Graduates 2026

Tiffany Aiello

Tiffany Aiello an interdisciplinary artist from Roseville, California. She received a BFA in Studio Art from Sacramento State University in 2023 and is currently pursuing an MFA in Art at UC Santa Barbara. Her work is held in private collections and has been exhibited at Blue Line Arts, R. W. & Joyce Witt Gallery, Robert Else Gallery, and the California State Fair. Her creative practice is propelled by a lifelong interest in zoology, the solidarity of outcasts, and guided by her experiences as a neurodivergent woman. Through overstimulating and peculiar juxtapositions, she invents worlds with figures that exist at the intersections of human, beast and object.

My subject matter explores the tumultuous human experience using animal metaphors and hybrid vessels, woven together with humor and tragedy. I portray my worlds through an idiosyncratic lens, where things exist in the spaces between and outside binaries. These human-animal, object-animal figures often find themselves in the throes of conflict and isolation. Animals are my ideal vessel to emphasize the feeling of being disconnected from society; ability to communicate is altered or inaccessible, behaviors present themselves primally, and there is infinite diversity which mirrors that of human identity.

https://plasticanimal2001.neocities.org

Instagram: @plasticanimal2001

Alexis Childress

Alexis Childress (1993) is a photo based artist born and raised in Illinois, relocating to Atlanta in 2013 and currently residing in Florida since 2021. Holding a BFA from Georgia State University (2020), she draws inspiration from Afrofuturism. Leveraging technology to navigate the intersection of pop culture, racial identity, and societal critique through photography, collage and physical mark making.

Alexis has exhibited in venues such as MINT Gallery, Good News Arts, Atlanta Photography Group Gallery and the Rhode Island Center of Photographic Arts. A self-published author, her contributions extend to publications like Burnaway Magazine, Create! Magazine and the New York Public Library Zine. Alexis has been recognized with the Red Bull Arts Microgrant, the Georgia Visual Artist Grant from the Judith Alexander Foundation as well as selected to present at the 2021 Society of Photographic Education National Conference.

https://alexischildress.com

Hope Christofferson

Hope Christofferson spent her childhood homeschooling in the Black Hills of South Dakota, surrounded by nature which served to spark a love for fairy-tales. Having an interest in traditional mediums, her works primarily consists of watercolor and clay. After a few years spent traveling the world in search of mythical creatures, Hope settled back into reality to make a new world that synthesizes dream and reality.
Over the course of the past few years Hope has explored her interests in nature and fantasy through artist residencies in secluded cabins and medieval cities. Through her travels she meets many wonderful people with whom she tells stories, illustrates, sings, and builds new lore that synthesize the varied perspectives of creative minds. When not painting, Hope can be found swimming with mermaids or dragon-hunting with unicorns.

I believe in the continued use of fantasy as a tool to digest reality through play. I’m fascinated by how folklore once rationalized events like lightning, rainbows, love, death, and plagues. I draw parallels between the functions of folklore and the scientific counterparts that have come to replace it. Overtime, I’ve come to accept I cannot bear to live in mundanity, and have retreated into the novelty of interior fantasy on a quest for truth. Logic can explain how things happen, but not always why they happen. Choosing to see the world in an inquisitive light invites belonging, hope, and love into the soul. The metaphors within myth and folklore provide answers that nothing else can address, for they are paradoxically unique enough to fit anyone’s soul. Fueled by my deep love for nature, I incorporate personal symbology derived from my past to illuminate the sacred significance of plants and animals within human life. Many of my paintings are made in the woods, or on the beach where I use watercolor to blend the intricate details of trees, mushrooms, seaweed, shells and flowers into new lifeforms.

https://www.hopechristoffersonart.com/

Vivek Karthikeyan

Vivek (b. 1986, Abu Dhabi) is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and filmmaker of South Asian-Indian ethnicity working at the intersection of moving image, spoken word, sound, text, devised performance and digital art. Working predominantly in an experimental idiom that emphasizes contingency of process and a more visceral subjective experience for the viewer, Vivek is interested in extending the image beyond the screen frame into an immersive, “expanded cinema” experience that incorporates the spatiality of newer forms like xR, 3D modeling and computational imagery. His work often deals with themes such as the ambiguities of the creative process, the predicament of subjectivity in the digital age, technological dystopia, urban alienation and angst (thanks to his double life as artist and tech worker.)

Vivek trained in cinematography at the prestigious Mindscreen Film Institute in India and has worked on several independent films screened at venues including International Film Festival of Rotterdam, Scary Cow Film Festival in San Francisco, and Mono X Festival in New York, among others. Born and raised in the Middle East of Asian Indian descent before moving to the US as an adult, he feels both at home and forever in exile everywhere.

https://sites.google.com/view/vivekk

KeyShawn Scott

KeyShawn Scott holds a BA in Art Studio from UC Davis and is currently pursuing an MFA at UC Santa Barbara. His work has been featured in notable exhibitions, including “What You Give” at the Latino Center of Art & Culture in Sacramento, CA, and “Larger Than Life: Murals in the Making” at The Barn Gallery in Woodland, CA. KeyShawn is committed to using his art to make a positive impact on underprivileged youth and to celebrate African-American culture.

My art is aimed at empowering underprivileged youth by challenging societal norms and stereotypes, all while celebrating the richness of African-American culture. Most of my drawings explore the concept of strength inherent in softness, employing various mediums to convey the depths of human emotions. These drawings strive to establish a profound human connection, making those who often feel invisible seen through my art. I aspire to create art that leaves a lasting impression on the viewer.

keyshawnscott.com
Instagram: sklamar_