The UW–Madison Art Department is hosting its Annual Open Studio Day on Saturday, Nov. 2, from 12 to 5 p.m.
Over 50 artist studios will be open at this annual autumn arts celebration event. Meet student artists, see their work, and get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the Art Department’s classrooms and studios.
The event will also include a variety of demonstrations in the Art Department’s media labs and workshops and self-guided tours throughout the two art buildings.
For prospective undergraduate students who are considering pursuing a BS or BFA in art at UW–Madison, there will also be a guided tour with an academic advisor from 1 to 3 p.m. Sign up for this special tour opportunity via Visit Bucky.
All activities, which are free and open to the public, will take place in the UW–Madison Humanities Building (455 N. Park St., sixth and seventh floors) and the Art Lofts (111 N. Frances St.).
Read on to learn more about what you can discover in just a few of the many artist studios that will be open to the public on Open Studio Day. The following four artists are all current MFA students at UW–Madison.
Mark Almanza
Almanza, whose focus is photography, will share his project working through family archives.
“Memory plays a big part in my work, and I’m using converted tapes and creating four-color CMYK screen prints with them,” he says. “The four different layers of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black dot patterns come together to create a rendition of the full color image.”
“Precision and patience are key to lining things up,” he adds. “Open Studio Day has been really fun and helpful in connecting with the community and hearing people’s perspectives regarding the things I’m working on.”
Casey Fletcher
Fletcher, a sculptor and painter, is working on a series of pieces documenting the history of Chamberlin Rock, a 42-ton boulder formed by glaciers thousands of years ago that was removed from campus in 2021.
“The boulder had a nickname that was considered offensive and was removed after a year of deliberation among students, faculty, and university leadership,” Fletcher explains. “The work I’m making in my studio is in response to this event and references interviews with various stakeholders as well as geoscientists to give greater context to a peculiar moment in our campus history. I’m also working on a series of paintings about third-generation Black Vermonters and their experiences.”
Mariah Moneda
Moneda is an interdisciplinary artist working with photography, installation, and social practice.
According to an artist’s statement, she explains that she “draws on her lived experience as a first-generation, Filipino-American woman, investigating the connection between memory and the body’s senses, world-building through her nuanced relationship with labor, ritual, and belonging.”
With this lens, she “leans into the experiential and utilizes her practice as a tool to explore the liminal space between herself and community.”
Sam Northcut
Fiber and woodworking artist Sam Northcut is working on their thesis exhibition focused on queerness and everyday objects.
“I like my work to be a little absurd and fun,” Northcut says. “Right now, that looks like paper quilts with optical patterns, transparent bathroom stalls, colorful night lights, and furniture that’s all tied up.”
“Open Studio Day is a great way to showcase my work to a wider audience and to get to talk to people in my community about what artwork they like to see.”
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to peek inside UW–Madison’s artist studios. Learn more and RSVP for the Art Department’s Annual Open Studio Day.