Congratulations to the art studio M.F.A. class of 2024 and to Nitheen Ramalingam and April Camlin, recipients of the Keister & Allen Art Purchase Prize and LeShelle & Gary May Art Purchase Prize. 

Nitheen Ramalingam was awarded the Keister & Allen Art Purchase Prize for his “Venmani martyr’s day, 2021” series that meditates on the 2021 commemoration of the Kilvenmani martyrs, juxtaposing the joyful unity of the peasantry with a gloomy undertone hinting at the movement’s decline.

April Camlin was awarded the LeShelle & Gary May Art Purchase Prize for her large-scale tapestries and stand-alone installations that combine hand-weaving and sculptural elements to help express grief and pain and also conjure resilience.

Gracianne Kirsch received the first Letters & Science Prize for Excellence. Kirsch’s installation incorporates drawing and video, working at a queer and trans revision of time and space through reimagining familiar dwellings and bodily forms.

Along with Gracianne, April and Nitheen, Damien Mitchell (design) was awarded The Savageau Award for Design. He created the display “Re/Pair: A Fusion of Handcraft and Digital Fabrication in Shoemaking.”

The art prizes continue the tradition of purchasing graduate student work for the university’s Fine Arts Collection and building an endowment. Nitheen, April and Damien received their award at the Opening Celebration for the “The Arts & Humanities Graduate Exhibition” on June 6. “The Arts & Humanities Graduate Exhibition” is on view now through June 24. 

“4 Collect Awards in Annual Event Honoring Arts, Humanities Grad Students” by Laura Compton, June 12, 2024