The Lamar Dodd School of Art has welcomed an exciting new cohort of graduate students this fall in studio art, art history, and art education. A few select students participated in a takeover on the school's Instagram account last week to introduce themselves and share background on their practice and research. See information about participating students below.

Grace Moorman

Hi from the Dodd! My name is Grace Moorman (@grace.moorman) and I am a first-year master's student in Art History. I only arrived in Athens and at UGA about two weeks ago, but I already feel so at home! 

I come here from the University of Mississippi where I received my BA in Art History with a Minor in Anthropology in 2020 @umartdept 

After graduating, I spent two full years at the University of Mississippi Museum @ummuseum where I worked on a large variety of projects, including the digitization of the Greek and Roman Antiquities Collection, curation of various exhibitions, and general registrar work. It was during this time that I realized I wanted to focus on the Ancient Mediterranean in my graduate program. So that is what I am here to do! I'm really interested in museums, their collecting practices, as well as, ancient Greek and Roman religions, female deities, and the spread of ancient religion. 

Everyone has been so encouraging and so warm towards me and the rest of my cohort, and I really cannot speak highly enough about my experience here so far! I am so excited to be a part of this community and continue to be involved with the Lamar Dodd School of Art!

Erny ros V. Manlangit (Amos)

First-year Art Education PhD student Erny ros V. Manlangit (Amos) blends two distinct disciplines—the fine arts and special education, having dedicated his professional practice and advocacy-building efforts to this field over the past seventeen (17) years. Amos also brings to the Dodd his love for different creative expressions, exploring mandala-making, facilitating art journaling sessions, and dancing for fitness to promote mental and emotional well-being. He enjoys living in his kaleidoscopic world, fusing his different passions and a range of intercultural experiences to render life with a wide range of colors. 

Amos completed his Bachelor’s in Fine Arts (Major in Painting) and his Master's in Special Education at the University of the Philippines. Along the way, he has thrived as an elementary school teacher, school administrator, expressive arts facilitator, special education consultant, and college instructor in his home country, the Philippines. However, his prolific interactions with creative, gifted, and talented individuals led him to focus on the inclusive arts, an emerging philosophy and field of study seeking universal access to the arts. He aims to profile the varied flow experiences of persons with disabilities, finding ways to unleash their artistic potentials using individualized methods in arts and special education.

A Fulbright Scholar and Doctoral Fellow at UGA, Amos is actively connected with organizations committed to a wide range of causes and has participated in international fellowships and mobility grants to connect with artist-educators globally. He was a recipient of the British Council’s Connecting Through Cultures (CTC) Professional Mobility Grant at the UK in 2020, a presenter at the 13th SAMBHAV Arts Conference 2018 in India, a conference scholar at the 1st Arts and Disability International Conference (ADIC) in 2018, and a Fellow in the Arts for Good Cultural Exchange Program 2019 in Singapore.

Jasmine Best

Jasmine Best @jasminebestart is a first year Studio Art graduate student. She is a mixed media artist who works in textile and digital arts. Jasmine is a visual storyteller who creates work about generational Southern Black femme identity. She received her BFA at University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2016.

"I'm so excited to be a part of the UGA graduate program. I've finally settled into my studio here and have really enjoyed continuing my art practice. I'm most excited for the research opportunities that are available here. I'm just starting to get familiar with the special collections library, but I can tell it will have a profound influence on my work. I cannot wait to see how my art practice and work will evolve during my time here. I'm already learning new skills like woodworking, and it has only been a few weeks!"

Hayden Maltese 

Hello my friends!

My name is Hayden Maltese and I am a first year graduate student at the Lamar Dodd School of Art. I received my BFA from Alfred University in 2018, and since then I have resided in West Palm Beach, Chicago, and most recently Atlanta. 

Primarily practicing drawing, painting, and printmaking, my work is currently examining the concepts and infrastructure of western masculinity. I have leaned towards the study of citizenship, taking the very idea back to its roots. And I have found that the citizenship notion exists in flawed present forms due to it’s growth through the lens of white male dominated imperial nation states that rose within the late eighteenth century, particularly the United States. The groundwork that was laid during this time has had immense consequences regarding the human condition. Because of this, I aim to continue dissecting historical pattern and precedent of this nature, to formulate abstract societal ideals that will help disturb this status quo, and to push against what we know as the current masculinity complex.