Both Jesus De La Rosa and Angelo Arnold used childhood experiences as the basis for their Masters of Fine Arts exhibition works, which went on display yesterday.

De La Rosa grew up in South Texas near the Mexican border and said his first language was Spanish. He frequently crossed between the two nations, but only began to see the division between the United States and Mexico as he grew older.

His three-painting piece entitled “River” further explored De La Rosa’s early discoveries about borders. “River” consists of three touching canvas’ each with an individual theme.

In one of the paintings De La Rosa used mesoamerican symbols amidst pastel paints. According to the Web site for the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, mesoamerica is the region in Latin America where ancient civilizations lived and shared similar cultural beliefs and artistic methods.

The middle painting in “River” is the color of an aged map. De La Rosa added lines as well as words to the painting. The words are the connecting force between the two other paintings in “River.”

“I see the words as the language and the link between the two paintings, the same way a bridge or a river connects,” he said.

In the third painting De La Rosa used shades of orange and brown to create a subtle image of a river, giving it both an American and a Mexican identity, De La Rosa said.

Many of his works take on the look of a topographical map.

“There are so many aspects of (De La Rosa’s) work,” said Pheoris West, associate professor in the College of the Arts.

His work has always been about layering but this work is more complex, West said. He accomplishes this by combining random practices with controlled artistic methods create representations of landscapes, West said.

In “Popocatepel (Smoking Mountain),” De La Rosa used graph paper and then added circles and topographical lines.

“I would copy part of (a topographical map) and then start inventing the rest,” De La Rosa said.

De La Rosa stretched his canvas’ over wooden frames, and in several of his paintings he removed a portion of the canvas to reveal the wood beneath.

In “Utopia Almost,” De La Rosa painted a bright scene with neon colors and added three-dimensional texture by using crumpled paper. A portion of the wooden frame peeks out beneath the bright colors.

“It’s important to me to be playful and not to be super serious,” De La Rosa said.

Angelo Arnold’s sculptures developed partly from his family’s bad taste and partly from being inspired by the tapestry he used, he said.

“(My family) all had this god-awful, gaudy, ugly furniture,” Arnold said.

His sculpture “Filigree” takes the idea of tacky furniture pieces to another level. The large brown chair is supported by its own swirls, and can be used three different ways.

Arnold’s wall-mounted piece entitled “Slouch” is an exploration of body posture and is meant to be leaned on. The piece looks like a miniature psychiatrist’s couch that is attached to the wall so that people can lean comfortably.

In “Family,” Arnold made two sculptures covered with the same red satin fabric. One of the pieces has a slip cover on it that Arnold used to demonstrate how his family only permitted children to sit on certain pieces of furniture.

“It is the weird dichotomy of allowed to and not allowed to (that is explored),” Arnold said.

The exhibition will show in Hopkins Hall Gallery and corridor through Friday.