Press Releases

MFA THESIS EXHIBITION I OPENS MARCH 26


Lincoln, Neb.-- The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Art and Art History Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition I opens March 26 and continues through April 4 at the Eisentrager-Howard Gallery in Richards Hall on the UNL city campus.

The exhibition includes MFA candidates Eric Anderson, Caitlin Applegate, Michael Burton, Jesse Ross and Justin Shaw. A reception will be held March 30 from 5-7 p.m. in the gallery.

Special gallery hours for the MFA Thesis Exhibitions are Monday-Friday, noon to 4pm.

Eric Anderson's thesis exhibition is entitled "Simple Complexity." His work circulates around the discourse between high art and low art forms. The art is full of color, humor and irony.

Anderson received his MA and BFA in painting from Minnesota State University. He is the recipient of the Richard Trickey Memorial Scholarship at UNL in 2005 and 2006. His recent exhibitions include "Whatchamathingy" at the Rotunda Art Gallery at the Nebraska Union in 2006 and "Red Alert" at Hastings College in 2007.



Caitlin Applegate's show is untitled. Drawing from personal experience, Applegate uses the figure as a vehicle for expression. Her sculptures are physical manifestations of the range of emotional states we visit each day.

Applegate received her BFA summa cum laude in ceramics and printmaking from the University of Hartford. She is the recipient of a Kimmel Fellowship in the Department of Art and Art History at UNL. She is one of the artists selected for the Lincoln Arts Council's collaborative public art project, entitled "Stories of Home."

Michael Burton's show is entitled "Paintings" and includes some large-scale paintings and several of his smaller-scale paintings. Burton's paintings are an expressive amalgam of images of human flesh coupled with images of trumpet horns, silverware and piles of unused paint from his studio. These paintings reference battles and landscapes and question the difference between seduction and repulsion.



Burton received his BFA cum laude from Green Mountain College. He is the recipient of a Hixson-Lied Fellowship, as well as a graduate teaching assistantship at UNL. He has been a resident artist at Weir Farm Trust, Peter's Valley Craft Center and the Vermont Studio Center. He helped create a large mural over the course of the three-day Cottonwood Festival in Hastings, Neb., in 2006.

Justin Shaw's exhibition is entitled "Justin Shaw." His show is comprised of self-portraits ranging in all sizes and media. He focused on certain qualities or traits that he has and elaborated on them, individually creating a cumulative portrait.

Shaw is from Joplin, Mo., and received his undergraduate degree in studio art from Missouri Southern State University.

Information on the thesis exhibition of Jesse Ross was not available at press time.

The second MFA Thesis Exhibition runs April 9-18 and includes MFA candidates Wendy Bantam, Jennifer Brant, Xiaomiao Wang and Rhonda Willers. A reception will be held April 13 from 5-7 p.m. in the gallery.