Drawn from Addiction
Kevin Carroll at Susan Kuznitsky's workshop, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark at Dakota Pastels, 2025
Kevin Carroll Uses Art to Illuminate Addiction in ý
Congratulations to Kevin Carroll, a BFA student in the UAF Department of Art, for being awarded a 2025 People’s Endowment Award—an achievement made all the more remarkable as he is the only student from the College of Liberal Arts to receive the honor this year. Carroll’s faculty mentor is Assistant Professor of Drawing Jamie Smith.
Carroll’s winning proposal, titled The Sick, is a deeply personal, community-centered art project focused on addiction in ý. Inspired by a 45% increase in drug overdose deaths in the state in 2023, Carroll is creating 45 individual drawings, each based on a survey response describing what addiction “looks like.” The exhibition will reflect these lived experiences—both his own and those shared by others—through a series of stark, symbolic, and visually compelling works.
“I came up with the idea for the project a long time ago, at the time in pursuit of my math minor,” Carroll said. “I draw about addiction from my lived experiences, however, after sharing these works with people, I realized that the stories are subjective in details but ubiquitous in narrative. I really wanted to see through the survey how I could connect more with the people around me and their experiences, so we can all connect our lived experiences into a visual representation of addiction. So it was more about creating art from the community rather than from one person.”
The visual structure of the work ties directly to that 45% increase. “Each drawing is based on one of the 45 survey responses, and represents an individual story and visual representation of what that person thinks addiction looks like,” Carroll explained. “It is my hope that by the end of drawing all 45 and displaying them together, my story along with 45 other ýns stories will impact all visitors. With 46 different viewpoints, visitors should see that there are a lot of people dealing with the same things, walking among us daily.”
Carroll also received a Spring Travel Award through the Undergraduate Research & Scholarly Activity (URSA) program to attend Susan Kuznitsky’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark pastel workshop in Mount Vernon, Washington. He shared that, “That workshop was meant to enhance my practice in general. Specifically, Susan's use of relative colors to create the illusion of light.” That study directly influenced Children of the Burning Night, a pastel-on-board piece that won the Grand Prize at the 2025 UAF Student Juried Art Show.
Children of the Burning Night, pastel on board, 2025
Along with his endowment award and recent exhibition win, Carroll was also named the UAF Department of Art’s Outstanding BFA Student of the Year for 2025. And there's more on the horizon—his BFA thesis show is coming up this fall! Mark your calendars for November 3–14 and swing by the UAF Art Department Gallery to see what he’s been working on. You won’t want to miss it!
The People’s Endowment is a prestigious award through the UAF Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, designed to support UAF faculty, students, and staff pursuing projects that benefit the university and broader community. Other 2025 CLA recipients include Yue Sun (Music), Tori McDermott (Communication), Sarah McConnell (Music), Jericho Williams (English), Jaunelle Celaire (Music), and Joe Holt (English).
The UAF Department of Art continues to foster creativity, innovation, and critical exploration through hands-on studio practice and community engagement. With faculty and students regularly recognized through exhibitions, awards, and research opportunities, the department is a dynamic hub of artistic growth within the College of Liberal Arts. From drawing and sculpture to digital art and ceramics, the program encourages bold ideas and supports students in developing their unique artistic voices.