For some, it marks the end of an education. For others, it is the beginning of a career. But for all the artists whose work went on display this past Sunday in the Snite Museum of Art, the Masters and Bachelor of Fine Art Thesis Exhibition opened with a sigh of relief. The projects mark the culmination of these students' education at the University of Notre Dame finally met the public eye.

Spanning mediums from photography, sculpture, printmaking and beyond, these projects explore a number of themes. They depict subjects ranging from as broad as the human condition to as immediate as gender relations on campus.

Among the 13 BFA and five MFA theses on display, some promise to tantalize the senses and imagination, some to leave the viewer pensive and even apprehensive, but all to reflect the hard work and immense talent which these graduating students bring to campus.

Completing her MFA in photography, artist Mary Nakada's display entitled "Body Unseen" offers a series of prints which explore the human body in a way most viewers have never seen.

"Photography," Nakada says of her work, "is a medium traditionally used to observe, categorize, and clarify the human body in an attempt to explore the unknown … I present these images as quiet metaphors to contemplate the in between places where the exterior world and the human body collide."

Nakada's photographs never depict an easily recognizable part of the human form and clearly promote a degree of self—awareness through this indistinguishability. The light blue tones of each print offer a kind of sensuality that is both evocative and soothing at the same time. They leave the viewer comfortably intrigued by these new perspectives of the human body.

Four BFA photography theses are also currently on display. The most playful of which is Adrienne Noelle Werge's "Once Upon a Time Once More." Werge presents a number of photographs which transfer childhood fairy tales from the pages of storybooks to striking photographs of real world people and objects depicting images from the stories of Snow White, Cinderella and the Princess and the Pea.

Jennifer Lewis' "Passages" explore "the transience of being human and the sense of belonging in an environment" in a series of gelatin silver prints that almost seem like glimpses of a childhood memory in their hazy and fragmented depictions of city buildings, empty streets and country houses.

In one of the more enigmatic MFA displays, printmaker Brian Sailor uses his "Atrophic Cutist Docimaticism" to explore our notions of cuteness in a series of motion—sensored inflatable depictions of cartoon—type subjects such as a baby, turtle, giraffe, bunny and duck. "The notion of cute interests me because it is a concept that isn't easily pinned down," Sailor says of his attempts to do just that.

Asking questions like "Can cute exist on its own?" and "Can it be elevated to the plane of beautiful?," Sailor refers to his thesis as "an investigation of the notion of cute, and the possibility of it as a style I call cutism." Sailor's inflatable characters pose the viewer with this possibility and elicit, if nothing else, a smile.

Notre Dame students might also crack a smile at the thesis of Dave Clark, a BFA student of graphic design whose work has been advertised throughout campus in the past few weeks on a number of controversial banners. These banners, which question the need for Notre Dame's parietal system and single—sex residence halls, have been removed from residence hall windows by order of the administration. They currently hang in the Snite's display window inviting students to peruse Clark's display within.

In a collage of photographs and typography, Clark promotes activism through contemporary art and addresses a number of campus gender relation issues. The piece discusses the low number of female faculty members, the problems of single—sex dormitories and the inconsistencies in the university's parietal system. Clark said that "by introducing the topics publicly on campus the weeks prior to the exhibit" – an effort which included not only the banners but also the publication of The Observed, Clark's farce gender relation newspaper – he "intended to provoke community interest in the subjects."

Clark's current display in the BFA show, highlights the university's "obsolete attitudes and chauvinistic ideas," certainly carries that interest to fruition.

Broader societal criticism is seen in Kimberly Clement's painting thesis, "American the Beautiful." Depicting Robert Downey Jr., Eminem, Hillary Clinton, Joe Camel, references to a number of drugs including Viagra and Sarah Jessica Parker in a Playboy Bunny suit, Clemet's piece takes a serious look at the state of contemporary America. According to the artist, the painting, "portrays how Americans create and consume a popular culture which does not necessarily sustain `American' values."

Clement's attempt to explore how the media sets "ideals of beauty, glamour, power, sexuality and excitement," presents the viewer with easily recognizable and identifiable American icons, yet arranges them in such a way that provokes a feeling of distress, inconsistency and nearly ironic apprehension.

A number of other thesis displays address somewhat more positive subjects. For example, Jo Mikals—Adachi's collection of small painted portraits tackles the problem of representing a person's entirety in art. On thirty different canvases, Mikals—Adachi depicts a variety of female subjects in a myriad of head—shoulder poses, some candid, some posed, but all revealing some truth about their subject.

Neil Fitzpatrick's industrial design thesis, "Evolve," presents extensive sketches and a 3D model of what he calls "a three—wheeled utility run—about" which combines elements from vehicles such as the side car motorcycle and the BMW Isetta.

Of course, the artists discussed here are only a few of the 18 whose work is currently on display through May 20.

The projects which now populate the Snite are not to be missed – they offer any interested viewer a perspective of the world through the talent of Notre Dame's finest artists. Visit the show and experience their work for yourself. Visit it to bask in the glow of someone's culminating creative impulses. Visit it to lose yourself, if only for an hour, in a world of shapes and images that you won't find anywhere else.

• Bringing art home
  
• The good, the fad and the cute