What Otis College Alumnx Have Been Up to This Fall
1980s
Merrilyn Duzy (’88 MFA Fine Art)
Night Fire (Oil on canvas, 60 by 54 inches) by Merrilyn Duzy
Duzy was one of 24 artists included in Reflections on Our Warming Planet, a multidisciplinary group exhibition at Lois Lambert Gallery, in which artists, scientists, filmmakers, and community activists came together to celebrate the natural world, while calling attention to the climate crisis. The exhibition included painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography, as well as short films and documentary interviews. Duzy’s painting, Night Fire (above), was featured in the exhibition, which ran from July 16–September 3, 2022. More information can be found here. You can read more about Duzy on her website, and you can follow her on Instagram, @merrilynduzyart.
Jonas Kulikauskas (’89 BFA Communication Arts, Illustration)
From the series I Often Forget, 2021 (Silver gelatin contact print from 8 by 10 film), taken at the site of the Vilna Great Synagogue and Shulhoyf Research Project, Žydų Street, Vilnius, Lithuania (within boundaries of the former Vilnius Ghetto).
Kulikauskas had work and gave an artist talk as part of the exhibition, Yosemite People, at the Haggin Museum, which ran from August 18–October 16. You can read more about it here. He also will have a solo exhibition, I Often Forget, at the Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery at California State University, Los Angeles in June 2023. Of his solo exhibition, Kulikauskas writes: I Often Forget is a photographic project that confronts the historical omission of the Holocaust perpetuated by generations of Lithuanians worldwide. A World War II-era lens is fastened to a modern, 8 by 10-inch film camera to photograph life in what used to be the Vilnius Ghetto. Mundane scenes paired with site-specific historic descriptions explore ethnic nationalism, anti-Semitism, and cultural desecration, while provoking a haunting recollection of the 40,000 Jews systematically murdered.” For this collection of photographic works Kulikauskas was awarded a 2022 Puffin Foundation Grant for Photography.
2010s
Camille Alexandria (’16 BFA Fashion Design)
One of Alexandria’s gowns was featured on the cover of KCFW Magazine.
Alexandria recently showed her first solo collection for Kansas City Fashion Week (KCFW) last spring. KCFW paired with the CFDA Connects program to highlight independent and emerging designers in the fashion community. In addition, one of Alexandria’s gowns was featured on the cover of KCFW Magazine (above).