SooVAC + MCAD MFA: An Exhibition
in Honor of Suzy Greenberg

FEATURING WORK BY: Julie Benda, Anna Biedenbender, Kelsey Bosch, Allison Brown, Kayla Campbell, Dana Kristine Cheit, Michaela Chorn, Liza Dorsey, Preston Drum, Andi Fink, Cong Hu, Essma Imady, Katherine Lupton, Mandy Martinson, Sarah Faye McPherson, Alex Mitchell, Niky Motekallem, Kathryn Miller, Shiraz Mukarram, Chelsea Reeck, Dan Romanoski, Christopher Selleck, Dan Romanoski, Samantha Russell, Suyao Tian, and Eric Yevak

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Jurors: Mia Lopez and Kim Witczak

This is the fourteenth year that Soo Visual Arts Center is hosting an exhibition of selected works from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design MFA Program, continuing SooVAC’s commitment to supporting the Master of Fine Arts program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

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SooVAC founder, Suzy Greenberg, herself an alumna of the program, began featuring MCAD MFA candidates annually when she opened SooVAC in 2001. We are pleased to continue Suzy's tradition of working with students, presenting them with the opportunity to present their work in a professional exhibition space and gain experience to prepare them for their careers outside of school.

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“Paramount to all of Suzy Greenberg's work is people. Lifesize, real people. When Suzy opened the doors to SooVac in 2001 she knew that she wanted a place where artists could experiment, take risks, get experience. She was one step ahead. Always. Someone would show at SooVac and the next thing you knew they were winning awards and popping up in reviews everywhere. The list of artists she worked with is a massive array of talent in all media, and an amazing group of people. Suzy’s talent, lay not only in her eye, which was impeccable, but she saw in artists things they did not yet see themselves.” -Andrea Carlson and Tamatha Perlman

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This year, MCAD MFA candidates for 2016, were invited to submit artwork for consideration. Jurors Mia Lopez and Kimberly Witczak selected 25 artists for the exhibition.

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Mia Lopez
Mia Lopez is a curator and educator with over ten years of experience in museums and non-profit art spaces. As the 2013—2015 Curatorial Fellow for Visual Arts at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis she collaborated on exhibitions, programs, and catalogues including 9 Artists (October 2013), Art at the Center: 75 Years of Walker Collections (October 2014) and International Pop (April 2015). In 2013 she completed dual Masters at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism and Arts Administration and Policy; her graduate thesis examined anthropology, museology, and performance in work by Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Coco Fusco. She also has a BA in Art History from Rice University. Prior to graduate school Mia was the Programming Coordinator at the Museo Alameda in San Antonio, Texas where she designed and managed public programs pertaining to Latino art, history, and culture. She has interned and worked nationally, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Smithsonian’s Hirshshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Contemporary Art Museum Houston. Mia is also a 2012 alumnus of the Smithsonian Latino Museum Studies Fellowship. She has lectured and participated in juries and panels at the Smithsonian Latino Center, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Minnesota, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, ArtPrize, and the Rochester Art Center.

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Kim Witczak
Kim Witczak is a highly versatile professional and is dedicated to making the world — even the little things — beautiful, thoughtful, and meaningful. She is an artist and experienced freelance advertising art producer with 20 years developing brands and advertising campaigns for industry leading agencies and clients. Prior to going on her own, Kim was senior art producer at Fallon Minneapolis where she worked on award winning clients such as BMW, United Airlines, Timex, and Nordstrom. She recently was judge in the 2015 national American Photographic Artists photo competition. Kim has presented at the ICON illustration conference, Minneapolis College Art & Design photograph, illustration and professional practices classes. and participates on art panels and Minneapolis College Art & Design photograph, illustration and professional practices classes. Kim’s personal life experiences have led her to a passion of creating change for the better. As the co-founder of Woodymatters, Free Arts Minnesota and Selling Sickness – People Before Profits, she brings collaboration and innovation through a marketing lens to transforming health issues.

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