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Today is the opening of the MFA Thesis Exhibition at the Carolla Arts Exhibition Center! The exhibition will be open May 26–June 5.

Congratulations to our exhibiting students:
Kayla Brown
Camryn Gulled
Olga Shute
Kara Coonrod

Join us for the First Friday Art Walk:
Friday, June 5 | 6–8 PM

Check out work by first-year MFA student Mohammed Abdulai.

“My work uses denim and clay to explore memory. Denim, shaped by wear and time, holds traces of lived experience, while clay connects to the earth and carries a sense of permanence. By bringing these materials together, I reflect on how memory can be both fragile and enduring, personal yet shared. ”

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Congratulations to our graduating MFA students!!! You will be missed next year but we’re all so excited for you! Congrats Olga, Kara, Kayla and Camryn!!!

Mark your calendars: MFA Thesis Exhibition is just around the corner!

May 26-June 5, 2026
First Friday Art Walk: Friday June 5th, 6PM-8PM

At Carolla Arts Exhibition Center
326 N. Boonville Ave.

Exhibiting Students:
Kayla Brown
Camryn Gulledge
Olga Shute
Kara Coonrod

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The last TA meeting of the semester involved coffee 👊☕️ We are nearing the end of the semester! It’s been such a great semester with such a great group of people.

Graduate Assistantships are available to MFA Visual Studies students and provide opportunities for significant financial support, as well as teaching and professional experience. See more information on our website!

Studio visit with Third-year Kayla Brown who is working on her upcoming Thesis show!

“My work seeks to protect, enlighten and discover what healing can be when silence is chosen. I create immersion art objects and experiences that seek to question and understand my childhood experiences. Experiences of hoarding, suppression of the self, and treatment of love accompanied with hate. My material serves as a metaphor for the fragility of paper and my concept of trauma. I transform the materials state in a cycle manor, continuous and unfixed, allowing the cycle to begin a new with what was transforming it into what could be instead the fixed broken generational cycle of my family lineage. I transform and explore the tensions of what remains of myself, th3 objects, and the dynamics of famial relationships, into something that heals. I confront the silence, the suppression of the self in a place that should have been safe by using a public space as a site of healing and reprieve. Free to question the restrictions, the objects, the love and hate as I end the cycle.”

RCASH in collaboration with the Department of Art and Design, Sculpture Walk Springfield, and the History Museum on the Square are sponsoring a public talk by the internationally recognized artist Janet Echelman on Thursday April 23 at 6:00PM in the Fox Theatre in downtown Springfield. This talk is free and open to the public.

Hannah Lipchik (BFA Art- 3D Studies, Fall '25) has checked in from her exchange-stay at Tainan National University of the Arts, and it sounds like she is doing great! (previously: https://blogs.missouristate.edu/reynolds/2026/02/18/art-and-design-department-enjoys-successful-student-exchange-program/ )

A look into third-year MFA student Kara Coonrod’s thesis work.

For her thesis body of work, Kara investigated historical religious objects and the precious materials used in their fabrication. Using these traditional forms, metals, and minerals, she created her own sacred objects (with a twist): instead of the traditional Christian icons and motifs, she incorporated her abstracted design of the humble (but vital) fallopian tubes. These tiny organs are the focal point of creation in its most human, visceral form, making them the perfect icon and metaphor to represent what she believes is sacrosanct: freedom of choice.

Studio visit with second-year MFA student Haley Gage.

Haley is making work about memory, faith, and the quiet things that linger. Using everyday objects and materials, she builds intimate spaces that explore emotional residue, absence, and belonging.