Announcements; Alumni »
By Liz Smith, Associate Chair | Associate Professor of Art, Ceramics »
Louise Mandumbwa
Alumni – BFA Studio Art, Emphasis Painting – 2021
Louise Mandumbwa has been very busy since graduating, most recently we are so excited to hear that she has been accepted to both Yale University and the School of the Visual Arts to pursue her MFA in painting, she is in the fortunate position to be able to chose between these top tier programs. Here you can read about her professional accomplishments in her own words:
The Sam and Adele Golden Foundation Artist Residency – While most people may be familiar with the brand of Golden Acrylic paints or the Williamsburg Oil paints as materials in art supply store the charitable foundation behind the brands have a residency in Upstate New York dedicated to facilitating creative exploration. Out of 320 applicants I’m excited to be one of the 18 artists selected in the 2022 cohort.
Teaching Community Classes in painting and drawing at Chautauqua Visual Arts for the Summer – For faculty or students familiar with artist Sharon Louden, the creative director of the Visual Arts at the Chautauqua Institution, the idea of a culture of reciprocity, making opportunities and community building are core values that have been embodied in my experiences with Chautauqua. I was accepted as one of the forty artists selected to participate in VACI’s residency in 2019, returned in 2021 to work as a gallery assistant, and for the summer of 2022 am looking forward to getting to get some experience in instructing under my belt as one of the alumni facilitating community classes in June and July.
Opportunity to serve as Juror for the UAPTC Student Art Competitive – One of the first opportunities I had gotten to have my work juried and shown was at the University of Arkansas at Pulaski Tech, navigating courses as an international student in community college. Several years after graduating with an associates in graphic design I’m looking forward to getting to Jury the same competition for 2022. I’ve been truly fortunate to have connected with some of the educators in the different programs I’ve attended and have found those relationships have allowed me to garner some professional experience. having participated in their Big Rock on the Map speaker Series in 2019, while in undergrad, I’m excited to have another opportunity to work with the faculty as an alumna.
Accepted into two graduate schools – I knew a few semesters ahead of graduating from UCA that given the opportunity to further my studies I would really want to work towards graduate school. And while that process and consideration looks different for everyone, I was excited to hear that I’d been accepted into 2 of the 4 programs I submitted applications to, and look forward to starting an MFA in the Fall of 2022.