Hite Art Institute exhibition spotlights first Master of Fine Arts graduates

By NIKI KING

As the Cressman Center for Visual Arts filled with people for opening night of the Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, Scott Massey, director of the Hite Art Institute, took the floor.

Surrounded by their art, he congratulated Miranda Becht, Tom LeGoff and Marie-Elena Ottman for becoming the first class to graduate from Hite’s Master of Fine Art program. The first courses for the 60 credit hour degree began in 2014. It’s the only MFA program in Louisville.

“I want to thank you for all your work these past three years,” Massey said to resounding applause.

Marie-Elena Ottman

The MFA Thesis Exhibition runs through May 27 in the Cressman. The diversity of art forms in the show reflects the diversity of offerings in the MFA program. Students may choose to practice in a variety of mediums or narrow in on one. Courses include ceramics, drawing, fibers, glass, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, design, mixed media, book arts and new media.

“I loved that the program let me explore,” Ottman said. “It was the perfect opportunity to grow as an artist.”

Her work at the Cressman, titled “Transplant: Fruits of their Labor,” features winding vines of ceramic, glass and metal. Ottman, who is from Panama, used the vines to metaphorically consider topics such as immigration, migrant labor and translation.           

Classmate and photographer Tom LeGoff displayed photographic cabinet cards to develop a visual story and mythology of a destroyed town.

He said he perused the MFA to better his craft and to “submerge myself more deeply in photography.”

         Miranda Becht

He hopes to teach and already has offers from Indiana University Southeast and the University of Kentucky.

Becht, whose mixed media installation explores the relationship between our real and ideal selves and memory and fact, said being the first class in a new program was a wonderful experience, even if there were occasional kinks.

“Sometimes we’d have questions there weren’t really answers to,” she said. And, sometimes she wished she had more studio time with classmates, a problem Hite is working to resolve.  

The program started small with just a few students a year as there wasn’t enough studio space to accommodate more. But, plans for MFA studios in a renovated Portland warehouse are coming to fruition. Construction begins this month and the space should be ready for students in spring 2018, Massey said.

The Portland space will allow the program to expand and broaden its reach in the city, which can only be a good thing, said Chris Reitz, Hite’s director of galleries.

“Artists trained in the global principles and practice of contemporary art-making are a real benefit to the city,” he said. “You really need an MFA program to become a nationally and internationally recognized arts center.”

Faculty, staff, friends and family cheered on the MFA grads. Photo by Tom LeGoff.