We are seeing: the class of 2025

Before she ever picked up a paintbrush as a college student, Meredith Cecil ’25 never thought of herself as “an art person.” She had chosen band over art back in middle school, and even when she arrived at Lenoir-Rhyne, it took some time to find her way to a major in visual art – which ultimately felt like destiny.

“I’ve always felt everything so deeply and intensely,” Cecil shared. “People didn’t understand that. I spent a lot of time in friendships and relationships with people who told me they loved me but didn’t see me for who I am. Then I took an art class, and suddenly it felt like everyone was speaking my language.”

Pursuing a major in religious studies in her early semesters at LR, professor Mindy Makant, Th.D., suggested Cecil take an art class after seeing her choose an art-based approach to a class project. Cecil followed Makant’s advice and discovered a world that felt like her own for the first time. “The things I’d felt criticized for in the past – being sensitive, being curious – those were the exact things that made me a good artist.”

After that, there was no turning back. Cecil changed her major to art the next semester, a decision that felt not just right but necessary.

“This is what my spirit needs,” she said. “Everything clicked.”

She describes herself as creative, whimsical and grounded – qualities that show in her artwork and the way she speaks about it. Her pieces often explore memories and emotional experiences, drawing on the connection between spirit, story and sensation.

“I remember working late one night on a painting of a friend and me hugging,” she said. “I was trying to get the feeling right – just the feeling. I looked up after hours of work and realized I’d done it. It was there. I felt like a vessel, like the talent was flowing through me, like I was connected to God.”

That sense of clarity and connection – of seeing and being truly seen – has extended into Cecil’s work outside the classroom. During an art history class trip to the Hickory Museum of Art in fall 2023, Cecil struck up a spontaneous conversation with executive director Clarissa Starnes.

“It felt a little like destiny because I had thought about not going on the tour. Something in my mind urged me to go ahead on the trip, and this wonderful conversation happened instead,” Cecil recalled. “I asked her, ‘What is there to do besides just being an artist?’ And she said, ‘What do you mean just?’”

After the tour ended, Starnes asked to speak with her privately.

“She told me, ‘I’m not exactly sure what it is, but there is something about you that is very special,’” Cecil said. “It was beautiful. It was the first time someone who didn’t even know me saw me.”

With encouragement from her mother, Cecil followed up, and what began as a one-day internship turned into a job. She now works at the museum and plans to join the staff full time after she graduates.

“That moment helped me realize I can bring my full self into a professional space and be valued for it,” she said.

Her professors at Lenoir-Rhyne have been essential to that journey. Claire Pope, MFA, associate professor and coordinator of the visual art program, has been a particularly strong source of support by encouraging full creative freedom.

“Dr. Pope never puts anyone in a box – conceptually, creatively or even in terms of technique,” Cecil said. “She listens. She wants students to find their own voice. Her goal isn’t to produce a certain type of artist – it’s to help people find themselves.”

That openness and support helped Cecil participate in “The Art of Profession,” a student exhibition at the Hickory Museum of Art. Displaying her work publicly for the first time, she felt exposed but not insecure.

“It was the first time I’d been that vulnerable and didn’t feel scared,” she said. “It felt right.”

Now preparing to graduate, Cecil spends most of her time in the art building—the place she feels most at home on campus. She moves through her days grounded in memory, meaning and a new sense of purpose.

“This is more than a major,” she said. “It’s who I am.”