We are also happy to announce Courtney is the recipient of the Karl Benjamin award! This fellowship is provided through the Art Department in honor of CGU alumni, Karl and Beverly Benjamin. The fellowship is awarded to a second-year student in art who has a major emphasis in the study of painting! Congratulations!!
Courtney Colgan (b.1988 Linden, NJ; lives in Long Beach, CA) is a contemporary artist whose work explores a state of emergence through light, color, and materiality. Colgan grew up taking the train to New York City, closely observing the wetlands and swamps. The urban landscape was alluring in its paradoxical state. She took visual note of the synthetic colors seen in the water, harsh chemical smells, and overall muck. Stillness and motion, nature and industry, the power of opposites in a condensed space.
In 2015 Colgan moved to Long Beach, California and immediately noted a similar paradox in the coastal landscape. In the studio Colgan observes how the paint sits into or on top of the material and closely notes the moment something begins to emerge. In some works, color boldly pushes forward out of canvas. While in other works color seeps in from the edges and slowly dissipates across the surface. Colgan keeps the work in a state of emergence offering a viewer experience that transcends the sensorial.
Outside the studio Colgan holds a 10+ year career in Fine Art Services and is an avid animal rights advocate. Colgan earned a BFA in Painting with a minor in Art History from Pratt Institute in 2010, and an MFA from Claremont Graduate University in 2026.
We are so happy to announce Alex Parrasch is the recipient of the Presidents Award for this year’s 2026 graduating class!! Alex’s painting will be hung in the presidents house for a whole year before being added to CGU’s permanent collection! Congratulations Alex!
Alex Parrasch (b. 1997, New York, NY) is a visual artist whose paintings and drawings primarily
focus on the fragility and weight of the human body reflecting upon the tension and release of
anatomical parts, ligaments, and elements, or stylized imagery of kinetic bodies in motion.
Parrasch’s works are defined by radicalized perspectives of biomorphic and geometric lines,
shapes, and forms that overlap, intersect, and move past the perimeters of the canvas,
depicting the power, strength, and agility of the human body. His work has been included in
exhibitions at Good Mother Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), CMay Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), SPY
Projects (Los Angeles, CA), and The Bunker Artspace (West Palm Beach, FL), among others, and
is held in institutional collections including Bennington College (Bennington, VT), The Bunker
Artspace (West Palm Beach, FL), and Claremont Graduate University (Claremont, (CA). Alex
Parrasch earned his B.A. from Bennington College (Bennington, VT) in 2021 and his M.F.A. from
Claremont Graduate University (Claremont, CA) in 2026, where he was the recipient of the
2026 President’s Art Award. He lives and works in Claremont, CA
CGU’s Art Department is proud to be a sponsor of Now Be Here Anniversary Photograph & Now Let’s Talk, Los Angeles on Sunday May 31st!
Artists are invited to join Now Be Here and event host OXY ARTS for what promises to be a historic two-part day for the Los Angeles art community.
RSVP here: /now-be-here-now-let-s-talk-los-angeles
Or click the link in @nowbehereart bio!!
Join us this Wednesday for our final VAL of the Semester with Charlie Edmiston @charlieedmiston Open to the public!
⏰Lecture: 12pm - 1pm Studio Visits Start 1:30pm
📍150 E. 10th Street Claremont, CA Board of Trustees Room in Harper Hall
WE HAVE NEWS… JOIN US FOR OPEN STUDIOS!!
🗓️Sunday May 3rd
⏰ 11am - 6pm
📍170 East 10th Street, Claremont CA ↪️follow signs near Blaisdell Fountain to our main entrance near the loading dock
🌮 Taco Truck for delicious food!
Please join us for our Open Studios where you can meet all the MFA Candidates and check out some SICK art! The Students are so excited to see you there! AND we can’t wait to also show off our new studios!
Stay tuned for more info🫱🏻🫲🏼⭐️🎉
@millesfeuillespoesienpottery@aster.oaks (unable to tag in post @claremontgraduateuniversity )
Join us this Wednesday for a Lecture from @loflosangeles
Location: 150 E 10th Street
Harper Hall, Board of Trustees Room!
Time: 12-1pm studio visits start at 1:30!
Open to All!
Catalina Lopez presents her MFA Thesis Exhibition..
Tracing What Remains
On display: April 20th - April 24th
Opening reception: April 21st 5-7pm
Location: Peggy Phelps Gallery, 925 N Dartmouth Ave, Claremont CA
Sara Ajami presents her MFA Thesis Exhibition..
ENCAUL
On display: April 20th - April 24th
Opening reception: April 21st 5-7pm
Location: East Gallery, 925 N Dartmouth Ave, Claremont CA
