Graduate student Kat Murray has been awarded a Levitetz 2023 Innovation Seed Grant for her art project, “Grabbing Traces.” The grant will support Murray’s experimentation and learning in drawing and printing techniques. She is working toward the Master of Fine Arts in printmaking at UA.
“My work is about how memory is an unreliable witness,” Murray said. Referring to the phenomenon in which people will recall events slightly differently each time they repeat a story, she notes that as stories “change with each retelling…I grab traces of these moments in my prints to present a visualization of the stories we tell.”
In the project, Murray is creating marker drawings which she plans to turn into larger-scale screen prints. She will make the larger drawings by using plotter printers, which are much more precise than regular photocopy machines, and with screen printing.
“I’ll use experimental techniques to create my work by combining different print and drawing mediums,” she said. Murray said that she wants to try out different methods and materials to learn what works best, to be able to create the art installation and exhibition she envisions. The Levitetz grant will let her purchase art supplies that would normally be out of her reach.
The Levitetz Innovation Seed Grant Initiative gives UA students opportunities to apply for grants to create a new or to further develop an existing business idea, a social entrepreneurship project or a creative project. The initiative is a part of the Levitetz Leadership Program (LLP) and is made possible through a generous gift of UA New College alumnus Jeff Levitetz.
For more information about The University of Alabama’s programs in studio art and art history, visit our Degree Programs page.