Attend The Spring 2025 BFA Thesis Exhibition | April 10 - May 9, 2025
Reception: Thursday April 10 | 5-7 pm at the Schneider Hall Galleries
The Hite Institute of Art + Design is excited to announce our Spring 2025 BFA Thesis Exhibition opening on Thursday April 10. This annual exhibition showcases work created by students graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. Participating graduates include: Erlina Beqiri, Ben Dela Cruz, Autumn Fox, Tiffany Huynh, Quest Lawrence, Muny Mok, Jordan Stonis, Jody Ransdell, Madison Tunnicliff, Tarra Vu, Mattelyn Warren and LiYe Whalen.
Each semester, The BFA Thesis Exhibition presents a completed body of work from each of our studio majors, grounded in their individual practice and research. Still, common themes often emerge, speaking to the concerns and conditions of our time. This semester, shared thematic interests include the exploration of interpersonal reflection, a re-examination of our shared and personal histories, and how the changing cultural lens of society is affecting how we perceive ourselves.
For example, Artist Erlina Beqiri explores her struggles with her mental health through colorful and detailed drawings and paintings. Similarly, Autumn Fox, a fiber and mixed media sculpture artist, focuses on themes of mental descent in a gradual transition into abstraction through the captivation of intense color and natural forms. She aims to spread social interconnection through the audience's physical interaction with the work, alongside her weighty subject matter.
Benedic Dela Cruz's work delves into the mythology of the Philippines and its endangered species. He creates sculptures and large fabric prints depicting his interpretations of Philippine myths, intertwining them with endangered species to promote cultural preservation and faunal conservation. Artist Muny Mok uses printmaking and knitting to explore life’s different views and fleeting moments. She finds metaphors within her works connecting back to her spirituality as a Khmer-American and resolving these identities. Photographer LiYe Whalen explores her adoption and identity as a Chinese American by working with other adoptive families to relate the feeling of displacement within an interracial family. She photographs the families inside their homes and uses the windows as barriers to allude to the disconnect she and other adoptees may feel toward their families and lost culture. Whalen also includes self-portraits to share her own personal journey of reclaiming her Chinese identity.
Tiffany Huynh's installation is an environment of various fiber and paper techniques to explore the comparison of the limited and the limitless. Through an immersive experience, she encourages the audience to play with and within the boundaries that surround the space. Jordan Stonis is a sculptural artist who transforms treasures found in nature to create wearable works of art. Jordan enjoys experimentation with underwater videography and performance, bringing her wearable creations to life. She invites viewers to sit and enjoy an immersive look at the work. Using glass, Jody Ransdell is compelled to respond to the systemic inequalities and discrimination developing in the United States. Glass in a variety of formats is used to demonstrate similar transparency, fragility, and potential danger revealed in her subject matter. By illustrating intensely emotional concepts, she invokes the perception of losing the ability to control one’s own person; physically and mentally.
Combining 2D and 3D methods, Madison Tunnicliff makes abstract moments tangible by using historic photographic processes and found objects. They create visual replications of memories for people that also come from rural, working-class backgrounds. Their work is meant to serve as an outlet and physical embodiment of grief, queerness, and class representation.
Tarra Vu uses unfired clay word art to explore queer identities and the experiences of Vietnamese American third-culture kids.
Finally, Mattelyn Warren’s portraiture seamlessly blends contemporary and historical influences, offering a personal exploration of her identity. Her works delve into themes of feminism, friendship, and the experience of being an artist. Utilizing both traditional painting techniques and printmaking, Mattelyn's art bridges the past and present, redefining realism and reflecting the evolving portrayal of women throughout art history.
The Spring BFA Thesis exhibition will be on view in the Schneider Hall Galleries from April 10-May 9, 2025. A reception and celebration will be held on Thursday April 10 from 5-7pm. This event is free and open to the public. We hope you will join us!
