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04/10/2026 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/10/2026 22:13

School of Visual Arts MFA Thesis Exhibitions Open

School of Visual Arts MFA Thesis Exhibitions Open

Five graduating master's students talk about their work

Visitors attend the opening reception for this year's MFA Thesis Exhibitions for Sculpture and Print Media & Photography at the Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery, April 3. Photo by Corinne Davidson (COM'26)

Arts & Culture

School of Visual Arts MFA Thesis Exhibitions Open

Five graduating master's students talk about their work

April 10, 2026
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In an annual rite of the spring semester, students graduating from the College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts master's programs are showcasing their thesis projects-the culmination of two years of intensive work- at campus exhibitions throughout the coming weeks.

This year's MFA Thesis Exhibitions include work by 40 artists. Together, they capture the dazzling breadth and talent found in the 2026 MFA cohort (undergraduate theses shows will be held next month).

The Graphic Design exhibition is on view at the 808 Gallery, and the Sculpture and Print Media & Photography exhibitions are across the street at the Stone Gallery, all through April 18. The Painting exhibition will be on display at the Stone Gallery from April 28 through May 17. And the Visual Narrative program will host an event showcasing student work on May 1.

We asked five graduating MFA students to talk about their thesis projects. Take a look.

Anna Pugh

Anna Pugh (CFA'26), MFA in painting

Tell me a bit about the paintings you've created for the MFA Thesis Exhibition.

I tend to work on multiple pieces simultaneously, so there are a few large paintings underway right now as a part of my thesis work. In my studio practice I am pretty process-oriented, which for me means I am always improvising and responding to my work as it is created. To make a painting, I use the shadows of objects from the environment around me to create compositions with layered silhouettes. The work ends up appearing not quite representational and not quite abstract. When looking at the shapes made with the shadows of these plants, insects, rocks, and so on, there is both a sense of the unknown and also a familiarity, which I've found evokes a wide scope of interpretations and experiences for viewers.

What was the source of your inspiration?

The origins of these shadow works stem from the land in Tennessee. Before coming to Boston to pursue my MFA, I would spend a lot of time outside on the wooded trails near home there. Occasionally, I would bring back a butterfly, or a stem of snakeroot, or a river rock. These eventually found their way into my work. The landscape of the American South holds a deep and difficult-to-describe phenomenological memory. It's felt more than it is seen. As a visual artist, it's a challenging and engaging question to ask: How can I give a visual shape to something that is mostly felt? That is what grew into my current studio practice, which I have been expanding and developing throughout my time in the MFA painting program. There are long histories of artists who inspire me, but none more than the artists I've had the privilege of being in community with, from Nashville to Boston. To exchange ideas and feedback amongst my exceptional cohort of peers, our faculty, and the visiting artists at BU has been integral to where my work is now.

What materials did you use for your thesis project?

My paintings use a variety of materials. I work with oil paint, acrylic paint, graphite pencils, and color pencils. I also make a lot of my own paint and grounds using materials like phosphorescent pigment, holographic glitter, mica, graphite, cellulose, ash, soil, and more. At the moment, I'm really into lampblack. It's an oil paint whose pigment is made from almost pure carbon, which makes a velvety matte surface once I add it onto absorbent grounds. At the end of the day, all of this serves as a way for me to make paintings that have a material resonance to them. It's important to me that, over time, the paintings interact with the changing light of the spaces they occupy.

What do you hope viewers take away from your work?

Once a painting has left the studio, it begins to generate meaning for others beyond what I could dream. My ultimate wish for my paintings is that they are rewarding to those who choose to spend a little more time with them. Especially in today's world of fast images where our attention has become a resource, it's not just meaningful, but radical, to linger.

Madison Hoppler

Madison Hoppler (CFA'26), MFA in graphic design

Tell me a bit about the work you've created for your thesis project.

I'm really focused on tactile making, especially the book as an object. I hand-bind a lot of my work, including many of the books within my thesis work, so I'm thinking a lot about the book not just as something you read, but as a physical form. I'm also interested in time and labor, and how they relate to bookmaking.

What was the source of your inspiration?

I come from a painting background, so I pull a lot from fine arts like painting and sculpture. I think that really shows up in how I approach graphic design and bookmaking. I'm also really inspired by craft traditions, like weaving, quilting, and textile work. That attention to material and process definitely influences what I do.

What materials did you use for your thesis project?

I mainly use paper to build and shape my books, especially experimenting with different textures and weights. I also use waxed thread for binding because it's strong and works really well for stitching. Sometimes I bring in other materials depending on the piece, but paper and thread are the core.

What do you hope viewers take away from your work?

I hope people start to appreciate books beyond just something to read. We don't always think about the form, the materials, or the labor behind them, especially with handmade books. I want people to slow down and notice that, and maybe see books as objects with their own presence and care behind them.

Paola Dartigue

Paola Dartigues (CFA'26), MFA in sculpture

Tell me a bit about your MFA thesis project and what you're trying to convey.

I've been thinking about how I relate to time and how I relate to this city. It's a process that started when I arrived here. I'm working with two very different materials, paper and stone, and trying to understand them through time. Paper feels fragile and temporary, while stone holds a much longer sense of time. So I'm comparing these materials as two different ways of experiencing time.

What was the source of your inspiration?

A big part of my inspiration comes from geology. I'm taking a class on philosophy in art and science, and it made me think about how time is read in geology-it's very different from how we usually think about time. Instead of something linear and fixed, it becomes something relative and material. I'm interested in how we read time through materials, and how some traces stay while others disappear. What remains, and how do we learn to read it?

What materials did you use for your thesis project?

I'm working mainly with tissue paper and stone. Most of the stone is limestone; I carve a limestone piece for a specific place in Boston and leave it there. Then I take a rock from that same place back to the studio, where I carve a small hole to hold a Polaroid of the site. It's about these two sites and the relationship between them.

What do you hope viewers take away from your work?

I hope it connects with someone. I'm mixing different systems, ways of reading time, philosophy, material processes, and I don't expect everything to be understood. But if someone can connect with even a small part of it, or recognize something from their own way of thinking about time, that's enough for me.

Runqi Yang (CFA'26)

Runqi Yang (CFA'26), MFA in visual narrative

Tell me a bit about your thesis project and what you're trying to convey.

My thesis is a long comic, and my comic is about a cartoonist who is accidentally trapped inside his unfinished comic world, and he has to find his way to come back to the real world.

What was the source of your inspiration?

I am a cartoonist. I wanted my protagonist to be someone I'm familiar with. So I decided they should be a cartoonist just like me.

What materials did you use to create your thesis project?

I used an iPad and a program called Procreate.

What do you hope viewers take away from your work?

I want my readers to know what the inside world of a cartoonist might feel like.

Vic Sardinha (CFA'26)

Vic Ferreira Sardinha (CFA'26) MFA in print media

Tell me about your thesis project and what you're trying to convey.

My thesis project revolves around my experience as a first-generation American. I am fascinated by photographs as a tool for memory and as a way to connect people. I draw upon an archive of my mother's and grandmother's photographs and create what I call memory landscapes. I hope to convey the idea that memory is malleable, buildable, and generational, and that an archive like this is a tool for connection.

What was the source of your inspiration?

My mother, my grandmother, and my family. This project began because my grandmother took out her small digital camera to show me some pictures. As I clicked the button, there was the overwhelming realization that I was not there to experience so many of the memories she and my family back home have experienced. My work began as an attempt to feel a closeness through the distance that I was experiencing. I was hoping that through the construction and deconstruction of these images, the memory could somehow become mine as well.

What materials did you use for your thesis project?

I silkscreen photographs from a digital and physical archive on acrylic and glass, breaking down images into their four color channels-cyan, magenta, yellow, and black-and I build them back up. I also use the photograph as an object and build collages on transparent surfaces.

What do you hope viewers take away from your work?

At the end of the day, my work is primarily about feeling, memory, and closeness through distance, and the gendered nature of memory-keeping. If my viewer is able to walk away thinking of their relationships to their loved ones, photography, and their own archives, then I feel as though my work has done its job at a baseline.

The MFA Graphic Design Thesis Exhibition is on view at the 808 Gallery, 808 Commonwealth Ave., through April 18. Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am to 5 pm.

The MFA Sculpture and MFA Print Media & Photography Thesis Exhibitions are at the Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery, 855 Commonwealth Ave., through April 18. Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am to 5 pm.

The MFA Painting Thesis Exhibition is on view at the Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery, 855 Commonwealth Ave., from April 28 through May 17. Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am to 5 pm.

Admission to all of the shows is free and open to the public.

The Visual Narrative program is hosting a special book talk event to showcase its students' thesis projects on Friday, May 1, from 3 to 5 pm in Room 104 of the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground, 808 Commonwealth Ave.

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