News and Media

Published: Jan 28, 2011

A full-circle moment is one of those magical experiences in life when you find yourself in the exact same place or situation you've been in before - yet you are changed.

For six SCAD alumni, this year's deFINE ART (Feb. 22-26) is a full circle moment in the making. Years ago, Michael Porten (B.F.A., illustration, 2004), Misty Bennett (B.F.A., painting, 1996), Katherine Sandoz (M.F.A., painting, 2005; M.F.A., illustration, 1997), Chris Scarborough (B.F.A., illustration, 2000), Meredith Pardue (B.F.A., painting, 1998) and Caomin Xie (M.F.A., painting, 2001) came to SCAD as students on a quest for artistic self-definition. Now, at the second deFINE ART, SCAD's newest signature art event, they are back at school - this time as acclaimed professional artists invited to the event to share their experience, wisdom and gifts with current SCAD students. They join a roster of renowned artists, art professionals and art enthusiasts who will be on hand at the five-day event, including Marina Abramović, Gary Tinterow, Sarah Thornton, Sarah Lewis and Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid.

The alumni work will be featured in an exhibition called "Six in One: SCAD in New American Paintings." Each artist was featured in the 88th edition of "New American Paintings," the highly regarded art journal known for featuring emerging talents in contemporary art.

Porten's painting (shown above) made the cover of the "New American Paintings" issue. He is currently exhibiting his show, "Homesick," at the P.J.S. Galleries in New York City. Bennett was the artist-in-residence at Georgia's Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences. Double M.F.A. alumna Sandoz was featured in the publications Antiques and the Arts Weekly as well as Art in America. Scarborough held a solo exhibition at the Marcia Wood Gallery in Atlanta. Pardue's work has been shown in both House Beautiful and Dwell magazine. Xie, whose work was recently shown at Savannah's Gutstein Gallery, has also exhibited at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

"It's a great honor to be included and to be in great company with the other artists," said Pardue of her inclusion in both deFINE ART and "New American Paintings." Being a part of a community of artists is a familiar experience for Pardue, bringing her back to her days at the university.

"My best memory of SCAD was when a group of friends would create temporary exhibitions," she recalled. "Whether it was a show at Gallery Espresso or my friend's apartment on Oglethorpe Avenue, we were always working on group projects. We are still working together, and we are still supporting each other."

Being a SCAD student had a significant impact on Xie as well. "If I didn't go to SCAD, I could not imagine I'd still be working as a painter," he noted.

Two paintings from Xie's kaleidoscopic Mandala series will be on display at deFINE ART. Mandalas are a symbol most commonly associated with Buddhism, and Xie uses them in his work to "embod[y] the Buddhist concepts of creation, maintenance, destruction and emptiness." He explores how those concepts relate to our increasingly interconnected world "as we confront the stupendous creative and destructive powers of today's technology." It is fitting that this SCAD student-turned-visiting artist would bring mandala paintings to this year's deFINE ART. After all, mandala is a sanskrit word, meaning, appropriately, "circle."

Read more about deFINE ART 2011, Feb. 22-26.