Umd Arts Faculty And Alumni Awarded Maryland State Arts Council Grants

The grants will support the ongoing creative works of UMD art faculty and alumni.

Photo courtesy of Francie Hester, "Intertwined"

Three faculty members and alumni from the University of Maryland’s (UMD) Department of Art are the recipients of the 2016 Individual Artist Award from the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC). Lillian Hoover, William C. Richardson and Matt McLaughlin were selected by MSAC for creating works of exceptional quality in a variety of visual arts mediums. UMD art alumni Francie Hester, Ed Bisese and Matthew Klos were also among the recipients.

The Maryland State Arts Council is committed to supporting local artists who contribute to Maryland’s unique creative scene. Their annual Individual Artist Award recognizes the important contribution artists and their works make to the cultural landscape of Maryland. 

William C. Richardson is the chairman of the Department of Art. He received a master’s degree in fine arts from Washington University in St. Louis. Since he joined the faculty at UMD in 1978, Richardson’s professional focus has been abstract painting and contemporary art theory.

Richardson’s work has been featured in 21 solo and more than 100 group exhibitions, museums, galleries and art centers throughout the country and internationally. His commissioned artwork is permanently installed at Ronald Reagan National Airport and Reston Town Center in Virginia. In the past, he received five Maryland State Arts Council Visual Arts grants.

Richardson plans to use the grant to support his ongoing creative practice in abstract painting.

Lillian Hoover, art lecturer, uses the medium of oil painting, Hoover to explore “the banal, awkward, overlooked, and imperfect elements of our material environment.” Her work has been featured in group exhibitions at venues such as School 33 and Creative Alliance in Baltimore, the Delaware Art Museum and the Keisho Art Association in Japan. In addition to the Individual Artist Award, Hoover also won the Bethesda Urban Partnership’s Trawick Award.

Matt McLaughlin, art lecturer, specializes in drawing, printmaking and letterpress. Aside from his teaching duties, McLaughlin is also starting his own fine art press called R&D editions.

Underlying McLaughlin’s work is the desire to “explore the relationship that human beings have with their environment,” both natural and man-made. His work has been featured in some of the top galleries in Washington, D.C., such as The Fridge and Galeria Lareuse. Some of his most recent awards include the Jacob Kenneth Heller Award in Printmaking and the Arizona State University Special Talent Award.

McLaughlin plans to use the grant to build on his studio practice and expand the use of printmaking in his work.

Ed Bisese ‘95 is a landscape architect based in Maryland.  He is known for large-scale paintings of oversized heads and sculptures made from everyday materials that explore the “relationship between wonder and paranoia.”

He has held one-person exhibitions in Joe’s Movement Emporium, Gallery K and the Northern Virginia Community College.

Bisese plans to use his grant to buy more materials for his ongoing drawing projects.

Francie Hester ‘92 is a Maryland-based multimedia artist who specializes in painting, sculpture and installation art.

Hester’s work has been featured in various private and corporate collections, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. She has received grants from prestigious arts organizations, such as District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Arts Council of Montgomery County.

Hester plans to use her grant to purse a new series of paintings on aluminum panels titled “Unfolding,” which reflects on how life can be defined and influenced by brief moments. She also plans to pursue scientific research on the human brain as inspiration for her art.

Matthew Klos ‘04 is a Maryland-based oil painter and watercolorist.

Klos focuses on interior painting, using the medium to dive into the meaning behind the seemingly ordinary cluttered spaces inside peoples’ houses. He has presented exhibitions at the Myung Women’s University and Hai Tai Gallery in Seoul, Korea. He also held solo exhibitions at the Still Life Gallery in Ellicot, Maryland, and the Prince Street Gallery in New York City. One of his current projects, which he will continue to develop with his grant, is painting the abandoned houses and structures from Fort Howard, a crumbling military structure located in Baltimore County.