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The Class of 1955 Spring Research Stipend has been awarded to Joshua Legg, MFA, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and MFA Program Director. The $2,000 stipend will help fund a catalog for two upcoming exhibitions curated by Legg at Wilson’s Cooley Gallery. The first will present the work of Adam DelMarcelle, a visiting assistant professor of graphic design at Wilson. The second will feature works by artists committed to bearing witness to the times they live in and their experiences and challenging the status quo. In addition, the stipend will help pay for materials in support of Legg’s art project—a series of paintings “examining the ways in which Christianity has been misused as a front for racism in America.”

War on Drugs and Stages of Overdose by Adam DelMarcelle

DelMarcelle’s exhibition “Epidemic” is centered around the ongoing opioid epidemic in this country and its effects on communities. “A Call to Question” is a collection of works by artists contacted by DelMarcelle as part of his MFA thesis on activist-driven art. Legg will curate both shows and produce a catalog to document the artists and their work.

Stations of the Cross XII: American Spring 2020 by Joshua Legg

Legg, a transdisciplinary artist in his own right, has been working on a series of paintings that ask questions about the relationship between the misuse of Christian images and beliefs and the perpetuation of racism in this country. Originally conceived as a series of paintings based around the Stations of the Cross, each “station” would examine the death of an unarmed black man by the police. It has since broadened its scope to include “the social movements and political machines that perpetuate racism and deadly violence against [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] and their communities.”

“I am grateful to have received The Class of 1955 Spring Stipend Award this year,” Legg said. “The award will allow me to expand my practice-led research as both a curator and a painter.” He added that awards like this support Wilson’s current strategic plan to “forge a culture that supports the faculty and staff experience.” Furthermore, he explained that by funding artists like he and DelMarcelle, whose art is deeply concerned with social justice, this stipend directly supports Wilson’s mission and values.