Simon Tatum Graduates with a Masters Degree
The first Thomson Leadership and Innovation Award recipient Simon Tatum has graduated from Kent State University in Ohio with a Post Graduate degree in Visual Arts and a concentration in Sculpture and Expanded Media.
Mr. Tatum received the local scholarship in 2019 and spent the last two years working towards earning his Masters degree. Commenting on his time at university, he said, “It was a challenging couple of years being a part of the Kent State programme but I have learned a lot of things along the way and gained a lot of valuable experience. I am continually grateful to be a Thomson Leadership and Innovation scholar and I am appreciative of the kindness and generosity that The Peter N. Thomson Family Foundation and CUC have shown me.”
Being a Thomson Leadership and Innovation Award recipient, Mr. Tatum was able to engage in a number of extra-curricular activities along with completing his thesis exhibit and thesis paper throughout the final semester. Some of these activities included visiting art exhibits with galleries in Cleveland, Chicago and South Korea, attending artist talks, lectures and being on committees. He also participated as an emerging artist in the Second Biennial Showcase with the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands, where work from his mid-programme review and thesis research are currently on display until the end of August.
Mr. Tatum is currently deciding on plans for his immediate future, and will be exploring options such as an invitation to participate in an exhibition with the CICA Museum in South Korea in July as well as the Fall Showcase with the Sager Braudis Gallery in Columbia, Missouri. He has also been invited to participate in the Alice Yard Residency Programme in Port of Spain, Trinidad from December 2021 to January 2022.
Mr. Tatum is a 2013 graduate of Triple C School and received a Bachelor’s of Art degree in Studio Drawing and Art History from the University of Missouri in 2017. He is actively involved in the Cayman Islands art scene and has served as a teacher, guest instructor and assistant curator at a number of local camps, courses and exhibitions. This passion for the arts has led him to a number
of countries in the Caribbean and Europe where he has both exhibited his work and completed curatorial work and residencies with galleries, museums and artists.
Mr. Tatum plans to return to Grand Cayman in July.
The Thomson Leadership and Innovation Award is a scholarship designed to recruit and support Caymanian students who are driven to improve the Cayman Islands in areas including, but not limited to, entrepreneurial studies, emerging technologies, design and creative arts and/or the sciences.