Admissions Portfolio for University at Buffalo MFA Program

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Aura Loss (from Steve Peraza), 2026 | 24” x 36” | oil and collaged poem on board

This is the second painting in the ongoing Direct Message project. The words within Connolly’s painting were composed by Steve Peraza during Session no. 1, in response to the first painting (see In (from Claire Connolly)).

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In (from Claire Connolly), 2025 | 24” x 36” | oil and collaged poem on board

This is the first painting in the ongoing Direct Message project. The words within Connolly’s painting were composed by herself prior to Session no. 1.

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In (from Claire Connolly), 2025; Detail

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See Me Bearing, 2025; Paintings and Shirts

Viewers talk with the artist, shop for shirts. One is wearing Poured Coconut Shirt, 2025.

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It’s Like a Lotus at Night, 2025 | 48” x 60” | oil on canvas

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It’s Like a Patched Jacket, 2025 | 48” x 60” | oil on canvas

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It’s Like a Queen Bee’s Honeycomb, 2025 | 48” x 60” | oil on canvas

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It’s Like Biting a Lemon, 2025 | 48” x 60” | oil on canvas

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It’s Like a Pet Turtle, 2025 | 48” x 60” | oil on canvas

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It’s Like a Morir y Vivir Plant, 2025 | 48” x 60” | oil on canvas

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It’s Like a Poured Coconut, 2025 | 48” x 60” | oil on canvas

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See Me Bearing, 2025; Selected Shirts | digitized ink drawings, silkscreen on cotton

Shirts corresponding to It’s Like a Pet Turtle and It’s Like a Lotus at Night.

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See Me Bearing, 2025; Panel Event

Community members gather in front of paintings for discussion amongst the following panelists from left to right: the artist; Dr. J’Leise Sosa, OB-GYN and maternal advocate; Claire Schneider, independent curator; Jessica Mason, gender and madness scholar; Mykia Gibson, prenatal/perinatal community health worker; and Shyana Broughton, portraitee and activist doula.

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See Me Bearing, 2025; Contextual Assemblage

Exhibit includes the artist’s postpartum readings and notebooks.

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Queen City, 2025 | 24’ x 24’ | acrylic on concrete

A consideration of Buffalo’s McKinley Monument for Art Services Inc.’s Hertel Alley Mural Fest.

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Teaching: “Neighborhoods Then/Now” Project, 2013

Connolly gets students started on a project she designed about the legacy of 19th century New York, collage, and optical illusion techniques.

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Design Management: Carnarvon Project, 2012

Example of an interior that Connolly managed for David Easton, Inc. from 2009-2011.

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Undergrad: Family Repetition, 2005 | 8” x 10” | ink, doilies, oil on wooden board

A portrait of the artist’s grandmother and family.

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Undergrad: Box of Dad, 2004 | 10” x 10” x 3” closed | acrylic and shellac on canvas, fabric, found objects

Ephemera invented by the artist, inspired by her father’s childhood growing up with her mentally troubled grandmother.