Boston University School of Visual Arts Hosts the 2024 BFA Thesis Exhibitions

“The Class of 2024 has faced enormous cultural change during four years as undergraduate students. Due to the pandemic, they have adapted to different ways of working together, but creating in the face of so much flux seems to have heightened these students’ attentiveness to manipulating images and materials in new ways,” writes Dana Clancy, Director, School of Visual Arts; Associate Professor of Art, Painting, in the BFA Thesis catalog.

“Through their work this group of talented young artists and designers also invite us to become aware of how we engage with the flow of time. They dig into the past – working with archives, considering visual traditions from home countries, or making paintings of objects – including photographs – from their parents or grandparents’ lives. They also experiment with recent technology, exploring the impact of digital worlds on human experiences, utilizing AI, and speculating about the future through their experimental processes. The exhibitions in Stone and 808 Galleries at CFA create a sense of flow for the viewer between individual experience and larger social questions; we encounter a stream of sources from the world manipulated in unique ways by each student.”

The BFA Graphic Design Thesis Exhibition, on view at Boston University Art Galleries’ 808 Gallery, explores four overarching themes: design for social impact,  community-focused design, the portrayal and exploration of social phenomena, and the intersection of technology and graphic design. The students bring their unique interpretations and approaches to the table.

“While our design approaches differ, we find convergence in our shared experience of design as a lens for critique, culture, and connection. Even so, our interests are not fixed points. Each of us explores a range of concepts and mediums. This exhibition reflects our unique engagement with the world. Our ideas and perspectives are fluid, subject to the influence of our surroundings,” write the students.

Curated by Beth Kantrowitz, art consultant and curator, the BFA Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking Thesis Exhibition titled, “In Their Own Words,” conveys students’ feelings through their art. “The depth and creativity evident in the words and artwork of the Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking class of 2024 struck me profoundly and set the tone for this exhibition,” says Kantrowitz.

“Their insights, conveyed through personal statements, served as the guiding compass for my curation process. To truly grasp the compelling narrative woven through their visual expressions, there is no better way than to share excerpts of their own words here: ..my art tells my story, ..art is a medium to record and heal, ..altering human’s perception of real world color, ..in a digital world artificiality seems to be a common avenue, ..carrying a capacity of memory, ..items from my object library gifted to me by my grandmother, ..difference in material associations are in fact distinctions in class, ..decorative and the abstract are extraordinary and profound, ..my paintings force me to reconsider repressed memories, imagined futures, ..to find humor in uncomfortable situations, ..it is my portrait, I am the ghost who paints them, ..through repeated marks I construct the squishmallows I cuddle every night, ..using oil paint and canvas I mix digital languages with the art historical canon, ..some part of me has never grown out of living in these virtual worlds, ..the goal of my painting is to make moments permanent. I want to seize them, ..making a body of work that is the essence of myself, ..paint what I love, ..in my portrayal of the female figure I take an approach to the body that deviates from gender norms, ..I have feelings of a cultural identity crisis, ..these people are heroes to me, ..my work is an imprint of my soul, a macroscopic display of sensuality always in flux.”

The BFA Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking Thesis Exhibition exhibition is on view at BU’s Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery.

visit the official BU bfa thesis website

BFA Painting

Mason Burns • Ryan Dempsey • Kennedy Harwood • Sydney Huston • Dilyara Kuanysheva • Caroline Lander • Angela Pistilli • Hannah Roderick • Shane Specht • Ruby Yoo

BFA Printmaking

Angela Pistilli • Do Won Suh

BFA Sculpture

Bader Baroudy

BFA Graphic Design

Angie Ao • Eva Brown • Jessie Choi • Drew Demeterio • Dan Galvin • Leena Jang • Joanna Jung • Sophie Jurion • Stella Lee • Anna Lee • Wanjing Li • Vincent Liu • Campbell Morin • Sarah Nam • Yunseo Aimee Noh • Kate Poe • Grace Snow • Tiffany Taw • Jimi Taiwo • Ruoxu Tang • Nolan Thompson

see students’ work

RELATED EVENT

Also on view are the Capstone projects of the School of Visual Arts’ four BA in Art students. This is a new degree and the second graduating class. The BA in Art is designed for students who desire a studio education in the visual arts that incorporates substantial study in the liberal arts. Engaging students’ intellectual and creative capacities, the program integrates arts research with broad-based studio art training.

The senior Capstone course is the culmination of the BA in Art. In this course, students develop an independent project, developed in consultation with advising faculty, that combines creative work in the studio with research informed by their chosen area of study from other disciplines across the University.

Special thanks to the BU BFA graphic design students who were a part of the 2024 BFA Thesis Branding Team: Drew Demeterio • Eva Brown • Vincent Liu • Tiffany Taw • Jimi Taiwo • Ruoxu (Wendy) Tang • Sarah Nam • Jessie Choi • Campbell Morin