The 2018 Kimberly D. Iles Awards celebrated its second ever cohort by awarding 10 undergraduate art students with $2,000 scholarships.
The Iles Awards are funded and organized in conjunction with the Kimberly D. Iles Scholarship endowment, which was established in 2015 by Iles and continued by her husband James J. Hack after her death. Since the endowment’s creation, 12 recipients have been awarded scholarships totaling over $23,000.
The artists are selected by their teachers and mentors who they have been working with. This year’s award show included presentations by senior studio art Mary Badillo, senior studio art major Ashley Bergner, senior studio art major Jodi Canfield, senior art history major Emily Fastenau, junior graphic design major Carrie Garrison, senior graphic design major Parker Jenkins, senior studio art major Olivia Lichterman, senior studio art major Kelly Moore, senior studio art major Caroline Rowcliffe and senior studio art major Tatiana Tikhonova.
Badillo showcased her sculpture work and her use of found objects to convey the relationships between the industrial and natural world. Badillo also uses her artwork to comment on traditional behaviors within American culture.
Bergner’s portfolio focused on her playful and intuitive paintings obtained through “exciting trial and error.”
Another 2D artist, Canfield showed off her drawings. Canfield said she uses her drawings to explore and create connections between herself and the world around her, incorporating aspects of abstraction, texture and words.
“I think that art can navigate barriers of human existence and occasionally break them,” Canfield said.
Exploratory artist Fastenau discussed how her interests in art history and fine art conservation influenced her artwork.
“Art history is really valuable, and I don’t think that people always get that,” Fastenau said. “[Art history] really informed me of my own art and once I started studying [art history], I could see where I got certain ideas and compositions from.”
Graphic designer Garrison described her work as highly influenced by social psychology, human connection and complex relationships. She also experiments with new media in order to find a more focused future.
Jenkins, now a two-time recipient of the Iles Scholarship, also focused on graphic design to recognize and execute his “visual voice.” Within the past year Jenkins designed a book cover selected by University of Tennessee Press and put on a solo exhibition at Gallery 1010; however, his real passion is with the theater. Jenkins hopes to become a performance artist and has had success with Clarence Brown.
Jenkins wants to use his knowledge of graphic design to build a foundation for himself.
“This award not only acts as affirmation and lifts financial burden, but it also let’s me take risks,” Jenkins said. “I can go after my dreams even if I’m going to fail.”
Litcherman’s 4D artwork works with sound and visual to create immersive environments. The artist described her work with sound as a “meditative process” and believes that sound, an element rarely used by visual artists, completes an environment.
Moore, another ceramicist, described her pieces as “meticulous and comical” and tied her knowledge of Chinese art history to her own personal history.
“My works often comment on race and highlight different dichotomies,” Moore said.
Rowcliffe, a photographer, used her photos to tackle societal issues through optimistic and soft-tonal portraits. She plans to use her scholarship to gain creative freedom to bring happiness to people through her photos.
Tikhonova used her printmaking to share the story of her life. Born and raised in a small town in Siberia, Tikhonova uses her prints to talk about Russia and her experience as an immigrant in America.
While the focus and goals of each of the recipients varies, School of Art Director David Wilson found the most inspiring aspect of the awards is having unique artists who have distinguished themselves who are also just good people.
“[Being a good person] resonates, and I think that is going to carry them further in their lives,” Wilson said. “Having this validation is really important, so they’ve been singled out as exceptional by their faculty and mentors.”
Senior in graphic design Robert "Parker" Jenkins poses with his Kimberly D. Iles Art Award.
