the different artistic practices represented have impacted one another.” Featured is a walkthrough of the exhibit, courteous of my fellow artist, Ashley Dunkin. Each artist receiving roughy one wall space to fill with their work and a space on the small works salon wall.
Before my senior year, I experimented with figurative, landscape, and expressionist styles. Following this, I wanted my senior portfolio to explore the human form and the natural world through color abstraction. Liminals no. 1 - 4 explore the liminal spaces within the human experience with the emergence of light within a color field. A liminal space translates to transitioning time in your life, going from one place in your life to the next. In my work, warm colors reference the blood or flesh of the human body, while cool greens and blues allude to our connection to the earth. As the messy process of art making is crucial to my practice, I began to look into using natural pigments in my work. For my installation piece, Emergence, I explored using natural silk chiffon which I hand-dyed with madder root. Emergence seeks to explore the human experience of our emergence into this world or the next. It immerses the viewer within the liminal space, embracing them as they step closer. Hearing the reviews of my work in the show makes me rethink how I will proceed with the liminal pieces. I'm still in the early years of my career, and this showed me how far I still have to go.
Our closing reception on June 1st held space for us all to showcase our best work to friends and family, followed by a heartfelt artist talk from each of us. It was beautiful and terrifying, but with only a few tears I made it through the night with the help of a few kind souls. I’ll always cherish the moment of finally seeing a collection of my work alongside so many of my peers. I know one day, I will rejoin them in a gallery space again. For now, we’ve all gone our separate ways; some flew back home after graduation, some to new jobs, and some finding their way in this beautiful mess of a world…
Tessa Jeanne
If you didn’t get the chance to come see the Transference: Impressions of Many exhibition, you can now view the exhibition catalog featuring all 16 artists and over 60 works:
Be sure to check out the rest of the amazing artists in the show:
Claire Tincher, Ashley Dunkin, Rodrigo, Avery Scheidt, Carla Youbi, Nathan Addley, Julia Wei , Madison Alexandra, Matthias Shook, Skyler Rogers, Anne Avera, Joel Pasquarelli, Caroline Wallis, Navika Gupta, Tallal Ahmed
