Following a successful inaugural residency in Spring 2024, the Troy University Department of Art and Design is set to host a second Artist-in-Residence and an additional five visiting artists in Spring 2025. 

The Artist-in-Residence program, which was launched for the first time earlier this year, gives artists the chance to focus solely on their craft in a dedicated workspace, while also connecting to the TROY community and learning more about the surrounding region. 

“The Artist-in-Residence program has quickly connected our University to the wider creative community within Alabama,” said Sara Dismukes, Associate Professor of Art and Design. “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 this program is funded by the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, 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.”

This spring’s artist, Douglas Pierre Baulos, will create on the Troy Campus during a month-long residency from Feb. 1 through March 7. Baulos is an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, and their research interests include papermaking, drawing, photography, ceramics, as well as the scientific side of art to include chemistry, botany and biology. They will be working closely with the Department of Art and Design, the Department of Biological Sciences and the arboretum.

“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.”

Baulos has had exhibitions featured in Italy, Spain, Belarus, Turkey, Japan, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, England, Chile, China, Cambodia, Burma and in multiple states.

The visiting artists include:

• Winter Rusiloski, Associate Professor of Art at Baylor University
• Angel Fernandez, Associate Professor of Art at Tarrant County College 
• Aaron Sanders Head
• Jenny Fine
• Bethany Moody, Instructor of Art at the University of Alabama

Since the pandemic, enrollment in the Department of Art and Design has continued to grow to the largest in the department’s history. Greg Skaggs, Department Chair, said this proves there is a desire in people to seek out creativity.

“The Department of Art and Design has a long and rich history of excellence at TROY,” Skaggs said. “The fact that our enrollment has grown steadily since the pandemic is a testament to that history and our strong current faculty. 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.”

The residency program was co-chaired by Will Jacks, Assistant Professor of Art and Design, and Dismukes as a way to rebuild a sense of togetherness following the isolation of the pandemic. The program is designed to support regional artists by providing space, tools and time for the artist, who will work alongside faculty and students.

“Sara and I both have backgrounds in utilizing art and design as a means of connecting and understanding communities,” Jacks said. “We are proud that this program in just two years has tripled in budget, primarily through grants and faculty volunteering. The direct cost to our department is less than 1% of the entire budget, yet we are finding ways to increase our program’s visibility, provide resources to Alabama artists as well as Art and Design students, and schedule free programming to our surrounding community.”

Along with hosting the artists, several community events will be held along with open studio hours. 

For more information about the Artist-in-Residence program or how to be a visiting artists, contact the Department of Art and Design at 334-670-3391 or email Dismukes or Jacks at sdismukes@troy.edu and wjacks@troy.edu.

Updates are also available via the department’s Instagram account. 

The Artist-in-Residence program is funded in part by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.