Work by the Students of the Frostic School of Art | Juried by Sara Strong Glupker

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Artist Statements

'no' 'no' - Ez Andree

"______" - Ez Andree

Home is not just a place, it is the environment you intentionally cultivate and the people you choose to share it with. It is built from comfort, trust, and connections, shaped by the moments and relationships that make you feel grounded. The creation of a comforting and welcoming environment is imperative to my happiness, work ethic, and overall peace of life. For as long as I can remember, I have been obsessed with lighting and what it can do to transform a space. This led me to my love of Japanese lanterns, lighting, and architecture inspiring my pieces. Using the phrase “wabi-sabi”, the aesthetic of finding beauty in imperfection, asymmetry, and simplicity, I attempt to transform a space with intimate lighting. All of my lamps adopt warm lights and earthy tones in both the glaze and wood to create a calm, earthy atmosphere, a place I would be happy to call home.

Wabi-sabi - Tori Brown

They say “home is where the heart is.” Personally, my heart lies in the nostalgia from my childhood. I have Little Einsteins to thank for my early exposure to classical music and famous works of art, and my parents for their stories of their trips abroad. Stemming from these memories grows my fascination with France and my longing to be there. In the summer of 2024, I was fortunate enough to study abroad in Aix-en-Provence, making copies of masterworks, and my own en plein air landscape paintings. One of my favorite pieces from my childhood is Monet’s Water Lilies, and this is my reproduction. Rendering this painting on an outdoor patio—overlooking a pottery shed and cypress trees in the distance—was a truly magical experience, building on my early memories and turning my dreams into a reality. That was the moment I felt at home.

Monet Copy - Cameron Carlson

My grandmas were both artists; their talent was what inspired me to take on my own journey, and it's in my blood because of them. When I was growing up, they both taught me the ways of the art world, how to appreciate my own creativity, and how to express myself through my work. Their home studios were proof of this, both of which I would spend a good amount of my childhood in watching them work, and then trying my best to follow in their footsteps. A textile artist and a painter, their studios were a sanctuary, a classroom, a bedroom, and a workstation. The front pays homage to my paternal grandmother's studio, with her yarn covering and flowing off the canvas, her talent always showing, even in old age. The back honors my maternal grandmother, her talent with a brush, and her eagerness to teach me; the canvases she would let me have would form the foundation of this piece.

Grandma's House - Ben Cabel

I've lost my grandparents, more recently I lost my grandmas in a span of a year, and during that time I never made a piece in regards to them or their passing. It was something that hurt me deeply, because I wanted to pay respect to those who gave everything to help me through the years, which is why this three-panel piece was created, to depict my upbringing - the homes of love and care that I have come to call my own. Home to me is where your family is, it's where you're raised with love, and in each of these homes, though their owners are now gone, I still feel the connection of a loving home.

Where I Go - Ben Cabel

The time we spend with family can be fleeting, especially when life changes are coming and you're unaware. My family is the dearest thing to me; rarely do I look back at things with sadness in my heart, but there was a moment of pure joy that is now covered in a blanket of grief. My last time ever enjoying the moments I had when I drank, the time I played with family, and enjoyed the company of others. Ghostly after-images fill the makeshift table in a flannel blanket, but the blue surrounding and filling the painting becomes a foreshadowing of my feelings to come. The work of trying to maintain an atmosphere of a memory I no longer do, or ever see daily, a mood was achieved because my present feelings were applied to such a fond memory. The home of joy is filled to the brim with the sadness that comes with regret and a desire to return.

Memory of Melancholy - Ben Cabel

I’m beginning my journey home. Not a Journey that I can explain. But when I get to my destination, I will find peace.

A Drive Home - Jayden Carrington

I’ve lived in Michigan for most of my life, so Lake Michigan is a subject I’ve returned to in my paintings more than once. I love capturing the interaction between people and nature, which I did in this piece through the emphasis of the footprints. This specific painting is from the lakeshore about thirty minutes from my home.

The day I referenced while painting this was in winter. The beach was almost completely empty apart for me and my dad, most people put off by the chill from the lake. I represented us in the figures and footprints. We spent the day gathering various pieces of driftwood, which we used to create the frame surrounding this piece.

Lake Michigan from Warren Dunes - Gabriella Davolt Vana

On The Inside is an experimental animation using watercolor and markers to shine a light on childhood trauma. The work is inviting but as you move around the space is not as friendly as expected. Each room is influenced by different childhood experiences on how I observed others in my home and how it affected me. By sharing these experiences it can show that we are not alone and we learn to heal from them.

On The Inside - Caylie Dibble

Heimweh - Viktoria Diwert

When we all come home from a long day there is a place where we all gather together. At the dinner table, some of us come home tired, some of us come home happy that the day is over but no matter what how we feel we will always gather together to decompress and share a meal. Which is something I will always be grateful to do.

Family Portrait - Letzy Duran-Villegas

The little piece of home that I can take everywhere with me. I love this juice and may be able to get it here in Kalamazoo but not this specific can. I miss seeing the displays at the Mexican grocery stores so being able to take a few cans and drink them around campus brings me comfort that I’ll be back soon.

Fruta de mi terra - Letzy Duran-Villegas

Estudia para que no termines como yo - Letzy Duran-Villegas

Help Yourself - Alexa Garcia

In this piece, I wanted to portray a bakery scene based off Saturday morning bakery trips with my mother after SMART classes. The bakery scene is inspired by Makenzie’s bakery and Victorian Bakery due to those being our go-to spots for pastry stops. When making this piece, I used gouache, paint pens, various alcohol markers, colored pencils, and wax water-soluble crayons. By using these mediums, I was able to create a warm cozy scene with various textures and colors. This piece is a fitting example of a home environment for me. My mother always has been a big coffee and pastry type of person, so I made this piece in honor of her and her love for bakery trips. 

Saturday Morning Bakery - Alexa Garcia

Twine - Faye Haffner

Rainfall - Faye Haffner

Wirklichkeit - Faye Haffner

What am I without your admiration? - Laine Hinton

Belonging is an anaglyph painting that explores emotional identity within a single self. The three fused heads depict the same girl experiencing different emotional states, emphasizing how these emotions coexist rather than exist separately. Happiness is shown in the center, sadness is shown on the left, and anger is shown on the right. Each head contains a room from her house, transforming personal spaces into reflections of her internal world and suggesting that home is both a source of comfort and emotional complexity. The merging of the heads and the anaglyph effect create visual overlap and disorientation, mirroring the way emotions blur together and shape one’s sense of belonging.

Belonging - Sofia Huffman

I am someone who grew up on animated films and continues to enjoy them to this day. Disney’s animated film Luca served as the inspiration for this ceramic work. I get such a nostalgic feeling when rewatching classic hand-drawn animations I loved as a kid. This is how I gained my creative spark and developed an appreciation for the art around me. Watching these films makes me feel at home and will continue to influence my creative endeavors. When creating this piece, I wanted to capture a sense of movement. You may notice the boy’s focused, determined expression and his tight grip on the handles. There is a sense of invincibility that comes with being a child. My childhood memories and imagination that knew no boundaries will always feel like home.

Silencio Bruno - Emily Jimenez

This animation represents the feeling of an everlasting cycle of the same routine. The demanding tasks of being an art student can be a lot to take on. The black and brown line art symbolizes how certain days can feel mundane and repetitive. Being a Kinetic Imaging major, spending entire days at the computer lab can feel endless. My classmates and I have that in common. We spend so much of our time there; it often feels like our second home. Being stuck in that room with a screen in your face can be frustrating and even draining at times. Strangely enough, I still consider it to be home.


Greta - Emily Jimenez

A Mother's Love - Jessica Lin

Fidget - Jessica Lin

Where Loved Ones Linger - Laura Mastenbrook

Harvest - Laura Mastenbrook

Signed, Yours Truly - Laura Mastenbrook

This series dives into the architectural beauty of houses a.k.a. homes. With careful brushstrokes of the cyanotype chemical, I wanted to create a painterly border, not quite allowing the full image to be seen. With the chatter of the edges, there lays a disconnect between the audience and the entire view of the house. Some things aren’t meant to be seen all at once, sometimes the home is a sacred space that is separate from the outside world. My mind lights up with imagination and mystery by creating my own little stories for these homes as they are shared, I invite the viewer to do the same. 

My Pieces to the Puzzle - Nora Sanborn

Cecil Taylor

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To us, fire typically means disaster, destruction, and loss. To the prairie, it is a necessary step for it to flourish. The wonder of this innate cycle is that it is facilitated by humans. The meddling of the human hand is not an affront to nature. The prairie shows us how we are a part of the natural world as much as it is a part of us. The American prairie is high maintenance and requires a caretaker, as it has for 10,000 years by the people of North America.  

To me, the prairie is home. Growing up in the “prairie state” meant looking around and wondering where the prairies were. Thinking the overdeveloped landscape around me was ugly drew me to its inspiring native beauty. I am in awe of the large prairie landscapes that used to cover the Midwest. Our hand will bring these beautiful natural landscapes back to abundance. We cannot choose to leave it behind.