Boston University School of Visual Arts Unveils 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibitions Celebrating Rising Artists

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The 2026 MFA Thesis season showcases the works of graduating college students in BU’s Graphic Design, Painting, Sculpture, Print Media & Photography, and Visual Narrative graduate applications

Every Spring, BU School of Visual Arts hosts group exhibitions showcasing the work of graduating college students within the undergraduate and graduate applications throughout skilled galleries at BU, corresponding to BU Art Galleries’ Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery and 808 Gallery, CFA’s Gallery 5 and Commonwealth Gallery, and satellite tv for pc exhibits throughout SVA’s amenities, the BU campus, and past.

The 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibitions at BU School of Visual Arts mark a transition—a launching level between graduate research and sustained skilled inventive observe.

“This work is shaped not only by artistic development, but by the personal commitments and difficult decisions that have made this moment possible—whether involving relocation, family, employment, or other responsibilities,” says Marc Schepens, Director of BU School of Visual Arts and Senior Lecturer in Art, Painting.

“Graduate study demands both sacrifice and resolve, while providing the time, space, community, and mentorship necessary to develop a distinct artistic voice and expand a lasting practice. The work presented by SVA’s MFA students in Graphic Design, Painting, Sculpture, Print Media & Photography, and Visual Narrative reflects both the rigor of their training and their engagement with the world around them and the worlds within them. Developed through two years of sustained dialogue with faculty, peers, and visiting critics, these practices are grounded in the College of Fine Arts, shaped by the broader artistic community of Boston, and informed by ongoing engagement with art historical precedents as well as the evolving discourse of contemporary art. The exhibition serves as a bridge to the wider art world, where these artists will continue refining their voices, questioning, and sustaining a lifelong commitment to artmaking.”

The 2026 Boston University School of Visual Arts MFA Thesis Exhibitions and occasions are free and open to the general public.


Graduate research calls for each sacrifice and resolve, whereas offering the time, area, neighborhood, and mentorship essential to develop a definite inventive voice and increase a long-lasting observe. The work introduced by SVA’s MFA college students in Graphic Design, Painting, Sculpture, Print Media & Photography, and Visual Narrative displays each the rigor of their coaching and their engagement with the world round them and the worlds inside them.

-Marc Schepens, Director of BU School of Visual Arts and Senior Lecturer in Art, Painting

THESIS SEASON

DATES, VENUE, EXHIBITING STUDENTS

MFA Graphic Design

Friday, April 3 – Saturday, April 18

808 Gallery • 808 Commonwealth Avenue

Gallery hours: Tuesdays – Saturdays, 11am to 5pm

A reception will likely be held on Friday, April 3, from 5 – 7pm. Free, open to the general public

MFA GRAPHIC DESIGN EXHIBITING STUDENTS

Kira Chen • Ruijie Chen • Rachel Coffua • Valeria Diaz • Nickola Getchevski • Madison Hoppler • Zhiyu Huang • Luna Jing • Vibhasa Kanthamraj • Christin Kim • Colin Ladd • Helen (Qingyang) Liu • Yingxuan Liu • Erica Pritchett • Chunyue Shen • Adams Staples • Sarah Sutton • Ziyu Wang • Yunxi (Lucy) Ye • Zeyu Yin • Andi Zhang • Yuhan (Joann) Zhou • Haoteng Zhu


MFA Sculpture and MFA Print Media & Photography

Friday, April 3 – Saturday, April 18

Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery • 855 Commonwealth Avenue

Gallery hours: Tuesdays – Saturdays, 11am to 5pm

A reception will likely be held on Friday, April 3, from 5 – 7pm. Free, open to the general public

MFA SCULPTURE EXHIBITING STUDENTS

Paola Dartigues • Kal L • Noelle Ventura

MFA PRINT MEDIA & PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITING STUDENTS

Jamison Cloud • Chuan Liu • Rory McNamara • AJ Puplava • Vic Ferreira Sardinha


MFA Painting

Tuesday, April 28 – Sunday, May 17

Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery • 855 Commonwealth Avenue

Gallery hours: Tuesdays – Saturdays, 11am to 5pm

OPEN DURING BU’S COMMENCEMENT WEEKEND

A reception will likely be held on Friday, May 1, from 5 – 7pm. Free, open to the general public

MFA PAINTING EXHIBITING STUDENTS

Steven Baldino • Hayoung Cheon • Scout Curtin • Samantha Hayslett • Leah Nashel • Kasey Ott • Raquel Philippe • Alessandra Pozzuoli • Anna Pugh

CURATED BY

MA Art History pupil Emily Nootbaar (CAS’26)


MFA Visual Narrative Book Talk

Friday, May 1 • 5 – 7pm

Howard Thurman Center, Room 104 • 808 Commonwealth Avenue

Can’t make it in particular person? The MFA Visual Narrative Book Talk will likely be out there to look at through Zoom!

attend book talk virtually

MFA VISUAL NARRATIVE PARTICIPATING STUDENTS

Katherine Blancha • P. Christopher Capp • Julia Grace Diaz • Marina Hor-Meyll Lemos • Caleb J. Murphy • Constanza Osuna • Julian Paupaw • Emma Varteresian • Runqi Yang


BFA MA Art Education

Thursday, April 23 – Saturday, May 9

Gallery 5 • 855 Commonwealth Avenue (fifth flooring)

Gallery hours: Accessible throughout CFA’s constructing hours

Monday – Friday, 7am – 8:30pm
Saturday – Sunday, 9am – 8:30pm

A reception will likely be held on Friday, May 1, from 5 – 7pm. Free, open to the general public

EXHIBITING STUDENTS

Julia Pappania • Yanfuan (Mary) Yang • Yaming Jiang • Sueyon Ji Eli Siegel • Corinne Nichols • Yeji Kim

Alongside the MFA Thesis Exhibitions, the MA Art Education college students set up the paintings created by their college students from Boston-area colleges.


Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally acknowledged establishment of upper schooling and analysis. With greater than 34,000 college students, it’s the fourth-largest impartial college within the United States. BU consists of 17 colleges and schools, together with plenty of multi-disciplinary facilities and institutes integral to the University’s analysis and instructing mission. In 2012, BU joined the Association of American Universities (AAU), a consortium of 62 main analysis universities within the United States and Canada. Learn extra at bu.edu.


Established in 1954, Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA) is a neighborhood of artist-scholars and scholar-artists who’re passionate in regards to the fantastic and performing arts, dedicated to variety and inclusion, and decided to enhance the lives of others by way of artwork. With applications in Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts, CFA prepares college students for a significant inventive life by creating their mental capability to create artwork, shift perspective, and suppose broadly. CFA provides a wide selection of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral applications, in addition to a variety of on-line levels and certificates. Learn extra at bu.edu/cfa.


Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts prepares college students to suppose significantly, to see critically, to make intensely, and to behave with inventive company within the up to date world. The School of Visual Arts merges the intensive studio schooling of an artwork faculty with the alternatives of a giant city college, and is dedicated to educating the attention, hand, and thoughts of the artist. With rigorous graduate and undergraduate fantastic artwork applications which are rooted in studio observe, CFA School of Visual Arts supplies extremely motivated college students with applications within the bedrock disciplines, of the fantastic arts coupled with an unlimited array of electives and liberal arts alternatives. Learn extra at bu.edu/cfa/visual-arts


This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you may go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.bu.edu/cfa/news/articles/2026/visual-arts-mfa-thesis-exhibitions-emerging-artists/
and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us