Published: July 20, 2023
Timothy M. Smith Award Winner Finds Inspiration in Alaska
This year’s winner of the Timothy M. Smith Inspiration Through Exploration Award traveled to Anchorage, AK, to recreate the landscapes in her paintings.
Kelsey Little ’25, an international business and marketing major, decided to focus on painting because she loves to pour emotions and stories into landscapes that allow the viewer to enter the painting.
Kelsey Little ’25 decided to go to Alaska to focus on recreating the landscapes in her paintings. Photo courtesy of Kelsey Little
“I feel that through my paintings, I can create a special visit to the place, even from across the world,” she said. “For example, to represent the magic and memory I feel at my grandparent's old house and back yard, I added gold in the trees and sparkles on the water to a realistic painting.”
The Timothy M. Smith Inspiration Through Exploration Award is presented annually to a student in the Honors Program. It provides them with a stipend to travel and find inspiration, wherever they see fit. Little’s older brother lives in Alaska, and she hadn’t had the chance to see him in two years, she said. When she won the award, and its $2,500 stipend, she decided to visit.
“I had a jam-packed schedule while I was there to see the most I could and gather ideas and stories to mix in my mind,” she said. “Boy, did the landscapes amaze me!”
Little kept a journal to ensure she remembered everything — from the museums to the botanical gardens to a famous spot for salmon fishing.
Pictured is one of Kelsey Little’s paintings. Photo courtesy of Kelsey Little.
One of the best things she did, she said, was to take to a train on the Alaskan railroad and travel down the valley and coast to Seward.
There, she took a wildlife boat tour through the bay and saw animals, cliffs and mountains. She experienced the Nordic Spa, a spa in Anchorage, which she said was “amazing.”
Little’s brother is a pilot with his own plane, so he was able to fly them around remote areas where she could “see the true Alaska,” she said.
Little learned a lot about the area, so she was able to put history and lore into her paintings.
After graduation, she hopes to continue to travel, and potentially even work abroad.
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