Department of Art

2020-2021 Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Student Exhibitions

 

The Tipping Point

Presented by Master of Fine Arts Graduate Hailey Quick in the Mark A. Chapman in Willard Hall

quick_tippingpoint

MANHATTAN —The Kansas State University Department of Art will present the exhibition, “The Tipping Point” by MFA Candidate Hailey Quick from March 22nd to March 26th in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery in Willard Hall, Kansas State University campus. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. A formal reception will not be held. Events are free and open to the public.

Hailey Quick is originally from Lafayette, LA and received her BFA in Printmaking the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In 2019, she was awarded the “Making the Leap Graduate Scholarship” from the Chapman Center for Rural Studies, where she worked as a NEH consultant assisting small historical societies better their professionalism through the AASLH’s StEPs program. Making the Leap is part of the “Chapman Center Engagement Scholarship”, and a National Endowment of the Humanities Grant . Her work has been featured in the publications: The Hand: Issue 19, Issue 27, and Issue 28; California Printmakers Society: Variation on a Theme; Exclamation! Magazine Issue No. 5; Pulse Magazine "Inner Nature” Issue; and Kansas State University’s Seek Magazine Issue Fall 2020. Her work has placed 1st and 3rd in the “2019 New Impressions” and 3rd in the“2020 New Impressions” graduate competition, hosted by Speedball, 1st in “Printmaking in the Rockies and the Great Plains”, and has exhibited in multiple locations across the United States.

Hailey’s work is influenced from her upbringing in rural South Louisiana. Personal struggles with trauma, along with her background in science, guide her image making. Utilizing both the figure and native Louisiana animals in her compositions, Hailey’s lithographs and etchings depict a complex personal narrative through a surreal lens. The chaos in her imagery is represented by visual metaphors and action words such as grabbing, smothering, and breaking to symbolize the chaotic mindset she has experienced. As the work progresses, the boundaries of these action words are pushed into different states of evolvement in the figures and the environment. The emotions of anger, betrayal, pain, and rebirth are the inspirations behind each piece. Each animal serves an allegorical purpose within the images to represent the people of Quick’s family and herself. At times they can be nurturing and protective, while also being violent and foreboding. The beauty and terror that nature provides is the perfect mirror to the complex personal narrative on display. Although one may not know the characters or events behind each piece, the depictions of chaos, and struggle to reclaim empowerment from a traumatic event - is the overarching theme and sets the tone.

Website: https://haileyquick.com/

TRANSCENDigital

Presented by Master of Fine Arts Graduate Lathan Mastellar in the Mark A. Chapman in Willard Hall

MANHATTAN -- The Kansas State University Department of Art will present the exhibition, "TRANSCENDigital" by MFA Candidate Lathan Mastellar from March 7th-12th in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery in Willard Hall, Kansas State University Manhattan, KS. Events are free and open to the public.

Lathan Mastellar is originally from Liberal, Kansas, and received his BFA in DX Media from Kansas State University. Lathan was an artist in residence at Gettysburg national Military Park and has shown work across the country. Lathans work is centered around the phenomeological experience of attention, and digital media. His digital works point at the subtle nature of attention through interactivity and content. The works invite the viewer to engage with them in some way, through this engagement a relationship is established between viewer and object that is completely reliant on attention. This relationship is twofold; the work's attention is dependent on the viewer and the viewer's attention is dependent on the work. When we engage with digital media in such a way we begin to recontextualize our relationship with media, allowing us more agency over where we place our attention.

Website: www.lathanmastellar.com

Invisible Lines

Presented by Master of Fine Arts Graduate Katharina Bossmann in the Kirmser Gallery at the Manhattan Arts Center

Invisible Lines is an exploration of those boundaries we establish around us, be they natural borders, national borders, cultural limitations or even the restrictions during the pandemic and the longing to be free of them. Many forms of migration exist; some celebrated and others are censured. Inspired by the "murmurations" formed by bird migrations, Katharina Bossmann, in her MFA Thesis exhibition, layers etchings to create prints that show the freedom and movement of these peregrinations. Bossmann uses her Prints, Drawings and Artist's Books to illuminate and question the boundaries we place on ourselves and the desire to connect with others.

 

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.

Archived MFA Student Exhibitions

Upcoming MFA Exhibitions