Students graduating from the University of Minnesota’s Bachelor of Fine Arts programs are preparing for the opening of their thesis exhibition this coming week, with their work to be exhibited starting May 6.

With pieces from 20 graduating student artists, the “Counterpoint” exhibition will mark the completion of their degree program ahead of graduation and aims to celebrate their work. The exhibition will be available to view May 6-17 in the Regis Center for Arts’ Katherine E. Nash Gallery.

Installation in the 5,000 square-foot gallery space began this week, with the artists helping finalize months of planning alongside gallery curators. The show is designed to showcase harmonies of convergence and contrast within students’ work, according to the exhibition press release.

Nicholas Kontz, a fourth-year student and exhibition co-chair, said the show’s theme and name were based on the diversity of their cohort’s artistic work. The name is meant to recognize connections between the artists’ works.

“We all have ties to each other in these different ways that if not really looked into enough, aren’t seen,” Kontz said. “Counterpoint is the putting two things that don’t sound the same together to make something even more beautiful.”

Nora Hitchcock, a fourth-year student and other exhibition co-chair, said the artists began preparing for the show back in January. She said the group’s collaboration ultimately helped the show come together.

“There’s a lot of passion and very good intensity with everybody here,” Hitchcock said. “A lot of this was getting to know each other and realizing what everybody had to offer, and delegating things based on that.”

Final planning stages, like gallery placement and use of gallery space, only came together in recent weeks. The cohort spent the fall semester holding critiques, discussions and hosting visiting artists.

Kontz, who pursued the BFA program because of his passion for painting, said his work in the exhibition is fairly recent. He was inspired by various artists and a current art history course.

“I’m taking a lot of inspiration from the different Renaissance languages and how you can tell stories with iconography and architecture,” Kontz said. “I’m almost seeing a lot of my stuff as a playground for the stuff I’ve learned here in art school, and then trying to test it.”

Kontz’s piece in the exhibition, called “Flowers for Mom,” is an oil painting on paneled canvas exploring the relationship between spoken and visual language. Kontz said he hopes people try less to understand his work and more to visually experience it.

“There is difference that makes beauty,” Kontz said. “Just try to see how it connects you, what you like and what you don’t like and move through.”

Hitchcock, who entered the University intending to pursue medical illustration as an art major, discovered a passion for oil painting, textile art and creating work centered around women.

Hitchcock said her work for the exhibition pivoted after the 2024 election, shifting from paintings of close friends to work based on self-portraits about women’s rights and violence towards women.

“I decided to create this less family-friendly art and kind of go with what I wanted to do, taking away the external forces of wanting to create art that’s likable,” Hitchcock said.

Hitchcock’s exhibition piece, “My Body is No Longer My Own,” aims to highlight women’s fight for bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom in light of recent and historical political acts.

“Drawn to the genre of body horror, I show how outside forces have detrimental and grotesque effects when trying to manipulate the female body,” Hitchcock said in her artist statement. 

Ella Leidy, a fourth-year student in the program, works with found objects and textiles to create sculpture art for the exhibition. Her piece, “Feminine Urge,” explores the realities of womanhood and queerness in the American Midwest. Leidy said her rural upbringing in North Dakota is central to her work. 

“As a sculptor, I really want people to think about the materials in my work and the objects and the way that they relate to them,” Leidy said. “Using found objects, there’s already inherent nostalgia or this familiarity and I think I want to leverage that.” 

Murphey Stromberg, a fourth-year student in the program and an intermediate wheel throwing teaching assistant at the University, said the art exhibition is a starting point for the cohort’s careers. 

“It should be a celebration of everybody’s work and all the accumulations of all the different points of contention and harmony within the work,” Stromberg said. “The show is not an ending point, it’s a point of departure.” 

Program students are required to complete a year-long capstone experience to graduate, according to the degree course requirements. The first semester aims to help students build a strong portfolio, while the second semester focuses on helping the students develop their art for the exhibition. 

Kira Knochenmus, a fourth-year BFA student, said while the program and final show had its challenges, exhibiting her installation was ultimately rewarding. Her piece, “Companion,” features three large photo prints that explore self-sacrifice in relationships. 

“When I’m making my work, I try to focus on my own feelings instead of focusing on how it’s perceived,” Knochenmus said. “I just hope that people can appreciate the vulnerability that I’m showing and appreciate the photos for what they are.” 

Kathryn Blommel, a fourth-year student in the BFA program and student worker in the Nash gallery, said she enjoyed working collaboratively with other students to build the exhibition. Blommel’s piece “Grounded by What’s Holding Me Down” is a charcoal and graphite drawing.

“It’s bittersweet,” Blommel said. “Taking down the MFA show, I was like, ‘Wait, this is my wall,’ it’s finally my turn to put up my work.” 

Correction: A previous version of this article misquoted Blommel. She said “Taking down the MFA show…” not “Putting up the MFA show…”