Contact: Madison Welzbacher

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Sixteen graduating seniors majoring in fine arts at Mississippi State are showcasing their work with a thesis exhibition in three locations on campus.

“Common Differences” is open May 7-13 with installations in the art galleries of the Visual Arts Center, Cullis Wade Depot and Colvard Student Union. The exhibit focuses on the personal narratives of the students who use art to convey their stories in distinctive ways.

A public reception will be held Saturday [May 7], 1-4 p.m. in all three locations beginning in the Union Art Gallery.

Student exhibitors include (by hometown):

ABERDEEN—Tiffany Gladney, whose thesis is a visual representation of how she views strong, powerful Black women.

COLUMBUS—Taylor Addison Moore, a landscape painter whose thesis exhibition tells a personal narrative about battling her own obstacles through her academic journey.

JACKSON—Rosemary Ferguson, a printmaker who experiments with graffiti, painting and printmaking through which she has developed a fun, radical style of art that is powerful and bright.

KOSCIUSKO—Tironn Talley, a comic illustration artist whose thesis work explores his interests of heroes and villains from comics, movies and games.

LOUISVILLE—Austin Chambliss, a ceramic artist who strives to create a sense of unity between functional pieces of pottery, binding them together as a unifying set.

MADISON—Mia Parker, a ceramist whose art takes inspiration from taxidermy.

OCEAN SPRINGS—Josephine Burke, a ceramic artist whose artwork concentrates on the materials and processes of both clay and crochet, combining the two mediums into one form.

OXFORD—Lily Elliott, whose thesis exhibition will showcase handmade tables, chairs, game boards and their respective pieces.

PHILADELPHIA—Noah Edwards, a ceramist whose work focuses on his courses in religion, philosophy and mythology.

PONTOTOC—William Allen Pearson, whose work draws inspiration from past experiences along with what he encounters in the world today.

QUERETARO, Mexico—Ana Sofia Licona Luque, a furniture maker who draws inspiration from her cultural heritage and the urban landscapes that surround her.

RAYMOND—Marcus Williams, who desires to create work that is influential and grand, exploring and questioning human nature’s drive and quest for immortality.

ST. LOUIS, Missouri—Taylor Barlow, a drawing student who believes that art can be expressive, unifying and providing knowledge of oneself.

STARKVILLE—Gem Collins, a printmaker who communicates with the outside world through illustrations, both digital and analog; and Marika Dunne, a mixed media artist whose goal is to analyze what makes objects or individuals unique in form and depict this through her work with charcoal, oil paint and watercolor.

TUPELO—Justin Vowell, a ceramist who creates wheel thrown pieces of pottery.

To learn more about the artists and individual gallery hours, visit www.caad.msstate.edu/exhibitions/2022/common-differences-bfa-fine-art-senior-thesis-exhibition.

Learn more about MSU’s College of Architecture, Art and Design and the Department of Art at www.caad.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.