The annual “MFA Thesis Exhibition” at the Kemper Art Museum May 11-July 16 includes approximately 60 artworks in a variety of media by 14 second-year master’s candidates in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ Graduate School of Art. Works range from painting, printmaking and sculpture to photography, video, installation and projected animation.
The 2006-07 academic year marked significant developments for the Graduate School of Art, said Michael Byron, associate dean of faculty and professor of painting.
For the first time in decades, all MFA studios are located together in a single facility, the Lewis Center at 725 Kingsland Ave. Further, the class of 2007 is the first to graduate since the MFA program was reorganized in 2005. The program now offers all students an MFA degree in studio art, rather than MFA degrees in individual media such as painting or sculpture.
“The idea is to create a larger, more integrated MFA community,” said Byron, who is organizing the exhibition with Stan Strembicki, professor of photography and interim director of the graduate program. “Students also have the opportunity to interact with a broader range of faculty and receive a broader spectrum of input.”
As well, this year’s “MFA Thesis Exhibition” is the first student show at the Kemper Art Museum.
Exhibiting artists are Robert Josiah Bingaman, Katherine Cannistra, Dennis Doty, Corey Escoto, Cameron Fuller, Sean Gyshen, David Johnson, Matthew O’Shea, Sarah Paulsen, Lisa Payne, Brian Priest, Travis Russell, Amy Thompson and Ann Yaeger.
The exhibition opens with a public reception from 6-9 p.m. May 11. It is free and open to the public.
For more information, call 935-4523 or visit kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu.