Before my final year begins, here is an update on my MFA at the University of Houston.
In the studio I continued working on, with, and around my stuffed paintings. I now have a set of three in which the Goldilocks effect reigns. The first, which is to the left, is the least stuffed. The last, to the right, is most stuffed.
Stuffed, Untitled (Thin), Untitled (Medium), Untitled (Large), 2024-25
Varying depth dimensions 10 1/8 h x 7 1/3 w inches
Acrylic on wrapped canvas, polyester stuffing
Outside of stuffing, I experimented with matte and gloss. I am interested in the tension surrounding our intimate relationships with screens. Gloss invites but also refuses by reflecting light backwards.
These objects began as references to digital devices. I find play and interaction useful, so I made the paintings into objects to be interacted with (much like dolls or toys), though they look more like pillows.
Previous Coordinates (Stuffed iPhone), 2024
7 x 3 x 1 inches
Canvas, acrylic, polyester stuffing
Recently, I have begun thinking of these stuffed paintings as bodies or containers. They hold something inside of them. Some viewers have found it interesting that I began this series while I was pregnant. While, yes that is true… the stuffing was not necessarily about my body containing another body. Rather, I believe these objects reflect a desire to impose some kind of order amidst the chaos of information emitted from these devices.
I made the following stuffed painting last year and found the object irksome, so I cut it open as an act of discovery. I enjoy seeing the faint light blue stain coming through the back canvas.
Stuffed, Untitled (cut open), 2025
17 x 9 x 1 inches
Acrylic on canvas, wood, polyester stuffing
In addition to stuffing paintings, I have been making new map works and experimenting with canvas as a book material as well.
Cut map works in the studio. Spring 2025.
Small painted canvas pages in the studio. Spring 2025.
In terms of coursework, I studied Intaglio and Latin American Art at the MFAH. Intaglio was interesting as I layered lines of different value into a single piece of copper. Working indirectly onto a substrate with this technique was an exciting enterprise as I thought about the layering of technology and imaginary spaces atop land.
Drawing into the wax ground using an etching needle. The Met has a useful webpage about the process.
Latin American Art at the MFAH took place on location and emphasized Object Based Learning (OBL). Like Dr. Harren’s “Drawing in the Expanded Field” last spring, which included visits to the Menil Drawing Institute, the MFAH OBL course prioritized direct observation of the object.
For my final paper, I chose a work by Mira Schendel. Taking the priorities of the class in hand, I aimed to spend equal time with the object as I did with the research. Allowing my experience to be an authority was remarkably uncomfortable.
Mira Schendel. Untitled. 1954. Gesso, wood, tempera on wood. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
An excerpt from my paper:
A second smaller square is drawn in the opposite quadrant on the upper left. Unlike its larger counterpart, its interior is brighter than the background. Its white appearance is likely made from the absence of material, presumably charcoal, used to make the light gray background. The white square is delineated with a black line. In contrast, a sole white line stretches across the composition from the white square’s bottom right corner to the bottom left corner of the vertical rectangle to the right. This white line, again, appears to be drawn rather than painted. However, because it is white, use of a charcoal stick is unlikely. Instead, the artist may have used the rounded, opposite end of a brush to push into the top layer of freshly applied tempera to reveal the white gesso underneath.
During the spring semester, I also enjoyed studio visits with guest speakers Adam Marnie, Jonathan Hopson, Jonathan Faber, and Heather Rubinstein. And most importantly, I met with my graduate committee which includes Laura Augusta, Dana Frankfort, Aaron Parazette, Natilee Harren, Rachel Hecker, and Anna Mayer.
To review previous updates about my MFA, check out
The University of Houston’s MFA program is a three year program. I will present my thesis next year in March 2026.