"I want to alter people’s reality by giving them the same things they see every day, but inside out, or upside down. I
want to change the way people move through space as wellas the way they view objects and symbols."
Scholarship
Susan Benteen and William Hyde Irwin Scholarship
Background
From an early age, Anna had a talent for rendering what she saw around her, but she didn’t have much use for modern art. That changed when she enrolled in a Sculpture I class with Dee Hibbert-Jones at UCSC. The conversations that grew out of art inspired Anna to study even more. She began to explore geometry, history, psychology, engineering, and even plumbing.
How has UC Santa Cruz changed her life?
The Irwin award allowed Anna to quit a part-time job to focus on art. It brought an opportunity to be a part of a group exhibition at the campus’s Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery where, with fellow Irwin scholars, she learned all facets of mounting an exhibition. She also gained a newfound confidence. “The Irwin opportunity gave me the desire and skills to pursue art-making as a career.”
