Alumni Spotlights

Jean Jinho Kim
Jean Jinho Kim was born in Seoul, Korea and moved to the United States after graduating from high school. She earned her BFA in painting from West Virginia University in Morgantown and her MFA in studio art at American University in Washington, DC. Kim began with painting and evolved into 3-dimensional installations and sculptures. She intentionally selects familiar materials for her work, such as downspouts, aluminum, wood and autobody parts, to create new shapes and concepts with a recognizable foundation. Kim also creates particular forms using specific colors to bring relevant and current issues to life. Currently, Kim is a member of STABLE Arts community in DC and has exhibited her work in several solo and numerous group exhibitions in the US, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong and South Korea. She participated in residency programs in Berlin, Germany and Seravezza, Italy. Kim’s work has been reviewed by The Washington Post, The Korean Times, and Korea Daily.

Justin Randolph Thompson
New media artist, cultural facilitator, and educator Justin Randolph Thompson was born in Peekskill, NY, in '79 and sharing time between Italy and the US since 1999. Thompson is Co-Founder and Director of Black History Month Florence, a multi-faceted exploration of African and African Diasporic cultures in the context of Italy founded in 2016.
Thompson is a recipient of a Louise Comfort Tiffany Award, a Franklin Furnace Fund Award, a Visual Artist Grant from the Fundacion Marcelino Botin, two Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grants, A Jerome Fellowship from Franconia Sculpture Park and an Emerging Artist Fellowship from Socrates Sculpture Park. His life and work seek to deepen the discussions around socio-cultural stratification and hierarchical organization by employing fleeting temporary communities as monuments and fostering projects that connect academic discourse social activism and DIY networking strategies in annual and biennial gathering, sharing and gestures of collectivity.

Julia Rommel
Julia Rommel received her MFA from American University in Washington, DC. Her first solo museum show, Two Italians, Six Lifeguards, was hosted by the Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT in 2015. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include: Twin Bed, Bureau at Tanya Leighton, Berlin, Germany; Stay-at-Home Dad with Mathew Cerletty, Standard (Oslo), Oslo, Norway; Man Alive, Bureau, New York; A Cheesecake With Your Name On It, Overduin & Co., Los Angeles, CA; The Little Match Stick, Bureau. Group exhibitions include Painting/Objects, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York; Zombie Formalism, ca. 1970/2016, Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York; In the Making, Luxembourg & Dayan, New York; Space Between, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY; Where Were You, Lisson Gallery, London. Her work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. In 2018 she was an Artist-in-Residence at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Captiva Island, Florida.
View Julia Rommel's website.
Allyssa Ray Yamaguichi-Juárez
Artist Allyssa Ray Yamaguichi-Juárez explores fantasy worlds through painting. Throughout her practice, she employs fractured spaces inspired by photography.
Watch videos of all the 2021 alumni or explore their MFA thesis exhibition.
Alum News & Notes
Jean Jinho Kim featured in Inside Outside, Upside Down at the Phillips Collection.
Hedieh Ilchi's show Listen to the Night as It Makes Itself Hollow ran at the Hemphill in DC.
Deanna Evans Projects (New York) presented a solo exhibition of new paintings by Dan Perkins (CAS ’13) Passages from January–February 2023.
Allison Hall (CAS ’04) was recently featured in two group exhibitions at Stephane SimoensContemporary Fine Art (Belgium) and Kate Werble Gallery (New York).
Pazo Fine Art (Washington, DC) announced its representation of Kate Sable (CAS ’09) and her inclusion in an upcoming two-person exhibition.
Allison Reimus (CAS ’09) was featured in several recent exhibitions: a three-person show at Essex Flowers (New York) in January–February 2023, a group show, Sign Systems, at Unit London in summer 2022, and a solo exhibition, Hum, at Jennifer Terzian Gallery (Litchfield, CT) in February–March 2023.
Matthew Russo (CAS ’20) is a current Hamiltonian Artists (Washington, DC) fellow and has an upcoming exhibition opening May 6, 2023.
Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi’s (CAS ’11) work Something Discernable in the Hollow Space of Its Absence (2022) was acquired by the Phillips Collection (Washington, DC).
Alumni Portfolios
Browse selected alumni at their portfolio sites: