Regina Gouger Miller Gallery | Carnegie Mellon University

Audrey Szeto
Hye Sung An
Jose Baez
Emily Bellingham
Emily Berezin
Benjamin Bigelow
Daniel Buchanan
Yvonne Chan
Theresa Chen
Monica Cho
Amy Conroy
Charles Cox
Emilia Edwards
Caroline England
Giana Gambino
Claire Hoch
Rebecca Jang

May Day is a cause for celebration. Spring has arrived with all the hope
it carries for the future. May Day is a time of solidarity. Hard work,
communal effort and mutual respect prevail. Mayday is a warning. Look
out world, something mighty is about to hit you.

Friday 2nd May 2008 augurs well for the future. Thirty-four talented
young artists have taken over the Miller Gallery to show the world what
they can do. They will warm your cockles, turn your head, tickle your
fancy and blow your mind.

Children were feeding balloons into a hole in the side of a huge paper
volcano. A guy in a parrot suit was playing the banjo whilst the man in
the silver lurex hot pants beside him moaned into a microphone. Two
women sat on a sofa, steadily stuffing their faces with an endless
supply of junk food. A waterfall of we paint was running down the wall.
From a tiny tent, a crouching elf was dispensing free food in ceramic
scallop shells. Yes. I thought to myself, this is why I came to art school.

No matter what you teach them, there comes a point when they have to go
out on their own. At Carnegie Mellon they don't wait until graduation.
The scenes I have just described were parts of an extracurricular
performance event called RELEASE, organized by BFA students at SPACE
gallery in downtown Pittsburgh 2008.

This initiative was not a one off. This student cohort has organized
exhibitions, installations and events at the Frame Galley at Carnegie
Mellon and shown their work in various venues in Pittsburgh. They have
taken part in public projects and shown videos on the Jumbotron screen
at PNC Park. The Miller Gallery show features painting, drawing,
printmaking, photography, sculpture, video, animation, computer art,
conceptual art, installation art - and more. Such is the breadth and
depth of the BFA Fine Art program at Carnegie Mellon and the
extraordinary level of talent, ambition and imagination of this gallant
thirty four. Friday 2nd May 2008 is truly a cause for chaotic celebration.

John Carson
Regina Gouger Miller and Marlin Miller Jr.
Professor of Art and Head of the School of Art
May 2008