We’re celebrating the stories that resonated most as we revisit the artists, ideas, and moments that made 2025 a standout year for the School of Art.
Favorite Exhibition Opening
Photos: MFA Artists Make Spectacular Debut at The Warhol
A packed crowd came out for the opening reception of Holding Still, Holding On, the Class of 2025 MFA thesis exhibition at The Andy Warhol Museum. Held March 14-April 21, the exhibition brought together new work by Frankmarlin, Izsys Archer, Tingting Cheng, Chantal Feitosa-Desouza, and Max Tristan Watkins.
Favorite Senior Spotlight
Senior Spotlight 2025: Sophie Chao
Watch how senior Sophie Chao (BFA ’25) transformed consumerist imagery into powerful self-portraits in her solo exhibition “An American Icon” — challenging their significance outside the realm of media and crafting a nuanced reflection on culture, identity, and Westernized ideals.
Favorite Tribute
Remembering Alumna and Professor Joann Maier (1936–2025)
A 1958 graduate of Carnegie Tech and one of the first women to earn tenure in a studio program in western Pennsylvania, Joann Maier taught for nearly four decades at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Art, inspiring generations of artists with her independence.
Favorite Long-Read
CMU Art Students Break the Mold at 2025 Intercollegiate Iron Pour
Held March 20-22, the 2025 Intercollegiate Iron Pour offered students the opportunity to directly engage with the materials and methods of Pittsburgh’s industrial past and a rare chance to explore the city’s legacy through contemporary sculpture.
Favorite Faculty Spotlight
Art Takes Riders on a Spiritual Journey in New York’s Subway
Professor Sharmistha Ray and artist Dannielle Tegeder, co-founders of the artist collective Hilma’s Ghost, debuted a new permanent installation this April in Grand Central Station as part of the MTA Arts & Design program.
Favorite Frame Show
Two Seniors Make Memory Tangible in “Timeclock” at The Frame Gallery
United by a shared fascination with memory, and the ways in which photography and sculpture render the past, El Berger and Clarine Lee collaborated on “Timeclock,” a duo exhibition at The Frame Gallery on view January 31-February 2, 2025.
Favorite MFA Spotlight
In Practice: Logan Larsen (MFA ’27)
Watch as interdisciplinary artist Logan Larsen shares an inside look at how Hollywood iconography shapes his studio practice in the Carnegie Mellon University School of Art MFA Program. His practice unsettles how history is remembered, shaped as much by research as by material experimentation, and offers new ways of imagining the objects that have defined and been defined by stardom.
Favorite Campus Artwork
16 CMU Easter Eggs in Rosabel Rosalind’s “The Neighborhood Tapestries”
MFA alumna Rosabel Rosalind’s public murals for the Margaret Morrison Street Neighborhood Commons celebrate CMU’s creative community with hidden gems like buggy races, bridges, and house mascots.
Favorite Q&A
Beyond the Loom: Professor Jamie Boyle on Teaching CMU Weaving Students at Contemporary Craft
This semester, CMU Art students had the chance to explore weaving at Contemporary Craft, where Adjunct Professor Jamie Boyle taught an introduction course each Friday. In this Q&A, Boyle shares how fiber arts open up interdisciplinary conversations by inviting students to explore weaving as both a material practice and a way of thinking.
Favorite Event
Art Students Transform WQED with Inflatable and Sonic Worlds
“Tender Roots,” an interdisciplinary event at WQED on April 25, brought together School of Art, Music, and IDeATe students for a night of immersive media. The event featured interactive pieces, architectural-scale inflatables, and spatialized sound environments developed through Senior Studio, Experimental Sound Synthesis, and Inflatables courses.
Favorite Artist Primer
Artist Primer: Professor Sharmistha Ray on Rupy C. Tut
Ahead of Rupy C. Tut’s visiting artist lecture on January 28, Professor Sharmistha Ray reflected on the painter’s bold reimagining of centuries-old traditions and how her work sparks a critical dialogue about identity, gender, and power.
Favorite Staff Spotlight
Jenna Boyles Installs New Public Artwork at Bakery Square, Merging Technology, Trash, and Community
School of Art Digital and Physical Computing Technician and Adjunct Professor Jenna Boyles unveiled a new public artwork this summer on the exterior of City Kitchen at Bakery Square, a mixed-use development in Pittsburgh’s East End.
Favorite “5 Questions”
5 Questions: Everest Pipkin (MFA ’18)
For our ongoing series with School of Art alumni, we caught up with Pipkin ahead of their October 21 visiting artist lecture, where they reflected on the internet as a public good, their evolving approach to artmaking, and the lessons they carry forward from their time at Carnegie Mellon.
Favorite Class Visit
Field Notes: Students Explore Botanical Art at CMU’s Hunt Institute
As part of Professor John Guy Petruzzi’s advanced studio “Field Notebook, Watercolor & Nature,” art students visited the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, located on the top floor of CMU’s Hunt Library. The trip offered a firsthand look at how artists, archivists, and curators preserve plant knowledge through centuries of scientific illustration.
Thanks for spending time with these stories (and with us!) this year. We look forward to bringing you more from the Carnegie Mellon School of Art in 2026.