2018-2019 Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) Student Exhibitions

Byron Ashley, a printmaker from Topeka, Kansas, makes satirical prints that are critical of the political landscape. Inspired by the rise of President Donald Trump, his works aims to tackle the ferocious and bombastic persona that is the celebrity politician. "Printmaking has had a pivotal role in political activism since its infant stage way back to Goya in the 1800's to current times with the Obama Hope poster." He hopes his prints makes people aware of the complex issues surrounding the current administration.

Aaron Cole is a printmaking student at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. He enjoys experimenting in different media including intaglio, silkscreen, digital, colored pencils, and chalk pastels. Aaron invokes and interprets archetypal concepts, folklore, and religious texts to tie his work together. The differences in media between groupings of prints is used to delineate the works and accentuate the stories that influenced them.

Metalsmith Victoria Garrett from Corpus Christi, Texas, designs wearable pieces of art out of metal. The first body of work focuses on famous monuments and the second body is made up of headpieces and bracelets showing one's personality. She says, "These pieces are about stories and wonder. I like to think that the stories are told through the head pieces and bracelets. They show how hardship and trials make a person stronger. The wonder is revealed through the rings. Each one of these structures are very well known but there are parts of their history that are less common. Finding those connections is what brings out the wonder for me." Her pieces show how she see the world and the people in it.

Printmaker Victoria Harvey of Manhattan, Kansas, explores the basic processes of printmaking in her works: woodcuts, monotypes, and etchings. She states, "My source of inspiration is portraits/figures of Hip-Hop artists, mainly those that have inspired me and that have a message within their lyrics. Hip-Hop is a movement, a culture, and a way of life, the only life I feel I can affiliate with." Her mark making within each piece involves a sense of movement, whether it be physical or through repetition of mark making.

Ceramic artist Molly Lenhausen of Overland Park, Kansas, makes large-scale, mixed media installations. Her installation work is inspired by nature as well as the idea of shrinking oneself down in order explore minute details of larger objects as if they were a new, stimulating landscape. She says, "My aim is to capture those details, moments of smallness, through texture, color, pattern, or light to transport the viewer to a place that is somewhat familiar yet
forbidding and fantastical." Her work shows an attention to detail as well as a love and admiration for nature.

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall, across from the art office, 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.

Photographer Andrea Klepper of Ellinwood, Kansas creates unique portraits of dancers. Her photographs feature a motion blur created from the dancer. She says, "As a dancer myself, I know that most dancers are trained in many different styles of dance. Eventually, a dancer might develop their own personal style or genre that is unique to them and that expresses who they truly are as a dancer." Her images capture a dancer's natural movement from their individual style.

Longhao Li, a Digital Artist at Kansas State University, is from Urumqi, China. He mainly studies new media art including visual effects and interactions. In this exhibition, he uses a principle of environmental and visual effects to make work about global warming. Li thinks that global warming is a serious problem that has begun to affect human life. He expresses his concern for the future by creating a doomsday visual atmosphere. Longhao Li says that "using visual effects, including graphics and lighting, to add some sense of technology combined with the natural environment, may give the audience a sense of substitution."

Painter Rachel Lord from Willard, Kansas creates rural American and Kansas inspired landscapes. In her work, she shows her connection to the land, life experiences, and memories of living in Kansas. She says, "With so many forms of nature just outside my front door, it was easy to become invested in, and connected to the land. I feel that landscape painting captures a certain sense of place, memory, and atmosphere." In her oil paintings done on canvas, she anticipates each mark, each color, each layer of paint that she recalls and has seen in the land.

Photographer Brandon Pickett of Wichita, Kansas, makes black and white installations using four-inch squares to create a bigger image. His large-scale installations explore the imagery of urban landscapes in rural towns as they decline to urbanization. He says, "The spacing between the images represent the mind and the forgotten or misplaced memories in rural America like space represents the lost information in the images." By breaking up the images, it obscures the viewer's intentions of what they're supposed to be viewing, much like how rural towns are being lost to larger cities.

Renjie Tang is a DX Media artist from Shanghai, China. He uses Unity and a microcontroller to create 3D interactive experiences about the nuclear hazard. In his work, he reflects the experiences of people who suffer from nuclear disasters and the discrimination they are facing after they back in society. He says, "Many things cannot be judged by subjective impression and stereotype." He uses actual objects to trigger the event and helps the audience walk into the 3D environment he creates.

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall, across from the art office, 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.

Photographer Alexis Atcheson of Olathe, KS, makes large-scale, nude self-portraits. Her meticulously set up photos highlight body positivity and embrace loving your body despite flaws and how media tells you to view yourself. She says, "This project really shows the love I have for my body and myself, and it's time to showcase that while also empowering others." Her photographs reveal this through having Renaissance-like posing and lighting, utilizing symbolism in the color backdrops and flowers.

Photographer Tessie Melgarejo, was born in Indiana, USA. She has traveled extensively throughout the United States and Mexico as well as completed two study abroad programs, one semester Salamanca, Spain and the other in Puebla, Mexico. Tessie says, "Photography is with me every place I go. It inspires me to look at everything in my own way, with my own eyes. In fact, its presence fills my eyes with passion. It humbles me in this exponential era of photography and its ability to show me that no one is able to perceive a shot quite the same as me." Her current body of work is abstract, using bright organic and inorganic colors and shadow.

Keegan Mocabee, an artist from the Manhattan, Kansas area, makes drawings of cartoon-like characters set in places around the world. They contain many words constructed with typography that describe the characteristics of the places where the characters are set. He prefers to use graphite pencil and pen and ink. His works explore unique personalities throughout various seasons and convey certain traits that characters feel.

David Szmed is working towards his Bachelor of Fine Arts with a focus in painting. Currently working out of Manhattan, Kansas, his environment and the people in his community are crucial factors in his work. His contemporary works reflect his personal experiences and thoughts through a focus of the highly rendered content he chooses to paint. He uses his works as a reflection of himself, and through the process of creating them he is better able to fully
emerge himself into thinking more critically about the messages they give to the viewer.

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall, across from the art office, 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.

DX Media artist Jerron Clopton of Kansas City, KS, makes digital drawings and illustrations on an iPad pro and computer. He takes the passion and motivation from sneaker and hip-hop culture and creates illustrations using bright colors and abstract shapes. He says, "With every print I create, I want to find a new way to make something and bring a new expression to my illustrations." His work brings out the idea of making the digital world a more appreciated and valued medium.

Photographer Cory Crosby was born in Wichita, Kansas. Cory uses his medium to take portraits of people with their faces covered to hide their identity and to talk about mental health awareness. He says, "Nothing in this world can torment you as much as your own thoughts." His prints reveal evidence of how mental health awareness can be shown through photography.

Painter Melissa Donlon of Lafayette, Georgia, explores the relationship between humor, loneliness, and loss in her large-scale multimedia prints. Her work references her experience as a military wife living alone during her husband's multiple deployments overseas. The ghostlike aircraft and figures that interact with her self-portraits represent both the lingering presence and tangible absence that she feels in her home while her husband is away at war.

Seth Strand of Forest City, Iowa makes large-scale drawings dealing with war using charcoal on paper. His body of work is a series of self-portraits that portray a specific moment of chaos. He uses a mirror and re-enacts the moments of chaos he went through. Seth says, "The artwork is just as much about the process, as it is the content." Using the raw feelings drawn by reenactment, his expressive marks convey the emotions he went through in the war.

Printmaker Maddie Wolff of Olathe, Kansas, makes bright and colorful prints using copper etching plates. Her prints are generated from old photos of her childhood, which are then extremely manipulated during the various printmaking processes. She says, "I choose to work from photos because they are documentation of my past. However, my memories of those times are faded and feel as if they are just dreams." Her pieces explore how we change and manipulate our memories over time.

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall, across from the art office, 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.

Painter, Melissa Donlon, of Lafayette, Georgia, explores the relationship between humor and memory in her large-scale paintings. She creates realistic scenes that reference her experiences living in rural America. The raw canvas and exposed underdrawing nod to her process of making while simultaneously placing her figures into a partially realized environment that mimics the mind's process of recollection.

Tyler Jones, from Wichita, Kansas, utilizes his familiarity with multiple media to create interactive interface installation art. His work generally underscores topics of social structure and personal identity through symbolism. "I found a niche environment where I could meld my creativity with technology in ways that previously seemed inaccessible due to steep learning curves." His hope is that he can eventually use his technical skills to garner understanding and capability to individuals who feel a similar inaccessibility to new media.

Ceramicist Anna Rassette from Leawood, Kansas, sculpts life-size figures from clay and creates environments constructed with vibrant mixed media materials. Through her expressive mark-making and the positions, the figures are placed in, they are transported into a space of unguarded human transparency and impermanence. "Impacted by my own tendency to self-shame I express the distorted view of oneself and the disregard for the true self that is waiting to be grown and voiced." Disregard of the true self is expressed through bodily formations and energetic colors displayed through her installations.

Logan Robertson, a Metalsmith from Shawnee, Kansas, makes amorphous, organic jewelry. Each piece starts with wax that is molded into blobs, bulges, bubbles, dents, holes, and hands. These wax forms are then cast in metal, sanded, finished, and painted. "The result is a family of strange objects that vary from familiar to alien, playful to eccentric to downright creepy," she says. Her main series titled "Little Curios" explores the juxtaposition of form, color, and content. It seeks to challenge the conventional perception of jewelry and how it is worn, superseding the traditional polished aesthetic in favor of forms that are more curious.

Anthony Stepp, a printmaker from Manhattan, Kansas, works in screenprint and etching to work through the dichotomy of his views of art. He uses illustrative screenprints that could be from a storyboard juxtaposed against expressive abstract etchings. These two different styles of work are presented as one, "sometimes playing together nicely, sometimes fighting for control, mimicking my experience with art," to give an image of this personal dichotomy.

Painter, Stephen Taylor from Kansas City, Kansas creates art reminiscent of comic books and the Pop Art. He is in his final semester at Kansas State University and will be completing his BFA in studio art with a concentration in painting. His work combines clean lines and complementing colors that bring you into the painting. Stephen says that his work "rewards a prolonged viewing" and that attention to detail is key. His art themes center around friendship and multiculturalism while exploring classic comic book troupes and graphical styles.

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall, across from the art office, 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.

Sarah Beatty, of Manhattan, Kansas, makes multi-plate prints based on her experience with mental illness. The etchings include journal entries and experiences of how anxiety and depression have impacted her life with the hope that it may be able to help someone else. "These prints represent things that many people go through but may not acknowledge or realize; it is important that they are talked about." These prints use text and color help to add a sense of what it means to deal with daily life while also dealing with a mental illness.

Nicholas Burrowes, a photographer from Middlesboro, KY, creates images of the male nude in an attempt to take a closer look at the individual. Nicholas strives to show a more intimate look into the individuals he depicts by photographing them in a personal space and setting, usually inside of their homes. He says "We work hard to project an image of ourselves to others even if we are not fully aware of it. I'm more interested in finding what is beneath that surface level." His photographic work attempts to display the "true self" and vulnerability of the individual.

Braden Byers, a photographer from Wichita, Kansas, creates photographs using double exposed 35mm film. His technique aims to create a feeling of accidental intensity while portraying the human figure in both a vulnerable and isolated state. He is influenced strongly by photographers of the 1930s and early era film photography, bridging the gap between the roots of photography and modern day processes. His prints aim to question how we feel at our most vulnerable states as well as how we feel when we are isolated.

Anton Deblauwe, of Overland Park, Kansas, makes textural rings and sculptures using molds made from the textures on found objects. The textures come from a mix of both natural and man-made objects. "The textures remind me of my childhood, collecting rocks or small objects and keeping them in my pockets to play with." Casting the work in bronze and silver brings out the details of the textures and elevates them to a new level.

Kenny Nam Dinh is a digital experimental artist from Dodge City, Kansas, whose main focus is making use of telecommunications of the internet for interaction. He is inspired by the technology and the people all over the world, leading to an experimentation of worldly delay internet interaction. He says, "No one can experience the exact same moment with someone on the other side of the world." In Kenny's experimentation of network art, the goal for the people is to think of the delay in time caused by technology and distance.

Kenneth Wilson Jr., a DX Media artist from Kansas City, Missouri, makes interactive art through digital animation and coding software like the Unity game engine. With inspiration from game art and technology, Kenneth has always had an interest in solving and exploring issues related to the relationship between the real world and technology. The project being featured in the exhibition is focused on the secrets of society and the lengths that people will follow to find out those secrets. Kenneth's art not only show the world in a lens that not many think about, but his art allows the audience to experience that lens through interactivity.

The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall, across from the art office, 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.