UMass Dartmouth MFA Catalog 2025 by UMass Dartmouth

THESIS EXHIBITION

exhibiting artists

Kofoworola Adebiyi

Anis Beigzadeh

Jungin Chang

Anna Ladawan Levine

Jillian McEvoy

Rachel Mulcahy

Marilyn Perry

GREETINGS FROM THE OFFICE OF THE DEAN

I am very pleased to offer my heartfelt congratulations to the seven students— Kofoworola Adebiyi, Anis Beigzadeh, Jungin Chang, Anna Ladawan Levine, Jillian McEvoy, Rachel Mulcahy, and Marilyn Perry—who are graduating this spring from our MFA program. As we always do, we celebrate this milestone with an exhibition of our students’ work, and I am very excited to be able to share this show with all of you. The work in the 2025 MFA Thesis Exhibition represents the culmination of two or three years of exploration, experimentation, successes, some failures, and lots of hard work in several different media. What we see in the galleries is the happy result of this journey; what we cannot always see is how far these students have come in their work from the time they first moved into their studios here. This exhibition celebrates their accomplishments, while the degree we are awarding them recognizes the whole of the voyage they are so successfully completing.

To Kofo, Anis, Jungin, Anna, Jill, Rachel, and Marilyn: Thank you for this magnificent show. You have each been an important part of the CVPA community, and we will miss you as you move on to your next adventures. As much as this seems like a culmination, it is instead the beginning of what we expect will be long and fruitful careers as artists, no matter in what directions that might take you. I hope, too, that you will always consider yourself part of CVPA, that you will stay in touch, and that you will share your journey forward with us and the students who will follow in your footsteps. Congratulations, good luck, and hooray to all of you.

The MFA Class of 2025 is the second of two years of students disrupted by our leaving the Star Store in Fall 2023. That was traumatic for all of us, but for the graduate students in particular who had to work in makeshift spaces and without the facilities they needed and expected to have available to them. As difficult a transition as this

was, each and every one of you adapted to your new circumstances, and you persevered, never letting your workspace deter you from making art. In fact, for some of you the limited facilities led to productive experiments with new media and materials.

The loss of the Star Store has also complicated our MFA exhibition which this year is divided between three venues in Fall River, New Bedford, and at our studios at ADS. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Viera Levitt, our Gallery Director. She has navigated the complicated logistics involved in curating and installing this show. As always, she has brought us a stunning show.

I am grateful, too, for the great assistance of the Assistant Dean Jessica Fernandes Gomes, our Graduate Director Suzanne Schireson, graduate thesis advisors Rebecca Hutchinson, Jess Worby, and all the dedicated members of the graduate thesis committees, technicians Shingo Furukawa, Vincent Martin, and Paula Medeiros, Administrative Assistant Lin Dong as well as Michelle Bowers and her students for graphic design —thank you all. I also acknowledge the dedication of our faculty who have nurtured these students throughout their time at CVPA, and the staff that works so hard to support students and faculty. Finally, thank you to our MFA students’ family and friends—your support, patience, and enthusiasm has been essential to their ability to focus on their studio work and classes.

Congratulations!

Lawrence Jenkens

Dean, College of Visual and Performing Arts

UMass Dartmouth

NOTES FROM THE EXHIBITION CURATOR

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to celebrate the UMass Dartmouth MFA Thesis Exhibition, our annual celebration of graduating Master of Fine Arts students from the College of Visual and Performing Arts. In 2025, experience their diverse creations across three venues: The main exhibition is at The Ignition Space in Fall River with satellite locations at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and The Art and Design Studios (ADS) in Dartmouth.

Each artist brings a lot of their background and skills to this exhibition. Kofoworola Adebiyi’s paintings echo her upbringing in Lagos, Nigeria and have a reflective depth also found in her voice as she reads poems that accompany each canvas hung on a darkened wall.

Interdisciplinary artist from Iran, Anis Beigzadeh uses intricate techniques to combine ceramics and textile in unexpected creative ways, including movement or interactive elements, pattern, and geometry.

Jungin Chang presents the children’s book as well as illustrations on the walls, featuring colorful whimsical portraits of modern motherhood under societal pressures, particularly the ones she experienced in her native Korea.

Anna Ladawan Levine’s oil paintings focus on womanhood and women's bodies in distinct spaces capture multiple layers of experience and meaning through their unexpected titles.

Jillian McEvoy has a unique ability to transport us in time and space into the mysteries of her peculiar “cabinet of curiosities” environment to discover how far one can experiment not only with clay, but also fossils, found objects or even living beetles.

Rachel Mulcahy draws inspiration from underappreciated wild and invasive plants through her intricate ceramic tile surfaces, framing them into surprising wall murals.

Influenced by the vast, untamed landscapes of her birthplace of Northern Canada, Marilyn Perry's ceramic and handmade paper installations examine geological time, sense of impermanence, wonder, and meditative reflection.

We extend our sincere gratitude to the Fall River Arts and Culture Coalition (FRACC) and Ashley Occhino for hosting us at The Ignition Space, and to the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and their amazing staff including L. Compton, Arts and Youth Coordinator, for opening their gallery to our students.

We are also profoundly grateful to our dedicated audiences and arts and cultural partners for their unwavering support of our students and exhibition programs.

Thank you,

Viera Levitt UMass Dartmouth Gallery Director

KOFOWOROLA ADEBIYI

statement

My work in painting and sound poetry engages life as experienced beyond the physicality of the human body. Through rendering the figure, I engage personal and vicarious stories of woundedness and transformation, conveying marked experiences able to shape one's identity. The identities in my work emerge as both children and adults, expressing themselves through multilayered intimate environments which uncover moments of psychological impact across a lifespan. I consider the human mind a field of exploration, imbued with clues toward identity. What shapes us and how have we experienced brokenness? What has wounded and perhaps continues to wound us, and how do those experiences fashion and reinforce the identities we currently project? I am moved by these explorations as they hold value towards healing, both in the individualistic and communal sense.

biography

Kofoworola Adebiyi is an interdisciplinary artist whose work in painting and poetry evocatively attends to matters of human psychology. Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Adebiyi relocated to the United States to pursue her Bachelors at the University of Rhode Island, where she completed separate degrees in both Fine Arts and Medical Laboratory Sciences. Her work reveals a fascination with the distinctive capacity of painting to address human development and psychological woundedness, which she explores in connection to her Christian faith and cultural identity. Adebiyi is currently an MFA candidate at UMass Dartmouth, and has exhibited nationally and internationally within the United States and West Africa.

statement

As a ceramic artist deeply connected to the rich craft traditions of Iran, my work is rooted in the intersection of personal experience, cultural heritage, and feminist ideology. Since immigrating to the United States, I have used my art as a medium to explore themes of home, identity, and the empowerment of women. My practice combines ceramics with other materials such as fiber and textiles, reflecting the fluidity of culture and identity in the context of my own lived experiences. The inspiration for my work comes from the traditional crafts passed down through the women in my family, such as weaving, embroidery, and basketry. I am particularly drawn to the symbolic and aesthetic richness of Persian art, which I reinterpret through contemporary lenses. By merging these traditional techniques with ceramics, I create sculptural forms that represent the resilience and strength of women, as well as the complex stories of migration and transformation.

Anis Beigzadeh is an interdisciplinary artist from Iran, currently living in Massachusetts. She received a BFA in Painting from Bahonar University and is now pursuing an MFA in Ceramics at the UMass Dartmouth. She has long drawn inspiration from the intricate patterns and colors of her cultural heritage, which she now translates onto the surfaces and forms of her hybrid creations. Working with clay allows her to find a meditative practice with which to tell stories about home, culture, and identity. Her Persian background and experiences in art-making fuel her ambition to make a meaningful mark on the art world.

Be Strong, 2023-2024

Ceramic, fiber, painting

x 5' x 3' Memorial, 2023-2024

biography

ANIS BEIGZADEH

JUNGIN CHANG

statement

My work explores the narrative of motherhood, consumerism, and societal expectations in contemporary Korean culture. Through satirical illustrations infused with peculiar elements, I focus on depicting Korean mothers who are pressured by beauty standards, capitalism, and the struggles between traditional ideals and modern expectations. Most of my imagery draws from Korean portmanteau, particularly those that target mothers, reflecting the language of societal judgment. I weave these linguistic elements into my compositions, hoping my illustrations can communicate more deeply with the audience. Through my art, I invite viewers to recognize and share the experiences of women and mothers while finding humor in the contradictions of these expectations.

biography

Jungin Chang is an illustrator and graphic designer based in Busan, South Korea. She began her training at Tong Won College in Seoul, South Korea, before earning a BFA in Graphic Design from Oregon State University. She later worked as a graphic designer in the Department of Graphic and Communication Research at SWIC, Ulsan, South Korea. After becoming a mother, Jungin developed an interest in storytelling and illustration. She has since authored several illustrated books, including Drawing Korea with the illustration group [SunJeong], published by Hwashimhun in 2022. In 2022, she moved to the United States to pursue an MFA in Illustration at UMass Dartmouth.

Under the Skirt; Mess with My Kid, You Mess with Me, 2025

Digital print

14" x 17"

Mother Nature (detail), 2025

print

x 17"

statement

Womanhood encompasses many identities, crossing over into cultural and physical contexts. I take my own experience identifying as a woman into account in my work, referencing bodies and place- specific connections through drawings and paintings observed from life.

It is especially important for my viewers to understand the many multitudes of one’s character, whether that be recognized as a tranquil state of mind or a silly sense of humor.

Anna Ladawan Levine works primarily in oil paint to explore the relationships between women and their surroundings. She received an AB from Smith College and is pursuing an MFA in Drawing and Painting from UMass Dartmouth. In 2024, she was an artist in residence in Kyushu, Japan. Over the past three years as a graduate student, Levine has been most engaged in using her visual expression to examine and celebrate the fluidity and facets of being a woman in early adulthood in the 2020s.

biography

ANNA LADAWAN LEVINE

Humpty-Dumpty Sat on a Uterine Wall, 2024 Oil on linen

48" x 36"

Little Miss Muff (detail), 2023 Oil on linen

23" x 16"

statement

Fueled by a deep curiosity and passion for discovery, I make work to reveal the hidden organisms that often go unnoticed. I'm captivated by the intricate forms of microorganisms, insects, fossils, and other creatures overlooked due to their size, environment, or place in natural history, like ammonites, which have been extinct for 66 million years. Through ceramics, I illuminate and magnify these life forms, creating immersive installations that feel domestic and personal, inviting exploration and engagement while hoping to spark a sense of wonder and curiosity in others. Drawing from traditional ceramic processes, I use the potter’s wheel to initially create vessel forms that I then alter, bridging human and natural history. By allowing nature to interact with my work—incorporating food sources into clay for insects to consume or growing seeds on vessel surfaces—I highlight often-overlooked or disliked aspects of the natural world. My installations imagine the space of a collector who treasures these peculiar objects, arranging them using things like velvetlined cabinets, apothecary jars, and decorative tanks to emphasize their significance. This setting invites viewers to reconsider the beauty and importance of these organisms, fostering a deeper appreciation for their hidden roles in our shared environment.

biography

Jillian McEvoy is a ceramic installation artist and current MFA candidate in Ceramics at UMass Dartmouth. Growing up as a self-proclaimed “science fair kid” in New Jersey and New York, she developed a love for experimentation, discovery, and nature from an early age. McEvoy received her BFA from SUNY Cortland in 2019, where she was first captivated by the medium of ceramics and its inherent experimental nature. She now merges the tradition of ceramics with experimental scientific approaches, creating installations that evoke precious personal collections of imagined specimens to reveal the hidden treasures of the natural world.

Phasmids, Fossils, and Other Forgotten Creatures, 2025

Site specific installation using stoneware, earthenware, gold leaf, glass, velvet, antique furniture, living insects and plants Dimensions variable

Amphora, 2024 Self-hardening clay, stoneware 12" x 8"

JILLIAN MCEVOY

Ammonite

statement

My work integrates elements of art and design in my tiled mural compositions. I draw inspiration from the often overlooked flora—those wild and invasive plants that thrive in the margins of human habitation, flourishing on roadsides and reclaiming vacant spaces. Through my intricate surfaces, I challenge the conventional perception of these species, transforming them from mere weeds into subjects of profound beauty and contemplation. By highlighting moments in nature that reveal the hidden intricacies of the natural world, I invite viewers to reconsider the parallels to the human experience such as growth, struggle, and beauty.

biography

Rachel Mulcahy is a ceramic artist from Cape Cod, Massachusetts who creates tiled mural compositions that celebrate the beauty of wild and invasive plants. She received a BFA in Art Education from Syracuse University in 2021 and is currently pursuing an MFA in Ceramics at UMass Dartmouth.

RACHEL MULCAHY

Queen of the Weeds, 2024

Stoneware clay with underglaze 25" x 25"

Pokeberry at Dusk, 2024

Stoneware tiles with underglaze 30" x 22"

PERRY

statement

My ceramic and handmade paper sculptures and installations explore the dynamic northern landscapes and how they change - both rapidly and over eons. Each evokes a sense of impermanence, wonder, and interconnectedness inspired by icy geological forms - glaciers, ice fields, and mountains - that are repositories of memory. My works frame the rhythms and moments of cyclical change, and hold the paradox of loss and beauty. The architectural language of churches provides a complementary framework that offers spaces of reverence, reflection, and meditation. A hallmark of my work is the integration of concept and materiality. I combine traditional techniques with innovative approaches, highlighting erosion and loss and encouraging emotional engagement. By blending the scales of deep geological time and momentary glimpses of future time, I hope viewers will fully experience the present. In contemplation of the present, there exists an opportunity to leave an ‘out there’ sense of nature’s wilderness and allow a kinship with a world beyond delicate humanness.

Marilyn Perry is a ceramics and handmade paper artist based in Oregon. Her sculptures and installations are inspired by her connection to the less-touched landscapes of Northern Canada, her country of origin. She earned a BA from the University of British Columbia, an MA in Counseling Psychology from Gonzaga University, Washington and is currently an MFA candidate in Ceramics at the UMass Dartmouth. Perry’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, including NCECA 2022, Sacramento, CA; Anderson Ranch, Aspen, CO; Verum Ultimum, Portland, OR; and the Oodori Museum, Sapporo, Japan.

Grace, 2025

Not-So-Perma, 2025

biography

MARILYN

Colored porcelain, frozen clay, thin colored slips 26" x 3" x 10.5'

Raw clays and porcelain, frozen colored slips, ice blocks on plexiglass 7' x 16.5" x 36"

Installation of the Art and Design Studios and the Ignition Space, exhibition, Jillian McEvoy, Anis Beigzadeh, Kofoworola Adebiyi, Anna Ladawan Levine, Rachel Mulcahy, Marilyn Perry, Jungin Chang

Installation of the Ignition Space exhibition, Kofoworola Adebiyi, Anis Beigzadeh, Jungin Chang, Anna Ladawan Levine, Jillian McEvoy, Rachel Mulcahy

Installation of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park exhibition, Anis Beigzadeh, Jungin Chang, Anna Ladawan Levine

Installation of the Art and Design Studios exhibition, Anna Ladawan Levine, Kofoworola Adebiyi, Marilyn Perry, Rachel Mulcahy

KOFOWOROLA ADEBIYI

Painting

kofoadebiyi1@gmail.com

artofpath.com

Instagram: @artofpath

ANIS BEIGZADEH

Ceramics

anis.beigzadeh@gmail.com

anisbeigzadeh.com

Instagram: @anis.beigzadeh

JUNGIN CHANG

Illustration

jchang@umassd.edu joifulchange.com

Instagram: @joifulchange

ANNA LADAWAN LEVINE

Drawing and Painting

anna.ldw.levine@gmail.com

annaladawanlevineart.com

Instagram: @paintwomanpaint

JILLIAN MCEVOY

Ceramics

jmcevoy1@umassd.edu

jillian-mcevoy.com

Instagram: @JRMCeramics

RACHEL MULCAHY Ceramics rmulcahy@umassd.edu

Instagram: @rachelmulcahy.studio

MARILYN PERRY

Ceramics

marilyn.perry5@gmail.com

marilynperryceramics.com

Instagram: @marilyn.perry.ceramics

2025 MFA THESIS EXHIBITION

College of Visual and Performing Arts

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

April 5 – April 27, 2025

The Ignition Space

44 Troy Street, Unit 2, Fall River, MA 02720

New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park

33 William Street, New Bedford, MA 02740

Art and Design Studios

Dartmouth Towne Center Plaza

458 State Road, North Dartmouth, MA 02747

EDITORS

Jessica Fernandes Gomes

Viera Levitt

Suzanne Schireson

PLANNING AND LOGISTICS

Jessica Fernandes Gomes

Shingo Furukawa

Viera Levitt

Vincent Martin

Suzanne Schireson

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Chris Diani

Viera Levitt

Vincent Martin

Student Archives

DESIGN

Michelle Bowers

Mat Williamson

umassd.edu/cvpa/galleries

umassdartmouthgalleries

UMass Dartmouth Galleries

PRINTING

Mallard Printing ISBN: 978-1-7338036-7-0

THANK YOU

The College of Visual and Performing Arts would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Fall River Arts and Culture Coalition (FRACC) and Ashley Occhino for hosting us at The Ignition Space, and to the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and their amazing staff including Little Compton, Arts and Youth Coordinator, for opening their gallery to our students.

Thank you to Professor Michelle Bowers and her Graphic Design students for designing promotional materials, Paula Erenberg Medeiros for creating our online gallery website, and Dean Lawrence Jenkens for his ongoing support.

Viera Levitt, Gallery Director email: gallery@umassd.edu phone: 508 999 8555

CVPA at UMass Dartmouth is a proud partner of AHA! (Art, History, & Architecture) Night — New Bedford’s free Downtown cultural event and collaborative organization.

umassd.edu/cvpa

umassdcvpa

CVPA UMass Dartmouth

Installation of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and Art and Design Studios, Kofoworola Adebiyi, Anis Beigzadeh, Anna Ladawan Levine, Rachel Mulcahy, Marilyn Perry, Viera Levitt, Mat Williamson