Spring 2026 BFA Thesis Exhibitions
Spring 2026 BFA Thesis Exhibitions
April 27 - May 1
Opening Reception: Monday, April 27, 4–6 PM
The UMass Art Department is delighted to present the Spring 2026 BFA Thesis Exhibitions at Herter Art Gallery.
Exhibiting Artists:
Emma Hinchey
Sydney Kenny
Taylor Kinnell
Mirranda Longo
Ava Machowski
Roswell Magne
Amalia Rubinstein
Scarlet Thibodeau
Ava Walls
Ali Wohlers
Reiley Young
Meet the artists:
Emma Hinchey
I am a figurative artist who paints as a means to understand both myself and others. My work centers on the female form, not simply as an object of beauty, but as a way to explore vulnerability, identity, and emotion. Through painting, I engage closely with the act of looking as both an active and interpretive process. Translating the beauty, I see in the figure and questioning what it means to see and to be seen, particularly in relation to the male gaze and its historical influence on representations of women.
My thesis, Work of Heart, focuses on collaboration with members of my family. Rather than prioritizing the viewer, I am interested in how individuals wish to be represented, and how agency can reshape image-making. My work explores the tension between beauty and insecurity, and how these forces shape self-perception. My process is rooted in dialogue; through interviews, photoshoots, and shared decision-making, my sitters actively participate in shaping their portrayal, shifting the dynamic from passive subject to collaborator.
Influenced strongly by Riva Lehrer, my work reflects on representation and authorship. Ultimately, I hope viewers consider the complexity of seeing, being seen, and the power of self-representation.
Bio:
Emma Hinchey is a figurative artist whose work explores beauty, vulnerability, and self-perception through painting. Centering the female form, she examines identity and emotion while questioning the act of looking, particularly in relation to the male gaze and its influence on representations of women. Working primarily in oil paint, she focuses on subtle details in order to convey presence rather than appearance alone. Through her thesis, she collaborated closely with members of her family, involving them in each stage of their portrayal, from interviews and photoshoots to image selection and color decisions, giving them a strong sense of agency in how they are represented.
Sydney Kenny
Time’s impact is something that comes for us all, for both the living and inanimate. Inevitably, time will pass and slowly degrade what it touches. Everything gravitates towards companionship or connection. All things will slowly fade, both physically and in memory. However, nothing is more beautiful than seeing a relationship age, sustaining each other through time and circumstance. The work captures the moment where physical bodies are subjected to the effect of time. Each sculptural pairing embodies a different type of decay. They are connected intrinsically with each other through their method of deterioration. Every mark documents an underlying event that displays the grace of a shared existence.
Bio:
Sydney Kenny (b. 2004, Westborough, MA) is a sculptor working primarily in ceramics. She first developed her love for the medium when she was 15 and continued to build her skills in the years that followed. Currently studying ceramics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, she has strengthened her abilities in both handbuilding and throwing, discovering the capacity of the material. She is currently experimenting with larger sculptural forms where slab-building techniques became one of her primary methods for constructing.
Taylor Kinnell
Kinnell’s work seeks to understand themes of social connection in a post-isolated world within the UMass Amherst community. As a sociologist and artist, Kinnell’s exhibition functions as an experiment: an exploration in how people engage in art making within a gallery setting. This work seeks to facilitate a collaborative environment where all can share in the joys of printmaking by creating art alongside others. With roots in social science, this body of work also explores the process of data visualization as a tool of communication and art. Elements of this exhibition are designed in collaboration with members of Kinnell’s own UMass community, from their very first year (2021) until this semester (2026). This art is proudly made by hand, hopefully reminding us of the value of creating art with our hands, our minds and most of all, our community.
Bio:
Taylor Kinnell is a North Carolinian emotional eldest daughter, printmaker, and social scientist living in Amherst, MA! Her work is grounded in themes of social connection, justice and change and she enjoys translating complex art processes to make art-making accessible. Taylor keeps people at the center of her work, often without the human figure, but instead by exploring feelings of belonging, hope and transformation into a society filled with interdependence, compassion and above all, love. This artist is proudly anti-AI, and forever in favor of keeping art (and power) in the hands of the people.
Mirranda Longo
My work explores the lasting impact of childhood trauma and the complexities of growing up as a girl in the United States. Using textile-based materials, drawing, and layered imagery, I create fragmented compositions that reflect memory as something both intimate and unstable. The softness of fabric contrasts with unsettling imagery and text, pointing to the tension between comfort and harm often embedded in early experiences. I am interested in how girlhood is shaped by cultural expectations, vulnerability, and silence. Repetition, staining, and stitching function as both acts of care and attempts at repair. These works do not offer resolution, but instead hold space for discomfort, confronting the ways personal and collective histories are carried in the body over time.
Bio:
Mirranda Longo is a multidisciplinary artist working in textiles, painting, and drawing. Her practice examines themes of memory, girlhood, and trauma through layered, materially-driven processes. She is graduating from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with dual bachelor’s degrees in Painting and Art History. Longo’s work draws on both personal experience and broader cultural narratives, using fabric and mark-making to explore the intersections of identity, memory, and the body.
Ava Machowski
Growing up with divorced parents, I have always struggled with the concept of home. The majority of my childhood was complicated schedules and travelling between houses, almost nomadic in the instability. Now I’m an adult with free will, yet I choose to flip-flop between three houses. A single, physical location to call “Home” is both my greatest desire and now my biggest fear. These works serve as a cross-section of my current living situation, focused primarily on the spaces I sleep in, and the windows I look out of on a daily basis. Each space holds different histories for me and requires different responsibilities. The juxtaposition of the spaces conjures up questions for me of how does a person concurrently exist in three places and remain whole? Where does “home” begin and end? What I have found is that I am both existing in and serving as a neutral ground between three locations that feel like home to me.
Bio:
Ava Machowski is a Western Massachusetts based artist currently working towards her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She previously received her Associates of Fine Arts from Greenfield Community College in Greenfield, MA, in 2024. She was born and raised in Western Mass and has remained close to home throughout her college years, living with her family, her partner, and her three dogs.
Roswell Magne
My graphic novel, “Scarecademy,” takes place in a monster-themed high school, and this chapter follows a group of students as they investigate the mysterious vampirization attack on their peer. These events take place against the backdrop of teenage interpersonal drama, and for one student, the reemergence of traumatic childhood memories involving scientific experimentation. Through this, we see a recurring theme of physical violation– feeling helpless and defined by others’ perceptions of you. My own high school experiences shape my exploration of these topics and inform the piece, showcasing the turbulence of such a critical time in one’s development. The characters struggle with mysteries beyond their control, at a time in their life where they are still struggling to discover themselves. Through these themes, my thesis aims to create a visually and narratively engaging story that entertains and resonates with the reader.
Bio:
My name is Roswell Magne, and I am a narrative illustrator and comic artist. Working digitally, my practice often features character-based illustration and brightly colored insects, with themes of joy, connection, queerness, and identity. My identity as a writer is deeply intertwined with this practice, and my past and present inform the content of my art in a fundamental way. My experience growing up as a queer and trans individual inspires a passion for representing those identities in my work.
Amalia Rubinstein
Crossing, Knowing, Hoping is the recollection of memories from two places near my hometown I would frequently visit as a teenager. One location being the bridge on the Canalside Rail Trail in Montague and the other– some abandoned silos and a warehouse on Railyard Road yard in Deerfield. I spent hours exploring these places– alone, with friends, family and often with a camera in hand. These places held me in a sense and bore witness through moments that shaped me and my experiences as an adolescent.
When I arrived at UMass Amherst in 2022, I found myself avoiding visiting my hometown of Turners Falls as an attempt to escape my past that was 20 minutes away. Nearly 4 years later as I began to develop ideas for a thesis project I only could think of creating work surrounding my life’s experiences from years ago, about these places I have barely visited since leaving, but could never stop thinking about.
Coming back to these places years later was unexpectedly an intense experience. Memories came flooding back as my boots were crunching the snow below me. In this body of work, I tried to encapsulate those feelings of reuniting with these locations with quick charcoal sketches turned into animation on top of cyanotype prints. Crossing these paths, knowing they will always be there, and hoping for these memories.
Bio:
Amalia is an emerging artist with a focus in printmaking, photography and digital design. She has her BFA in intermedia from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Based in Western Mass, her work is often inspired by memory, nature, place and identity and the intersection of those themes. Since high school, she has been passionate about film photography and darkroom printing and has since expanded her technique and interest in slow, process-based art forms.
Scarlet Thibodeau
My name is Scarlet, and I am an animator and illustrator who specializes in 2D animation. My work primarily focuses on narrative character animation set within fantastical worlds. I enjoy creating expressive characters with exaggerated facial expressions, and many of my designs feature large heads and eyes that enhance this expressiveness.
When animating, I push the limits of my character designs by experimenting with techniques like squash and stretch to heavily exaggerate a character’s proportions. I often incorporate elements of surprise into my animations, introducing unexpected moments that make the viewer question what just happened and what is going on. My goal for my work is for it to be fun and humorous and for the stories I create to have a positive impact on people. I also want to share the sometimes-nonsensical stories that play out in my head with others.
Bio:
Scarlet Thibodeau is an animator and illustrator based in Massachusetts. She studied at Greenfield Community College, completing her general studies and then transferring to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation. Working primarily digitally, she gravitates toward cheerful color palettes and bold linework in her animations and illustrations.
Ava Walls
2D animation and concept art is my practice, with a focus on fantastical and romantic stories featuring nature and divine powers. Forever Forest, my current thesis film, Forever Forest, depicts a forest environment in which Enid, the goddess of life, and Mrithun, the god of death interact and form a unique relationship. Forever Forest discusses the battle between life and death in nature and how death can be transformative. Be careful what you wish for is another theme that is unraveled when Mrithun hopes to become someone he is not and pays the price for it. A sketchy style with painterly textured backgrounds is utilized to emphasize a natural imperfect environment, alluding to the imperfections in the characters. Enid is animated with more flow and movement than Mrithun to depict his rigid, self-consciousness in contrast to her careless and free disposition. I wrote this story when I was younger, spending more time outside daydreaming in nature. Creating worlds that don’t exist and people who had dilemmas beyond reality was thrilling and I always hoped to someday bring these characters to life through animation. My viewers should be greeted with a similar escape into a new fantastical world, and left with the understanding that nature is overpowering and continuous while death is transformative and temporary.
Bio:
Ava Walls is a 2d animator who emphasizes her passion for fantasy and fictional storytelling through natural sketchy artistic lines and saturated colors. Her films highlight nature’s beauty and powerful imaginative characters, depicting themes of love and drama in fantastical settings. Ava offers her audience a chance to dream and escape to a powerful setting involving many interpretations and diverse emotions.
Ali Wohlers
I work primarily in ceramics, using the material to investigate organic form, surface, and repetition. Between Clay & Shore consists of 36 wall-mounted elements arranged in a circular composition. The installation is informed by the movement of ocean currents and the natural patterns created by shifting water and sand. The ocean serves as a grounding and constant presence in my life, and is closely tied to my summers, family, and sense of identity.
The forms reference coral and marine structures, though they are not intended to be literal. I focus on inventing forms through close observation, often pressing found pieces of coral and shells directly into the clay to capture and reinterpret their textures. Each piece is built gradually in small increments, allowing surface and detail to develop through repetition. A uniform white glaze evokes objects bleached by sun and salt, emphasizing subtle shifts in texture and form.
Bio:
Ali Wohlers is a Western Massachusetts–based artist working in clay and watercolor. Her work is shaped by time spent along the coast and the way natural environments stay with you visually over time. In ceramics, she builds forms that focus on surface, material response, and slow accumulation, letting each piece develop through layered attention to detail. Her watercolor work is more immediate and fluid, led by gesture and movement. Across both mediums, she explores how small shifts and repeated marks can build into larger visual systems grounded in observation of the natural world.
Reiley Young
I work in digital illustrations and animations, exploring themes centered around playfulness, nostalgia, and being your authentic self. In my thesis project, I explore the necessity of playfulness and imagination in adulthood and the urgency to not let a negative work mentality consume your life. Using bold lines and bright colors, my work aims to feel playful and inviting to the observer.
My film takes inspiration from my own personal reservations growing up. I spent a long time hiding my personality from others, afraid to stand out, but allowing myself that freedom to do what makes me happy has greatly improved my outlook on life. Using two distinct styles in my film, I create a strong contrast between moments of playfulness and mundanity.
With my thesis, I aim to encourage my audience to live their life to the fullest, to also allow themselves to do what makes them happy.
Bio:
Reiley Young is an illustrator and animator based in Amherst, Massachusetts. They previously studied visual arts at Holyoke Community College and is currently studying animation at University of Massachusetts Amherst. They create art in protest of societal beliefs that creativity and imagination must be abandoned in order to grow up and mature.
Reiley has participated in a few exhibitions throughout their college experience, including the Student Art Show at Holyoke Community College in 2023 and 2024, and the Hampden Gallery at UMass in 2025. Additionally, Reiley has contributed to multiple online Multi-Animator Projects throughout their years of working in animation.
The exhibition has been funded by the UMass Arts Council and the College of Humanities and Fine Arts.
Gallery Hours:
Mon – Fri: 11 AM – 4 PM
Sat: 1 PM – 4 PM
(Closed on Sundays and state holidays)