School of Art graduate students AJ Aremu, Kelsey Wishik, Katharine Miele and Amber Pitt received Willson Center for the Humanities & Arts Graduate Research Awards during the Spring 2021 semester. The Willson Center Graduate Research Awards are merit-based grants given to University of Georgia graduate students to support expenses for arts and humanities research projects. Students submit applications to fund their continued research on a range of projects, and the School of Art is excited to highlight the well-deserved awards of three of its students.  

AJ Aremu

MFA Candidate AJ Aremu was awarded funds to continue research to inform their painting and printmaking practice. Aremu’s research focuses on what it means to be a black American and the various identities that fall under the title of “Black Americans”. Aremu says, “Through the interdisciplinary studies of painting and printmaking, I want to be able to use my artworks as a foundation for the empowerment of Black people across the diaspora and within the United States. By being able to connect the world and expand the knowledge in both Africa and in the Western world, my hope is to inspire people and to be a catalyst of change for all Black people to overcome our trials and tribulations of not only systematic oppression, but daily living such as debt, maternal mortality, and other issues that plague the human psyche particularly the black psyche.”

Katharine Miele

MFA Candidate Katharine Miele received funding in order to produce a project with new tools and materials. Her project will take the form of a stained glass throw blanket set into a coppper rod armature and resting on a deconstructed armchair. Miele’s work focuses on her understanding of the home as a vessel of safety and the provider of our most basic, primal need: shelter. However, her work deconstructs this fragile security through the medium of stained glass. A glass throw blanket indexes a soft, domestic source of comfort and warmth but in a hard, cold, sharp, and even dangerous form. This is in direct contradiction with the traditional use of stained glass, which customarily appears in a sanctuary or a safe space.

Amber Pitt

Amber Waters Pitt is a PhD candidate in Art Education. Her funding received will be used for research focusing on multigenerational artmaking for building and strengthening relationships and building community. Pitt plans to create accessible resources and opportunities for young learners to make art together and engage with local artists, with the intent of mobilizing connection, collaboration, and spending time together.

Katharine Miele, Evicted, 2018, oil and embroidery on canvas, 17" x 24"