MFA student Ana Maria Farina ’21g (Studio Art) has been named the 2021 recipient of the College Art Association (CAA) Professional Development Fellowship in Visual Arts, a highly competitive award given to just one artist each year.
Farina is a visual artist born in Brazil and currently based in the Hudson Valley. She is a graduate student in New Paltz’s Master of Fine Arts program and has also served as visiting artist director and instructor of record.
The CAA’s announcement of Farina’s award describes her approach as follows:
“Ana Maria Farina paints using a gun––a tufting gun––along with needles, hooks, and knots. Repurposing a phallic signifier of violence, she conjures vibrant objects of comfort that inhabit a mystical pictorial space between abstraction and representation.”
Farina will exhibit at the MFA Thesis Exhibition at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art from May 15 – 23, 2021.
For more examples of Farina’s work and process, follow her on Instagram @anamafarina.
As this year’s Professional Development Fellow, Farina will receive a one-time, unrestricted grant of $10,000 to support her practice and/or job-search expenses.
More information about the MFA at SUNY New Paltz can be found at this link.
