MSU fine art seniors present ‘Dénouement’ thesis exhibition

Mississippi State senior art/fine arts major Lexus S. Giles of Brandon works on a sculpture piece in a studio at MSU’s Howell Building. Giles is among 14 graduating seniors whose works are featured through May 3 in the “Dénouement” exhibition at the university’s Colvard Student Union, Cullis Wade Depot and Visual Arts Center galleries. (Submitted photo)

Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Through May 3, three campus art galleries are showcasing more than 100 works by Mississippi State students who soon will receive a degree from the state’s largest undergraduate studio art program.

Titled “Dénouement,” the spring 2019 Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis exhibition features images reflecting the 14 students’ successful completion of research, writing, presentation and advanced studio practice, as well as foundational coursework, survey, art history, academic and emphasis classes. Associate Professor Critz Campbell and other MSU art faculty have guided students throughout their academic journeys.

Dénouement, meaning “untying” in French, is defined as the final outcome of the main dramatic complication of a literary work, or the outcome of a complex sequence of events.

Works in the exhibition incorporate painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, furniture, and mixed and digital media, among others. Through their respective series of works, students tell stories of love, family, social injustice and personal journeys.

In her series “Memories,” Jinwon Kim said she “seeks to evoke moments of happiness and life experience.” A mother of three, she paints motifs of her personal history, showing fragments of her life in Michigan where she spent her first 10 years in the U.S. and started her family. Now living in Starkville with her husband MSU Professor of Physics and Astronomy Seong-Gon, Kim says “I hope my paintings can help viewers recall their own memories of new families and new beginnings.”

Representing Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee, “Dénouement” exhibitors include (by hometown):

BOONEVILLE—Moesha S. Wright.

BRANDON—Lexus S. Giles.

CORINTH—Madison Claire Wigginton.

CRYSTAL SPRINGS—Kaitlyn B. Upton.

FULTON—Samuel B. “Sam” Douglas.

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas—Elizabeth A. Gammill.

MADISON—Ryan G. Guillory.

MEMPHIS, Tennessee—Andrea A. Osby.

OLIVE BRANCH—Katherine L. “Kallie” McClanahan.

REX, Georgia—Dionicio D. “Dion” Coleman.

STARKVILLE—Ashley R. Baker, Jinwon Kim and Todd M. Rowan. Kim also holds a master’s degree in architecture and is a magna cum laude business administration/finance bachelor’s graduate of MSU.

YAZOO CITY—Catherine E. “Cat” Remington.

For more information, contact Lori Neuenfeldt, MSU art instructor and gallery director, at 662-325-2970 or LNeuenfeldt@caad.msstate.edu.

Learn more about MSU’s College of Architecture, Art and Design and its Department of Art at www.caad.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.