Kris Pfister ’17, of Iberia, Ohio, wanted their senior thesis to be more than a gallery piece. Pfister wanted the work directly to address the issue of homelessness among the LGBTQ community.
Sure, the work, “Casting Off,” would live in a gallery during an annual senior art exhibition, but the reach of Pfister’s work goes far beyond.
“I crocheted 33 hats, and put them on this wall,” Pfister said. “Those 33 hats correspond to the 33 days of this art exhibition, and every day I come into the gallery, I take down a hat, and I mail it off to a homeless shelter within a 150-mile radius. The box I send to these shelters includes resources for them to be able to understand the issues queer youth face as a homeless person and to be able to take more steps to help support those individuals.”
“Kris did everything you would want a thesis student to do,” said Assistant Professor of . “Kris methodically worked through problems and found creative solutions to them. I loved seeing the piece progress and seeing Kris’ eyes light up at each stage of discovery and with each problem solved! With this work Kris helped to set the standard for peers at every stage.”