Dean’s International Research Grant

Cori Anderson
Painting and Printmaking

In December 2025, I will travel to Istanbul, Turkey to study Timurid manuscripts such as the Khamsa of Nizami and Mirajnama at Topkapi Palace Museum. Specifically, I will view the manuscripts in situ to better understand the practice of mu’amma, or visual puzzles or riddles, during the late Timurid period and how to incorporate such methods into my works. I will also visit key sites of Ottoman architecture such as the Hagia Sophia and Fatih mosque to understand the impact of Timurid illuminated manuscripts on the visual language of the Ottoman Empire.

Lareina Allred
Graphic Design

In May 2025, I will be attending the Melbourne Design Week and Art Book Fair in Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne Design Week is one of the world’s premiere design events and hosts a variety of workshops, lectures, and exhibitions. The festival aims to democratize design as a force for good in the world. Through this experience, I will be able to network with industry professionals and learn more about the ways design can help create a better future for all. This research opportunity will inform my future practice and help me spotlight under-represented voices in the field of visual communications.

Camila Sanchez Carrera
Interior Design

I will be traveling during summer to Greece and Turkey for my research, exploring the cultural and landscape differences between the two countries. This project will highlight how a place and its culture can inspire interior design. I’ll document my journey in a travel journal, showcasing the process with notes, images, and textures from both locations, revealing where my ideas originate. The final outcome will be a series of wallpaper designs inspired by these experiences. The research will focus on both the creation of the journal and the wallpaper designs, demonstrating the creative process behind the designs.

Kiera O’Harrow
Sculpture

I will travel to Sweden to research the connection between art, design, and nature and expand my understanding of their overlap. I will see famous land art piece “Nimis” (a shoreline driftwood megalith), explore the ArkDes Architecture and Design Center, tour Moderna Museet, Sweden’s most unique contemporary art museum (located on a nearby island), and see sculpture parks Wan’s Konst as well as the architecture and sculpture park of the Thiel Gallery. This experience will enrich my understanding of sustainable design practices, outdoor art, nature, and sculpture.

Emma Havens
Outdoor Leadership, Photography and Film

Over a week-long period this summer, I plan to travel to various cave systems and prehistoric sites in Carvoeiro and Leiria, Portugal to experience the historical, spiritual, and recreational uses of caves in that region. Throughout this trip I will be filming with the goal of creating a lyrical documentary that highlights the transcendence of caves and how humans have valued them throughout history.

Aidan Campbell
Theatre

I plan to travel to the U.K. to study Black Theatre. Black theatre in England is still Black theatre, it is built on ancestry, and it follows the story model of Life, Death, and Transformation, but the stories are formed in a different experience, a different culture. With the help of this grant, I want to be witness to these contrasts and similarities and see what effect this can have on the art form. I believe that being present for a culture that experiences blackness differently could deepen my understanding of Black theatre as a whole, both in the familiar and unfamiliar, and broaden my horizons to an international level.

David Handforth
Photography and Film

For the Dean’s International Research Grant I will produce a photographic and auditory series documenting and investigating the Swedish ritual of Årsgång. This will be the first time the locations where Årsgång transpired will be recorded, as the practice has almost been forgotten. This ritual must be completed at specific locations and can only be achieved on certain calendar dates, including Midsummer’s Eve. For this reason, I will be traveling and staying in Småland from June 14th to June 28th. During this time, I will photograph landscapes of the rite grounds, as well as document the ritual.

Andrew Grider
Interior Design

Choosing France taps into my focus of working in historic interiors since France is a historical textile epicenter. Securing exclusive access to Pierre Frey’s archives in Paris, guided by their archivist, unveils the meticulous process of archiving and how textiles are recreated for interior restoration work in iconic locations like Versailles. Ownership of Braquenie and Zuber adds depth to exploration, housing textiles commissioned by figures like Marie Antoinette. Also, venturing to Lyon’s silk mills, I aim to gain insight and techniques of the historical roots of silk and passementerie production. All of which will impact my academic, creative, and professional pursuits.

Isa Dray
Sculpture

This summer, Isa Dray will travel to the Netherlands to research contemporary performance art and artist-run collectives. Beginning in Amsterdam, Dray will visit Stedelijk to view a major retrospective of performance artist Marina Abromovic’s work. They will then travel to The Hague to participate in a residency at DIY dance and performance initiative CLOUD. While in residence at CLOUD, Dray will explore intuitive, breath-based movement through classes and independent practice. Connecting with CLOUD’s extensive network of artist-run initiatives in The Hague will empower them to envision ways of building creative communities and support systems.

Areej Ghazenfer
Interior Design

This research will aim to investigate the impact of interiors and lighting on the overall wellbeing of the Finland population, ranked as the happiest country in 2023. Focused on Rovaniemi and Helsinki, the study will utilize sketching, photography, and videos to analyze interior and exterior lighting applications during the limited daylight hours of December (approximately 6 hours). Through comprehensive exploration and fieldwork, the research seeks to uncover the nuances of design elements that positively influence the happiness and mental wellbeing of the inhabitants in the face of prolonged darkness.

Helen Hopkins
Music

From August 14-18, I will be attending workshops, panel discussions, and recitals at the International Women’s Brass Conference in Mito City, Japan. The IWBC strives to promote diversity and inclusion among brass musicians, and it provides a community of support for women in brass. This conference will offer invaluable knowledge about how to navigate this heavily male-dominated sector of the music field, and I will be able to connect with hundreds of other women with whom I share experiences, skills and career goals. This project will help me stay active in the movement to make the music field more equitable.

Naomy Cardoso Perez
Painting and Printmaking

I have collaborated (with Noah Birkeland) in the creation of a children’s picture book using the folklore and atmosphere of Norwegian mythos and nature. We wish to travel for a three-week independent study abroad to research the cultural history of Bergen Norway and surrounding cities. Our goal is primarily to facilitate a more immersive illustrative picture book with the takeaway of inspiring bravery and creativity in children who find themselves immigrating to other countries using inventive mythological concepts and environmental paintings. This storyline is inspired by my personal journey within moving to the US as a child.

Noah Birkeland
Communication Arts

I will be traveling to Bergen, Norway, and several other cities, along with Naomy Cardoso Perez to study the land, architecture, culture, populace, and history in the interest of making a children’s book. This book will be full of illustrations depicting the subject matter gathered during this research trip. These images will serve as the rich and magical world that the characters shall reside in. Through themes of immigration and self-acceptance this book shall aim to help children find the magic within their world, and accept things that may not be what they are used to.

Eileen Morley
Craft/Material Studies

Eileen will be traveling to Blönduós, Iceland to attend the Icelandic Textile Center Ós Textile Artist Residency program for the month of June. She will be drafting patterns, dyeing wool using Icelandic flora, and knitting a series of works exploring language, concrete poetry, and the use of text in art. Iceland’s rich textile history and local yarn production—as well as a knitting festival in June—serves as both inspiration and fuel for a body of fiber work, and this focused time will be invaluable for her studio practice.

Hope Ollivant
Craft/Material Studies

Hope Ollivant will be traveling to London for a University of the Arts London short course at Central Saint Martins in the first week of June. The course, “Introduction to the Jewellery Business,” will reveal unknown and unseen aspects of the jewelry industry, from market stall to luxury brands. Hope will also be conducting independent research by visiting art galleries and the Central Saint Martins Library during the week. Hope recently completed a three-week winter course at UAL College of Communication on the creative industries in London and is interested in taking a deeper dive into her area of focus, jewelry.

Nina Gregory
Interior Design

Very few cities contend with the architectural duality of old and new like Copenhagen, Denmark. The city boasts both a plethora of 19th Century castles and some of the most cutting-edge design in the world today. This research project would go to the streets of Denmark’s capital in May 2023 to conduct a series of creative field studies including writing, sketching, photography, and video that would be compiled in order to answer the question: how exactly does the architecture of the past and the architecture of the future work together to create the distinct, vibrant, Copenhagen seen today?

Ellyx Martinez
Painting + Printmaking

This summer, Ellyx Martinez will be funded to attend Joya’s art and ecology artist residency. Time at this residency will give them the opportunity to rekindle connection to a piece of their mixed Mestizo identity, investigating land’s capacity for memory and story-telling. Having never been to Spain, time spent as a Joya alongside the neighboring landscape will offer the invaluable opportunity to continue ancestral research while gaining perspective on present and future land/community relations. It will also enable them to tell their story with a deep clarity speaking to a wider return to sustainable cycles.

Aija Bowditch
Photography + Film

Aija will travel to Riga, Latvia to photograph cultural festivities that celebrate the bond between people and nature: the Summer Solstice, and the Latvian Song and Dance Celebration, which takes place every five years. Latvian culture—including its songs, folklore, and spiritual life—focuses on the harmonious bond between humans and nature. As an artist focusing on humans within the natural world, Aija will photograph events where this bond is explicitly celebrated with age-old songs and rituals; with human bodies adorned with flowers; and with woods, fields, and beaches that are the venues for all-night celebrations.

Joel Freeman
Photography + Film

Joel will travel to Jamaica for a photography project where he will focus on capturing the country’s vibrant and unique fashion scene through his lens. His goal is to photograph locals and Jamaican fashion, and to gain a deeper understanding of the culture and people of Jamaica. With the help of a friend who was born and raised in Jamaica as a tour guide, he believes that this experience will be a valuable addition to my personal and professional development as a photographer.

Lilly Parker
Photography + Film

Lillian Parker will travel to Flam, Norway to create an experimental photography series in collaboration with the Norwegian fjords. The fjords were created by massive glaciation movement 2.5 million years ago and have served as a place of protection. The project engages the sediments found in the fjord particularly in trace metals and their interactions with silver halide of 120 film. This opportunity will allow Lillian to capture the fjord in this moment of history through her interaction with the physical aspects of the landscape.

Anna Kovina
Sculpture

This grant would enable Anna to travel to England to continue her research of feminist art history and contemporary feminist artists and movements, which began in connection with her work on social psychology of childbirth funded by the VCUarts Interdisciplinary grant. U.S. museums’ collections contain limited references to childbirth. British museums are making much more concerted efforts to include and highlight modern and contemporary feminist art and historical references to women’s experience with reproduction, pleasure and power. In addition to museum research, she plans on meeting some of the artists working in England to address structural inequalities.

Molly Marsh
Theatre

Molly will be traveling to London to research “Live Cinema,” a new medium that merges cinema and theatre. This style of performance has not yet reached the U.S. in a significant way, but her goal is to bring this art form back to VCUarts. She plans to gain hands-on experience with “Live Cinema” among the pioneers of a new multimedia approach that re-imagines classical texts and enhances the performance with technology.

EB Fox
Photo + Film

EB will travel to the port city of Rotterdam, Netherlands to film a short documentary about the major land reclamation project happening on the Dutch coast. Since the early 1800s, the Dutch have been working to reclaim land from the North Sea using a technique called poldering. She will spend 10 days in early September studying the environmental impacts of this project and the large-scale fight against climate change. The findings from the Netherlands will then be juxtaposed with that of Tangier, an island off Virginia’s Eastern shore that is being completely overtaken by the bay.

Lillian Hobart
Photo + Film

Lillian will be traveling to Ballyvaughan, Ireland to attend the Burren College of Art Artist Residency program in mid July. She will explore the glacio karst landscape of the Burren, focusing specifically on the distinct geological formations caused by the glaciation of Ireland over 20,000 years ago. Lillian will create a series of photographs communicating her research findings, depicting the necessity of a human relationship to deep time and the importance of glacial landscapes to the health of our planet. She will be able to establish an independent studio practice and have round the clock darkroom and studio space.

Barrett Reynolds
Photo + Film

From July 1st to July 8th, Barrett Reynolds and Jack Fox will travel to Nova Scotia, Canada to create a photography series combining documentary and narrative storytelling portraying the excessive amounts of shipwrecks the area experiences due to heavy fog. Through photographing local townspeople, native wildlife species, and exploring sailor’s tall tales surrounding shipwrecks, they will create a series that captures speculations surrounding the abnormal occurrences in the province. This opportunity will allow Barrett and Jack to explore how Nova Scotia’s peculiar environment shapes the collective identity of its inhabitants. 

Elise Wojtowicz
Art Education

Elise will travel to Ireland in late May to investigate bog, where she will create a series of sculptural photographs in collaboration with this unique and essential environment, completing an ongoing body of work centering this landscape. The project engages with the mystical and macabre qualities of boglands from an feminist perspective, while revealing their environmental necessity in an age of climate decay.