“My parents wanted me to be bio pre-med,” Luna said. “I had to fight them to study art. They didn’t really want me to study art ... I took ceramics for the first time and it’s this thing that happens that other ceramics talk about; that you touch clay and you’re never the same again.”

Luna was recently able to show her work in a gallery inside of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum during a showcase, along with other MFA students. 

“It kind of feels like standing naked in front of the classroom, like in those dreams you have,” Luna said. “I really like making and my concept ... especially the work that I am making now I want people to think about colonialism. I want people to think about the things that they don’t see like the colonial structures.” 

Along with her exhibit, Luna also teaches a wheel-throwing class and was a high school teacher for five years before she attended MSU. Her goal is to combine art and teaching. 

“Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia are some of the few countries in the world that academia has not accepted ceramics as a discipline,” Luna said. "I think there is a lot of work to be done there locally as well. I want to teach and I also need to have a way to pay my bills so I am hoping I can find a way to pay my bills that lines all of these things up: teaching and research.” 

Third-year MFA student Jazzmyn Barbosa said her installation is made up of four parts. Part one of her exhibit is a newspaper that viewers can take away for free. The second part is a participatory workshop or event. The third part is a large wall of blown up photos from the Craigslist Ad section. Part four is a handmade book that also has images from Craigslist. 

“Mine (the idea) is tied to the DIY punk culture,” Barbosa said. “It’s more about the experience of getting people’s participation and making museum a space that is accessible to multiple audiences instead of kind of closed off space for viewing and that definitely comes from seeing shows that my friends made in Denver.” 

Third-year MFA student Laura Baszynsk created a large reconstruction of her childhood home that people can walk through. She said her installation is about memory, time and a place. 

“Growing up my dad had a wood shop that was in our garage, so he would build a lot of things and would always be making furniture or remodeling our house, and for me it was a way to spend time with him and kind of connect in a way that was really creative, so I always liked sort of building things and making things,” Baszynsk said. 

She said her hope is to continue in art education. 

“Starting this program, I knew that at the end of three years I’d be showing something incredible and kind of like a dream,” Baszynsk said. “I knew family and friends would come, and we are at that point right now.”