The MFA Program stages two major exhibitions per year, offering candidates opportunities to connect their creative practices to a broader cultural discourse in Pittsburgh.
Thesis Exhibitions
For Third-Year candidates, the thesis exhibition is a critical presentation of new work, culminating three years of their studio practices and accompanied by a corresponding written thesis. The MFA Thesis Exhibition has been hosted by The Andy Warhol Museum since 2025, bringing these artists into the legacy of one of the School of Art’s most influential alumni.
Afrooz Partovi
“Time-Honored Non-Specifics”
March 27-April 12, 2026
The Andy Warhol Museum
“Time-Honored Non-Specifics” featured new work by Naomi Chambers, Bulumko Mbete, and Afrooz Partovi, whose studio-based practices span painting, assemblage sculpture, textiles, ceramics, installation, immersive technologies, and time-based media.
Carnegie Mellon School of Art MFA Class of 2025
“Holding Still, Holding On”
March 14-April 21, 2025
The Andy Warhol Museum
“Holding Still, Holding On” featured Frankmarlin, Izsys Archer, Tingting Cheng, Chantal Feitosa-Desouza and Max Tristan Watkins. Each artist employed diverse approaches to storytelling, through mediums including photography, painting, archival assemblage, sculptural installations, text, sound, and film. Their works collectively explored the intersections of memory, place, and belonging, together revealing art’s unique capacity to hold and transform complex personal and collective histories.
1st and 2nd Year Exhibitions
Each spring, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the MFA Program co-present the 1st and 2nd Year MFA Exhibition. This exhibition offers a unique opportunity to engage with these artists as they explore and expand their practices in residence with their peers.
Sarah Al-Sarraj (MFA ‘28)
“Dream Sequence”
February 13-April 5, 2026
SPACE Gallery
Evoking the associative and often unpredictable logic of dreams, “Dream Sequence” brought together new works that move through memory, orientation, and play, tracing how images, materials, and technologies carry stories across time.
Ashley A. Ross (MFA ‘27)
“The End That Never Was”
February 15-April 27, 2025
SPACE Gallery
Following obsessions and trains of thought, “The End That Never Was” addressed contemporary notions of memory, orientation, and play. Informed by their varied studio practices which utilize film, sound, virtual space, and tactile media, this exhibition parsed iterative and generative attempts at answering sometimes unanswerable questions. Broadly, the works explore fan culture, language acquisition, memory, affect, disembodiment, as well as the occupation of the peripheral.