PITTSBURGH, PA.- For the first time, The Andy Warhol Museum and Carnegie Mellon University School of Art MFA Program co-present a joint exhibition, Holding Still, Holding On, on view March 14 – April 21, 2025.

Holding Still, Holding On features new works by the CMU School of Art MFA Class of 2025—Frankmarlin, Izsys Archer, Tingting Cheng, Chantal Feitosa-Desouza and Max Tristan Watkins. The exhibition spans wide-ranging media and highlights the distinct perspectives of these five artists as they complete their final year of study. Presented in The Warhol’s rotating exhibition gallery, the exhibition offers a dynamic exploration of contemporary artmaking.

The featured artists in Holding Still, Holding On each employ diverse approaches to storytelling, through mediums including photography, painting, archival assemblage, sculptural installations, text, sound and film. Their works collectively explore the intersections of memory, place and belonging, together revealing art’s unique capacity to hold and transform complex personal and collective histories.

Andy Warhol (then Andrew Warhola) earned his degree in pictorial design in 1949 from CMU (then the Carnegie Institute of Technology). He struggled in his first-year arts classes and had to take a summer drawing course to improve his skills. Warhol’s drawings of his brother Paul’s produce truck made during that summer of 1946 earned him the Martin B. Leisser Prize and the chance to exhibit in the college’s fine arts gallery. He became a star student who joined several student campus organizations including the modern dance club and was also the editor of the student publication Cano.

“Andy Warhol’s legacy as an alum and groundbreaking artist is a profound source of pride for the School of Art,” said Charlie White, the Regina and Marlin Miller head of school, and professor of art at CMU. “It is a tremendous honor to partner with The Andy Warhol Museum on this exhibition and to showcase the talent and creative vision of our MFA students in a space dedicated to one of our most celebrated alumni.”

“We are happy to be able to provide CMU with a location for their important MFA exhibition while the building of the new ICA Pittsburgh is underway,” said Amber Morgan, The Warhol’s director of collections and exhibitions. “The connection between Andy Warhol and CMU makes The Warhol a natural fit for showcasing the legacy of talent emerging from that program.”

The Carnegie Mellon University School of Art MFA Program is an interdisciplinary, experimental, research-based program that provides students with a challenging and supportive context to expand and develop their work and thinking as artists. As one of the top-ranked graduate programs in the country, CMU views artmaking as a vital social, critical and intellectual pursuit. Graduate students are encouraged to employ a comparative and intersectional approach to critical and cultural theories, and to allow this inquiry to inform and expand what it means to be an artist and to make art within the contemporary condition.