2014-2015 Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) Student Exhibitions

MANHATTAN — Kansas State University Department of Art will present the fifth of five BFA Thesis Exhibitions of the spring season featuring Conner Ahnen, Joshua Graham, Rance Hansen, Cornelius A. Hugo, Michael Kennedy, Hyeonjung Kim, and Alexis Pultz. The artists will present an exhibition of their work from May 11 through 15, 2015 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, first floor Willard Hall. Gallery hours are 10am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. There will be a reception for the artists on Friday evening, May 15, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm in the gallery.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Conner Ahnen is a digital artist from Overland Park, Kansas. She finds the mysteries of the digital field challenging, and pushes herself to continue learning as much as she possibly can about this ever changing field. Conner is also very passionate about web based media, as well as Video Production.

Digital artist Joshua Graham, from Overland Park, Kansas, would spend the majority of his time growing up drawing on printer paper that he found around the house. Graham knew at an early age that he would always become an artist. As a child he was immersed in art culture, and had a family that were supportive in his art progression. Grahams digital works are created to evoke an emotional response in the viewer. "I try to produce artwork that takes on the role of pointing out the paradoxical views of ones reality," he says. His installation explores the realm of dreams and reality with multiple screen video.

Rance Hansen, an artist working in drawing media from Meade, KS, is inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, as well as the Art Nuevo movement. His works deal with theses influences, as well as line and color density and weight to alter and play with the human mind. Rance achieves this with his work through his understandings of dimensionality on a flat plane.

Cornelius A. Hugo was born in Manhattan Kansas in 1984. In 1994 he was moved to El Salvador with his family there he learned the art of diplomacy as well as the acceptance of others and their cultures and personal differences not just a tolerance of them, but a respect for what makes them different and what they could teach him about the world around him. After four years of learning how to navigating diplomatic relations and seeing the world though the stories of travelers he moved back to Manhattan Kansas. In 2002 he had a personal loss that made it difficult to find a path in life, until art that is."There are many stigmas associated with the people that play role-playing games. We are artists, actors, doctors, scientists, mechanics, janitors, and teachers," he says. This is his bases for his art. These large metal sculptures offer a glimpse into the world of role-playing. They represent two of the three basic elements that anyone would need to begin their journey into this realm of fantasy and fun.

Michael Kennedy, is a digital artist from Lewis, Kansas. He has been interested in art and design for many years with his interest starting at an early age. As Michael was growing up he intended on becoming a veterinarian someday. As time progressed his interest in art and design became more and more important and he incorporated animals in his works. "I started off by doing full studies of the animal to learn how it moved,"he says. His 3D prints reveal how the true form of a fox moves.

Painter, Hyeonjung Kim was born in South Korea, and came to United States when she was nineteen. She works in oil painting and drawing. The figure with nature has become a big interest for her as she came to this peaceful town in Kansas. The face of a girl helps her to move on and memorize moments which pass away just like nature does. She paints through a process of layering, blending and scattering oil paints on the canvas.

Alexis Pultz is a digital artist born in Manhattan, KS. For her, digital art creates unlimited possibilities of storytelling. Alexis subscribes to the theory that colors are heavily linked to emotions and her pieces rely heavily on that theory. She is inspired by impressionism, and appreciates their use of bold colors and lack of attention to extreme details, as it pushes her to try new things.

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall opened in 2005. Cheryl Mellenthin and Mark Chapman funded a complete renovation of the former Willard Hall Gallery, increasing the exhibition space to over 1,400 square feet along with 400 square feet dedicated to exhibition preparation and kitchen facilities. The Department of Art hosts BFA and MFA student exhibitions in the gallery as part of graduation requirements each semester. The technology friendly gallery serves not only exhibition purposes, but also provides a location for an active Visiting Artist lecture program.

Funded in part by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee

MANHATTAN — Kansas State University Department of Art will present the fourth of five BFA Thesis Exhibitions of the spring season featuring Lauren Brown, Elizabeth Graham, Amy Hawley, David Kahler, Yuanwen Lin, Kait Snoddy, and Caitlin Southwick. The artists will present an exhibition of their work from May 4 through 8, 2015 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, first floor Willard Hall. Gallery hours are 10am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. There will be a reception for the artists on Friday evening, May 8, from 6:00 to 8:30 pm in the gallery.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Lauren Brown is a digital artist from Cedar Hill, Texas. She has been interested in art since she was handed her first crayon and coloring page as a child, never following the lines and always insisting on doing things in her own unique and colorful way. So when a particularly unproductive day of brainstorming gave Lauren the idea to create electricity out of oranges, it should not be that surprising. She anticipates that working with common materials in uncommon ways will guarantee attention, confusion, and inspiration and force her audience to rethink their assumptions about common perceptions of reality, electricity, and the nature of art.

Elizabeth Graham, photographer, born and raised in Manhattan, Kansas draws on her personal experiences of faith and family to create abstract photographs. Elizabeth’s childhood in the church inspires images that question both reality and the traditional aesthetics of photography. Her family being the main subject of her photographs reflects Elizabeth’s ideas of reality. Printed on fabric, the photographs imitate the frail questioning of her faith.

Photographer, Amy Hawley is a native Kansan born and raised in Wichita. The style in which Amy works can be classified as documentary photography, with a deadpan aesthetic. In this series of work she creates images that depict the different genres of classrooms. And also what emotion is presented when the class aspect is removed from the room. Amy’s intention with this particular series was not to make a political statement or some big epiphany but to leave the viewer with a sense of wonder and confusion.

David Kahler is a Texas born new media artist who uses his abilities across multiple media; most notably 3D modeling, animation, computer drawn art, and even 3D product fabrication. Inspired by works of fiction within books and video games, he seeks to create believable digital objects with a touch of fantasy in order to blur the gap between fiction and reality. He expects that viewers will overlook the fictitious aspects of his art and will see the plausibility within.

Artist, Lin, yuanwen (Lin), of Nanjing, China, started thinking about how things are intertwined and how cultural differences assimilate into new identities after she came to America and got a huge culture shock. She likes the unlimited range of art and her art works are not restricted by the materials. She works in both sculpture and new media, combining them–integrating explorations of media and technique.

Kait Snoddy is a ceramic artist from Kansas City. She creates sculptures and installations based on personal experiences and the vulnerability that comes with sharing those experiences. While she primarily works in clay, she often uses other materials in her work such as textiles, wood and children’s art and craft supplies. Kait will be attending the Kansas City Art Institute in the fall of 2015.

Caitlin Southwick is a Kansan new/digital media artist working with projection animation to emphasize the simple statement - "On average, people will only spend five seconds looking at a single piece of artwork." The animation itself is an interactive play on the senses of time and movement. A simple way to convey the meaning of art and what it means to spend the time looking there.

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall opened in 2005. Cheryl Mellenthin and Mark Chapman funded a complete renovation of the former Willard Hall Gallery, increasing the exhibition space to over 1,400 square feet along with 400 square feet dedicated to exhibition preparation and kitchen facilities. The Department of Art hosts BFA and MFA student exhibitions in the gallery as part of graduation requirements each semester. The technology friendly gallery serves not only exhibition purposes, but also provides a location for an active Visiting Artist lecture program.

Funded in part by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee

MANHATTAN — Kansas State University Department of Art will present the third of five BFA Thesis Exhibitions of the spring season featuring Bekah Bailey, Amy Teresa Bosch, Brooke Lawver, Lauren Lohfink, Alivia Magaña, Nan Min, and Kylie Newsom. The artists will present an exhibition of their work from April 27 through May 1, 2015 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, first floor Willard Hall. Gallery hours are 10am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. There will be a reception for the artists on Friday evening, May 1, from 6:00 to 7:30 pm in the gallery.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Photographer, Bekah Bailey, grew up in Wichita, Kansas, where she experienced a wide range of diversity and culture. She has grown up being influenced by the world of photography steeped in processes and ideas, inspiring her to create conceptual work. Bekah's photography explores the juxtaposition between a woman’s struggle to fight projected beauty standards established in society and natural empowerment. The presence of her pieces then become about the process of photography in history, a stamp in time in the age-old discussions of what it means to be a woman.

Amy Teresa Bosch is a painter from San Antonio Texas who started painting on paper bags when she was 8 and never stopped. She uses her work to help dispel myths about transgender people. Her energetic paintings of butterflies and caterpillars convey her joy with life after she transitioned her gender from male to female. She says that, "The metaphorical use of butterflies and caterpillars are non-threatening and beautiful." Her paintings show a representation of metamorphosis in a series of works meant to invoke a sense of peace.

Brooke Lawver is a photographer from Olathe, KS whose work explores the human body, race and gender. Using both the film and digital versions of photography, she creates large abstract portraits of the human body. Her photographs are created to make the audience think about how they perceive others based on gender or race.

Digital artist, Lauren Lohfink, grew up in Holcomb, Kansas, where she spent her time drawing cartoons and watching movies. These activities have led her to have an interest in animation and video editing. Her work is meant to amuse, but also bring forth important issues in the world today. She says, "I want my viewer to look at my piece and be entertained, but when he or she walks away, I want the viewer to also think about the intended message." Her animation shows Mona Lisa going through a transformation, thereby encouraging us (the viewers) to think about the emphasis our society puts on beauty in the modern world.

Photographer, Alivia Magaña, of Junction City, Kansas, utilizes found photography and transforms unknown historical studio portraits from mundane, to surreal. Growing up, she was an avid collector of bones, fossils and anything antique. Once she became a photographer, she developed an interest in salvaging antique photographic images. Alivia is inspired by the severed connections between these pictures and their families, which have left them to be inherited by a stranger, like herself. She uses various manipulations to absolve these antiquated subjects of their former pictorial identities, presenting them as coffee toned Cyanotype prints. She states, "Without the family they were once connected to, these images have become overlooked and forgotten objects, rather than cherished memorabilia." Alivia creates images that portray the subjects to be floating or disassembled, which afford them attention in a distinctive new way.

Digital artist, Kylie Newsom, of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, creates digital artwork by using multiple videos to create a completely new composition. Her love of computers and shooting creative video keep her inspired. Kylie’s videos masked together, show the power of genetics. She says, "I hope that the viewer looks at this piece and realizes how much the genes of their parents affect the appearance of each person in their own family. " Her videos reveal evidence of the influence each parent’s genetic makeup has on their child through a process of masking and blending video.
This exhibition also includes artist Nan Min.

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall opened in 2005. Cheryl Mellenthin and Mark Chapman funded a complete renovation of the former Willard Hall Gallery, increasing the exhibition space to over 1,400 square feet along with 400 square feet dedicated to exhibition preparation and kitchen facilities. The Department of Art hosts BFA and MFA student exhibitions in the gallery as part of graduation requirements each semester. The technology friendly gallery serves not only exhibition purposes, but also provides a location for an active Visiting Artist lecture program.

Funded in part by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee

MANHATTAN — Kansas State University Department of Art will present the second of five BFA Thesis Exhibitions of the spring season featuring Rocky Blanton, Brett Knapp, Adam O'Brien, Sarah Anne Tobolski, Scotti Warden, and Scott Weckwerth. The artists will present an exhibition of their work from April 20 through 24, 2015 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, first floor Willard Hall. Gallery hours are 10am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. There will be a reception for the artists on Friday evening, April 24, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the gallery.

Admission is free and open to the public.

A drawing major, Rocky Blanton of Manhattan, Kansas, creates images based on iconic armor throughout the history of combat. This came out of a fondness for war movies while growing up, perhaps even going back to his admiration of designs and mascots that were seen in sporting events. Each of Blanton's works in this series focuses on the head, the helmets and face guards specifically, of these warriors, the knight, samurai, viking, and the modern American soldier. "There is something I find compelling of the armor that protects the minds of these soldiers, and how the designs represent their homeland." Each image is produced in mixed media, with the background made in watercolor and the figures made in charcoal pencil and pastel.

There are no specific audiences or communities for Brett Knapp's work but everyone has memories that connect them to the piece which has to do with finding what memories are triggered by the sounds that come from his soundscapes. Brett triggers these memories through subtle sound variations within a soundscape. For this project, Brett is most interested in the older generations who have had more experiences or events that might be triggered by his work. Although he would not shun the younger generations to take part in the project as they have a story to tell as well, though they might not be as grand as the elder's stories. The development of this project was a physical process, building the piece and the finding of the sounds took a lot of time and patience. Brett developed the soundscape using Audacity software as well as extensive design and fabricating techniques in developing the final product for the installation in a gallery.

Adam O'Brien grew up in Lawrence, Kansas and has been studying fine arts at Kansas State University, with an emphasis in drawing. His work reflects his fascination with life and death, beauty and horror, and juxtaposes these topics using mixed media and collage work. He has shown in gallery exhibits in Wichita and Manhattan.

Photographer, Sarah Anne Tobolski, of Manhattan, Kansas. She grew up watching horror movies which influence her love for photography. The cinematography of the genre inspired her to want to create her own stories of the world of folklores. Her prints reveal the sensation of a modern day horror film.

Photographer, Scotti Warden, grew up in Council Grove, Kansas. He has always loved the night and darkness. His color photographs explores the night/darkness and how you can create beautiful aesthetically pleasing photos as well as use the night/darkness to convey a certain feeling, mood, or idea. He explores the experience of drifting & wandering through life lost, with no purpose as well."Most of the images have the human figure blurred or in motion. This is to convey a sense of wandering and the inner battle I have with myself," he said.

Scott Weckwerth is a digital artist from Topeka, Kansas whose most ambitious interest is relaying stories from his imagination through animation and video. This passion developed from creating YouTube videos and pursuing an audience on the internet platform with whom he could engage and share stories. Aesthetically, Scott establishes his characters and settings in a style inspired from Japanese animation and his work is inspired from emotionally charged experiences. It is the freedom from reality and challenges of animation that draws him to it, as well as the opportunity to explore an alternate reality of emotion and atmosphere.

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall opened in 2005. Cheryl Mellenthin and Mark Chapman funded a complete renovation of the former Willard Hall Gallery, increasing the exhibition space to over 1,400 square feet along with 400 square feet dedicated to exhibition preparation and kitchen facilities. The Department of Art hosts BFA and MFA student exhibitions in the gallery as part of graduation requirements each semester. The technology friendly gallery serves not only exhibition purposes, but also provides a location for an active Visiting Artist lecture program.

Funded in part by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee

MANHATTAN — Kansas State University Department of Art will present the first of five BFA Thesis Exhibitions of the spring season featuring Grace Benedick, Misha Burgardt, Amanda Crangle, Megan Dorrell, Mary Gordon, and Madelyn Mitchell. The artists will present an exhibition of their work from April 13 through 17, 2015 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, first floor Willard Hall. Gallery hours are 10am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. There will be a reception for the artists on Friday evening, April 17, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm in the gallery.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Grace Benedick is a painter from Manhattan, Kansas, whose work explores personal history and identity. Using both wet and dry medias on paper, she creates layered portraits of family members on collaged surfaces, as well as simplified but surreal scenes taken from her childhood memories. Her paintings explore the process of becoming--both as we experience and observe it in individuals, as identities are shaped by life experiences, and in the evolution of a painting, in the many stages of being made.

Misha Burgardt is an artist from Wichita Kansas. She creates figure-based drawings using contour lines, which ebb and flow to accentuate the beautiful shapes naturally created by the human form. Inspired by the way curves and planes descend into space, the weight and energy of her lines allow the figures to twist and sink into the surface of the page. Her work focuses on the honesty of her images and the integrity of her mark-making.

Illustrator, Amanda Crangle, grew up in wide-open farmlands of Southwest Kansas, where she enjoyed the sky stretching on for miles in every direction. Colorful sunsets and dramatic storms illuminate her mixed media works. Amanda explores and combines a variety of media to depict the mood of her environment. Her work is process-driven and develops organically through a back and forth dialogue between her inspiration and the mixing of media.

Metalsmith and Jeweler, Megan Dorrell, of Derby, Kansas, creates jewelry combining organic forms created with foam and resin with traditional metalsmithing processes. Mixing new and old materials has always influenced her work. Her jewelry involves reacting and exploiting organic shapes that develop in the foam. Her work reveals an interaction of materiality through overlapping pigments and objects on the organic forms.

Painter, Mary Gordon, was born in Germany, but has lived in Manhattan, Kansas for most of her life. She uses portraiture as a window into the whimsical realm where space is somewhat ambiguous, and objects weave in and out of translucency. In this series of paintings, Mary wanted to celebrate the unique way in which a person is able to communicate with the world. She uses acrylic and drawing materials on wood panel for its durability and tactile feel. She says, "There is a roughness in re-working that I enjoy--allowing the history of a piece to show through, and scraping away in other areas to expose the color and texture underneath."

Madelyn Mitchell is painter from Bucyrus, Kansas. She grew up in the country where she was surrounded by nature and spent most of her time outdoors. She has always felt a great sense of freedom in nature and through her time examining the beauty of the richness of color and the effects of sunlight. With an art teacher for a mother she was introduced to paint at a young age and grew a great love for creating and processing her thoughts through art. Her current work is based off of flowers received after the loss of a loved one. She uses this subject to express the paradox of beauty and darkness that she has seen and experiences in life and through grief. She applies paint in a quick and gestural way allowing the paint to become the subject as well the flowers evoking a feeling of movement and emotion.

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall opened in 2005. Cheryl Mellenthin and Mark Chapman funded a complete renovation of the former Willard Hall Gallery, increasing the exhibition space to over 1,400 square feet along with 400 square feet dedicated to exhibition preparation and kitchen facilities. The Department of Art hosts BFA and MFA student exhibitions in the gallery as part of graduation requirements each semester. The technology friendly gallery serves not only exhibition purposes, but also provides a location for an active Visiting Artist lecture program.

Funded in part by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee

MANHATTAN —Kansas State University Department of Art will present the fifth of five BFA Thesis Exhibitions of the fall season featuring Troy Britt, Jourdan Hull, Kathleen Murray, and Dan Ney. The artists will present an exhibition of their work from December 15 through 19, 2014 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, first floor Willard Hall. Gallery hours are 10am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. There will be a reception for the artists on Friday evening, December 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm in the gallery.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Troy Britt is a landscape printmaker who grew up in rural Kansas. His work generally uses sarcastic motivations to purvey points of interconnectedness, logic, consciousness, sacred geometry, and free will. Playing with the focus of micro and macrocosm perspectives allows him to deeper speculate the consequences of humanity’s actions upon the environment. He also uses aspects of theory from modern artists like Banksy, Ai Weiwei, and Noam Chomsky to set a tone of socio-political obscurity.

Digital Artist, Jourdan Hull, grew up in Olathe, KS fascinated by the ever-growing influence of technology in art. She has always had a keen eye for design and just recently began intertwining it with her interests in the digital field. Her digital work is a reflection of how she views the world, life, as she knows it. "Since technology is such a huge influential factor in the progress of my artistic career, I want to somehow incorporate and portray the power technology has in our daily lives." Her piece creates questions about the reality of make-up, filters, and the perception of how humans are supposed to look.

Kathleen Murray, a printmaker from Fort Worth Texas, uses the figure as the basis for her etchings. Inspired by literature, history, and body language, she places the subject in different contexts to create physical manifestations of internal human experiences. The printmaking process lends itself to the stories she is trying to tell, as each plate his a history of it’s own. "The printmaking process mirrors life itself; they adapt and change, and the inevitable mistakes spark growth, and add an element of realness to the finished work."

Dan Ney is a native Kansan whose works primarily involve life size bronze figures. With family farming roots and after two deployments to Iraq, Dan uses his experiences to create figures with which he most intimately associates. Dan is heavily influenced by the rolling plains of Kansas something he calls "Gods Country." Establishing the permanence of his experience, Dan utilizes the timelessness of bronze to explore his identities.

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall opened in 2005. Cheryl Mellenthin and Mark Chapman funded a complete renovation of the former Willard Hall Gallery, increasing the exhibition space to over 1,400 square feet along with 400 square feet dedicated to exhibition preparation and kitchen facilities. The Department of Art hosts BFA and MFA student exhibitions in the gallery as part of graduation requirements each semester. The technology friendly gallery serves not only exhibition purposes, but also provides a location for an active Visiting Artist lecture program.

Funded in part by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee

MANHATTAN — Kansas State University Department of Art will present the fourth of five BFA Thesis Exhibitions of the fall season featuring Sarika Brinkman, Phillip Choe, Mary Gordon, Hillary Hendricks, Danielle McCulley, and Valerie Simonelli. The artists will present an exhibition of their work from December 8 through 12, 2014 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, first floor Willard Hall. Gallery hours are 10am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. There will be a reception for the artists on Friday evening, December 12, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm in the gallery.

Admission is free and open to the public.

As a metalsmith from Leawood, Kansas, Sarika Brinkman creates small-scale pieces from copper and silver. Intricate details are what most drive her, and she values the relationships formed with each piece while asserting control over the metal. Brinkman’s miniature, raised vessels speak to this and draw the viewer in for a tactile experience.

Digital artist, Phillip Choe, from Overland Park, Kansas knew since his childhood, he would be an artist, growing up immersed in the art culture being around his artistic family members. Receiving sketchbooks as a child from his uncle, Phillip was bound to be good at art at an early age. His digital works are more of an experience than just material objects, allowing the engaged spectator to get more out of the art. "My art represents the struggle of self improvement." His installation asks questions about the modern person and how they use their free time.

Printmaker, Mary Gordon, was born in Germany, but has lived in Manhattan, Kansas for most of her life. As her family traveled, Mary held a fascination for paper and expressing herself through different materials. Receipts, tickets, tea bag tags and patterned papers were treasures she kept with her in a book. Her prints are made up of rescued scraps and fragments of prints – etchings, engravings, and monotypes. She says, "The fusion of two or three moments into one is exciting to me; the paper as a platform for connecting line and color. The collage is a way for me to connect the reusing of objects, and the book is a container for these things; objects that may go unnoticed if scattered about or thrown away."

Hillary Hendricks is a multidisciplinary artist from Manhattan, KS. She works with clay, found objects, and drawing media to create quirky installations. Her spontaneous mark making and use of "low end” materials bring into question the value and nature of objects. She creates subtle moments to be discovered and delighted in.

Painter, Danielle McCulley, of Manhattan Kansas, creates views of whimsical landscapes and tiny unfolding worlds using gouache and acrylic paints. Her time spent both outdoors in the U.S. and traveling abroad in the Europe have influenced her desire to express the ingenuity of nature and the analogies it possesses for our everyday lives. The imagery in her paintings are composed from her personal experiences, readings, observations, and long hours spent with others in conversation over the ultimate aspiration of existence. Her paintings seek to reveal that what is transcendent to time and space and the natural laws which bind our known world is ultimately what can help us understand our present and future reality.

Valerie Simonelli, a born and raised Rhode Islander, sculpts floor-based surfaces with subtle undulations reminiscent of relief work. Hailing from the "Ocean State,” her background has played a significant role in shaping her sculptures that evoke the movement of water. Drawing parallels between bodies of water and the human body she says, "the ocean has an unfathomable depth that we see only a small part. The same may be said of people."

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall opened in 2005. Cheryl Mellenthin and Mark Chapman funded a complete renovation of the former Willard Hall Gallery, increasing the exhibition space to over 1,400 square feet along with 400 square feet dedicated to exhibition preparation and kitchen facilities. The Department of Art hosts BFA and MFA student exhibitions in the gallery as part of graduation requirements each semester. The technology friendly gallery serves not only exhibition purposes, but also provides a location for an active Visiting Artist lecture program.

Funded in part by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee

MANHATTAN —Kansas State University Department of Art will present the third of five BFA Thesis Exhibitions of the fall season featuring Ian Harrington, Yuanwen Lin, Hanah Peterson, Carl Pina II, and Yang Yu. The artists will present an exhibition of their work from December 1 through 5, 2014 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, first floor Willard Hall. Gallery hours are 10am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. There will be a reception for the artists on Friday evening, December 5, from 5:30 to 8:00 pm in the gallery.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Artist, Ian Harrington, of Manhattan Kansas, creates naturalistic drawings of invented spaces. Interested in animation and video games as a child, creating his own environments was a natural step. The imagery of his drawings is from observed and imagined organic subject matter. Stemming from intense observation, the drawings evolve through the manipulation of Ian’s understanding of the observed.

Artist, Lin, Yuanwen (Lin), of Nanjing, China, considers how things are intertwined and how cultural differences assimilate into new identities. After she came to America, it was a huge culture shock. Through sculptural representations of consumable goods in an enlarged scale with functional materials, she has chosen to depict and divulge stories dealing with specific misconceptions, attitudes, and myths about Chinese culture.

Artist Hanah Peterson, raised in and an alumnus of Junction City, combined her love of craft hobbies and her newfound love of digital artwork in a the piece that is a large crocheted blanket, interlaced with Electroluminescent wire. Self-taught in electronics, the wire is controlled by circuit boards making it possible for an audience to view and connect their past to the present, using related aesthetics and media of our contemporary fast paced, technological world.

Digital artist, Carl Pina II, became inspired to be an artist after watching a Looney Tunes cartoon called "Duck Amuck,” where he saw an artist change the world around Daffy Duck. He later gained an interest in animation after seeing the advances made in video games. He chose digital arts after he explored and discovered many different kinds of art. His animation is a representation of his confusion of which kind of art career he should pursue and to show young artists the different paths of art they can take. He says, "Regardless of how smart I am, I know who I am and what I want to be and while it may be a rough road ahead, I traveled all this way for something so I will keep going forward." His animation will feature stick figures performing different styles of art in a simple yet humorous way that it will almost look like one of Disney’s cartoons of Goofy’s "How to.." shows.

As an international digital artist, Yang Yu has focused on seeing the Chinese society from American’s point of view. The rapid development in China causes many issues, such as pollution and moral indifference. In this animation, Yang Yu shows our shared problems, and asks the question, is a fast growing economy good or bad for us?

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall opened in 2005. Cheryl Mellenthin and Mark Chapman funded a complete renovation of the former Willard Hall Gallery, increasing the exhibition space to over 1,400 square feet along with 400 square feet dedicated to exhibition preparation and kitchen facilities. The Department of Art hosts BFA and MFA student exhibitions in the gallery as part of graduation requirements each semester. The technology friendly gallery serves not only exhibition purposes, but also provides a location for an active Visiting Artist lecture program.

Funded in part by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee

MANHATTAN —Kansas State University Department of Art will present the second of five BFA Thesis Exhibitions of the fall season featuring Yingwan Sun, Kaitlin Thies, Talia Timler, William Wilgus, and Ashley Zondca. The artists will present an exhibition of their work from November 17 through 21, 2014 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, first floor Willard Hall. Gallery hours are 10am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. There will be a reception for the artists on Friday evening, November 14, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm in the gallery.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Metal jewelry designer, Yingwan Sun, of Beijing, China, creates metal jewelry that is combined with fur, leather and other materials. Growing up in a crowded city, she wanted to make her pieces more peaceful and quiet. She made a replica of a real gopher skull into a necklace and also a crafted vessel. She states, "I want them to be more interesting and let people think more about the environment, animals, and our earth." Her works make people think about the environment and our earth.

Canadian born artist, Talia Timler, was raised in Ottawa, Ontario. She is a metalsmith and works in mostly copper that she enamels or powder coats. She creates scary or dangerous objects that have somehow been turned into something fascinating and beautiful. The main purpose of her artwork is to evoke the viewer to have some sort of inner struggle.

Photographer, Katie Thies, of Olathe Kansas, creates conceptual political art work that invites participation from her audience in the gallery. Brought up in a family that frequently discussed current events and media coverage, Thies naturally felt compelled to express her passionate thoughts through her artwork. Her imagery plays on the shift in protesting and examines media interpretation. Thies states that the battle cry from her subjects, "This is what democracy looks like” is a defining theme in the work.

Photographer, William Wilgus, finally settled in Wichita, Kansas after moving around with his family. The moving he did, and the road trips his family took growing up, was a factor in his ability to get along with and communicate with most people. He creates bright and uplifting images using studio lights and soft focus. His images show elements of the BDSM community out of stereotypical environments and shows the beauty they hold for those involved in the community.

Digital artist, Ashley Zondca, of Kansas City, Kansas, creates videos and digital imagery using various applications such as Adobe Flash and Photoshop. Using interesting depictions from her life experiences that correlate as universal human experiences. Her neatly composed videos from these experiences involve a critical investigation into social norms and habits of her generation. She says, "technology like smart-phones of today have come to function as much more than a communication device. It’s a hub of all that we are and do." Her sound reactive video explores a consciousness of the dependent relationship we have with technology today.

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall opened in 2005. Cheryl Mellenthin and Mark Chapman funded a complete renovation of the former Willard Hall Gallery, increasing the exhibition space to over 1,400 square feet along with 400 square feet dedicated to exhibition preparation and kitchen facilities. The Department of Art hosts BFA and MFA student exhibitions in the gallery as part of graduation requirements each semester. The technology friendly gallery serves not only exhibition purposes, but also provides a location for an active Visiting Artist lecture program.

Funded in part by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee

MANHATTAN —Kansas State University Department of Art will present the first of five BFA Thesis Exhibitions of the fall season featuring Dakota Cole, Newton Marenda, Danielle Meek, Isaac Stallbaumer, and Holly Falene Weeden. The artists will present an exhibition of their work from November 10 through 14, 2014 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, first floor Willard Hall. Gallery hours are 10am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. There will be a reception for the artists on Friday evening, November 14, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm in the gallery.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Digital Artist Dakota Cole, of Fort Smith, Arkansas, creates frame-by-frame animations that instill emotions in the viewer. Growing up with a mom that encouraged laughter, Dakota also encourages it in others. The work is an animation that breaks the boundary of one screen and enters two, forcing a dualistic monitor battle.

Newton Marenda, a photographer from Monterey, California creates images to abstract the ideas of the everyday. Often looking at the world through a logical eye with an attempt to push past his own ideas. His focus is of the face and eyes using light and various angles to capture images that may reminisce of landscape photos and bring you to question what you are viewing. He says, "With each image I want the viewer to explore what I have captured, to find what is and is not present." With his prints the viewer is invited to identify and familiarize themselves with a face, and yet become lost in the trails and valleys of texture and contrasts of light and dark.

Painter Danielle Meek, has found inspiration from flowers in her childhood growing up in Manhattan, Kansas. Using watercolors she brings together the color, odd shapes, and layers that can be found in nature, she corresponds these elements to that of what happens with memories over time. She says, "When it comes to memories they are not always clear; they fade or overlap with information that we gain throughout our lives." In a sense her paintings show the life of a memory.

Metalsmithing and jewelry artist Isaac Stallbaumer, of Topeka Kansas, focuses on metal transformation – creating metal designs through his interest in collecting and raising insects. His work exposes the fine lines and beauty of the insects, which creates a jarring effect to the viewer. One such installation allows the incorporation of his pet tarantula.

Mixed Media Sculptor Holly Falene Weeden, of Manhattan, Kansas, creates three-dimensional metaphors that address the subject matter of morality and wisdom. Reading fairytales and fables, and spending time with family were influential on her as an artist. The imagery is intended to be ageless and relative. Toaccomplish this she utilizes anthropomorphism: the projection of human qualities into a non-human form. In her sculptures, this non-human form resembles child-like characters. She says, "As a storyteller I approach the subject matter much like C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Aesop's fables."

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall opened in 2005. Cheryl Mellenthin and Mark Chapman funded a complete renovation of the former Willard Hall Gallery, increasing the exhibition space to over 1,400 square feet along with 400 square feet dedicated to exhibition preparation and kitchen facilities. The Department of Art hosts BFA and MFA student exhibitions in the gallery as part of graduation requirements each semester. The technology friendly gallery serves not only exhibition purposes, but also provides a location for an active Visiting Artist lecture program.

Funded in part by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee