Artist statements and samples of artwork by the 2020 MAT in Art Education Professional Licensure students

Black, Margaret

Delmonico, Tony

Doke, Ashley

Englehardt, Emily

Jackson, Ryan

Kirk, Ben

Mulcahy, Alicia

Teal, Susan

English

Salem State University: Digital Commons


Tony Delmonico: Artist Statement
My work juxtaposes the historical connotations of painted portraiture with those of today’s digital 
images on social media. New tools such as the smart phone and online photo-sharing platforms encourage 
people to volunteer extreme versions of themselves for the world to see. The ready availability of the camera 
simultaneously numbs their sense of privacy and empowers them to author reality as they see it. My painting 
addresses the unnerving ubiquity of subjective visual authors, the observed’ surrender to the observers’ 
controls, and the precarious relationship of the information-age painter to his quotidian reality.
As a high school art teacher I task myself with unlocking the creative, artistic identities of my 
students. Teenagers especially labor to define their identities, and digital media support their efforts to depict 
their experiences, however accurate or tailored these depictions may be. My painting interprets an image 
(posted to social media outlets) of a violent exchange between students at my school. Viewers find 
themselves a part of the composition by virtue of the smartphones’ gazes aiming down both at them and the 
brawling pair in the foreground. Evidence of the underpainting, visible in portions of the fleeing student, 
testifies to the process. I insert myself in the background as onlooker, a position reflecting my concern for my 
relationship to my school community but also a reminder of the prevailing power of an artist in the 
information age.  
A1
Tony Delmonico, 
The Order of 
Things (in the 
Information Age),
48”x77’ oil on 
pine board. April, 
2020
A2
Tony Delmonico, 
Study #1, 14”x17” 
oil and graphite on 
bristol. December, 
2019
A3
Tony Delmonico, 
Study #2, 14”x17”
oil on bristol. 
January, 2020
A4
Tony Delmonico, 
Study #3, 
11”x14”graphite on 
bristol. April, 2020
A5
Tony Delmonico, 
Study #4,
14”x17”
oil on bristol. 
February, 2020
A6
Tony 
Delmonico, 
Study #5,
14”x17”
oil on bristol. 
March, 2020
A7
Ashley Doke: Artist Statement
The Beauty in Flora
As an artist, I find importance in visually recording the natural world. I have always been attracted to the 
world around me and I have an insatiable desire to be endlessly immersed in it. I find myself exploring the 
different plants, trees, and other natural formations in order to take elements that are often over looked by 
others in our busy lives. 
Accentuating the flora’s beauty allows me to reflect on the essence of each that attracts me to them. By 
focusing on their different qualities of shape and textures, I seek to create my own versions of the flora. My 
process combines each of these into one composition, creating a dynamic image that allows the eye to 
explore the newly created flora full of textures. 
I use a traditional printmaking process from initial drawing to linoleum carving and finally printing. I get 
lost in the action of carving away my negative spaces; this action is akin to meditation. Printing in 
monochrome black creates a heightened contrast that allows for the focus to be on the organic forms of my 
reimagined original experience. In this way, I relive the original experience through the traditional process 
of carving and printing. 
B1
Ashley Doke, Florae #1, 12”x18”
Linoleum Print. April 25, 2020
B2
Ashley Doke, Florae #2, 12” x 18”
Linoleum Print. April 25, 2020 B3
Ashley Doke, Florae #3, 12” x 18”
Linoleum Print. April 25, 2020
B4
Emily Englehardt: Artist Statement
Art has always played a major role in my life. It provides me with an escape, a goal, a hobby, 
a career, a way of connecting with others, and opportunity. When I create, the rest of the 
world melts away; minutes turn into hours, and all that is left is me and my work. I strive for 
that feeling of being lost in a moment. It is comforting, stimulating, pleasurable, cathartic, and 
a space where one can be totally and completely themselves --it feels like ‘home.’ 
This series celebrates and commemorates my family --those who are family by blood, choice, 
luck, or fate. The emotional connections and relationships in my life have always been 
something I’ve treasured. I enjoy capturing my family in moments that are often joyous or 
contemplative in nature; moments that are special, yet ordinary. I create my images with care 
to show that I care who is in them. The emotional connections I have with family and friends 
are the driving force behind my work, and my work is my way of showing how much they, in 
turn, mean to me. 
C1
Emily Englehardt, Adelia & Cheyanne, 
18"x 24” Acrylic. August 2017 C2
Emily Englehardt, Michael & Sophia, 
15.5"x 22.5" Acrylic. March 2020 
Emily Englehardt, Adam & Emily,
24"x 36"Acrylic. April 2020 C3
Emily Englehardt, Mom & Dad,  
30"x40"Acrylic. April 2020 C4
Ben Kirk: Artist Statement C1
During the summer of 2019, I found myself in the middle of a mountain, lost in a bamboo 
forest in Kyoto, Japan. In the span of two hours, walking deeper into the bamboo, I 
encountered only two other beings; a black cat, and a young Japanese student named 
Yamanaka. Yamanaka explained to me that there was nothing in the direction I was walking. 
With a bow, he took on the task of being my guide. For three hours Yamanaka led me through 
the bamboo, to a path, up a hill. We passed hundreds of small, ancient-looking shrines, and 
crimson gates. Yamanaka brought me to the top of the mountain to a 600-year-old pillar. At 
the tip of this pillar was a larger-than-life statue of a fox leaping through the air. We found a 
bench to rest on. Yamanaka taught me about bugs, and I took out my sketchbook in an attempt 
to capture our adventure. We shared each other’s company in solitude. 
I have always felt a sense of comfort in solitude, and I have always thought of stumbled-upon, 
empty spaces as personal sanctuaries. This growing series of illustrations are of the 
sanctuaries I found while getting lost in Japan. 
This series is dedicated to Yamanaka. Thank you for sharing my solitude. 
C2
Ben Kirk, 
For Yamanaka,
8” x 6” 
Watercolor and ink.
April 7, 2020
C3
Ben Kirk, 
Somewhere in 
Namba,
8” x 6” 
Watercolor and ink.
April 7, 2020
C4
Ben Kirk, Yokocho, 
8” x 6” 
Watercolor and ink.
April 7, 2020
Ryan Jackson: Artist Statement
We have always gravitated to the shoreline. We have an urge to seek out this place 
for its beauty and promise of possibility. This boundary’s horizon gives us hope for 
what may come, but also diverts us from where we are. With our eyes fixed on this 
expanse we are misled from our present. A unique quality of the aerial perspective 
is that it has no horizon, no figment to distract us. This viewpoint allows us a 
moment to objectively see where we are. 
My aim is to capture this fleeting moment. With the short-lived working time, 
iridescence, and fluidity of epoxy it is befitting of the task. This floor panel 
installation, initially designed for the Winfisky Gallery, invites its viewers to walk 
on and view the work from above; to be present in the work. 
D1
Ryan Jackson, Where Land Meets Sea, 
21.5’ x 5.5’Epoxy on MDF. April 26, 2020 D2
Ryan Jackson Panel 1, 24”x 38.83” 
Epoxy on MDF April 26, 2020 D3
Ryan Jackson Panel 2, 24”x 38.83” 
Epoxy on MDF April 26, 2020 D4
Ryan Jackson Panel 3, 24”x 38.83” 
Epoxy on MDF April 26, 2020 D5
Ryan Jackson Panel 4, 24”x 38.83” 
Epoxy on MDF April 26, 2020 D6
Ryan Jackson Panel 5, 24”x 38.83” 
Epoxy on MDF April 26, 2020 D7
Ryan Jackson Panel 6, 24”x 38.83” 
Epoxy on MDF April 26, 2020 D8
Alicia Mulcahy: Artist Statement
Twenty-Three Days of Medically Advised Motherhood
As an artist I have always found the need to communicate my experienced emotions throughout the artistic 
process with the audience. In this case, the series of paintings before you encapsulate the maternal void I 
experienced during our four-month old son’s 23-day hospital stay. The child-friendly colors mock the grief 
felt with the restrictions put on my maternal instincts, every decision I made for our son was superseded by 
doctors’ recommendations.
The paradoxical symbolic forms in these paintings embody the innocence of childhood and the helplessness 
felt at not being able to care for our son as he underwent medical treatment. Cody tested positive for 
respiratory syncytial virus, but the focus quickly turned to a dismal diagnosis of “failure to thrive” 
prematurely ending my breastfeeding journey and introducing the dreaded “f” word: formula. I was being 
deprived the most natural part of nurturing an infant. 
In an attempt to find out why Cody always breathed so shallowly and so rapidly, a series of sixteen tests and 
procedures were performed. The last procedure was by far the most difficult. This grid of twelve visceral 
images serves as an intriguing background, but for me, they are haunting snapshots of my son I never wanted 
to see. Photographs that will never make the baby book. They are the results of the endoscopic evaluation, yet 
another procedure yielding inconclusive results. 
The instinctual torch was handed back to me upon our discharge and while I’m still trying to navigate these 
decisions without doctors, that torch will also take the form of a paintbrush. It is in the creative process where 
I find my voice, my strength and my passion. Connecting my role as artist and mother in these paintings 
allows me to nurture the relationship with my son as well as with my art. 
E1
Alicia Mulcahy, 
Boston Bound,
30”x40”
Acrylic on canvas.
April 27, 2020
E2
Alicia Mulcahy, 
E is for Endoscopic,
30”x40”
Acrylic on canvas.
April 27, 2020
E3
Alicia Mulcahy, 
Failure to Thrive,
11”x14”
Acrylic on canvas.
April 27, 2020
E4
Susan Teal: Artist Statement
Anxiety and Trauma, Series 2020
My body of work explores the concept of self-identity. I am the subject of my own work, visually 
interpreting my struggles with anxiety and trauma. Using reference photos that I take of myself in 
the midst of anxiety attacks, I paint realistic self-portraits with multiple faces peeling away from one 
another, each expressing different emotions. The distortion created within my work is an effort to 
translate my complex feelings of sadness, anger, and fear on to the painted surface. In this way I 
explore who I am. The final effect borders on disturbing as it reveals a reflection of my reality. 
This series was born in January 2020, inspired by the worst experience of my life; the disappearance 
and death of my aunt. In the months following, more events continued to add to my stress and 
anxiety and as I went into isolation with the rest of the world, I found myself unable to escape the 
thoughts and emotions that can overwhelm me. Trying to imagine what the future holds makes my 
chest tight and my fears rise. Focusing on the present, connecting remotely with the people most 
important to me, and using my artistic practice to redirect my strong feelings help me deal with 
these multiple traumas. Moving forward, I will focus on the short term. To the future, I can only 
have hope.   
F1
Susan Teal, 
Disconsolate,
16” x 20” 
Acrylic on 
Canvas.
April 2020
F2
Susan Teal, Vociferation, 16” x 20” 
Acrylic on Canvas. April 2020
F3
Susan Teal, 
Labile,
16” x 20” 
Acrylic on 
Canvas
April 2020
F4


Teach-out, MAT in Art Education Thesis Exhibit

https://digitalcommons.salemstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1103&amp;context=researchday

Teach-out, MAT in Art Education Thesis Exhibit

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Salem State University: Digital Commons