This summer, the Art and Art Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, welcomed to campus for the very first time two cohorts of students from the new hybrid Master of Arts in Studio Practice for Art Educators (SP-h) degree program. The SP-h program is designed predominantly for full-time art teachers who complete a majority of their coursework online in the fall and spring semesters and then come to campus during Summer B to focus on their studio work. Whereas traditional M.F.A. programs focus solely on an individual artist’s development, this program offers students a chance to spend time both making artwork and reflecting on the artistic process and outcomes.

To meet this exciting moment, the Art and Art Education Program appointed a selection of outstanding studio instructors and artists to facilitate intensive studio work and exploration for our SP-h students during the Summer B semester. These instructors were also invited to participate in the inaugural TC-AAE Summer Artist-in-Residence program.

Below, we highlight eight studio instructors who participated in the Artist-in-Residence program:

Courtney Treglia

As an arts educator and administrator, Courtney focuses on how mental health and societal biases impact our experiences in artistic and educational spaces. Being diagnosed with PTSD in her late 20s, Courtney has grown up using art to process emotions and difficult life experiences, creating a language through visual art to express herself before socio-emotional education was an established practice and disability services were based on a less knowledgeable set of rules.

After 3 years of losing her father and 2 years in a pandemic, Courtney's work in the residency has been focused on the act of healing and mending. How does someone visually interpret emotional scar tissue? How do we suture our past? Working with this concept, Courtney has explored the interaction between silkscreen and ceramics, challenging our expectations of what each medium can do. Along with silkscreen and ceramics, Courtney has used the residency to complete her self-published poetry book about loss, mental health, and the pandemic.

Aimee Ehrman

Aimee’s research interests involve examining the intersection of embodied learning and ceramics, and how the embodied practices of ceramics can be explored in higher education. As an active artist and educator, she brings both her movement and artist practices to the classroom, where she challenges students to both experiment with the material and consider the role of the body as a tool. 

I have become increasingly interested in exploring the boundaries of clay, and how far those boundaries can be pushed. This has been the guiding idea for my artist residency.

By working with very thin layers of colored and uncolored porcelain slip, I have challenged myself to use these layers to create form. These forms were then fired, where the clay was encouraged to move and change shape. The result of this exploration is a series of pieces that illustrate the response of the clay and its processes to my initial construction and activation of it.

Jun Gao

Dr. Gao is an established artist and passionate educator who has taught art and art education for more than twenty years. In addition to his multidisciplinary art practice, Dr. Gao teaches painting courses in the Art and Art Education Program at Teachers College and gives lectures at art schools in China. Besides serving in different advisory committees and jury, he presented at national and international conferences and conducted workshops in world-renowned institutions, such as The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and National Art and Art Education Association. Many of his artworks are collected by internationally acclaimed American and Chinese institutions and are published in various art books and periodicals.

In this summer's project, Dr. Gao transforms his long-term exposure still-life photographs into paintings by using transparent paint to reveal the entire painting process in response to the concealed painting traces of 17th Century Dutch still-life paintings. The audience can retrieve time from layers of see-through paints and brushstrokes in these paintings. In short, the project focuses on exposing covered time in paintings. 

Han Seok (John) You

Han Seok’s (John) studio-based research centers around identity formation and transformation to reconcile with his past in order to gain an understanding of the present, while inspiring him to learn more about himself and the world around him. While his passion and artistic talent lie in photography, Han Seok (John) is also an educator and has worked as a middle school teacher, photography instructor, and as a marketing strategist at an institution overseas.

 The goal of the residency was to experiment with new techniques and approaches to create a series of unique pieces and excavate memories in the process.

For my TC-AAE summer residency, I have decided to examine the notion of “home” by examining objects I have accumulated over the years, approaching them differently than I have in the previous years, and adding a new dimension to the project. The objects were digitized, collaged, resined, and gold leafed. 

Kelly Cave

Kelly Cave is a working artist and educator from Princeton Junction, New Jersey. She received her BFA from Syracuse University with a degree in Fiber and Material Studies and completed her MFA at the University of Cincinnati in the sculpture department. After which she served as Artist in Residence in sculpture at Northwest Missouri State University. Cave has attended residencies and created public artworks at Salem Art Works, Franconia Sculpture Park, Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Gilbertsville Expressive Movement, and participated in the 2020 Nashua International Sculpture Symposium. In the spring of 2021 she completed a major public artwork in Glenside, PA as part of the Arcadia Public Art Project. These opportunities, in combination with her teaching experience, have been a catalyst for her interest in travel and desire to connect with people.

I spent my residency getting further acquainted with the laser cutter. When I entered TC as a EdDCT student, I had little to no experience working with the laser cutter and navigating illustrator. Throughout the year, I have learned more about the laser cutting process by helping students with their work. However, through this residency, I was able to experiment with the tools using my own designs. I started simple by making a pin using my own drawing of the High Bridge. The idea to make the drawing stemmed from exploring Manhattan and having discussions with Dr. Schmidt, the Program Director and Professor in the Social Studies Education Department. From there, I wanted to push my ability further by branching out into multi-color designs. As inspiration, I thought of small gifts that I could give to people around Teachers College. I made a birthday pin for my student, an anniversary magnet for my friend, and a badge of honor for my colleague. With each new design I further expanded the complexity of the cut and understanding of the capabilities of Illustrator. I still have a long way to go but making these pieces has given me confidence in working with the machine and inspired me to use it more in my own practice.

Hyunsoo Alice Kim

Hyunsoo Alice Kim is an interdisciplinary artist who has a background in textiles and digital fabrication as an artist, designer, entrepreneur, researcher and educator. Among her research interests are technology, craftsmanship, convergence, sustainability, and social equity. She is currently an Ed.D.CT. candidate, a studio fellow, and an instructor at Teachers College. She holds a BFA in Textiles from Rhode Island School of Design and an MS in Textile Design from Philadelphia University.  

Kim’s The Woven Moonjar Collection 2017-2021 is a contemporary take on the Korean ceramic moonjars of the 17th century, reimagined by a textile artist. While honoring traditional ceramic moon jar construction methods and aesthetics, the collection incorporates textiles and textile construction techniques, resulting in durable and light-weighted moonjars.

Among her recent explorations are digitally fabricated moonjars. Using Fusion360's Slicer, transparent and translucent flat parts were laser cut, reassembled, and stacked to create a serene yet dynamic three-dimensional moonjars.

This idea of practicality and transportability emerged from Korean Aesthetics and the artist's own countless experiences of moving from continent to continent as a modern nomad.

Minne Atairu

Minne Atairu is an interdisciplinary artist whose work engages with museums, archival practices and Blackness. By weaving findings from historical research, Minne creates AI-generated works that reformulate narratives surrounding cultural and historical objects―and which often hinge on restitution and post-restitution. Minne has exhibited and performed at The Armory Show, New York (2022); The Harvard Art Museums, Boston (2022); Humboldt Academia, Berlin (2022); Markk Museum, Hamburg (2021 – ); SOAS Brunei Gallery University of London (2022); Microscope Gallery, New York (2022), Fleming Museum of Art, Vermont (2021) and Art Basel, Miami (2021). She is the recipient of the 2021 Lumen Prize for Art and Technology (Global Majority Award).

For my residency project, I documented the post-production stages of a 3D-printed bronze sculpture using a 3D scanner. Captured in the scans are tools used for the post-production process, such as sandpaper, polishing compounds, safety glasses, adhesives, as well as personal items—a cup of coffee, earphones, sunglasses, gummy bears, etc. The resulting 3D files are artifacts of the post-production process, as well as digital sculptures in their own right—each one a unique, multi-layered portrait of the moment in which it was created.