SAIC SHOWS 2026 GRADUATE EXHIBITIONS

Graduates

SAIC SHOWS 2026 GRADUATE EXHIBITIONS

Carol Schrader

Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts Degree

Low-Residency MFA Exhibition

ceschrader@gmail.com

carolschrader.org

My creative practice often takes the form of collective ritual, making my art an antidote to consumerism by involving more people in the act of creating. I use the alchemical process of cyanotype as my medium, as well as native plants, fabric, acrylic and ink. Stitching is another ritualistic practice, and can become a literal tying-together of community.

I have taught at K-12 to college levels and am on Jeffrey Gibson’s Biennale educator team. My diverse experience includes running a social justice circus and working in the US Senate. I have an MFA (exp), School of the Art Institute of Chicago, MA, Multicultural Education, UNM, and a BA in Government, Harvard.

Bringing people together as creators is key to the health of a community, and new forms of community are one of my artistic products. I find beauty in the embodiment of energy, intention, and experience.

Carol Schrader - Acequia Madre / Body of Water

Acequia Madre / Body of Water, 2026, Cyanotype double exposure on canvas made with willows and cottonwood branches, individual cyanotypes sewn together, ropes and ribbons printed with a poem, 5 x 7 x 8 ft, installation dimensions vary.

Acequia Madre, the water mother, is an elemental avatar, represented seven feet tall in a cyanotype surrounded by native willows and cottonwoods. Her cloak is formed of over 60 individual cyanotypes sewn together. She joins the company of other iconic mothers of the Southwest and Mexico: La Malinche, La Guadalupana, and La Llorona.

Carol Schrader - Hard to Swallow

Hard to Swallow, 2026, Cyanotype on table linens, using notes to me from my mother when I was eight, silverware and glasses, found furniture.

When I was in elementary school my mother would often head off to work before I got up, neglecting to send me to school. I would wake up to an empty house, but often she would leave notes with chores, instructions and advice for me on a corner of the messy table. The messages they conveyed were often contradictory and confusing to a small child. These cyanotypes are created from some of those notes that I still have. What messages were you asked to swallow as a child? "Hard to Swallow" is an installation in the [TabLe] show I curated.

Carol Schrader - Enlazados Installation View

Enlazados Installation View, 2025, "Movement Mandala," 20 x 20 ft. "Dancing Between Earth and Sky," 5 x 15 ft, collective cyanotype on fabric with acrylic and yarn.

"Movement Mandala" traces gestures of movement and invites reflection on how the body carries stories. The mandala weaves the practices of the artists present and invites them to embody interdisciplinary participation. We spent hours stitching and story telling in the style of a giant quilting bee as we pieced the mandala together with yarn. In Dancing "Between Earth and Sky," our bodies were interwoven with native vines, seeds and petals, as well as cords representing the bonds of community and the way that creativity connects us.

Carol Schrader - Hydra Muse and Water Madre in Conversation

Hydra Muse and Water Madre in Conversation, 2026, Acrylic collage on canvas with cyanotype on canvas, paint markers, yarn, old hammock, found crochet, glazed, stained, and cyanotyped ceramic. 12 x 7 ft

These two avatars were created separately, in different media, but came together in this installation and have much to say to each other. My fiery Muse is a version of the ancient many-headed Hydra. Her ability to grow two heads for every one severed, like the Medusa, is a symbol of defiant female endurance. The Water Mother becomes a symbol of safety in the face of the fire of climate change.

Mythical Ships / Water Walkers
2025, Video, 1:37 mins, Video Production and Editing by Kirill Oleynikov, Innastate Studios.

Enlazados
2025, Video, 3:19 mins, Enlazados collective: Carol Schrader, John Paul Granillo, Kemely Gomez, San Vanessa.
Video Production and Editing by Kirill Oleynikov, Innastate Studios.

The Body of Water/Acequia Madre installation shows the power of collaboration and collective action. Viewers are enveloped in the installation and transported to their own memories of water, feeling the movement of water and the flow of elemental aspects of life that connect all of us.

My work is process-based and often incorporates elements of time. It is grounded in a sense of place. I use cyanotype as a form of alchemy with sun and water, as well as an indexical record of time and place. I conjure connection to elements already present and ideas that need to emerge and create meaning-soaked space to call collaborators and viewers into presence in the physical world.

My artistic practice explores connections between mythology, dream, and contemporary issues. I investigate archetypes such as the Muse, Persephone, and La Guadalupana as they intersect with women’s roles. Water and ships become the symbols for safety in the face of the fire and flood of climate change. Working with these figures as avatars allows participants and viewers to build connection and compassion with the embodied ideas.