RIVER FALLS - University of Wisconsin-River Falls senior BFA candidates Serena Ben-Avraham, Emily Bos, Hannah Ferguson, Isabelle Hammond, Mina Lee, Piper Richter, and Megan Spott will present their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree exhibitions in Gallery 101 in the Kleinpell Fine Arts building April 12-May 3. The free exhibition includes graphic design, painting, printmaking, and ceramics.

An Opening Reception is Friday, April 26, from 4-8 p.m. The reception and exhibition are open to everyone.
Serena Ben-Avraham is a ceramic artist from the Twin Cities. Ben-Avraham focuses on creating detail-oriented work that explores the capabilities of clay as a medium to simultaneously create functional tools and describe personal experiences. She plans to maintain her involvement in ceramics through exploring related career opportunities. 
Emily Bos of Hollandale, Minn., is pursuing a BFA in painting. Her main focus for her painting is cartoon/animated animals doing various activities. The goal of her work is to make people smile, have them think back to their childhood when things were simpler. Bos is looking forward to more opportunities with showing her art after graduation in different exhibitions and shows.
Hannah Ferguson of Stillwater, Minn., focuses on graphic design. She creates both digital and graphite drawings typically inspired by nature and fantasy. Her future plans include creating book cover designs and graphic movie props.
Isabelle Hammond of St. Paul focuses her studies on graphic design, creative writing, and stage and screen arts. She works in both print and web media, cleanly communicating ideas through illustration, photography, and typography. She is an in-house graphic designer at King of Kings Lutheran Church.
Piper Richter of Rice Lake is majoring in art education/ceramics. Richter dedicates her time working on ceramics along with printmaking and drawing. Her work embodies feelings of joy and happiness inviting viewers to pick up and interact with it, while encouraging viewers to enter a new space entirely during her shows. Two of her prints recently received awards in the UWRF Student Juried Art Exhibition. Richter plans to pursue a career in secondary education, working with middle schoolers and high schoolers. While teaching, she intends to pursue her MFA in ceramics.
Megan Spott of St. Croix County is pursuing a BFA in ceramics. Wildlife plays a major role of inspiration in her works, studying fur patterns, colors and small details to capture life-like representations of animals. She only uses red earthenware because of the warmth the clay body brings out and the natural connection to the earth. Spott is starting a ceramics studio in her home and plans to sell pieces through her business Celtic Wolf Ceramics.
Mina Lee is a painter and illustrator in Woodbury, Minn. She is pursuing two undergraduate degrees including a BFA in painting and a BS in piano performance. She has earned a place on the Dean’s List in the College of Arts and Sciences for four consecutive years and received multiple scholarships including the 2022 Virginia M Eastman Music Scholarship, the 2023 Lily T. Wong Memorial Scholarship, and the 2023 Walker D. and Helen Bryant Wyman Scholarship for the Arts. Her works were chosen for the Student Juried Exhibition, by the visiting juror, Gregory Rose. Her piece, Abandoned City, was accepted into the final round of the 2023 National Chinese EXPO of Student Works. She has works published in the 2024 UWRF Literature and Arts Journal - Prologue. She is also participating in the Flow Project, a program that matches artists with water professionals to create art inspired by water. Lee is in the process of becoming a freelance artist, producing her own paintings through commissions and prints.

For more information about the exhibition, including open hours, call 715-425-3266 or email michael.helke@uwrf.edu.

Submitted by UW-River Falls