The UA Department of Art and Art History presents the master of arts thesis exhibitions of three graduate students, Nathan Childers, Dillan Ladner, and Kat Murray, February 23-March 3, 2023, in the Sella-Granata Art Gallery, Woods Hall, at UA. A reception will be held Thursday, March 2, 4-6 pm. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m., when school is in session. See installation views on Flickr.com.
The Artists
Painting graduate student Nathan Childers writes in his artist statement: “Queerness has often occupied the threshold between presence and erasure. The issue of visibility has been important to queer people historically and continues to play a crucial role in queer self-definition.” Nathan Childers’ paintings have been included in numerous exhibitions around the country. He won the Best in Show award in the exhibition Queer Aesthetics held at Mississippi University for Women Galleries, and received an Honorable Mention at the Georgia Watercolor Society 42nd National Exhibition in Carrollton, Georgia. His work was juried into Ink Only III National Juried Print Biennial, Art Fields (2020 and 2021), Mark Arts Oil Painting National Exhibition and Kansas Watercolor Society National Exhibition. Childers has also participated in one- and three-person shows at Lowe Mill Arts in Huntsville, Alabama, and the Carrollton (Ga.) Center for the Arts. He received the BFA degree cum laude in painting from the University of West Georgia. Read more.
Dillan Ladner is a graduate student in ceramics with an assistantship. Ladner holds the Master of Arts in Teaching from Belhaven University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture from University of Southern Mississippi. They served as the ceramics instructor for Meridian High School (Mississippi) and a Meridian Arts and Entertainment Center adult ceramic instructor. During the summer of 2022, Ladner was an assistant instructor in ceramics for UA Art Camp. They have served as a board member for the Meridian Museum of Art and the Meridian Arts Council. Their website is here.
Printmaking graduate student Kat Murray writes in her artist statement, “Memory is an unreliable witness, and I want to grab traces of what remains of a moment. I use snapshot photography, drawing and monoprints to capture the grit and haze of the environment and the auras of the ghosts left behind.” Murray has work juried into the 2023 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition, Jonesboro, Arkansas; and has been in numerous group shows including Pastime: The Relationship Between our Past Creativity and our Present Selves, Meadows Museum of Art at Centenary College, Shreveport, Louisiana; and Cultural Shifts, MAKEbhm, Birmingham, Alabama. Murray was an assistant instructor in printmaking for UA Art Camp in the summer of 2022 and was a Katzenberger art history intern for the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum. She has held a graduate teaching assistantship at UA and served as a gallery assistant in the Paul R. Jones Museum in Tuscaloosa. She received the Bachelor of Science in Art from the University of Montevallo and an associate’s degree from Wallace Community College in Dothan.
The Sella-Granata Art Gallery is an essential part of the education and development of UA students and our community. Hours are Monday through Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. when school is in session.The gallery is located at 109 Woods Hall, 7th Avenue, on UA campus in Tuscaloosa and admission is free and open to the public. Visitors are welcome, although not required, to wear face coverings inside the gallery.
For more information about The University of Alabama’s programs in studio art and art history, visit our Degree Programs page.