2023 DEAN OF THE LIBRARIES STUDENT AWARDS 
Dean of Libraries Award #1: $300
Kamara Townes, “Boys”, wood panel, house paint, silver leaf, glitter,
2022
Dean of Libraries Award #2: $300
Sara Haggerty, “Where am I?”, oil paint, colored pencil, canvas, 2022
2022 DEAN OF THE LIBRARIES STUDENT AWARDS
Dean of Libraries Award #1: $300
Lilly Adkins, “Detroit Fox Theater 1934 to 2022”, mixed media / painting,
2022
Dean of Libraries Award #2: $300
Kieah Hamric, “In a Man’s World”, graphic design, 2022
Lilly Adkins is a
junior double majoring in painting and sculpture
at WVU.
Artist Statement
“In 1934, the Fox Theater’s dramatic rise in attendance became a symbol of Detroit
recovering from the Great Depression. In more recent times, the reopening
of nonessential places that allow large crowds indicates society entering
a post-COVID-19 world. Although the periods and circumstances are different,
how society ‘returns to normal’ remains the same. In my work, I
focus on subjects that examine people’s relationships with the world
and combine traditional techniques with a wide range of nontraditional
mediums and surfaces,”
Kieah Hamric
is a sophomore majoring in graphic design at WVU.
Artist Statement
“It’s a visual representation of the world women are currently stuck in.
Men throughout history have had their hands in so many decisions regarding
women and they continue to do so. This piece utilizes a bold red color
to show the warning and danger women face when men push them
aside or back and make decisions for them."
2021 DEAN OF THE LIBRARIES STUDENT AWARDS
Dean of Libraries Award #1: $300
Payton Brown, The Star Theatre, oil on canvas, 2021
Dean of Libraries Award #2: $300
Liunqing Ruth Yang, Self Portrait with a traditional Chinese Fan, oil paint
on linen canvas, 2020
Payton Brown is a First-year MFA Candidate in Painting at WVU.
Artist Statement
“I am comforted by my past, but I also imagine it idealized, thus trapping
myself in a state of trying to return to something that never truly existed.
While I am acknowledging time passing and happily recalling places or
events, I am also expressing the way that many people, including myself,
long for a return to the past but are forced to surrender to the relentless
passing of time and inevitable change, resulting in feelings of isolation
and grief.”
Liuqing Ruth Yang is a senior BFA Candidate at WVU graduating in December
2021.
Artist Statement
"The oil paintings I create use the human face as a vehicle for emotion.
From birth, we have all practiced the art of deriving information from
faces; expressions are the universal language of the human race. I paint
realistic portraits, enhanced by extreme contrast in value, to evoke an
emotional response in viewers and to translate information. The confrontation
of direct eye contact from the subject encourages the audience to engage
and to attempt to understand the person in the painting. Reading a cold,
detached face allows for a more open interpretation from the observer.
In this painting Empty Jar, my intention is that viewers will wonder what
thoughts and emotions lie behind the callous expression of the subject."
2020 DEAN OF THE LIBRARIES STUDENT AWARDS
Dean of Libraries Award #1: $300
Raymond Thompson, Untitled(After Jack Delano and the trauma of white light
#1), Tobacco Cholophyll Print
Dean of Libraries Award #2: $300
Anna Allen, Empty Jar, oil on linen
Raymond Thompson Jr.
Untitled(After Jack Delano and the trauma of white light #1)
Tobacco Cholophyll Print
2020
MFA Candidate in Photography
Artist Statement
"This piece is from a series call "the trauma of white light." It features
appropriated images from the Library of Congress archive which are contact
print directly on tobacco leaves.
Anna Allen
Empty Jar
oil on linen
2019
BFA Candidate in Painting
Artist Statement
"The oil paintings I create use the human face as a vehicle for emotion.
From birth, we have all practiced the art of deriving information from faces;
expressions are the universal language of the human race. I paint realistic
portraits, enhanced by extreme contrast in value, to evoke an emotional response
in viewers and to translate information. The confrontation of direct eye
contact from the subject encourages the audience to engage and to attempt
to understand the person in the painting. Reading a cold, detached face allows
for a more open interpretation from the observer. In this painting Empty
Jar, my intention is that viewers will wonder what thoughts and emotions
lie behind the callous expression of the subject."
2019 DEAN OF THE LIBRARIES STUDENT AWARDS
Feliks Pyron Queer Fables, relief print on BFK
Dean of Libraries Award #2: $300
Lauren Cook Fallen, animation
Feliks R.K. Pyron is a third-year graduate student in the MFA printmaking program. His work, Queer Fables, is on view in DCL 1020 thru February 2020.
Lauren Cook is a sophomore Intermedia major. They will exhibit their work at EVL through spring semester. Her animation is on view on the DCL and EVL kiosks through the spring semester.
Other student artists exhibiting in DCL 1020 Jan-Feb are Cancan Huang, Kadra Tedrick, Raymond Thompson, Reece Lopatka and Larry Whittington.
DEAN OF THE LIBRARIES STUDENT ART AWARDS, 2018
In November, the Art in the Libraries Committee awarded the College of Creative Arts students Cancan Huang and Jacqueline Circkirillo with the Dean of the Libraries' arts awards. Huang's work, Dolma, an oil painting, will be on display in the Downtown Campus Library lobby for the spring semester. Circkirillo's work, Margaret, an oil painting, will go on display at Evansdale Library for the spring semester.
Circkirillo grew up in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia and just graduated with a BFA in painting. Growing up in West Virginia, Circkirillo was influenced by the philosophy that simplicity and humbleness were of huge importance. As a wild West Virginian kid, she felt quite a bit of disconnect with today's fast paced world. Through her portraits, she captures moments of thoughtfulness and conveys appreciation for simplicity.
Huang was raised south of China and is a first semester graduate student in the WVU studio art program. He received traditional academic art training as a teenager which helped him render the form of objects precisely and made him more award of the intricacies of the human body. His paintings reflect the conflicts between Chinese minority groups and Chinese modern society, while exemplifying the artist's keen painting ability.
Circkirillo and Huang will have more artwork on view alongside the work by BFA students Ineke Knudsen and Emma Hagerty, on display in Room 1020 of DCL January 20 — February 28, 2019.
DEAN OF THE LIBRARIES STUDENT ART AWARDS, 2017
In November, the Art in the Libraries Committee awarded College of Creative Arts' students Megan Grindle and Christina Kang with the Dean of the Libraries' arts awards. Grindle's work, Exposure (2017, acrylic paint, ink, glitter, and art resin) and Kang's work Creatures of Dichotomy: Finding a Bridge Between (2017, sceenprint under etching, watercolor, pins), won the awards selected by the Art in the Libraries Committee at the CCA's Juried Student Exhibit in Laura Mesaros Gallery.
Exposure will be on display in Evansdale Library January through April 2018; Creatures of Dichotomy: Finding a Bridge Between will be on display in the Downtown Campus Library Lobby January through December 2018.
Artist Megan Grindle's work can be explained simply as abstract, but there are more to the layers of paint than that. She explains that her process takes a careful, skillful hand but the decisions on how to move her hands comes from her unconscious mind. For her work she uses an abstract fluid style that allows her to use the randomness of the paint to create a beautiful outcome.
Artist Christina Kang is a printmaker working on her BFA. She is a self proclaimed "tiny lines enthusiast" and explains that her creating her artwork is her way of showing people her personal identity.
Grindle and Kang will have more artwork on view alongside work by recent graduate Mallory Burka, on display in Room 1020 of DCL January 20-February 2018.
Artist Mallory Burka's paintings, from afar, seem photographic until viewers look a little closer. Burka's paintings, though based on her own photographs, are made with oil paint and drop cloth to create a painterly-realistic depiction of structural and natural landmarks in West Virginia. She hopes to interest viewers and persuade them to visit the sites of West Virginia that inspired her.
EMILY LONDREGAN, 2016 DEAN OF LIBRARIES STUDENT ART PRIZE AWARD WINNER
In November of 2016, Bachelor of Fine Arts printmaking student Emily Londregan won the 2016 Dean of Libraries Student Art Prize for her woodcut print and hand cut wood, Woodcut Flowers.
Beth Royall, Creative Arts Librarian and member of the Art in the Libraries Committee, said: "It's been a privilege to serve on the Dean of Libraries Student Art Prize jury these past two years. The 2016 library jury members, Ashleigh Coren, John Cuthbert, Susanne Rasmussen, Curtis Tenney, Alyssa Wright, and I, enjoyed the challenge of choosing among so many works of such high quality. Londregan's' woodcut impressed us all with its beauty and detail."
Londregan's ink print, alongside the original cut wood used for the print, are on view in the Downtown Campus Library Alumni Lobby through the spring 2017 semester. The artist wanted to exhibit both the print and cut wood to show the process behind the printmaking process. Said the artist:
I was more than happy with the results and very proud to have had the opportunity to show it as a result of the award.Londregan graduated in December of 2016 and is currently working as a graphic designer in her hometown of Aldie, Virginia. She recounts her time at WVU in the College of Creative Arts warmly. ". . . besides loving WVU as a whole, the Creative Arts Center became my second home. I met so many incredible, inspiring people," wrote Londregan via email, "when I met [Associate Professor of Printmaking] Joe Lupo and started working under him, I feel like I had rediscovered myself as an artist and my passion for what I do. I feel so lucky to have spent so much time there and I tell everyone who hasn't graduated yet: Take advantage of every opportunity, utilize all your resources available to you there but most importantly, hold on to the connections you've made."
Professor Lupo reciprocates the high regard for his former student, saying recently,
Because [Emily's] work is so technically sound, other students often seek out her advice when they are having troubles. She has quickly become a leader in our printshop. . . She is very dedicated to the profession and is interested in a broader understanding of what life as an independent artist is like. Emily is extremely talented.Londregan was a nominee for West Virginia Tamarack Foundation's inaugural 2016 Emerging Artist Fellows, one of just seventeen artists nominated by West Virginian colleges and universities' faculty.
Find more of her work on her Etsy page, https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmilyLondregan.
DEAN OF THE LIBRARIES PRIZE
The West Virginia University Art in the Libraries Committee has awarded the Dean of the Libraries Award to two student artists in the College of Creative Arts. Matthew Gillette won for his sculpture Slumped, and Floyd-Wheat Robinson for his sculpture Tap Water.
The honors were announced as part of the WVU School of Art & Design's fourth annual Juried Student Exhibition, which featured student work in a variety of mediums including ceramics, photography, sculpture, printmaking, graphic design, painting, drawing, video and animation.
We are thrilled to be able support student artists and display their work. This is the first of what will be annual award and an ongoing partnership between the School of Art and Design and the Libraries. The award was created through the generosity of Jon Cawthorne, Dean of the Libraries, and is a part of our new Art in the Libraries program which seeks to bring art and conversation about social and cultural issues into library spaces. -Alyssa Wright, Chair of the Art in the Libraries Committee
The Libraries awarded each artist a $300 prize and will display their works from January 19 to April 29.
Gillette incorporated metal and concrete into the design of Slumped, which will be on display at the Downtown Campus Library. The senior sculpture major is excited about earning exposure and adding the accolade to his portfolio. He considers the honor especially meaningful because it came at his first juried show. He compared winning the award to selling a work.
People appreciating and enjoying something that I created makes me feel happy. It's awesome.Robinson created his sculpture, Tap Water, last fall while studying aboard in the Chinese city where china originated. He adorned the porcelain fire hydrant with a blue and white pattern reminiscent of a traditional china design and a faucet. It evokes a universal theme.The senior ceramics major is pleased that his work will be on display at the Evansdale Library.
We see the sculpture and know it means water. Everyone needs water, no matter where you come from. This award opens it up for students to see our work on campus. I hope our works help to lighten the mood in the libraries and keep the atmosphere positive.