The three-year Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program is studio-based and research-focused with an emphasis on creative practice, interdisciplinarity, community engagement, and professional development. Throughout the program, students conduct practice and text-based research, presenting their work in studio visits, exhibitions, MFA Open Studios, and group critique with faculty, peers, visiting artists, curators, scholars, and community members.
As the culmination of the program, MFA Candidates present a public solo thesis exhibition project at the Donna Beam Gallery their final semester. The Midway Exhibition is an Advancement to Candidacy degree requirement, in which graduate students present their second year in the program as a public, solo project in the Grant Hall Gallery.
This spring’s exhibition season features six solo exhibitions of artists exploring diverse mediums, themes, and identities. The public is welcome to attend exhibition openings, artist talks, and to drop by when the galleries are open.
- Jan. 20 - 31: Kayla Lockwood, Honey, I’m Home!, Midway Exhibition
- Feb. 11 - 21: Bailey Anderson, SON OF A BITCH, Thesis Exhibition
- March 3 - 14: Dan Hernandez, Bombarded by Superlatives, Midway Exhibition
- March 3 - 14: Karla Lagunas, American Girl, Thesis Exhibition
- March 24 - Apr. 4: Romina Villarreal, Sangria, Thesis Exhibition
- April 14 - 25: ¡Katie B Funk! THEY’RE ALL GONNA LAUGH AT YOU, Thesis Exhibition
Thesis Talks:
- March 11, 6-8 p.m. - Bailey Anderson and Karla Lagunas, Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art Auditorium
- April 30, 6-8 p.m. - Romina Villarreal and ¡Katie B Funk!, Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art Auditorium
Kayla Lockwood
Honey, I’m Home!
Grant Hall Gallery
January 20 - 31, 2025
Closing Reception: January 31, 5 - 8 p.m., performance 7 p.m.
Revisit Grandma and Grandpa’s home in Honey, I’m Home! This exhibition reimagines the idealized domestic life of the 1950s and 60s, drawing on nostalgic references to sitcoms and traditional gender roles to explore how personal loss and shifting family dynamics reshape our sense of “home.” By combining wood, fiber, and clay with familiar household elements, it evokes themes of memory, grief, and evolving family roles, inviting viewers to reflect on the complex relationship between comfort, identity, and change.
Bailey Anderson
SON OF A BITCH
Donna Beam Gallery
February 11 - 21, 2025
Closing Reception: February 21, 6 - 9 p.m.
On View: Monday - Saturday 10am - 5 p.m.
SON OF A BITCH investigates the technological anxieties about war in our future by utilizing the functionality of spaghetti western films to evaluate masculinity through an allegorical lens. Borrowing from these films, Bailey Anderson’s research reproduces the aesthetics of these films, inspired by its purpose as an political device in highly censored 1960s Italy and Spain, to discuss the gender crisis taking place in post-WWII European masculinities.
Dan Hernandez
Bombarded by Superlatives
Grant Hall Gallery
March 3 - 14, 2025
Reception: March 7, 6 - 9 p.m.
“Everyday I wander in negative disposition
As I'm bombarded by superlatives
Realizing very well that I am not alone
Introverted, I look to tomorrow for salvation
But I'm thinking altruistically
And a wave of overwhelming doubt turns me to stone”
Karla Lagunas
American Girl
Donna Beam Gallery
March 3 - 14, 2025
Reception: March 7, 6 - 9pm, performance 7 p.m.
On View: Monday - Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
American Girl takes on the weight of the American Dream—its myths, contradictions, and costs. Through performance, video, painting, and installation, Karla Lagunas confronts survival and identity, challenging the roles we’re forced to play and the stories we inherit.
Romina Villarreal
Sangria
Donna Beam Gallery
March 24 - April 4, 2025
Reception: Friday, April 4, 2025, 6 - 8 p.m.
On View: Monday - Saturday 10am - 5 p.m.
Come party with us! See the people and become one with the crowd.
Sangria examines escapism through the glamours of nightlife by portraying the emotionality of people in the colorful landscapes of the club.
¡Katie B Funk!
THEY’RE ALL GONNA LAUGH AT YOU
Donna Beam Gallery
April 14 - 25, 2025
Reception: Friday, April 25, 2025, 6 - 9 p.m.
On View: Monday - Saturday 10am - 5 p.m.
“...my mom and dad are gonna be so mad at meeee…”
About the 51ԹϺ College of Fine Arts
The College of Fine Arts educates, empowers, and engages creative people to become visionary change-makers in the arts through acts of imagination. At 51ԹϺ we believe the arts are an essential good for society. We make education relevant and accessible through our programs and outreach. We create new knowledge in the arts. We celebrate independent thought and the power of bringing people together to foster creativity.
