The Stephen D. Paine Scholarship 2021 Exhibition
Juror: Ellen Tani
Recipients:
Nina Cherie, Caitlyn Chwatek, Melina Illinger, Vanessa Leroy, Jacqueline Mones, Tavon Taylor
Please join us in celebrating the 2020 recipients of the Stephen D. Paine Scholarship with this online exhibition, juried by Ellen Tani, Washington, DC-based art historian, independent curator and critic, formerly assistant curator at the ICA Boston, and currently the 2020-2022 A.W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art.
We hope you will enjoy viewing the work of these promising young artists and learning a bit about them and what inspires them.
Thank you for your generous support of emerging artists. Your contributions make these scholarship awards possible.
VIEW THE EXHIBITION ON ARTSY HERE
Nina Cherie
“As we find ourselves spending more time inside I wanted to shift my focus to designing and creating fun objects to keep me company around the house. Color and texture have been fueling my creativity, the vibrancy from the colors and patterns keep my mood level and energy up!”
Nina is a senior studying textiles at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Working with sustainable fiber is a large part of her practice. She has elevated her craft of knitting by designing and creating all of her own pieces. As a person who loves nothing more than being in her own home, she finds the most comfort surrounding herself with vibrant colors, textures, and patterns which reflect through her work.
Caitlyn Chwatek
“I paint things that are ordinary in a way that feels somewhat extraordinary. The goal is to be mundane yet elegant, clear yet mysterious, and simple yet mystical. My hope for the paintings is for each of them to be a harmonization of understanding and imagination. ”
Caitlyn Chwatek was born and raised in New Jersey before moving to Boston where she is currently a senior undergraduate student at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She is completing BFAs in Painting and Ceramics. Her paintings are primarily genre scenes done in oil, while her ceramic work comprises of functional ware. Her studio practice is mainly inspired by history, current events, and psychology.
Melina Illinger
“The fluid nature of working with watercolor makes the medium a favorite of mine; my paintings are allowed to take on their own paths, no matter the subject. Landscapes become hazy dreams, and portraits glow with their model’s personality. These pieces showcase my love for the medium and the subjects.”
Melina Illinger grew up just outside Boston and now lives in the city. She spends her summers in New Hampshire, and finds inspiration for her artwork in both. Drawing since she was a toddler, she enjoys most of all painting people and characters, striving to showcase each individual personality. When she isn’t drawing people, though, she dives into different environments and explores them through her sketchbook. She is currently a professional freelancer and completing her BFA in Illustration at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Vanessa Leroy
photo by Amani Willett.
“There isn’t a lot of space for dreaming in an oppressive world, so I use photography as a tool to create a space where I freely navigate the various facets of my life with experience and identity.”
Vanessa Leroy is a photographer from Waltham, Massachusetts, and a photo student at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She remains on the hunt for new ways of seeing, remembering, and altering the world through photography. She is drawn to image-making because of the power it holds to create nuanced representation for marginalized people and uplift their stories. She sees photography as a tool for social justice, and with it, she hopes to create worlds that people can enter and draw from, as well as provide a look into an experience that they may not personally recognize.
Jacqueline Mones
“I started as young girl playing with paper dolls to become a designer making designs from her own imagination. I design things that reflect my own personal experience and interest. I want every piece that I make to somehow connect with and translate into its own unique story.”
Jacqueline Mones grew up in a suburban town in the Philippines. She moved to the United States, together with her family, in 2015. She worked two jobs for two years to earn enough go back to school. In 2017, She enrolled for Fashion Design at Massachusetts College of Arts and Design while also working at the same time. As a student designer, she bases her designs from her own experiences, her heritage from the Philippines, architecture, animals and contemporary arts. She enjoys travelling and taking pictures. Today, she is a freelance designer completing her BFA in Fashion Design and Minor in Fibers.
Tavon Taylor
“This body of images explores my perspective of blackness and queerness. Through photographic processes, I aim to create hyper-realistic spaces. This allows my subject to exist without preconceived ideas.”
Tavon Taylor is a photography-based artist from Washington, DC. He uses visual narrative as a representation of his lived experience as a queer black adult. He has been awarded The John Chervinsky Emerging Photographer Scholarship. His work has been exhibited at The Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Massachusetts.