Spencer Museum announces 2024 Brosseau Creativity Award recipients

LAWRENCE — The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas has announced the 2024 recipients of the Jack & Lavon Brosseau Creativity Awards. Established by benefactor Lavon Brosseau in 2011, the awards honor innovative and risk-taking creative work in the categories of writing and diverse media from KU undergraduate students in any area of study.

Submissions included film, collage, music, photography, textiles and sculpture. Students represented a range of disciplines, including visual art, art education, film and media studies, music, English and Spanish. Both of this year’s award recipients are first-year students.

Laryn Anne Elliott-Langford

In the writing category, Laryn Anne Elliott-Langford of Lenexa was recognized for her poetic quilt “I AM SPECIAL, NO YOU’RE NOT.” Elliott-Langford is a first-year student in visual art with a minor in fibers. Elliott-Langford’s quilt responded to the unexpected loss of her father in January 2024, and she sewed words and imagery that remind her of him over the fabric. She writes, “The thread is my grief and its evolution. These sewn words can be removed and will unravel someday, as his voice will be forgotten and muffled through time. This is his living headstone.”

Matthew Kurniawan

In the diverse media category, Matthew Kurniawan of Jakarta, Indonesia, was recognized for his symphonic poem “Gambaran Nusantara (Sketches of Indonesia).” Kurniawan, a first-year music composition major and classical guitarist, was inspired to compose this piece after a trip to Bali, where he watched a traditional performance of an energetic Kecak fire dance. The form of the piece was inspired by Indonesia’s national motto, which translates to “Unity in Diversity.” He writes, “The piece contains three contrasting sections, each with its own differing motifs, moods, and melodies, yet they are unified by a single recurring theme: a metallic, gamelan-like sonority emulated through xylophones, tubular bells, a glockenspiel, and a piano.”

Alice Lubin-Meyer

An honorable mention in the diverse media category went to Alice Lubin-Meyer, a sophomore in photography from Lawrence. Using a large format view camera, Lubin-Meyer explored the meaning of “home” by taking documentary photographs of her grandparents’ longtime home as their lives changed due to aging and health concerns.

More information about the awards and excerpts from the recipients’ projects are available online.