“I’m really interested in the history of abstract and modern art, and the dialogue with that history,” Stradley said.

The Master of Fine Arts Exhibition, which began April 12th and runs until April 28th, is the culmination of three years of study in the Master of Fine Arts degree program at MSU. Five students in the program, Ryan Groendyk, Volodymyr Shcherbak, Stradley, Deborah Alma Wheeler and Rebekah Zurenko have their art in the exhibit.

The exhibit gives students the opportunity to work with a highly regarded staff, according to Thomas Berding, chair of the Department of Art and Art History.

“(The students) get to not only see the results of their work, but also have the opportunity to get mentoring advice and input from not only faculty, but professionals in the field,” Berding said.

The students are using the opportunity to explore various themes. For Stradley, that theme is to explore art as a medium. For Groendyk, it’s exploring renewable energy.

His display, “Fat of the Land,” is about renewable energy, climate change and car culture. The display consists of a 1973 Mercedes-Benz 220D benz-220d that has been upgraded to run on carbon neutral biofuels. He hopes to bring awareness to environmentalism.

Groendyk believes people tend to shove environmental issues “down your throat” and therefore, people tend to avoid them.

“I don’t see a lot of people acting proactively and accepting that and looking forward,” he said.

By making the “art car” intentionally flashy, he hopes the issue will speak for itself.

“I was trying to create a car that looked so enticing and good, people would approach me and ask me about it,” he said.

Berding said the variety of subjects being explored shows that art is multifaceted.

“Art is a great stage for diversity, diversity of voices, diversity of problems in the world,” he said. “(The students are) all really inventive in the tropes or the devices associated with the content or the form that they work with.”