BALTIMORE--MICA classes, faculty and alumni are honored en masse in the City Paper's annual Top Ten edition. Of the 10 exhibitions named as the stars of the year, MICA had its hand in at least seven of them, plus the College gets a nod in the story's introduction, noting how thrifty and inventive the College's students can be.

Listed as the No. 1 show of the year is the Laure Drogoul: Follies, Predicaments and Other Conundrums exhibition that MICA's Exhibition Development Seminar organized. Highlighting the 25-year career of Drogoul '81, the exhibition is called a "brilliant and astounding masterpiece" by the City Paper.

At No. 3 is Abandon Ship, the Current Gallery's swan song. The final exhibition was curated on an invite and proposal basis, and MICA alumni and Current artists Gary Kachadourian '79, Andrew Liang '02 and Audrey Collins Petrich '04 (a current MICA staff member) led the show.

No. 4 is Gallery Four's Protocol: Syntax/Semantics, featuring Shaun Flynn '01, Brian Randolph '01 and Hadieh Shafie, a MICA staff member, all of whom the City Paper calls "witty visual minds."

An installation involving a bathtub by Morgan Showalter '92 helped win Area 405's Sink/Float the No. 5 spot on the list.

Fiber professor Piper Shepard was one of five contemporary female artists featured in Towson University's Exuberant Pattern show, which is awarded the No. 6 slot. The City Paper calls Shepard's large-scale compositions "magical in their density, labor, and intricacy."

At No. 8 is Decoy from the Creative Alliance at the Patterson, which was curated by MICA alumna Erin Cluley '05 and featured the works of several other MICA alumni, including Kendra Hebel '08, Paul Jeanes '06 (also foundation adjunct faculty), Michael Mansfield '07, Jenny Mullins '09 and Kimberly Ruppert '08.

And rounding out the list, at No. 10, is Jo Smail: Conjurations at Goya Contemporary. Painting faculty member Jo Smail's exhibition "provided an intimate but intellectually rigorous look at a painter continuously mining her ideas," the City Paper says.

Also noted, and ranked in both The Year in Music (No. 2) and The Year in Local Music (No. 3) top 10 lists, was MICA alumni band Double Dagger, with members Bruce Willen '02 and Nolen Strals '01.

Image caption: Laure Drogoul '81, Bozo Prison (for four or more) detail, 1999. Sculpture/Performance, 25'ht. Mixed media, sound, four performers

 

Founded in 1826, MICA is among the top visual arts colleges in the nation. It enrolls 1,714 undergraduate and 218 graduate students from 48 states and 52 foreign countries, offering programs of study leading to the bachelor of fine arts (B.F.A.), master of arts (M.A.), and master of fine arts (M.F.A.) degrees. It also offers post-baccalaureate certificate programs and a full slate of credit and noncredit courses for adults, college-bound students, and children. MICA is recognized as an important cultural resource for the Baltimore/Washington region, sponsoring many public and community-outreach programs-including more than 100 exhibitions by students, faculty, and nationally and internationally known artists annually-as well as artists' residencies, film series, lectures, readings, and performances.