Crispin Webb Memorial Art Scholarship
The upcoming Crispin Webb Memorial Art Scholarship, was created by MVNU art alumni and the Art Department to assist incoming freshmen in beginning their art exploration and current art majors in the production of their senior project thesis exhibitions. This scholarship will be effective in the fall of 2009 for seniors and in the spring of 2010 for both incoming freshmen and seniors.
Please contact MVNU Art Department Chair, Professor Jim Hendrickx, or Flux Club ArtAlum Advisor, Professor John Donnelly, for details regarding application to this scholarship. To contribute financially to this scholarship online through our secure server, or by mail please click here.
Crispin Webb’s Legacy
(1977-2006)
Born on December 12, 1977, in Charleston, West Virginia, Crispin found himself on the verge of crisis during his teenage years. According to him, trouble had a way of knowing where he was at any given moment. His mother’s prayers and hope for her son eventually led Crispin to Jesus and Mount Vernon Nazarene University where he arrived as a confused “nipple-pierced,” energetic, questioning young man.
He found his way to the Art Department, interested in photography, but inquisitive about everything. Here he met photography professor Brian Baby, painting and drawing professors Jim Hendrickx and John Donnelly, and Fluxus sculptor and professor Don Boyd, along with a core group of student artists and Christians. At that point, his life transformed and he, in turn, changed us. Crispin produced a massive amount of work and challenged others around him to do the same, who answered the call as witnessed by his alumni peers continuing to make art. Crispin’s work culminated in one of the most intriguing senior exhibitions in MVNU’s history.
Following graduation, Crispin was accepted as a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) candidate at Bard College in The Milton Avery School of Painting and Sculpture—one of the premier art schools in the nation. Crispin was one of 11 students accepted worldwide that year in sculpture. He was the only non-New Yorker accepted, and the only student who did not possess a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA). Crispin had a lasting impression upon students and faculty there artistically and spiritually.
After completing a successful three-year MFA at Bard, Crispin was invited in 2004 to apply to The Ohio State University graduate art program in art and technology for a second MFA. He was accepted and there began similar exploration into his art and life with Jesus Christ. Without missing a beat, living modestly and working diligently Crispin began to impress upon the faculty and students at OSU what we at MVNU had come to love and appreciate in him—a young man full of vigor, love, faith and art that had no boundaries. This led Crispin to be selected by nationally known artists Ann Hamilton and Michael Mercil to work closely in an apprenticeship-like atmosphere that grew into friendship.
Crispin’s legacy lives on today in a scholarship created through the annual ArtAlum Art Exhibition and Auction. All proceeds raised go directly to the Crispin Webb Memorial Art Scholarship.
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Your support makes a difference! To make a gift using our secure online form, please click the link above. If you'd rather mail in your gift, please use the "Mail Your Gift" option to download and print a form you can mail to us.
For more information, please contact the MVNU Alumni Office at alumni@mvnu.edu or 1-800-367-9294. You can also contact MVNU Art Department Chair, Professor Jim Hendrickx, or Flux Club ArtAlum Advisor, Professor John Donnelly for more details.
