Six FSU art graduates exhibit at NYC’s Pen + Brush Gallery
BY: JAMIE RAGER | PUBLISHED:
Works by six Florida State University studio art graduates are on display at New York City’s famous Pen + Brush Gallery as part of a group exhibition honoring Women’s History Month.
“Hit Me with Your Best Shot” aims to highlight how women as well as non-binary and female-identified transgender artists are changing the art world, and world in general. The exhibit features work by the 2023 graduating cohort of FSU MFA alumnae — Jenae Christopher, Camille Modesto, nik rye, Chayse Sampy, AnnaBrooke Greene and Chansong Woo — alongside well-known contemporary artists such as Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Lola Flash. Woo and Greene are also Department of Art adjunct professors.
“I have had the good fortune to have worked with all six of these incredibly talented artists since they began at FSU,” said Jeff Beekman, associate professor and Department of Art chair. “I’ve witnessed their perseverance, support for one another and been so impressed at their development. The results absolutely speak for themselves, and all good fortune that comes their way is entirely deserved.”
Founded in 1894, Pen + Brush was one of the first non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting female artists. The exhibit will be on display at the Pen + Brush Gallery at 29 East 22nd Street, New York, through April 20.
When Pen + Brush asked FSU Assistant Professor of Art and curator Grace Aneiza Ali to choose a visionary artist and artwork for the 2024 exhibit honoring Women’s History Month, she immediately thought of her students — all six of them.
“These six incredible young women granted me the gift of being their teacher as they all faced the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the difficulties in their own lives with courage and resilience,” Ali said. “Their work is bold and brilliant, and it shows that they are ready to shape the future of the field.”
For Ali, the work from this group of students displaying artistic influences from four countries was an ideal fit for an exhibit aiming to honor women in art. The featured work touched on these themes and was influenced by the cohort’s feedback and support throughout their time in the MFA program.
“My creative cohort and our amazing professors including Grace (Ali) truly pushed us,” Woo said. “Not just to sharpen our skills, but to find our own focus and artistic language. Through the program, we’ve built very strong relationships with each other and have grown a lot as artists.”
Four of the six artists traveled to New York City to attend the exhibit’s opening March 7. As the first New York exhibit for each of these artists, it marks a special milestone for their artistic careers.
“It was incredibly meaningful to not only exhibit my work in New York City, but also to be seen as a collective with my cohort,” Greene said. “That feeling of community and solidarity was special, especially as we engaged with a completely different audience around the work.”
The MFA Studio Art Program at FSU is a rigorous and in-depth three-year residency that trains students to become successful artists.
For more information on the program, visit art.fsu.edu/graduate. For more information on the exhibition, visit penandbrush.org.