Beginning on April 29th and ending on May 1st, Passage is an exhibition of recent work by 13 graduating seniors of the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at Mississippi State University. Each artist uses their thesis work to explore aspects of themselves and art-making techniques marking their passage through their time at MSU. Passage invites viewers to explore a variety of art styles and mediums located at the Visual Arts Center Gallery, Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery, and Colvard Student Union Art Gallery.

Aarron Lunn

Aarron Lunn is a ceramic artist from Brookhaven, Mississippi. His work involves the manipulation of materials. The body of work captures moments in the making process.

Anna Terry

Anna Terry is a ceramic artist from West Point, Mississippi. Her work is focused on her interests in nature like plants, flowers, mushrooms, and even bugs and insects. 

Autumn Ferguson

Autumn is a Mississippi-born soul who feeds off the energy created in the spaces around her. The ability to create new things based on a thought of her own or even an idea of others is a great privilege to her. Autumn’s work includes designs for business logos, personalized paintings, and photography from time to time. 

Bobbye Jackson

Bobbye Jackson is an artist from Bay Minette, Alabama. Her works explore the tedium and meditative quality of process by combining traditional craft techniques with drawing to create repetitive images.

Elaina Hart

Elaina Hart is a painter from Madison, Mississippi. Her current work is focused on control. Creating paintings with a conventionally uncontrollable method by combining acrylic pouring and stenciling.

Emily Braa

Emily Braa is a military child. Her parents are Denver and Tandi Braa from South Dakota. Her artwork speaks most often to the places she has visited while stationed in Europe and is influenced by gothic and art deco styles.

Emily Goss

Emily Goss is an artist from Bogue Chitto, Mississippi. Born in 1999, her current thesis work is focused on the events of 2020, and those bleeding into 2021. This work explores the important issues linked to politics and human rights activism. 

Grace Bennett

Grace Bennett is an artist from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She is the daughter of Leslie and Robby Barker. Her most recent body of work explores intimacy, security, and relationship through the bond she shares with her mother. 

Hanna Bewley

Hanna Bewley of Dallas, Texas, wants to thank her parents, Rebecca and Jay Bewley, and all of her amazing friends and family for their unwavering support of her art journey through the years. Her thesis is entitled “Left” and is a celebration of all the memories, joys, and love that we are left with because of our strong family heritage and an encouragement for us to leave our legacy behind for others to follow. Family relationships and the beauty of the natural world have been her greatest inspirations for these graphite and colored pencil drawings. 

Mary Morris Jackson

Mary Morris Jackson of Tupelo, Mississippi. Her parents are Rob and Reneé Jackson. A sixth-generation artist, Mary’s work explores the details of humanity on a large scale through themes of contrast, identity, and the body under stress.

Mecca Givens

Mecca Givens is from Richland, Mississippi. She is the daughter of Evelyn Givens. Her work is a mixture of sheer frustration and glee conveyed through the darkened impression of charcoal. Drawing inspiration from old childhood photos, her work reimagines the forgotten Kodak image in a new context to connect the past with the present. 

Sarah Steen

Sarah Steen is from Olive Branch, Mississippi, and is the daughter of Adam and Sarah Steen. She is an abstract mixed media artist, and her work is inspired by biological forms and natural design. Her goal is to create work that intrigues the audience, thereby educating the viewer about the subject matter.

Savannah Bonds

Savannah Bonds is an Illustrator from Waveland, Mississippi. Her parents are Terrie and Doug Bonds. Savannah’s work explores the complex motions of grief and loss through digital memoirs of caregiving for her mother before her passing.

The Fine Arts students of 2021 invite everyone to view the exhibition Passage in person at the Visual Arts Center Gallery, open Monday–Friday, 1pm–6pm and Saturday, 1–4pm, the Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery, open Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm, and the Colvard Student Union Art Gallery, open Monday–Friday, 8am–5pm.