Ithaca College

Patricia Thomas-Hunsinger, lecturer in art, received a grant from New York Foundation for the Arts, as well as a Creative Project Grant from the School of Humanities and Sciences, for a lecture and exhibition in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, this summer. During her trip, she spent three weeks as a volunteer with the not-for-profit organization Art-In-A-Box, teaching children affected by AIDS.

Art-In-A-Box partners with people in communities around the world to help those who are facing crisis situations due to war, public health emergencies, natural disasters, or that are disadvantaged by poverty, to assist in recovery and empowerment through art and art education.

"I believe that these experiences of cultural diversity informed my art through expanding my universe of design, color, and space. I feel, as an educator and an artist, it is important to push myself to go beyond the familiar and experience visual cultures that will awaken new sensibilities in me. I gained a unique perspective of the artists and people of Southeast Asia. Working directly with both educators and artists from Cambodia produced a whole new lens for me -- a lens I believe broadened my ideas of what art is and can be."

Pat was also recently awarded an Artist in Residence Fellowship by the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming.