Morgan Donahue

 Andrew Norris is a queer artist capturing queer identity through his art. He works in oil paint, a medium famous for having been used by "the greats" of art throughout history. Not only this, but his work often shares features of famous paintings, with queer icons, cartoon characters, comic books, celebrities, and other pop culture imagery added to the foreground. In this way, his art adds commentary about who has been visibly excluded from the cannon of art. He asserts with his paintings that queer expression is unique, valid, and worthwhile. His work also depicts the types of people who, until recent years, could not be visible as their authentic selves. ID: Friends of Dorothy (from left to right) Persephone, Orpheus, Cassandra, Narcissus, 2021, installation view. Four oil paintings with bright, vivid color depicting queer subjects hang on a white wall. Source: https://www.andrewnorrisart.com/ As a queer person, I really haven't examined my relationship with pop cultur

 Alexandra Bell was a very engaging speaker. I have been to only a handful of convocations, and a couple of those have made my eyes glaze over. That is not meant to be a knock on other speakers I have heard; I just did not relate to them as much or understand their subject matter in the same way. Bell's art itself is interesting, and engaging. The journalistic style of it is captivating, especially in our current age. The media has a way with spinning topics to be completely polarizing, and de-emphasizing what really matters in a situation. I believe that her work has the potential to make people think deeply about the news articles they consume, and how their formatting and presentation matters.  ID: Two newspaper articles on a brick wall. The one on the left is the original New York Times Page, marked in red with Bell's corrections and highlighted. The article on the right is Bell's reformatting, with the title "White Nationalist Protest Leads to Deadly Violence"

  Judy Chicago is a highly influential feminist artist. However, her work does not encompass feminism for everyone. Even in recent years, Judy excludes trans women from discussion, and dismisses the voices of Black women. her early work was rooted in minimalism, often combining sculpture and painting. She explored color, patterns, and transformation, looking to "test the limits" of each of these things.     ID: Trinity (1965), Rainbow Pickett (1965) Trinity (1965), Rainbow Pickett (1965). Minimal, brightly colored sculptures.    However, after 1972 Chicago was best known for her feminist artwork. Womanhouse (1972) and Dinner Party (1974-1979) are perhaps Chicago's best-known works. Both projects tackle gender roles, promote feminism, and seek to empower women.     The Dinner Party (Sojourner Truth place setting & Emily Dickinson place settings), 1974–79. Mixed media: ceramic, porcelain, textile.   However, is Chicago's feminism for everyone? Many would argue n

 Puppy raising for service dog program is one thing. It is an entirely separate thing to be sick and in need of help, and to raise a dog knowing that one day your quality of life will hinge on four furry paws and a cold, wet snout. Every choice you make has lasting ramifications in your life. A six month old black labrador puppy stares up at the camera with warm eyes. Meet Dizzy, my second go at this. We will collaborate to make this installation! I plan to arrange a large piece of roll paper on the floor/ground. On top of this, I will place a layer of snow. Then I will bring Dizzy into the space. I will track her through paint, then have a training session with her on top of the snow. Then, I will let the snow melt, which will hopefully do interesting things to the paper in terms of color and texture.  I wanted to do this installation in the room with the studio lighting, so that I could film it. I feel reasonably assured that I can keep Dizzy's paint feet from making a mess, but

  I had no idea what this group project would like like, how we would work together, or what would happen. At first, the uncertainty was intimidating. Then, it was freeing. The first thing I did was nail plastic shopping bags to the wall with Rita, and stick flowers into them. Having taken a first step, the rest of the process came quite easily.  I especially loved interacting with and adding to things that other people had made. For example, Charlie had begun bending small, decorative metal strips. Several of us also bend them. then, Rita nailed them to the wall and I stuck plant fronds through them. In this way, several bits of the installation started as one person creating something and others of us adding to the chaos. Speaking of chaos, I believe that is how the front of the room operated. It was collaborative, sure, but chaos all the same. Things were mostly done on feeling, and for the sake of hilarity, which seems in-line with the many of the installation greats of old. I spen

     As a disabled person, I am starkly aware of the differences between my everyday life and the lives of my abled peers. Certain things that have become banal to me, such as fainting frequently, are underrepresented in the public eye. Through my art, I attempt to capture these moments of disability and bring them to light. I depict vulnerable, first-hand, experiences with disability using bright colors and bold lines to capture my overstimulating encounters with the world and force audiences to positively engage with the disabled experience. My work aims to communicate disability to nondisabled audiences while simultaneously providing disabled individuals the opportunity of finding accurate representations of themselves in art.     My most recent ongoing project is a collaboration with Sage Look ( The Savannah College of Art and Design) and Maxwell Whitehurst ( The Art Institute of Chicago). Through approximately 25 minutes of music and video, it explores my experience of being chron