The Wall @ SAB provides an opportunity for students in the Department of Art to showcase their work and push the boundaries of their art making practice. Located on the second floor of the Studio Arts Building, the 8-foot tall by 13.5-foot wide wall is visible from the main entrance.
This semester (Fall 2025), K.F. Otis’ Material Surrealism #1 has been selected for exhibition. The piece will be on view until February 2026.
From the artist's statement:
Material Surrealism #1 is a large-scale reproduction of a photograph I took at Purgatory Chasm in Sutton in September of 2021. It is an image of three rebel scaly caps (Pholiota squarrosa) on a Chestnut Oak surrounded by Eastern Hemlocks, and I have not come across anything like it since.
Material: Physical & Philosophical | The initial concept for adding “pop-out” segments came after studying materiality under artists Gina Siepel and Fritz Horstman. In particular, I found Fritz’ folded cyanotypes fascinating. This inspired me to research contemporary mixed-media cyanotype artists, after which I discovered the intricate cut-out works of Chloe McCarrick. Substituting cyanotype printmaking, I printed three 3” x 4” grayscale copies of the original image on my home printer, applied watercolors, micron pen detail, and used foam core scraps to craft two layers of pop-outs (shadow box shown to the left). Expanding this in the large-scale reproduction on the Wall @ SAB, the trunk itself begins in the bottom foreground within the view’s space but eventually unites with the background as your eyes follow a dramatic vanishing point. This is where I feel the work intersects with materialism. In philosophy, materialism is the idea that reality is a coalescence of physical matter and energy, and that all things, including consciousness, are consequences of material relationships.
Surrealism: Seemingly Beyond Reality | I often seek clarity in our State Parks; it is like hitting a reset button that defaults to being present with much bigger things [than us] that are at work. As much as my happenstance wants to reach for fantastical explanations, the presence of these “rebel” scaly-caps are not synchromystic — they are simply beneficiaries. The glorious, wooded-giant that once dwarfed the Hemlocks can no longer be seen the way I have painted it; its trunk rounds now scatter the forest floor beneath the decay and regrowth of its own making. I find this cultivation of material transformation to grow and decay completely surreal — an uncanny reality. Material Surrealism #1 aims to recall the fragility of this magnificence and how privileged we are to witness these remarkable cycles in the natural world.
Special Thanks: to Douglas Bick for his assistance with material handling and logistics, Cynthia Consentino and the Department of Art for their support and trust, and fellow undergraduate Edwina Polanco for inspiring me to work larger than I ever have.
K.F. Otis, aka Krystal, is an intermedia major graduating from UMass Amherst with a BFA in Studio Arts this fall. Material Surrealism #1 is the beginning of a concept she hopes to develop further in graduate school; the use of biodegradable materials, including handmade paper and foraged pigments, would be a central component of this expansion