Senior BFA Students to Present Exhibition at Bradbury Art Museum

11/21/2024

JONESBORO - Bradbury Art Museum (BAM) will open exhibitions featuring graduating Bachelor of Fine Arts seniors from Arkansas State University as well as local high school students from 5 until 6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6.

"Human Condition" will showcase the work of five graduating seniors from the Department of Art + Design: Ethan Balch of Jonesboro, Grace Burton of Hot Springs, Emilee Owen of Paragould, Savannah Sifford of Jonesboro, and Marcy Wallace of Jonesboro.

The exhibitions will continue through Tuesday, Dec. 17.

All five will receive their Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in studio art this fall. The senior exhibition represents the culmination of the students' time as BFA artists, acting as a visual thesis and the capstone of their degree program.

Balch is an interdisciplinary sculptor who primarily works on large-scale objects which explore emotion and vulnerability. He is deeply influenced by hard rock, punk rock, and heavy metal music.

Burton creates collage-based work using fabrics, photography, painting and found materials. Her multimedia BFA thesis installation explores themes of generational exchange between women and their often-overlooked domestic labor. She is inspired by the creative women who informed her upbringing, and she works to honor their influence on her identity and artistic practice

Owen utilizes photography and painting to explore her personal identification with Southern identity. Her depictions of Southern people and wildlife act as a form of self-portrait.

Sifford is a photographer whose long-term project "Chrysalis" explores the awkwardness and transformative nature of adolescence through images of her younger sister. She reexamines her own memories of being a teenager as she observes the evolution of her sister's identity. Sifford compares this work to the protective casing around a caterpillar as it goes through its metamorphosis, and she hopes to be act as that chrysalis for her sister.

Wallace's unexpected use of ceramic and fiber arts techniques investigates the effects of industrialization on age-old traditional crafts. Informed by the surrealists before her, she swaps the disciplines of pedestrian objects. Wallace uses clay to create traditionally tufted or knitted objects such as rugs; she utilizes fiber techniques to make typically ceramic objects such as mugs.

"I remember choosing to apply to the graduate school I ultimately attended because of work I saw from one of their undergraduate students. Our BFA artists are representative of the incredible work being done in the Department of Art + Design, and we relish this opportunity for the community to see it firsthand," says Madeline McMahan, assistant director and curator at Bradbury Art Museum.

Also on view alongside the senior exhibitions will be "Inspired 10," a competitive exhibition of work from regional high school students.

Admission to the museum is free. BAM is in Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Dr. Hours are noon to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. For additional information about the exhibitions, one may email [email protected] or call 870-972-3765.

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