Lincoln, Neb.--The School of Art, Art History & Design MFA Thesis Exhibitions continue April 7-11 and 14-18 in the Eisentrager-Howard Gallery in Richards Hall.
Four graduating Master of Fine Arts in studio arts candidates will display their work in separate exhibitions on display over two separate weeks in the gallery.
The exhibitions and special events will take place as follows:
• April 7-11: MFA Thesis Exhibitions II, featuring Sara Alfieri’s “Blueprints” and Dominique Ellis’ “When the Dust Settles.” Thesis talks will take place on Friday, April 11 from 4-5 p.m. in Richards Hall Rm. 15 followed by a closing reception from 5-7 p.m. in the gallery.
• April 14-18: MFA Thesis Exhibition III, featuring Alex Renbarger’s “Artificial Interiors” and Charlotte Middleton’s “for the birds.” Thesis talks will take place on Friday, April 18 from 4-5 p.m. in Richards Hall Rm. 15 followed by a closing reception from 5-7 p.m. in the gallery. In addition, Middleton will host a Q&A session and gallery tour on Wednesday, April 16 from 4-5 p.m. There will also be a Puzzle Party hosted by Renbarger in the MEDICI Gallery May 12-16.
The first MFA Thesis Exhibition and a special exhibition titled “The Suppliers” is on display March 24-28. More information on those exhibitions was previously announced at https://go.unl.edu/xsdr.
The Eisentrager-Howard Gallery is located on the first floor of Richards Hall on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s city campus at Stadium Drive and T streets. Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday, noon to 5 p.m. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public.
For more information on these exhibitions, please contact the School of Art, Art History & Design at (402) 472-5522 or e-mail schoolaahd@unl.edu. Follow the gallery on social media via Instagram (@eisentragerhoward) and Facebook (@EHArtGallery) to be informed of any gallery updates.
More information on each artist and exhibition is below:
• Sara Alfieri, “Blueprints”
In her recent work, Alfieri is captivated by the relationship between ceramic vessels and architecturally inspired structures. Drawing inspiration from modern architecture, design theory, and shape psychology, she aims to create various abstract compositions that comprise both a stimulating and functional engagement for herself and the user. The idea of pottery as an entry point into an experience intrigues her. Like architecture, a pot solicits interaction, not just viewing. The meaning of the vessel changes through experience, gaining content through use. By exploring the intersections between craft and design, she hopes to enhance the art and act of dining with an emphasis on interaction, intention, and play in each piece’s form and surface.
Alfieri received her BFA from Illinois State University (ISU) in 2020. She later completed a Graduate Student-At-Large program at ISU before moving to Fort Collins, Colorado, to pursue a Post-Baccalaureate program at Colorado State University (CSU). Alfieri designs and develops digital prototypes using C.A.D. (Computer-Aided Design) software, which is then translated into physical forms through the mold-making and slip-casting process. By using old and new mechanisms of working, she is interested in how utilizing the digital fabrication process, in tandem with hand-built vessels, can highlight these processes’ differences while finding ways to connect their potentials. Alfieri has exhibited her work nationally in several recognized galleries.
• Dominique Ellis, “When the Dust Settles”
Ellis’ photographic process interrogates the language of how to capture what is left behind when ice melts, water evaporates, and floods subside. She uses X-ray film, frosted mylar and photo-sensitive paper and film to index, translate and record melting ice. She presents a local archive of ice harvested from the Antelope Creek in Lincoln from January-March 2025. In an effort to confront and comprehend global events that are too large in scale for us to fully understand, she creates small-scale experiments, miniaturizing and recording the melting of ice and subsequent sedimentation of added impurities such as colored inks and powdered minerals. Through this process, she is able to record and document a simulacrum of the large-scale devastating consequences of global climate change.
Ellis is a visual artist and researcher. She is a current MFA graduate student in photography and uses photography as a vehicle for storytelling, collaboration and advocacy to document environmental, cultural and historical change. She was awarded a U.S. Fulbright student scholarship for Egypt, as well as an Arabic language grant for 2009-2010 and was based in Cairo, Egypt. She served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco from 2006-2008, working for the Moroccan Ministry of Handicrafts. She is an active member of the Society of Photographic Education, UNL Fine Art Photo Club and is the graduate student assembly representative for the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.
• Charlotte Middleton, “for the birds”
Middleton’s work uses the material history and language of traditional ceramic processes to communicate the relationships between, expectations of, and roles placed upon and filled by women.
The complex history and material qualities of porcelain clay places these objects in a specific vernacular, addressing vulnerability and fetishization. Pottery vessels are described in anthropomorphized physical terms—mouth, lips, feet, bellies, shoulders—as well as psychological terms—generous, refined, tight, and so on. Anthropomorphizing objects extends to the act of placing them on tables to deliver meals, then returned to cabinets where they belong. She uses this anthropomorphization of objects to create still life compositions, allowing the pots to narrate what goes unspoken. The arrangements, forms, and surfaces often reference specific myths of girls and women; turning into trees, ravens, doves, and flowers to become autonomous. Porcelain pouring vessels saturate the surface of a sideboard, calling attention to how we are collected, desired, then tossed aside. Stacked bowls, vases, pitchers, and cups transform into a sculptural bird bath, layering then reversing the hierarchy of form and utility. Pottery—jars, pitchers, cups, and vases—has remained the subject of her fascination because she finds the nature of pots so relatable. She is captivated by how pots can be entirely taken for granted—their role is assumed and unquestionable—to serve. This subtlety is what gives these pots enduring power.
Middleton is a ceramic artist from southern Maine. She has garnered numerous fellowships and awards both nationally and internationally and has held residencies at prestigious institutions including Watershed, Haystack and the University of Georgia's Cortona campus in Italy. Her ceramic and writing work have been featured in prominent publications such as Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated. She earned her BFA in Sculpture from Wheaton College in Massachusetts. Currently, she is advancing her studies as a third-year MFA candidate in ceramics at Nebraska.
• Alex Renbarger, “Artificial Interiors”
Artificial Interiors is a series of intimately scaled paintings that depict dramatically lit domestic interiors. Their shared ambiance is built through an emphasis on describing light through color and the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their origins. Each painting begins as a composite collage made using AI-generated images, iterative prompts, and Photoshop. These spaces serve as reflections of the universal human experience while minimizing the constraints of a pre-existing space. Although the use of AI as an artistic tool in this way is relatively new, the process of constructing spaces as inspiration for art is grounded in art history.
Exploring artificially created spaces allows for a re-examination of the domestic interior as a psychological landscape. Childhood trauma is often deeply intertwined with the home, a space that has long served as a metaphor for a person's inner self. The absence of figures invites the viewer to either observe the space as if watching a horror movie or step inside to experience their own multifaceted emotions surrounding isolation, memory, and home. These imagined interiors exist in a space that feels both familiar and unknowable, comforting yet unsettling. The limited, saturated color palette and constrained light sources contribute to their dark atmosphere while deepening the feeling of temporal displacement.
This project was made possible in part, with support from the Hixson Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Endowment Fund.
Renbarger specializes in painting isolated interior scenes with intense lighting and vivid colors, based on AI-generated images. She graduated from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, with a BFA in studio art and is currently attending UNL’s graduate program in painting and drawing. Select exhibitions include the Graduate Juried Exhibition at the University of Mississippi in Oxford; Smoke & Mirrors at the MEDICI Gallery in Lincoln; UARK x UNL Exchange at Sugar Gallery in Fayetteville, Arkansas; The Artist’s Studio at Spellerberg Projects Main St. Gallery in Lockhart, Texas; Illusions of Reverie at Texas State Galleries in San Marcos, Texas; and Here and There at Clamplight Gallery in San Antonio, Texas.
• Angelica Tapia-Estrada, “Syncretic Spirits / Espíritus Sincréticos”
“Syncretic Spirits / Espíritus Sincréticos” is a multimedia exhibition that invites viewers into a fantastical space where cultural identity and perception intertwine. Colorful shaped panels, sculptural installations, and prints bridge physical and metaphysical realms. The work is driven by personal archetypes inspired by natural forms.
As a first-generation Mexican American, Tapia-Estrada is influenced by the dualities of her upbringing. Through her family traditions, she was immersed in Mexican culture while she also found a home in the nurturing embrace of the heartland. The work has become a means of reclaiming a new layered sense of self and disentangling from my Catholic upbringing and embracing traditional healing methods.
By incorporating abstracted natural imagery alongside images of eyes, Tapia-Estrada is cultivating a growing relationship with the natural world. She draws connections from plant-like forms that appear in my work. They become “spirit glyphs,” acting as sentient guides and archetypes of healing. Reflective of plants reaching towards the light, these imagined forms become extensions of herself exploring the unknown.
Originally from Lexington, Nebraska, Tapia-Estrada is pursuing her M.F.A. in painting and drawing with a minor in printmaking. She holds a B.F.A. in studio art with a minor in philosophy from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She has exhibited across Nebraska and in an installation for Dia de Los Muertos hosted by the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. In addition to her artistic practice, Tapia-Estrada is a muralist, designer and educator for Impact Art, a nonprofit dedicated to creating and promoting positive public art across Nebraska.
