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The Center for Creative and Performing Arts hosted its annual Creativity Awards celebration on Monday, May 13. Nine students were recognized for their exceptional creative work and outstanding contributions in art + design, creative writing, dance, music and theatre. Renowned glass artist Josh Simpson received a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts.

Simpson follows in a long list of Lifetime Achievement award recipients including artists Don Gorvette and Jon Sarkin. Simpson’s work includes vibrantly colored sculptural pieces often inspired by scientific, astrophysical or cosmological themes. His work has been displayed in the White House and numerous international museums. His glass is currently on exhibit in the permanent collection of the Corning Museum of Glass, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum and the Yale University Art Museum.

Simpson has spent nearly half a century inventing new formulas and making glass objects that combine his fascination with color, form, pattern, and complexity with his interest in the workings of the universe. His iconic Planets evoke imaginary worlds that might exist in distant, undiscovered galaxies. His signature New Mexico glass resembles the night sky, while experimental Corona glass evokes energetic space phenomena captured in Hubble Telescope imagery.

The nine students recognized at this event were chosen by the faculty of their respective departments. Each student presented a performance or offered a display of their work as part of the evening. The nine students are: Annie Hudak (art + design); Jeff Gately and Connor Perry (creative writing); Linnea Thorne and Theophile Victoria (dance); Connor Barry and Michelle Dumas (music); and Rachel Rose Burke and Stephen Zubricki IV (theatre).

Photo from left: SSU president John Keenan, Michelle Dumas, Stephen Zubricki, Rachel Burke, Connor Barry, Jeff Gately, Connor Perry, Annie Hudak, Linnea Thorne, Theophile Victoria, and Josh Simpson.