BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Drupal//recurring_events_ical//2.0//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:2801365d-d24c-4e71-b9d3-a6a4ecc44c21@events.stage.louisville.edu DTSTAMP:20260429T175319Z DTSTART:20260416T210000Z DTEND:20260416T230000Z SUMMARY:Reception: BFA Thesis Exhibition CONTACT:Jessica Oberdick\, 502-852-4437\, email:jessica.oberdick@louisville .edu DESCRIPTION:Opening Thursday April 16, in the Schneider Hall Galleries, th e Hite Institute of Art + Design is excited to invite you to our Spring 20 26 BFA Thesis Exhibition.  Presenting the work of 13 students graduating with a degree in Fine Arts, The BFA Thesis Exhibition demonstrates the dep artment’s vast range of disciplines while offering each candidate an opp ortunity to present a completed body of work to the public. \n\nThis semes ter, participating students include: Faith Cipriani, Logan Jancerak, Iza M ccloud, David Sierra, Grace Andrews-Huffman, Cheyenne Elder, Mia Langford, Bekah Newsome, Calista White, Ellie Caudill, Haylie Fitzgibbon, Cierra Ma rquardt, and Meg Schoon. Each student’s work highlights their technical skill and showcases their individual areas of interest. \n\nThe Spring BFA Thesis Exhibition will be on view in the Schneider Hall Galleries between April 16-30, with an opening reception on Thursday April 16 from 5-7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. Please join us.\n\nAbout the A rtists: \n\nGrace Andrews-Huffman is an aspiring tattoo artist working pri marily with colored pencils and pen and ink. She is currently working on a series of drawings that follow historical and traditional tattoo designs and combining those designs with fine art concepts. The purpose of her wor k is to prove and allow those to consider tattoos being included in the fi ne arts while also explaining the history of tattoos.\n\nEllie Caudill i s an acrylic painter working with the realistic figure to express personal identity. Their work features self-portraits and representations of loved ones combined with an imagined, cartoon, version of themself to represent the inner-self interacting with the world.\n\nFaith Cipriani is a disabl ed queer artist whose work makes space for people to connect and unlea rn implicit biases. Using handprinted designs, fabric, and fiber skil ls like crochet, her sculptural works take what’s hard to understand in people with unique lives and offers a perspective that is direct, yet  colorful and playful. Her work balances the tricky and bizarre aspect s of being human with the wonders of being curious that all people share. \n\nCheyenne Elder is a multidisciplinary artist who explores the deificat ion of the feminine and expands on contemporary issues at the forefront of fundamentalist politics. Their art employs the usage of anthropomorphic c omposite figures to portray female biblical figures and critique the stori es that surround them, conscious of the connection between biblical narrat ive and the vilification of women.\n\nHaylie Fitzgibbon is a mixed media a rtist whose art specializes in combining relief printmaking and colored pe ncil drawing. Her body of work focuses on the theme of ecofeminism and the emotions women carry through their bodies and the land.\n\nLogan Jancerak  explores how transgender individuals see their bodies through euphoria a nd dysphoria while also questioning the ways the trans body is seen and ob jectified. Through charcoal drawings and acetate prints, the works share t he inner feelings of transgender people and challenges viewers to examine their relationship to and the ways they think about transgender people and their bodies.\n\nMia Langford uses paint to capture the act of looking an d analyzing an object. Her work subtly expresses personal narratives, whil e focusing on texture, color, and light. She searches for sparkling moment s within everyday life and urges viewers to take a closer look at scenes t hrough her lens.\n\nCierra Marquardt is a multi-disciplinary artist explor ing multiple experimental approaches to traditional artistic practices. Th eir current work focuses on using rotting fruit as a metaphor to discuss  societal change with a focus on how the cycle of decay brings about new li fe. \n\nBekah Newsome is an Appalachian printmaker and potter who makes d ecorated vessels and relief prints with imagery of flora, fauna and fungi from the region. Their work focuses on the semblance of life that remains after death, a reflection on mortality and passage of time in a cathartic manner. Through the use of delicate line work and carving details, they hi ghlight the fragility of life and relief of death.\n\nMeg Schoon utilizes mixed media on cloth in a continuing series to reflect upon her travels on the Aegean Sea and her immersion into the beautiful islands of Greece.  \n\nDavid Sierra is an oil painter whose large-scale figurative works expl ore human connection and memory through everyday experiences. His body of work centers on moments of togetherness—images that invite viewers to sl ow down and sustain attention. Rather than directing toward a fixed interp retation, the paintings offer atmospheres, postures, and shared spaces tha t remain open, intimate, and quietly reflective.\n\nCalista R White is a m ulti-media artist who works primarily with glass and sculpture to analyze cultural behaviors and expectations under stress. She works with cycles of judgement, shame, and altruism — representing the body to present a cir cus of performers stretching and pulling themselves to extremes, intention ally or not.  GEO:38.2154;-85.7591 LOCATION:Schneider Hall URL:https://events.stage.louisville.edu/events/reception-bfa-thesis-exhibit ion/2026-04-16 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR