Intermedia MFA Thesis Exhibition ‘no wear special’ opens May 19

Editor’s note: This story was updated on May 10. 

University of Maine Intermedia Programs will host its Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, “no wear special,” from May 19–June 30 in the Lord Hall Art Gallery. 

A public opening reception will be held from 5–7 p.m. on May 19. This year’s showcase will feature the works of four MFA students: Lia Davido, Walter Greenleaf, Thomas Griffith and Adam Küykendall.

Davido’s work includes participatory art created during events held on campus over the spring semester, which critically examines the current death culture in the U.S. Greenleaf’s textile art highlights the principle of resource upcycling and focuses on textile management as a function of community health and social well-being. 

Griffith’s installation of a threshold between the gallery and virtual worlds is meant to provoke thought and emotion, while challenging how the viewer sees the world around them from another angle. Küykendall’s work, an online film, explores themes and elements that embody identity, connection and impact from the point of view of the detached outsider.

“The Intermedia program is home to interdisciplinary students working in a wide variety of media, and this group is no exception,” says Susan Smith, graduate coordinator for Internmedia Programs. “These students’ research and creative production examines the world of virtual space and identity, non-linear narrative, our relationship with end-of-life, and notions of gift economy/recycle and exchange.” 

Also on display in Lord Hall Art Gallery will be an exhibit titled “Activating Art & Science.” The works are the result of transdisciplinary collaborations between the School of Forest Resources and the Process Development Center.

“We are excited to share these projects as Intermedia Programs is committed to practice-based research, and art going beyond the studio and into the world,” Smith says.