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Announcing the 2023 Student Award Winners

A person excitedly poses in an art studio filled with colorful, expressive paintings on the walls. Decorated banners—celebrating the 2023 Student Award winners—hang from the ceiling, enhancing the creative atmosphere, while paint-splattered floors add a vibrant touch.
CarolynGuerin '23 BFA Painting
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Congratulations to the 200+ undergraduate and graduate students who have been awarded departmental, All School Show, and SGA Service awards this year!

In addition to these awards, there are a few MassArt awards open to undergraduate students across disciplines, and juried by faculty and staff. It is my honor on behalf of the selection committee members to announce this year’s winners of the Donis A. Dondis Travel Fellowship Award, the Morton R. Godine Travel Award, the Richard Aronowitz Senior Project Award, and the George Nick Prize.

All of these end of the year awards are made possible by generous funding from our donors, as well as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Thank you to the faculty and staff who served on juries, and to the staff in Academic Affairs and Institutional Advancement for their work in making them possible.

The winner of the Donis A. Dondis
Travel Fellowship is Madeleine (Mad) Beaubien!
Six small glossy black ceramic cat figurines arranged in a scene where four cats carry a miniature wooden coffin on their shoulders, while two additional cats walk alongside them.
Two views of a ceramic sculpture of a brown rabbit sitting upright and cradling a small human figure in its front paws. The detailed, hand-painted rabbit has textured fur and holds the miniature person close to its chest.
A small, laser-cut wooden tabletop loom with a partially woven piece of red and white yarn stretched across its frame, mounted on a wooden base.
Mad will use the funding to travel to the Czech Republic to study with a group of international peers under the guidance of master puppeteer Mirek Trejtnar at the workshop, Puppets in Prague. She will participate in the Letni Letna contemporary circus and theatre festival with the direction of Peter Varga to perform Long, Broad and Sharpsight, a traditional Czech fairytale. Through this course she aims to expand her technical knowledge of woodcarving and marionette function, as well as continue to foster her love of folk art and storytelling. Upon her return, she plans to honor this experience by facilitating an ongoing cultural exchange between her local and global communities.Mad Beaubien is a sculpture and illustration major and Class of 2023 graduate. Mad will be receiving $5,000 to fund this vision! Congratulations!

 

The winner of the Morton R. Godine Travel Award is Kannetha Brown!
Black and white photograph of an older man and a young girl sitting together on a large rock by the water. He holds a fishing rod while she leans against him, smiling at the camera.
Black and white photograph of an older woman seated in a chair and a younger woman standing behind her with a hand on her shoulder, posed together in front of a houses wooden porch steps.
Black and white photograph of a person holding a framed portrait of a young man along with an identification card against their chest.
Kannetha Brown will travel to her mother’s former homes in Rochester, New York and Phnom Penh, Cambodia to take photographs that interpret a memoir written by her mother. The memoir was written while she was in college about surviving the Khmer Rouge Genocide as a child and subsequently immigrating to America. Kannetha plans to make landscapes and portraits of her mother and grandmother and pair them with stories from the memoir– speaking to mother’s past, and who she has become since concluding the book at the age Kannetha is now. Kannetha’s current work, in which she is photographing her community of Asian Americans in Rhode Island, inspired her to visualize her own family’s history and bring awareness to the circumstances in which many Cambodians came to America.
Kannetha Brown is a photography major and Class of 2023 graduate. Kannetha will be receiving $5,000 to fund this vision! Congratulations!

 

The winner of the Richard Aronowitz Senior Project Award is Caleb Abercrombie!
Graphite drawing of a dark, winged figure with a glowing orb for a head, one skeletal hand raised with a pointed finger, surrounded by swirling, shadowy forms.
Graphite drawing of a dark eclipsed moon hovering above a small figure caught in sweeping, turbulent lines.
Graphite drawing of a luminous moon partially eclipsed by shadow, with a clawed hand reaching upward and a small falling figure amid dynamic, swirling strokes.
In preparation for his senior thesis, Caleb Abercrombie will go on a road trip across the northeast. This trip will take him on a specially tailored course to the most extreme sensory locations our region is home to, such as the tallest mountains, the darkest skies and the most beautiful vistas one can experience throughout the summer months. From his collection of field data in the form of journal entries, sketches, photos and memories, Caleb will gain insight on what it means to be an individual, as well as how it feels and what it means to be human.Caleb Abercrombie is an illustration major and upcoming Class of 2024 graduate.
Caleb will be receiving $1,000 to fund this vision! Congratulations!

 

The George Nick Recipients Are…

Carolyn Guerin, BFA Painting ’23
Colorful painting of four young people in a cluttered bedroom filled with sunflowers, a Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal, a Ford poster, floating puzzle pieces, and warm purple and orange tones.
Carolyn Guerin, BFA Painting ’23
My Brother’s Room, oil painting with silkscreen and stencil prints, 64″ x 80″

 

Magdalena Riendeau, BFA Painting ’23
Painting of a person in a white shirt and hat bending over to tend to pink flowers in a lush garden, rendered in loose, expressive brushstrokes.
Magdalena Riendeau, BFA Painting ’23
2023, Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 48″ x 36″

 

Hannah Rust, BFA Painting ’23

Colorful mixed-media illustration of the interior of a Market Basket grocery store, featuring checkered floors, stocked aisles, a group of shoppers, security cameras, and a portrait hanging above the entrance.
Hannah Rust, BFA Painting ’23
2023, Untitled, gouache on primed butcher paper, 38″ x 48″
The George Nick Prize is a juried award given on the basis of merit and selected by a blind jury, led by MassArt Professor Emeritus George Nick. The competition is open to all current MassArt students (undergraduate, graduate, and PCE), but it is restricted to original works done in drawing, painting, and printmaking.The purpose of the George Nick Prize is to encourage emerging artists who create two-dimensional works — through observational abilities, drawing skills, and the understanding of the role of tone and color — that can be recognized in terms of subject and an emphasis on forms of realism. The total prize amount is approximately $12,000, to be split between the selected winners.

 

Celebrating One of Our Past Winners!

An artist posing with one arm raised in their studio, surrounded by large colorful paintings and prints hanging from the ceiling and leaning against paint-splattered walls.
Carolyn Guerin, BFA Painting ’23, was our 2022 winner of the Richard Aronowitz Senior Project Award. Carolyn used the funds to create a series of large-scale pieces centered around her brother, who has autism and is non-verbal.

 

Thank you so much to everyone who submitted proposals and artwork!

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