University of Arizona School of Art graduate students Triston Blanton, Austin Caswell and Matthew Kennedy and nine alums are among the 41 artists selected for the 2024 Arizona Biennial, which begins this weekend at the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block.

A record 560 artists submitted their work for the 38th Arizona Biennial, which showcases some of the state’s most innovative artists and runs from Oct. 19 to Feb. 9 at TMA, 140 N Main Ave.

“I was thrilled to see Triston, Austin and Matthew listed among those who will be exhibiting at the Biennial,” said School of Art Professor Gary Setzer, a 2023 Arizona Biennial artist. “I think all three are making really important work, and I’m proud of them for being recognized outside of the university.”

Here’s a look at the three students and their Biennial installations:

Triston Blanton (They/He)

Title: “Mixed Signals”

Description: The ceramics sculpture addresses ideas of queer identity building through the combined use of both built and found ceramic elements.

Quote: “The found elements are smashed and then reassembled into the sculpture as shards and fragments. My sculpture queers the ceramic process by forgoing any traditional ceramic building methods and is held together only by fragile glaze.”

Bio: Blanton (b. 1999, Florence, SC) is a multimedia artist who works in Tucson. They received their BFA from Coker University in Hartsville, South Carolina, in May 2022 and are studying in the Studio MFA program at the University of Arizona.

Instagram: @triston_l

Austin Caswell

Title: “The Finder”

Description: The installation is a speculative, future archaeological site that uses lifespans of plastics to seek meaning and knowledge within lost contexts, including playground slides found around Tucson. Among the other materials, as recounted on Caswell’s website, are: scrap rebar, Palo Verde branches, a shark tooth from Cape Hatteras (N.C.), Nike running shoes found under a bush near campus, a serenity prayer gold chain necklace found in Hollywood, fragments of a dinosaur bone from a dig site in Southern Utah — and “an In-N-Out french fry from under my car’s driver seat.”

Quote: “My practice explores contemporary consumer culture, material poetics and speculative fictions through the conduits of sculpture and installation. ‘The Finder’ investigates concepts of deep time, particularly non-human scales of time, to look at the possibility that plastics will not return to the earth due to their chemical makeup and considers them as objects fixed in a state of immanence.”

Bio: Caswell (b. Denver, CO 1996) received a BA in Integrated Visual Studies as well as a BA in History from Colorado State University and is pursuing an MFA in 3D and Extended Media at the School of Art. He has been a fellow at Haystack Mountain School of Craft, the University of Arizona, and was a resident at the school’s Lionel Rombach Gallery. ​Caswell has exhibited across the United States in venues such as the Tucson Museum of Art, parkeralemán-El Paso Community Foundation in Texas, the Museum of Art- Fort Collins in Colorado and 311 Gallery in Raleigh, N.C. He also holds professional experience as a studio instructor, carpenter, landscape designer and fabricator.

Instagram: @austinmcaswell

Matthew Kennedy

Title: “Suspended Memories”

Description: The installation includes Kennedy’s mother’s teapot collection suitcase, 3D-printed teapot shards and rope.

Quote: “My work is installation-based, most commonly using discarded objects, as well as familial collections. Through the use of these materials, I frequently speak to the overarching themes of identity and location.”

Bio: Born and raised in the small border town of Nogales, Arizona, Kennedy received his Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Photography from the U of A School of Art in 2016. Following a period of extensive world travel, as well as instructing English in Hong Kong, he’s pursuing his Master of Fine Arts in the 3DXM program at the School of Art, with an anticipated completion date of 2026.

Instagram: @mateokennedy

The U of A School of Art alums in the Biennial include:

• Lori Andersen (MFA ’00)
• Jacqueline Arias Thompson (MFA ’24) @maya_tica
• Clare Benson (MFA ’13) @clarebenson
• Alexander Brauer (BFA ’13) @alexanderbrauer
• Linda Chappel (MA ’98, Art History) @lindalchappel
• Drew Grella (MFA ’24) @drewdrawsillustrations
• Serge J-F Levy (MFA ’15): His photograph taken at the Barry M. Goldwater Bombing Range is featured in the show. Over the past two years, he’s been walking and photographing in the Cabeza Prieta Wilderness, Organ Pipe National Monument and the Goldwater range. @outdoorframes
• Anita Maksimiuk (MFA ’24)
• Mariel Miranda (MFA ’23) @mariiel.mira
  

See a list of all the artists.