Troubling the Field|Touch in Contemporary Drawing
Brynn Higgins-Stirrup Charles Kanwischer Marina Kassianidou Amie McNeel
About the Artists
Brynn Higgins-Stirrup is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist working in drawing and sculpture. She is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in Drawing at the University of Texas at Dallas. She has presented numerous solo exhibitions internationally, including An Index of Longing at YYZ Artists' Outlet in Toronto, Canada, and Figure Drawn at The Gallery at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts in Qatar, Doha, Qatar (where she launched a publication of the same name on her work). She’s received multiple major grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, including Concept to Realization and Explore and Create grants and has served as an Artist-in-Residence at Virginia Commonwealth University’s campus in Doha, Qatar.
Higgins-Stirrup holds an MFA in Art from the University of Michigan and has completed research grants in Japan and Switzerland, working with paper makers, artists, and academics in the fields of visual culture and contemporary drawing.
Charles Kanwischer is currently serving as the Director of the School of Art at Bowling Green State University. He has presented numerous solo exhibitions of his drawings, most recently at the Dishman Art Museum at Lamar University in 2022. He’s participated in many national and regional group exhibitions including “The Pencil Show” at Foxy Production in New York City, “Small Worlds” at the Toledo Museum of Art, and "Visions and Revisions, Art on Paper Since 1960" at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Kanwischer is the recipient of eight Individual Artist Excellence Awards from the Ohio Arts Council Awards and his work is included in such public and private collections as the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Akron Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Clinic.
Kanwischer holds an MFA in Painting/Printmaking from the Yale University School of Art and a BFA in Printmaking from the University of Iowa.
Marina Kassianidou’s practice combines painting, drawing, collage, artist’s books, installation, and site-responsive work. She currently lives and works between Boulder, Colorado and Limassol, Cyprus. A graduate of Stanford University, she obtained an M.A. in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London and later completed a Ph.D. in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London.
Her work has been exhibited internationally at spaces such as the House of Cyprus in Athens, Greece, NiMAC(Nicosia, Cyprus), Thkio Ppalies (Nicosia, Cyprus), Tenderpixel Gallery(London, UK), Stand4 Gallery (Brooklyn,NY), YesMa’am Projects(Denver,CO),Lane Meyer Projects(Denver,CO),and Rule Gallery (Marfa,TX). She has been awarded residencies at the Ragdale Foundation, Hambidge Center, Ox-Bow, and The Studios at MASS MoCA, among others. She is a recipient of the 2016 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant
Amie Laird McNeel is a sculptor with roots in the Great Lakes region, born and raised in Michigan. A graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, she received her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and MFA from the University of California at Berkeley. Her studio practice incorporates a variety of materials including metal, clay, wood and glass, while maintaining a dedicated drawing/collage practice that engages at times printmaking and photography. Exhibitions include, the Hangzhou International Contemporary Glass Triennial in Hangzhou, China and a 5-month experimental residency at MadArt Studio in Seattle WA.
McNeel has been a resident artist at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, The Studio at The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, the Museum of Glass, Tacoma WA, and the Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood WA. Other engagements include, The International Academic Symposium at Urban Glass NYC, the Glass Arts Society Annual Conference, and the Chrysler Museum of Art. McNeel has taught sculpture for over three decades, serving as chair of programs at the University of Utah, Cleveland Institute of Art and the at the 3D Forum (3D4M) Studio Program at the University of Washington, Seattle WA