2023 Merit Scholarship Recipient: Vernon Vanderwood

Describe the work you submitted for merits.

My merit submission encompassed my work in installation, sculpture, and photography. I wanted to emphasize the ways in which these different mediums intersect, as a reflection of my pursuit of multiple means of knowing and making. My series of books included reflect my experiments in biomaterials and vessels of knowledge. The Falls, a sculptural/web/sound installation mends and absurds found objects and sounds, which reflects the changing and precarious nature of that landscape. I also included two photograph series’ which capture moments of growth or decay on subjects who continue to recontextualize themselves. I also painted mural for merits, a remake of a previous piece that I felt tied to my thematic and compositional interests and is a moment for meditation on the cycles of my art process and identity. Finally, my most recent piece was also included however was located in the main gallery, a mended ceramic bone and SCOBY on an embroidery hoop. This too explores mending as an act of preservation. As well as contrasting different ways of healing and the value of different crafts.

Why did you decide to come to MCAD?

I choose to come to MCAD because I felt like it was a space out of all the rest of the schools where I'd feel truly supported. Opportunities like Merit Scholarships and other financial aid have made it possible to be here. The financial and creative support was its biggest draw. Plus I'm from Minnesota and have grown in pride living here and becoming part of the art scene. Something that I've really valued in staying in the Twin Cities is how accessible the art scene feels.

What are your plans for your senior year? And beyond?

I hope to continue to foster the connections I've made at MCAD and the Minneapolis community and really apply what I've learned and made. I'd like to apply to more art shows and keep putting on events. I've begun to dabble in community events and art making since coming to school and want to keep expanding and doing that post school. Continue my own fine arts studio practice one day but also maintain a diversified career of community organizing and art making. I'd like to get into curation too, working in installation art more recently feels like my entryway into that and I hope to continue fostering that my senior year.

Favorite thing about college life (so far)?

The friends I've made along the way! I feel especially this year that my friendships have deepened and expanded. I have a network of creative and kind people who truly show up. I feel so supported by seeing the same faces in the studio and also at one another events and out in the community. I think my favorite part has been getting to know one another through art. Being a part of a small community of artists has been really rewarding in truly feeling known and receiving and providing thoughtful responses.

What inspires you?

The world around me—of course this is expected but it's so true! The natural world has always inspired me, especially materially. I use biomaterials or found objects in my work and often use photography to pull direct imagery from my experience es or self. Plus being in a studio environment my peers influence me a lot and so do the artists whose work I follow digitally or in gallery shows.

Do you have a favorite piece you've made? Describe it!

I'm really proud of the multimedia installation Falls I made in 2022. It is a smaller collection of sculptures, a collaborative sound piece, and a website. The small sculptures spread out in the space leading the viewer to explore the subject both in physical space and online. Each element mends and absurds found objects and sounds, which reflects the changing and precarious nature of that landscape. I really enjoyed the process of research that went into this. I relayed historical research of the landscape via writing on the website and elaborated on a personal narrative I had with the space and how this research has recontextualized it. The small sculptures too were all material experiments so I enjoyed learning new materials while at the same time "relearning" a familiar place. Playing with sound equipment to was rewarding, in recording sounds made with and in the landscape itself. I worked on the sound element with Iris, a musician and friend who id visit this space with. I was really grateful to bounce ideas off of her to make the sound element and space come to life.

Anything you're obsessed with at the moment?

I've been really into casting recently. I'm in casting class right now and it's the most technical and material class I've taken at MCAD so far so it's given me a good challenge and the results are so rewarding. I'm excited to do it more especially post school when I have more time. Or experiment with alternative materials in the realm of casting.