Each May, as a way of helping to support visual arts in the community, the Allied Arts Association awards annual scholarships to Columbia Basin College students and students working toward a master’s degree in fine arts.
This year, scholarships went to Rand Hatem, a student attending CBC, and Kelsey Davis, a graduate student at the Pacific Northwest College of Art.
Rand Hatem has been drawing and creating art since she was a child growing up in Baghdad, Iraq, where she lived until moving to the United States in 2010. Though she was interested in pursuing an education in interior design, she was not able to do so right away. She continued to work on her own art pieces and participate in art shows around the Tri-Cities until her children started school, which finally gave her enough free time to pursue her own education. Now, as a CBC student, Hatem is working towards achieving her goal of becoming an interior designer.
Most of Hatem’s art revolves around themes of cultural history and connecting to one’s roots. She is often inspired by items with rich histories, writing, “Vintage and cultural pieces carry stories and have longevity that transcends seasonal trends.” She tries to invoke this feeling in her own art.
Hatem also draws inspiration from her own culture as a Middle Eastern woman, though she’s aware she is communicating with an audience who may not be familiar with that culture. She hopes to encourage viewers of her art to ponder their own roots, while also bringing a piece of her history to modern times.
Kelsey Davis, the MFA scholarship recipient, is originally from the East Coast, but moved to Oregon ten years ago to pursue an education in English literature and studio art at Lewis & Clark College. After graduating, she co-founded a nonprofit gallery space and spent several years bringing exciting, culturally-relevant art shows and art education programs for both children and adults to the community in Yamhill County, before she decided to pursue art at the Pacific Northwest College of Art.
Though she works in the visual arts, Davis has been deeply touched by the aesthetics of poetry and abstract language. Growing up, she felt a connection through the written words of others, but struggled to convey herself and her own perspective. Now, she approaches the creation of art as a way of connecting to others and to the self.
Davis states, “My work is about the isolation of the self within the body, the anxieties over our own vessel, and the ways in which we reach for connection.”
Her works are often about specific personal experiences and feelings, such as “the trauma and joys of growing.” She is interested in portraying “experiences so personal and nuanced that they become once again universal.” At its heart, Davis’ art is about connection.
