FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: March 4, 2025
Contact: Eva Gabriella Flynn,
Education and Outreach Coordinator, NMSU Art
Museum, artmuseum@nmsu.edu, 575-646-2185
Stone, Glass, Light, Silk: 2025 MFA Thesis Exhibition
Opening: April 25, 2025
Exhibition Dates: April 25, 2025-May 10, 2025
English | Espanol
Las Cruces, NM– The University Art Museum (UAM) is proud to present Stone, Glass, Light, Silk: 2025 MFA Thesis Exhibition featuring work by MFA candidates: Alfred Gyasi, Elham Sabri, Johanna Typaldos, and William Morée. This exhibition opens Friday, April 25 and will run through May 10, 2025. Showcasing the culmination of their research and artistic development at New Mexico State University (NMSU), this exhibition highlights a diverse range of materials and media, from ceramic and fabric to photography and jewelry. Through their work, these four artists explore intersecting themes of psychology, identity, and perception offering both personal and global perspectives to their experiences. Celebrate the creativity and dedication of these emerging artists as they present their final thesis projects, a last step in completing their Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in the Department of Art at NMSU.
Alfred Gyasi is a contemporary ceramic artist born in Accra, Ghana, West Africa. He is currently pursuing an MFA at NMSU and holds a Bachelor of Arts (BFA) in Industrial Arts with an emphasis in Ceramics from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. Gyasi’s artwork has been featured in museums and galleries internationally, including the Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez in Mexico. Gyasi’s works explore the intersection of Ghanaian heritage and his American experience, combining traditions like braiding, coiling, and Kente cloth colors into his meticulous ceramic pieces.
Elham Sabri, an Iranian-born artist with nearly a decade of experience in graphic design, has worked with both local and international companies in both the advertising and pharmaceutical industries. After earning an MA in Art Research from the Islamic Azad University in Tehran, Iran, she moved to the United States to pursue a MFA in Studio Art at NMSU. Sabri’s artwork addresses the controversial hijab laws in post-theocracy Iran, and serves as a symbol of resistance to oppressive systems. Johanna Typaldos studied metals and jewelry at Missouri State University before pursuing her MFA with a concentration in Metals and Jewelry at NMSU. She has been featured in several shows and publications, such as SNAG, and was recently nominated for the prestigious Windgate-Lamar Fellowship. With masterful craft, Typaldos explores the complex psychology of personal relationships and memory through imitation and repetition.
William Morée is an artist and photographer from New York City, now living in the Black Range Mountains of New Mexico. He holds a BFA from Pratt Institute and is currently pursuing an MFA at NMSU. Morée’s photographic work explores the physiological phenomenon of human visual perception,
focusing on how we see rather than what we see.
Join us for the opening reception of Stone, Glass, Light, Silk: 2025 MFA Thesis Exhibition on Friday, April 25, 2025, from 5:30-7:30 PM. Programming for this exhibition includes a metal casting workshop on May 3. This exhibition coincides with NMSU’s annual Research and Creativity Week; please visit www.research.nmsu.edu for more information. Details on UAM exhibitions and programming can be found online at www.uam.nmsu.edu. The UAM is located at 1308 E. University Avenue, LasCruces, NM and is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 AM-4 PM.
Top left: Alfred Gyasi, Strands of Transformation, 2024, 45” x 14” x 14”, Stoneware Clay, Glaze.
Top right: Elham Sabri, Unraveled Heritage,2024, 17’’ x 28’’ x 4’’, Fabric, paper, plaster, Smooth Cast.
Bottom left: Johanna Typaldos, Amber Bracelet, 2025, 4.9” x 4.6” x 3.5”, Pewter, glass, costume jewelry.
Bottom right: William Morée, detail of Varnish #1, 2024, 36” x 36”, Archival Pigment Trichromograph.
