PNCA MFA in Visual Studies

PNCA MFA Thesis Film Premiere (2026) Hosted by

A Screening of (3) PNCA MFA Thesis Films by Mango Chardiet , Casey Durand .d.durand , and Dani Wilder at PICA.

PICA
15 NE Hancock St
Portland, OR 97212
Friday, Apr 24 from 6 PM to 10 PM

Free & Open to the Public
~ Eventbrite Link in the bio!!! ~

Last full day in NY with the fist half at the and the second half spent with Kyung-Me in their studio ( ). Thank you for welcoming us into your space with such vulnerability, honesty, & insight 💖

Stunning Day 2 at the Whitney Biennial ✨ - super appreciate Malcolm Peacock ( ) taking the time to discuss his art & process with our cohorts. We also got a behind the scenes look at the preparatory side of gallery work with ( with )

First Day in NY for the MA & MFA Cohorts - big thanks to William Petroni of , and (currently showing at ) for taking the time to chat with us ✨

This Thursday at PNCA:
Sh*tshow, the joint effort of PNCA’s MFA Visual Studies & Print Media programs, demonstrates interdisciplinary journeys into embracing the unknown and making meaning. This exhibition marks momentariness as a powerful source of interchange between urgency and slowing down. Its work encourages making a mess within a chaotic world while actively reflecting upon it.

Our VS Second-Year cohort is back from , feeling refreshed and ready for thesis proposals this December!

Sending a special thank you to Isabelle Albuquerque for her compelling lecture and studio visits with our grads. So many raved of the experience. None of it would have happened without the generosity of and . 🙏 Be sure not to miss The Wandering Womb (October 11th - January 31st)!!

More photos from Cat’s Cradle, on display until October 14th at PNCA’s 157 Gallery.

Art by
art

Kobey Bonin
Limei Lai
Isabella Saavedra
& Hayashi Wilder

Curated by

TONIGHT! CAT’S CRADLE - 157 Gallery - Oct 1st / Oct 14th - 511 NW Broadway
Charli Beck, Kobey Bonin, Limei Lai, Ella Martini, Isabella Saavedra, and Hayashi Wilder
Curated by Lauren Hough

A string figure can do infinite things; form shapes, connect people and places, tell stories, play games, tangle and untangle… Inspired by Donna Haraway’s notion of the ‘string figure’ as a method of assembly that “propose[s] and enact[s] patterns for participants to inhabit…on a vulnerable and wounded earth”, the string figure, such as a Cat’s Cradle, becomes the ideal instruction for creating art in an immensely connected world.

CAT’S CRADLE invites us to question the boundaries of the “self” and the “human”, and to recognize the complex, knotted relations we are inextricably woven in. The emergent structures in the gallery suggest a desire for new entangements with the world around us in ways that might restructure our sensual impulses, sense of time and scale, and ethical imperatives.

Here, viewers are introduced to a variety of stringy mediums including fiber optic cables, strands of hair, mesh, taught ropes, and hand-spun yarn. Each of the six artists’ pieces speaks to an ecological sense of the string figure, but also each artist’s practice of world-building found in the act of figuration.

Big thank you to , recently featured in Warp Speed: Contemporary Conversations in Fiber at PNCA, who came to visit a number of our MFA Visual Studies students this past week!

What a treat! Sending big thanks to TK Smith, curator of the 2026 Oregon Contemporary Artists’ Biennial, for meeting with our MFA Visual Studies students this past week. So much sharpness and warmth in one package! Also, thanks to Dustin Williams for facilitating TK’s visit.