MFA Student Exhibitions

March 2026

3602 Corona Drive Exhibition by Ariana Rastelli Swann

Ariana Swann's MFA Exhibition Poster

The Kansas State University Department of Art will present the exhibition, “3602 Corona Drive” by MFA Candidate Ariana Swann from March 23rd – March 27th in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery in Willard Hall, Kansas State University campus. A reception will be held from 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm on Friday, March 27th in the gallery. Events are free and open to the public.

Ariana Swann is originally from Caracas, Venezuela, and received her B.S. in Statistics from the University of Michigan. After graduation, she worked as an organ transplant specialist in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but left her career to hike the Appalachian Trail. Living in a tent and hiking for two years, her journey on the Trail inspired her to pursue her art.

Pulling from her varied experiences of culture, vocation, location, and a questioning of the notion of permanence, she creates richly layered, interdisciplinary works. “3602 Corona Drive” is a room-sized installation that uses lighting, paint, and hollow paper walls and furniture to create a space that illuminates, more than provides shelter.

Websites: www.art.ksu.edu

Instagram: @ariana_swann_art

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

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.

Spring 2026

Aaron Stefan

Barry DeLive artwork by Aaron Stefan

The Kansas State University Department of Art will present the exhibition, Gotta Eat by MFA Candidate Aaron Joel Stefan from March 9th-13th in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery in Willard Hall, Kansas State University campus. A reception will be held from 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm on Monday, March 9th in the gallery. Events are free and open to the public.

Aaron Joel Stefan is originally from Virginia Beach, VA, and received his BFA in Drawing and Printmaking from the University of Central Florida. While at the University of Central Florida, he also served as the Collaborative Master Printer at the Printmaking Atelier, Flying Horse Editions; several of his works are now in UCF’s artist’s books special collections.

Aaron is a printmaker and painter whose practice moves between fine art and commercial production to examine how contemporary life conditions us through fear and insecurity. Drawing from professional experience in graphic art, industrial printing, and scenic design, Aaron stages tension between instinctive, and immediate art practices and calculated, controlled, processes. In Gotta Eat, expressive and polished imagery collides, reflecting cycles of stress, labor, and consumption that shape identity and self-worth. His work builds dreamlike, symbolic scenes where urgency meets deliberation, asking how survival, ambition, and productivity become entangled, and how the making of work can become a site to negotiate that pressure.

IG: @aaronjoelstefan