Department of Art

2021-2022 Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Student Exhibitions

Michael Burke

print

Its Painful Absences Covers All, Intaglio, 34”x23”, 2021

The exhibition, Disquiet, by MFA Candidate Michael Burke, was presented in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, February 21 - 25. This event is free and open to the public.

During one of the most traumatic and solitary times in history, the artist uses experimental and counter-intuitive printmaking methods in order to process and transform the haunting and arresting memories of personal trauma. His abstracted spaces and environments expose the remnants that reside between memories of pain and contemporary vision. Michael Burke’s etchings offer hope within the darkness, inviting the viewer to reflect on their own life experience and survival.

These events are presented and funded in part, by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee.

Sepideh Badakhshanian

photographic art

Deprivation, Photography, dimensions (11”x17”), 2022

The exhibition, Deprivation , by MFA Candidate Sepideh Badakhshanian, was presented in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, from February 28 – March 4. The reception was held from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm on Friday, March 4 in the gallery. Events are free and open to the public.

The body of works included in this show focus on women’s feelings in Iran’s traditional and conservative society, portraying the pain that accompanies Iranian women as they are subjected to sexual violence, harassment, legal discrimination, and cultural notions of taboo, along with a questioning of patriarchal ideologies in Iran and Middle Eastern cultures.

Funding for this show was provided in part by the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Small Grant Program for K-State Graduate Students. These events are also presented and funded in part, by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee.

Shea Kister

ceramic art

Beware of the Bathroom Floor I, stoneware and low fire glaze, 5.5" x 11" x 8.5", 2021

The exhibition, Please, Sit Down. by MFA Candidate Shea Kister was presented in the gallery from March 7- 11 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery. The reception was held from 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm on Friday, March 11 in the gallery. Events are free and open to the public.

Inspired by her study of trauma’s effects on memory as well as personal and social relationships, Shea Kister’s work enlists notions of fragmentation, discontinuity, memory distortion, and dissociation through the use of scale, surface application, and materials. Creating manifestations of how feeling indescribable emotions can be outwardly represented, she presents her work within an immersive context that allows the viewer to experience familiar, though possibly uneasy feelings – the kind that might emerge from memory and the limitations of verbal or written language.

Funding for this show was provided in part by the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Small Grant Program for K-State Graduate Students. These events are also presented and funded in part, by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee.

Elena Masrour

painting

Biking on a Sunny Day, watercolor and oil on canvas, 60’’x 50” 2022

The Exhibition, We’re not in Tehran anymore,” by MFA Candidate Elena Masrour, will be presented in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery from March 21 - 25. A reception will be held from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm on Friday, March 25 in the gallery. Events are free and open to the public.

The paintings in this exhibition reflect some of the many difficulties women living in Iran have had to endure following the Islamic Revolution. The segregation of women in terms of familial obligations, religious rituals, legal privileges, and personal and political power is addressed through the use of Persian iconography, and images and narratives combed from Elena Masrour’s personal experience and Iranian pop culture. We’re not in Tehran anymore draws inspiration from the superheroines of the Golden Age of American comics as a vehicle for engaging viewers in the challenging content, and as a nod to the freedom of speech that has been afforded the artist while studying art in Kansas.

Funding for this show is provided in part by the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Small Grant Program for K-State Graduate Students. These events are also presented and funded in part, by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee.

Archived MFA Student Exhibitions

Upcoming MFA Exhibitions