Final MFA Thesis Exhibitions on display April 10-21
calendar icon07 Apr 2023
Lincoln, Neb.—Five graduating Master of Fine Arts students in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s School of Art, Art History & Design are presenting their MFA Thesis Exhibitions April 10-21.
Four simultaneous solo shows continue April 10-14 and April 17-21 in the Eisentrager-Howard Gallery in Richards Hall.
The third round, April 10-14, features the work of Courtney Kuehn (drawing) and Laura Cobb (photography). Artist talks will take place on Friday, April 14 from 5-6 p.m. in Richards Hall Rm. 15. A closing reception will be held on Friday, April 14 from 6-8 p.m. in the gallery.
The final round runs April 17-21 and features the work of Maxwell Henderson (ceramics) and Penny Molesso (photography). Artist talks will take place on Friday, April 21 from 4-5 p.m. in Richards Hall Rm. 15. A closing reception will be held on Friday, April 21 from 5-7 p.m. in the gallery.
In addition, Gretchen Larsen (sculpture and emerging media) presents her MFA Thesis Exhibition through April 21 at the Turbine Flats’ Resonator Gallery, 2124 Y St. in Lincoln.
General hours for the MFA Thesis Exhibitions in the Eisentrager-Howard Gallery are Monday–Friday, 12:30-4:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.
The Eisentrager-Howard Gallery is located on the first floor of Richards Hall at Stadium Drive and T streets on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln city campus.
Please contact the School of Art, Art History & Design for more information at (402) 472-5522 or schoolaahd@unl.edu.
Follow the Gallery on social media via Instagram @eisentragerhoward or Facebook @EHArt Gallery to be informed of any gallery updates.
Below is more information about the artists and their exhibitions.
Laura Cobb | am I another you?
In “am I another you?,” Cobb documents a personal search for meaning as she explores her identity as a donor-conceived person. Intimate portraits reveal her search for herself in her family, half siblings and biological father. Paired with the Platte River, water becomes a metaphor for birth and becoming.
Cobb is a photographer from Overland Park, Kansas. She is currently pursuing her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Cobb has been an artist in residence at Ucross, Jentel and Brush Creek Foundations. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
Courtney Kuehn | all I am, all I am not
Creating is Kuehn’s way of communicating her frustrations, anxieties and insecurities.
“I have always felt this severe indifference about myself that has forced an unhealthy view of my body,” she writes. “Drawing my body makes me view myself differently and forces me to really confront the innate and learned shameful view I have of myself both physically and mentally.”
Kuehn is from Kenesaw, Nebraska, and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2019 from Concordia University in Nebraska.
Maxwell Henderson | untitled
Henderson’s work requires relentlessly questioning his identity, searching for answers by drawing from his emotional landscape. He is particularly drawn to ceramic materiality and its essence of natural phenomena, how glaze ebbs and flows to the whim of gravity. His vessels imply, yet resist, utility, suggesting his commitment to ceramic tradition and desire to transcend dogmatic conventions.
Henderson is from Tempe, Arizona. He is pursuing his Master of Fine Arts, teaching and is an artist who prioritizes ceramic materials. Though he has been working with clay for over a decade, he feels fraught with anxiety about unpromising prospects of an art career. But for some reason, here he is trying to do it.
Penny Molesso | SPIT BRIMMING WITH FUTURES
“SPIT BRIMMING WITH FUTURES” will feature an experimental ASMR short film and gross, little objects that whisper. The show explores embodiment, desire and cultivating queer joy in the midst of a political climate that aims to eradicate trans people.
Molesso is a transmedia artist and shapeshifter from Fayetteville, Arkansas. They use video and soundscapes to explore embodiment through visual and non-visual forms of trans representation, and the intersection of their identity as queer and disabled.
Gretchen Larsen | Why sweep the cinders. . .
Larsen’s thesis exhibition will be on display at the Turbine Flats’ Resonator Gallery from April 7-21. Larsen builds light installations and sculpture. Her work is an exploration of electronics, woodworking, digital fabrication methods, projection design and creative code. She designs and builds objects for public and private spaces in order to pursue her own questions about living.
“My creative practice allows me to gently build a life where I am in tune with its shape and its particular shade,” Larsen said.
Originally from Lincoln, Larsen teaches creative coding at the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts and is a doctoral candidate in Teaching and Learning with Innovative Technologies at UNL. She researches pedagogies for teaching technical material to artists and avidly nurtures students’ personal and critical involvement with creative media. She has led numerous experiences that aim to bring emerging technologies into everyday life.