Alumni News
We are thrilled to share ongoing news about the many wonderful achievements of our CVA School of Art Alumni! Are you an alum as well? Follow the link below to share your news with us too!
Ash Garner 
Felicity Machado 
Bryan Fernandez
January 2024
January 5 – February 29,2024: Ash Garner is currently featured in beLONGING at InLiquid, highlighting the work of four LGBTQIA+ artists whose practice reflects on identity.This exhibition is part of the citywide project (re)FOCUS, a collaboration among over 25 of Philadelphia’s visual arts institutions to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of FOCUS, a milestone exhibition of American women artists, held in Philadelphia in 1974.
November 2023
November 4 – January 21, 2024: Bryan Fernandez will be in Open Call 2023 a group exhibition at The Shed in Hudson, NY. Fernandez is the youngest to be accepted into the program.
September 2023
September 15 – October 15 2023: Felicity Machado is included in the 2023 Momentum Intersection Exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion. Each year up to three artists are invited to reimagine the potential of Pilkington float glass through exhibition.
May 2023
Janna Avner, Dobkin Artist Fellow, School for Advanced Research in 2023, will explore the integration of painting and light sources through dichroic films, beadwork and light. Artist Talk and Studio Tour: May, 18 2023 at the School for Advanced Research, New Mexico.
March 2023
The Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts announces Shelby Fleming as the Artist Award winner for 2023.
February 2023
Jessica Valoris is hosting an in-person and virtual artist talk for her most recent exhibition Passage/way/s which centers the liberatory practices of enslaved ancestors through mixed media installation. Feb 23 @6pm: in-person interactive tour + artist talk, Feb 28 @6pm: virtual walk through + artist talk.
December 2022
December 3-12: Marshall Ransfield Senior Thesis Exhibition showing in the Illges Gallery at Columbus State University, and Graduating undergrad (BFA). December 9th graduation date.
October 2022
Elizabeth Gonzalez has co-authored BIPOC Alliances: Building Communities and Curricula. Book Release Presentations include: Curriculum and Pedagogy Conference on Oct.20, Bipoc Alliances Presentation San Benito Cultural Center on Dec. 10, and TAEA Conference McAllen, TX on Nov. 10, 2022.
Carol Ramsey created costume designs for “The Curse of Bridge Hollow”, a Marlon Wayans Halloween film for fun family viewing, which premiered on Netflix October 15, 2022.
Chris Jagmin is a 2022 Pollack-Krasner Award Grantee.
September 2022
September 7-12, 2022: Xayvier Haughton is participating in SPRING/BREAK Art Show.
September 15 to October 22, 2022: Rachel Rickert is presenting a solo exhibition of her new work in “Close Range” at Alice Gauvin Gallery, Portland, ME.
March 2022
“Gut Feeling,” Shelby Fleming’s first fashion line, walked the runway during NWA Fashion week at the Momentary. The expanding line currently features 10 wearable sculptures.
January 2022
Lehna Huie (@lehnahuie) is featured in MFA Annual issue #153 of New American Paintings, juried by Lauren Haynes, Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC.
Lehna Huie (@lehnahuie) is awarded Artist Changemaker, Cohort 2. The Artist Changemaker Program at Global Fund for Women supports artists who are making the gender justice revolution irresistible by using their art as a tool for new visions of the world.
January 14 – February 23, 2022: Shwarga Bhattacharjee will have his first solo exhibition at Twelve Gates Arts in Philadelphia. Opening Reception is January 14th (5:30PM-7:30PM).
December 2021
December 5, 2021: The Aftab Committee, an organization in Washington, D.C. that supports Iranian-American artists, invited Ava Makenali to share her space and artist journey as an international person through this video.
November 2021
November 12, 2021 – December 12, 2021: Constance McBride Solo exhibition “The Lonely Girls” at Tubbs Gallery, Rehoboth Beach, DE. “Making Sense of Alzheimer’s”, a platform within UPenn Med is a sponsor.
October 2021
July 9, 2021 – January 23, 2022: Claire Stankus Solo painting exhibition titled, Something Similar, at the Amuse Restaurant at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art; also a 2020 VMFA Emergency Relief Fellowship Recipient.
September 2021
September 23, 2021 – November 6, 2021: Azza El Siddique and Teto Elsiddique’s exhibition, “fire is love, water is sorrow – a distant fire,” is a Critic’s Pick in Art Forum.
February 3, 2022: Book cover illustration by 2021 Alumni Akilah Watts for “Kemosha of the Caribbean” written by Alex Wheatle. Pre-order now, book coming February 3, 2022.
March 2021
March 5–28, 2021: 2020 Alumni Leslie Fandrich featured in No Whole Without the Part, opening March 5 at Womenswork.art in Poughkeepsie, NY, with a virtual artist talk on March 13th.
January 2021
January 2021–April 4,2021: 2011 resident Mara Eagle featured in La machine qui enseignait des airs aux oiseaux, at Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal, QC, Canada.
January 11–29: 2018 Alumni Margaret O’Keefe featured as part of the Junior Scholarship Exhibition at The Salmagundi Club in NYC.
December 2020
December 5: two-person show “Merging Waters” featuring works by 2019 alumni Ashante Kindle and Khari Turner at The Red Arrow Gallery in Nashville, TN.
December 7–February 21: Leslie Fandrich, a 2020 resident, is one of six artists holding concurrent solo shows at The Ely Center of Contemporary Art in New Haven, CT.
November 2020
Through November 1: Work by 2020 resident Katie Shulman featured in “Apposition” at Everyone Museum of Art. Syracuse, NY.
Through November 19: 2020 resident Jessi Li featured in group exhibition “The Planter Show” presented by Fort Makers. New York, NY.
Through November 20: 2020 resident Josie Del Castillo is a participant in group show “Between Two Worlds” at the University of Texas’ Visual Arts Center. Austin, TX.
October 2020
2020 resident Jason Elizondo made Co-Director of virtual art space Please Don’t Come to This Show.
2020 resident Timothy Hyunsoo Lee is featured in article “5 Artists to Follow if You Like Yayoi Kusama” by Juliana Lopez on Artsy.
Through October 3: Exhibition “The Feminine Perception: Beauty and Nonsense” featuring works by 2020 resident Leslie Fandrich on view at the Rockland Center for the Arts, Nyack, NY.
May Maylisa Cat: 2020 Franklin Furnace Fund Grant Recipient
October 2–January 24: 2019 Alumni Kris Rumman, Lauren Fueyo, and 2020 Resident May Maylisa Cat will be exhibiting in Pittsburg Glass Center’s show “The United.” Pittsburg, PA.
October 4–November 1: May Maylisa Cat is one of 5 artists being showcased at the 2020 GLEAN Exhibition at Disjeta Contemporary Art Center. Portland, OR.
October 7–28: 2020 resident Padyn Humble to participate in group show “Reality Flex” at Paradice Palase in Brooklyn, NY.
October 13: 2020 alumna Makeba Rainey’s work featured on the cover of Audre Lorde’s “The Cancer Journals” book, published by Penguin Random House.
October 18: 2020 resident Amy Cousins to participate in panel “Queer Ephemera Et Cetera: Encounters in the Archive” for the Mid-America Print Council 2020 virtual Symposium. Kent State University, Kent, OH.
Through October 21: 2019 alumnus Khari Turner featured in virtual exhibition “Forget What You Know” co-curated with Kourosh Mahboubian via Whitehot Magazine.
October 23: 2020 alumnus Jonathan Adams invited to present a virtual Artist Lecture at the University of Tennessee – Chattanooga.
October 30–December 4: 2019 alumni Shannon Stovall and Michelle Girardello, and 2020 alumni Jason Elizondo, will be exhibiting work in “Works from Home” at ARTpartment NYC in Brooklyn, NY, co-curated by 2019 alumnus Zac Thompson.
Through October 31: works by 2020 resident Andrew Hendrixson featured in group show “Ritual, Hope, Desire” presented by James May Gallery via Artsy.
