The Department of Art is celebrating four undergraduate students who have been awarded Florida State University IDEA Grants for Summer Research in 2026. These grants offer up to $6,000 to students in any major to fund their self-designed work on a topic, project, problem, artistic product or performance, or other entrepreneurial or creative idea.
2026 Department of Art Idea Grant Recipients
Edith Santos (Mentor: Assistant Professor Alena Mehic) will explore immigration through interviews with individuals who have crossed the U.S.–Mexico border. Translating migrant stories and lived experiences into painting, her work addresses themes of displacement, resilience, and identity through a socially engaged lens.
Casey Jewett (Mentor: Professor Carrie Ann Baade) will undertake a month-long residency in his late grandparents’ home in Vermont, investigating memory, domestic space, and care. Integrating painting with performance and maintenance-based practices, his project treats daily upkeep as both subject and method within a larger conceptual framework.
Anna Garufo (Mentor: Associate Professor Meredith Lynn), will expand her studio practice through field-based research centered on environmental observation. Her summer includes a focused study of orchids and the production of a new series of paintings, deepening her engagement with ecology and material sensitivity.
Liana Rieger (Mentor: Professor Kevin Curry), will develop a series of three works exploring unconventional self-portraiture shaped by a transient upbringing. Her project examines identity through states of disconnection and collaborative joy, using theatrical strategies and returning to her childhood home in Hopewell, New Jersey, as a site of reflection.
Congratulations to each of these students on this incredible accomplishment!
“Together, these projects exemplify the breadth of inquiry and rigor within the Department of Art, where research, material practice, and critical engagement converge to support the next generation of artists,” said Professor Carrie Ann Baade, who has mentored several students in the program. “Our students are not only making research-driven artwork but are also contributing to undergraduate research at the university.”
Winners will present their research in the fall Presidential Showcase at the Union and take part in an exhibition at the FAB Gallery in January of 2027.
Over the past four years, the Department of Art has supported 22 IDEA Grant awardees, demonstrating sustained excellence in undergraduate research at Florida State University. During this time, the Department of Art has been the leading recipient of IDEA Grants at the university. This achievement reflects a program in which arts research is not peripheral but structurally embedded within the curriculum, shaping how students develop, test, and realize ideas through creative practice.
The department has consistently secured multiple IDEA Grants annually, including six awards in 2023 and seven awards in 2024, representing 33 percent of all awards university-wide in 2024. This year, four awards were granted out of approximately twenty-five funded across the university. Together, these results underscore the strength of our students and faculty mentorship.