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Home › News & Events › News › Kaitlyn Jo Smith earns top honor at CAA

Kaitlyn Jo Smith earns top honor at CAA

February 12, 2021

Congratulations to Alumna Kaitlyn Jo Smith (MFA, Photography, Video and Imaging, ’20) for winning the 2021 College Arts Association Services to Artists Committee Award in Graduate Film/Video, Animations, & New Genres! The showcase was juried, including guest juror Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi (Steven and Lisa Tananbaum Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art).

Smith’s winning video, “Lights Out,” was part of the 16 graduate videos included in the national juried showcase. She was not the only School of Art artist chosen for this showcase. Her Photography, Video and Imaging peers Anna Brody and Bella Maria Varela are also a part of the showcase for their videos “Never Let Me Down” and “Triathlon,” respectively.


Kaitlyn Jo Smith
Lights Out

In Lights Out, I utilize machine learning to render visible the intangible state of America’s labor force. The term lights out manufacturing refers to a fully automated factory that requires no human presence on-site, operating without heating, air conditioning, lunch breaks or unions. Similarly, the portraits in Lights Out are not real people, rather, they are deep fakes created by artificial intelligence utilizing a neural network. This neural network was trained using a dataset of 50,000 pictures of factory workers that I sourced through Facebook. I empower the machine to visualize those it has replaced by employing these found identities to teach the algorithm to see, interpret and render out its own assembly of laborers. As the neural network is fed more portraits to analyze, its deep fakes become more believable, resulting in a new labor force of 60,000 – one worker for each factory shuttered since 2000. The AI-generated faces have been meticulously organized into columns that slowly shift along the gallery wall. The monotonous, machine-like rhythm created by this horizontal assembly line mimics that of a conveyor belt, symbolically placing the portraits in dialog with capitalist commodities.

Anna Brody
Never Let Me Down

Never Let Me Down is one of a suite of videos (titled This Is The Only Thing We’ve Got) that address love relationships and the internalized values that mediate them. As a suite, these videos use time and performative actions to question the commitment, endurance, risk, and trust layered between the familial, platonic, and romantic loves that fill our lives. As an individual piece, Never Let Me Down is an embodied exploration of dependency, sacrifice, vulnerability, and platonic intimacy. It deals explicitly with the labor involved in communicating through mutual cooperation and negotiating compromise, and engages repetition in its capacity to create both comfort and tedium. I think of the actions in this and all my videos as muscle memory exercises that help me, as well as a viewer, to stay flexible and ready to learn what we haven’t yet grasped (or weren’t ever taught), and unlearn what we haven’t been able–or haven’t even tried–to let go of.

Bella Maria Varela
Triathlon

Inspired by my family’s competitive sporting spirit, Triathlon tracks the rhythms and terrains of American immigration and confronts the absurd constructs of US patriotism and exceptionalism. Triathlon is also a personal response to contemporary anti-immigrant sentiments; it is made in honor of child immigrants, resilient dreamers, and the ones getting swept away, around, and through the mess.

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University of Arizona School of Art
4 weeks ago
University of Arizona School of Art

We are over the moon 🌙 to welcome Emily Miu as a first year student this fall!

At first, Emily's path to college was blocked by barriers that were steering her away from what she wants to explore and she considered not attending at all.

That changed after attending the Visions program offered by Scottsdale Arts. Through this program, Emily had the opportunity to work with professional artists and visited us for a workshop.

Through our partnership with Visions, we were able to offer Emily scholarships so she can start her journey as a Wildcat this August! Her parents were misty eyed at the Visions '22 opening reception, saying that she would likely not have attended college at all, if not for Visions and the School of Art!

"The scholarship opportunities I gained from this program made me change my major in college and goals for my academic future" - Emily Miu

Congratulations and welcome!
... See MoreSee Less

We are over the moon 🌙 to welcome Emily Miu as a first year student this fall!

At first, Emilys path to college was blocked by barriers that were steering her away from what she wants to explore and she considered not attending at all.

That changed after attending the Visions program offered by Scottsdale Arts. Through this program, Emily had the opportunity to work with professional artists and visited us for a workshop.

Through our partnership with Visions, we were able to offer Emily scholarships so she can start her journey as a Wildcat this August! Her parents were misty eyed at the Visions 22 opening reception, saying that she would likely not have attended college at all, if not for Visions and the School of Art!

The scholarship opportunities I gained from this program made me change my major in college and goals for my academic future - Emily Miu

Congratulations and welcome!
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University of Arizona School of Art
1 month ago
University of Arizona School of Art

We are looking for models for our fall courses!
arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/9951?c=arizona
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Model (On Call) (Part Time)

arizona.csod.com

Model for Art classes as scheduled/needed involving drawing from the figure.Applicants must be willing to pose partially clothed and nude for the dura...
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University of Arizona School of Art with Arizona Arts at University of Arizona School of Art.
2 months ago
University of Arizona School of Art

We're so proud of all of our 2022 graduates! This one holds a special spot in our hearts. ❤️

Lauren Paun is graduating with her BFA in Art & Visual Culture Education (emphasis on Community and Museums) and 3D Art. She has been a student employee in the School of Art for two years, working with our social media accounts. You might have talked to her about being featured here! Lauren has been an integral part of our team, doing a lot of heavy lifting to find the fabulous work y'all are creating and sharing it here.

"I would just like to say how grateful I am for the opportunity to have had such an incredible position within the School of Art; I loved supporting and promoting the amazing artists that attend this school and feel so lucky to be able to learn and create beside them. I have loved every minute working here for the past two years and we'll miss it terribly-- but I am so excited to continue my journey and pursue my career in museums. A special thank you to my friends, family, professors, and supervisors for the constant love and support!!"

We could fill encyclopedias with praise for Lauren but hopefully this small note of gratitude can be enough. Good luck!! 🥺😭
... See MoreSee Less

Were so proud of all of our 2022 graduates! This one holds a special spot in our hearts. ❤️

Lauren Paun is graduating with her BFA in Art & Visual Culture Education (emphasis on Community and Museums) and 3D Art. She has been a student employee in the School of Art for two years, working with our social media accounts. You might have talked to her about being featured here! Lauren has been an integral part of our team, doing a lot of heavy lifting to find the fabulous work yall are creating and sharing it here. 

I would just like to say how grateful I am for the opportunity to have had such an incredible position within the School of Art; I loved supporting and promoting the amazing artists that attend this school and feel so lucky to be able to learn and create beside them. I have loved every minute working here for the past two years and well miss it terribly-- but I am so excited to continue my journey and pursue my career in museums. A special thank you to my friends, family, professors, and supervisors for the constant love and support!!

We could fill encyclopedias with praise for Lauren but hopefully this small note of gratitude can be enough. Good luck!! 🥺😭Image attachmentImage attachment+4Image attachment
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Congrats, Lauren!! 🙌💐

Congratulations on a job well done. 👏Very proud of you and your accomplishments.

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University of Arizona School of Art with Arizona Arts at University of Arizona School of Art.
2 months ago
University of Arizona School of Art

Graduation celebrations continue! Let's hear it for one of our newest PhDs, Kasey Stuart! 🎓

"I'm Kasey Stuart and I am graduating with my PhD in Art History and Education. My research explores and questions preservice teachers' reliance upon social media as a resource for lesson plans. Currently, I am developing a program to help art educators critically analyze and amend lesson plans found online before they have brought into K-12 classrooms."

Thank you for doing this critical work that keeps teachers relevant to their students, while also making sure they are intentional and accurate!
... See MoreSee Less

Graduation celebrations continue! Lets hear it for one of our newest PhDs, Kasey Stuart! 🎓

Im Kasey Stuart and I am graduating with my PhD in Art History and Education. My research explores and questions preservice teachers reliance upon social media as a resource for lesson plans. Currently, I am developing a program to help art educators critically analyze and amend lesson plans found online before they have brought into K-12 classrooms.

Thank you for doing this critical work that keeps teachers relevant to their students, while also making sure they are intentional and accurate!Image attachment
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Congrats to Kasey!

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University of Arizona School of Art is at University of Arizona School of Art.
2 months ago
University of Arizona School of Art

We are so glad to see everyone enjoying the incredible work done by our MFA graduates in the 2022 MFA Show! Featured in the @uazmuseumofart is Venessa Ball and her intricate project titled Crosscut: Mining and domesticity, creating a life in spite of and because of the mine.

“As a mining state, Arizona is among the leading producers of copper in the United States.
These large operations required an extensive workforce, from laborers, to geologists, engineers, and company representatives. The mine would often provide housing, schoolhouses and
gathering spaces in the surrounding area, creating an entire town owned by the company itself. Like so many other small communities in America these “boomtown” economies were built on what they believed to be stable and consistent growth. Should the ore deposit run out or the company no longer have the funds to dig any deeper, what then happens to the community? What should also happen if the very commodity the mine needs to keep going just happens to be right under the ground on which they built the town? If you ask the former townspeople of Ray-Sonora, AZ… there is no more town. In 1966, their town was demolished to continue the mine operations.
Thirty years after Ray-Sonora was removed from the map, in 1996, the Magma Copper mine where my father and grandfather worked for decades—and that had provided so much stability for my family—officially closed, because it was deemed too costly to continue operations.
The only way my father could continue his career in mining was to relocate his family to another mining town. This wouldn’t be the last time this happened in my childhood. Chasing the ore was my father’s way of ensuring our family always had a stable and comfortable life.
The delicate patterns cut from family and historical photographs highlight the tension often felt by my family and so many mining families as they attempted to build a life in the shadow of a brutal and unstable industry, dependent on an unsympathetic capitalist economy.” - @venessaball
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We are so glad to see everyone enjoying the incredible work done by our MFA graduates in the 2022 MFA Show! Featured in the @uazmuseumofart is Venessa Ball and her intricate project titled Crosscut: Mining and domesticity, creating a life in spite of and because of the mine.

“As a mining state, Arizona is among the leading producers of copper in the United States. 
These large operations required an extensive workforce, from laborers, to geologists, engineers, and company representatives. The mine would often provide housing, schoolhouses and
gathering spaces in the surrounding area, creating an entire town owned by the company itself. Like so many other small communities in America these “boomtown” economies were built on what they believed to be stable and consistent growth. Should the ore deposit run out or the company no longer have the funds to dig any deeper, what then happens to the community? What should also happen if the very commodity the mine needs to keep going just happens to be right under the ground on which they built the town? If you ask the former townspeople of Ray-Sonora, AZ… there is no more town. In 1966, their town was demolished to continue the mine operations. 
Thirty years after Ray-Sonora was removed from the map, in 1996, the Magma Copper mine where my father and grandfather worked for decades—and that had provided so much stability for my family—officially closed, because it was deemed too costly to continue operations. 
The only way my father could continue his career in mining was to relocate his family to another mining town. This wouldn’t be the last time this happened in my childhood. Chasing the ore was my father’s way of ensuring our family always had a stable and comfortable life.
The delicate patterns cut from family and historical photographs highlight the tension often felt by my family and so many mining families as they attempted to build a life in the shadow of a brutal and unstable industry, dependent on an unsympathetic capitalist economy.” - @venessaballImage attachmentImage attachment+6Image attachment
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University of Arizona School of Art is at University of Arizona School of Art.
2 months ago
University of Arizona School of Art

“Small. Confused. And in Awe.”

In case you haven’t had the chance to see it yet, the 2022 MFA Exhibition is featuring this incredible body of work created by Florence Von Grote! The illustrations are based on treasured memories from the places Florence has lived. The little animals are stand-in protagonists inhabiting, exploring and experiencing dream-based worlds.

“Small. Confused. And in Awe. is based on memories of the places I have lived. Events, people, and places are contorted and blended together into a half-imagined/half-remembered architecture. The nod to children’s book illustration invites the viewer to blur the boundaries between animal and human, reality and imagination.” - @flovong

Featured images are:
Traveler
Progress photo
Cartographer
Gardener
Loiterer
Collector

We urge you to check out Florence’s amazing work in the @uazmuseumofart before the show ends on May 14!
... See MoreSee Less

“Small. Confused. And in Awe.” 

In case you haven’t had the chance to see it yet, the 2022 MFA Exhibition is featuring this incredible body of work created by Florence Von Grote! The illustrations are based on treasured memories from the places Florence has lived. The little animals are stand-in protagonists inhabiting, exploring and experiencing dream-based worlds. 

“Small. Confused. And in Awe. is based on memories of the places I have lived. Events, people, and places are contorted and blended together into a half-imagined/half-remembered architecture. The nod to children’s book illustration invites the viewer to blur the boundaries between animal and human, reality and imagination.” - @flovong 

Featured images are:
Traveler
Progress photo
Cartographer
Gardener
Loiterer
Collector

We urge you to check out Florence’s amazing work in the @uazmuseumofart before the show ends on May 14!Image attachmentImage attachment+3Image attachment
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