Mark Hilpert was a talented photographer who received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Notre Dame in 1997. His memorable thesis project was a series of translucent photographs that were illuminated from behind and formed an abstract meditation on the Way of the Cross. Almost all of his art, which included illumnated light boxes, carefully crafted color photographs, assemblages and installations, featured Christian religios subject matter.

He once wrote, " I view myslef as a photojournalist of the soul, exposing a deeper reality than the temporary facades of the visible world. Art should express the range of human experience, including darkness as well as light, sufering as well as transcencence, sin and redemption, and doubt as well as faith"

Untitled
Mark Hilpert
American, 1968-2006
mixed media assemblage

Annual BFA an MFA Candidates' Theses Exhibition
April 6-May 18, 2008
O'Shaughnessy Galleries and the Milly and Fritz Kaeser Mestrovic Studio Gallery

Each year the Museum looks forward to the spring exhibition of thesis art projects created by seniors and graduate students within the Art, Art History and Design Department. These are often provocative and demonstrate a broad awareness of the themes and processes of contemporary art. Museum visitors -- particularly trustees, parents, and other VIP guests -- are often challenged and always intrigued by the aspiring graduates' creations. The artworks range from installations, videos, industrial and graphic design projects, to more traditional art forms such as paintings, drawings, photographs, prints, ceramics, and sculpture.

With God on Their Side, 2007
(installation view)
Katherine Cunningham
M.F.A. Photography Degree Candidate

Traditions Through Time: Southwest Native American Art
April 13 - June 8, 2008

This exhibit uses objects from the musuem's Native American collection, which have been recentl acquired and most of qhich have not been previously exhibited. The objects are from the Notre American Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Chihuahua, Mexico). There are three pieces from pre-contact times, roughly AD 700-1450. The other peces are all made by contempirary Pueblo artists, whose are reflects the ancient cultural traditions of Pueblo cultures. The contemporary objects are baskets, ceramics, and katsina carvings. The pre-contact objects are all ceramics.

Various Works from the Native American collection