With the new year comes new engaging activities as Troy University’s Department of Art and Design plans to play host to another Artist-in-Residence this spring. This follows a successful inaugural residency in Spring 2024.
This program is funded in part by grants by the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
“The Artist-in-Residence program has quickly connected our university to the wider creative community within Alabama,” said Associate Professor of Art and Design Sara Dismukes. “With our first public call in Fall 2024, we received applications from dozens of artists at all career stages and from all regions within the state.
“Additionally, because of the funding, it has helped to connect us to other organizations in the state and generated a buzz around the region about the quality of work being created by our department.”
While learning about the surrounding region and connecting with the Troy community, this program allows artists to focus on their creative piece in a committed workspace.
This spring’s artist is Douglas Pierre Baulos, an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama-Birmingham who has had exhibitions featured in various states and countries.
During a month-long residency from Feb. 1 through March 7, Baulos will be on the Troy Campus.
“Most of my recent work reflects a multitude of interests, including grief and mortality, nesting and mending, meditation, vision, medical illustration and procedure and spirituality,” Baulos said. “I’m interested in the forms and images that accompany the body and in the traces the body leaves: a bed, disease, a nest, a web, decay and shadows.
“My studio practice investigates how to link the outside surface of things with inner experience, creating installations and objects that present themselves as humble objects that open into a vast, imaginative and immersive space for the viewer.”
Co-chaired by Dismukes and Assistant Professor of Art and Design Will Jacks, the residency program serves as a way to rebuild a sense of togetherness following the isolation of the pandemic.
Enrollment in the Department of Art and Design has continued to grow to the largest in the department’s history since the pandemic.
“The Department of Art and Design has a long and rich history of excellence at Troy,” said Gregg Skaggs, the department chair. “The fact that our enrollment has grown steadily since the pandemic is a testament to that history, our strong current faculty and a desire in people to seek out creativity.
“We are excited by the growth of this new program, and eager to continue making connections between Troy and the creative community in our state.”
An additional five Alabama artists will be visiting the department throughout the spring. Several community events will be held along with open studio hours as well.
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