Highlights from the 2025 MFA Visual Narrative Artist Presentations
For students in the MFA Visual Narrative program, Artist Presentations are a chance to celebrate their growth and showcase the skills they’ve developed throughout the program.
This summer, our 2025 graduates took the stage to present journeys at MFAVN, shaped by deep reflection, creative experimentation, and a wide range of influences. These artist talks offer a behind-the-scenes look at the ideas driving their thesis, but also at the personal experiences, practices, and passions that inform their work.
From supernatural romances to cockroach love stories and pigeons in office jobs, the stories we heard revealed how humor, vulnerability, and imagination can illuminate the challenges and joy of our existence.
All fourteen students brought something unforgettable to the stage. Below, we’re spotlighting five of them. We invite you to explore the full lineup of projects on our Thesis page.
In Tough Bird, Lisa introduces us to Nestor—a quiet office pigeon fed up with being overlooked. With sharp comedic timing and charming visuals, Lisa encourages us to look twice at what we might dismiss too quickly.
Indra reflects on how documenting the world around her led to Dripping Sun, an illustrated novel that follows Eva, a young engineer navigating a hostile city. Blending joy with darker themes, Indra’s storytelling captures both the absurdities of the human experience and the wonder of resilience.
Paris shares how she developed her own storytelling formula and how it shapes Kimdracula: Act One—a supernatural novel that blends fangs, feelings, and antique jewelry. This tender and haunting work marks her debut as a game designer and explores how romance, identity, and recovery intertwine.
With humor and heartfelt reflection, Kuppy presents Grim Delivery, a short that follows Riley—a young boy who dies and takes a job as an entry-level grim reaper. Drawing from his own experiences in the service industry, Kuppy mixes playfulness with poignancy to explore work, identity, and loss.
Creative journeys take fine-tuning—and in her presentation, Haelee shares how uniting art and writing helped her find her voice. Her thesis, Romeo Loves, is funny, tragic, and deeply sincere, following a cockroach who falls in love. It’s a story that reminds us how comics can offer companionship—and comfort.
Get to know the rest of our inspiring 2025 graduates and dive into their stories on our Community Page.
Credit & Recognition
Student
Faculty
Recognition
Videos edited by Borderless Colors
Photos by Borderless ColorsArtist Presentations curated by faculty Taylor Sokolowski
