![Art installation featuring red strings affixed to a gallery wall.](/sites/default/files/styles/16_9_768x432/public/2023-05/lowres_main-header.jpg.jpeg?itok=LDMHjGkL)
Alumni
![Betelhem Makonnen](/sites/default/files/styles/1_1_360x360/public/2023-06/website_nov21_makonnen_betelhem_profile_image.jpeg?h=c0814126&itok=TYhaTw2G)
Photo by Moyo Oyelola
Betelhem Makonnen (MFA 2019)
Notable Awards Received: Tito's Prize 2020; Austin Critics Table Award 2018, Best Gallery Exhibition, yo soy aqui / i am here; New Artist Society Merit Scholarship 2016, School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
![Nyugen E. Smith](/sites/default/files/styles/1_1_360x360/public/2023-06/img_4851.jpg.jpeg?itok=Ht_LUhW6)
Nyugen E. Smith (MFA 2016)
Notable Awards Received: 2020 Dr. Doris Derby Award (Dashboard); 2019 Visual Artist of the Year, Jersey City Arts Council; 2018 Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant; 2018 Franklin Furnace Award; 2016 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship for the Performing and Visual Arts.