On April 11, receptions were held for the sculpture and the visual narrative MFA thesis exhibitions in the Stone Gallery and the graphic design and the print media & photography exhibitions in the 808 Gallery.

Visual Arts

Dozens of Dazzling Projects on View in Annual School of Visual Arts MFA Thesis Exhibitions

Graphic design, sculpture, print media and photography, and visual narrative theses on display through April 19; MFA painting theses April 29 to May 18

This article was originally published in BU Today on April 16, 2025. By Sophie Yarin. Photos by Cydney Scott

Excerpt

After two years of intensive work, a new cohort of graduates from the College of Fine Arts five Master of Visual Arts programs have put the finishing touches on their thesis projects, and members of the BU community can now see and appreciate their virtuosic work. 

This year’s MFA Thesis Exhibitions are on view in three separate shows and include nearly 50 projects by students in the School of Visual Arts five graduate programs—Graphic Design, Painting, Print Media & Photography, Sculpture, and Visual Narrative. Together, they offer a comprehensive look at the breadth and depth of talent to be found in this year’s MFA cohort (undergraduate theses shows will be held next month).

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Graphic Design

The theme of this year’s Graphic Design Thesis Exhibition, “Scroll(s),” is meant to evoke both the parchment scrolls of antiquity and the ubiquitous act of scrolling on a digital device.

“The time spent in the MFA program can be understood as an ever-evolving scroll—one that unspools through a continuous stream of prompts and responses,” write Kristen Coogan and Christopher Sleboda, both CFA associate professors of graphic design. “Like the motion of a scroll, learning in this space is fluid, recursive, and full of momentum.”

In the exhibition, 20 student thesis projects are displayed longitudinally on long scrolls of paper fastened individually to tables that crosshatch and intersect with one another. 

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Print Media & Photography 

On the other side of the 808 Gallery, this year’s Print Media & Photography Thesis Exhibition boasts an eclectic mix of disciplines, from linotypes to installation pieces, photography to screen printing. How to Build a Paper Airplane, by Tung Lin Tsai (CFA’25), pairs photography taken in his native Taiwan with a wall-mounted print installation comprising dozens of typewritten letters stamped with the same red paper airplane. Also in the show is an installation by Shannon Johnson (CFA’25) that resembles one quarter of a living room—complete with overdyed rug and a wallpapered wall covered with framed photos taken by the artist.

Jerry Rodriguez Sosa (CFA’25) grew up in Brownsville, Tex., which sits directly on the US-Mexico border, and he says he was inspired by a concept he refers to as “the Borderlands” for his thesis project.

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“I’m excited about expanding my practice both conceptually and physically,” he says. “There is so much potential, as well as history, in print as a tool for activism, community, and self-expression. This is part of what will continue to drive my work and give me purpose moving forward.”

Sculpture 

Across Comm Ave, in the Stone Gallery, the Sculpture MFA Thesis Exhibition students have put together a show that makes ingenious use of their space. Maithili Rajput (CFA’25) incorporated her own body into her thesis, which involved her sitting on a rotating platform for 24 hours. She plays the resulting video feed on two monitors in the gallery. Meanwhile, the thesis by Joseph Metrano (CFA’25) includes items from full-scale installation art to a 10-foot sculpture to yards of candy buttons affixed to the wall.

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Visual Narrative

The Stone Gallery is also home to this year’s Visual Narrative Thesis Exhibition. The program’s students are tasked with creating their own publication, and the show includes excerpts in the form of character design sheets, like sketches and notes made by Sam Roberts (CFA’25) for her Regency-era romance Sew It Shall Be, and page spreads, like excerpts from Flowers in the Rainy Night, a black-and-white detective story set in Taiwan, by George Zachary (CFA’25). 

Gabriel Joy Reid (CFA’25) has incorporated their experience as a varsity soccer player in the project OFFSIDES, which takes a softer and more romantic approach to the sport than is usually portrayed in the media. 

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Painting

Landscapes of “home” are a common theme in this year’s Painting MFA Thesis Exhibition, Rina Goldfield and E. E. Ikeler, CFA associate professors in painting, write in their statement accompanying the show. The execution takes many forms. Hidden, refracted images of postindustrial Ohio by Sam Bittaker (CFA’25). Snapshot depictions of life under Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia by Lemuel Saputra (CFA’25). A lurid, surreal dive bar by Andrea Manning (CFA’25). 

And then there’s the sense-memory depictions of the Dominican Republic created by Nasiri Guzman (CFA’25). Inspired by the frequent electricity blackouts of his childhood, the paintings are drenched in chiaroscuro, a squinting dimness that evokes a Caravaggio painting. Pops of color, judiciously applied, illuminate a sleeping toddler and a laughing group of friends. The viewer is meant to realize that in spite of Guzman’s ominous palette, the subjects are wholesome and thriving.

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