The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum in Cullowhee is showcasing work by five emerging artists at its Master of Fine Art Thesis Exhibition 2026 from Tuesday, April 7, to Friday, May 1. The exhibition highlights artwork by MFA students graduating from the WCU School of Art and Design and represents a culmination of their three years of creative study and exploration. On Thursday, April 9, from 5–7 p.m. exhibiting artists will be present at a reception at the museum.
The five exhibiting artists—Holly Hill, Lynne Hudson, Remi Roce, Brooklin Routt and Reese Seigfried—offer a range of conceptual approaches and mediums.
Intervallum II. Lynne Hudson, artist
Holly Hill’s interdisciplinary practice spans sculpture, textiles, ceramics and digital drawing, using repetition and material process to explore how lived experience, memory and care accumulate across surfaces. Each of her Herms sculptural figures “contains its own archive of materials, threads, prints, fabric fragments, paper, wire and glass, each chosen for its tactile memory and emotional resonance,” Hill says. “These figures echo the domestic and the handmade while pushing into the space of contemporary sculpture. They carry traces of touch and time, insisting on the visibility of women’s work and the value of care as artistic practice.”
Hill says her work grows out of two connected parts of her practice. “One is a series of sculptural ‘women totems’ built from layers of textiles, paper and found materials,” she says. “The other is a group of digital drawings that explore garment patterns, gender codes and the way women’s bodies are shaped and viewed.”
Lynne Hudson is interested in creating work on the edge of what can and cannot be controlled, like living in a state of grief, and using mediums such as handmade paper, sheer organza, photographs recording the ephemeral and cast paper from hurricane debris.
Aren’t you just precious. Reese Seigfried, artist
Through sculpture, video and installation, Remi Roce explores how identity, culture, place and home are understood differently by each individual. He has exhibited works throughout the US and Canada and in Beijing, China and has upcoming residences in Sweden and Norway.
Originally from eastern Kentucky, Brooklin Routt is a photography and ceramic-based artist whose installations hold space for conversations about Appalachia. “When electricity started to come to the area, it began to connect the hollers of Appalachia with the rest of the world,” Routt says. “The rest of the world perceived Appalachian people as feral or uneducated, making it easier for corporations to exploit its people and resources by dehumanizing the area. Even through this exploitation and the hardships it brought, Appalachian culture and the people upholding this culture persevered. I hope to highlight the deep roots the people of Appalachia have to this place and why we have to be so resilient and resourceful.”
Using themes from carnivals and amusement parks, Reese Seigfried’s clay-based sculptures of animals primarily native to Appalachia help tell deeper stories of humanity and trauma.
Visit arts.wcu.edu/mfa-26 for more about the Master of Fine Art (MFA) Thesis Exhibition 2026 and reception. To see Bardo Arts Center’s full calendar of events, visit arts.wcu.edu/explore.
