2026 Senior Show

In No Particular Order
Senior Show 2026

Featured exhibitions

Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award

Established in 1984, the Margaret Stonewall Hamblet Award has changed the lives of many of the recipients as well as helped to build the studio art program at Vanderbilt as we know it today.

There is an endearing story behind the gift that Clement H. Hamblet established in memory of his wife, Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge.  The soon to be Mrs. Hamblet was taking a sabbatical year from her studies in studio art at Peabody College to study painting in Paris when they met and fell in love.  It was a time that they both remembered fondly for the rest of their lives.  Mr. Hamblet wanted to create a similar experience of travel and time to develop one’s art for a senior graduating from Vanderbilt.

The gift allows a graduate, who is serious about pursuing art, to travel and have time to create.  In 1984, this was a surprising gift to a department without an art major, although many students did thoughtful and interesting work over the years.  Receiving the Hamblet Award gave most of the students the confidence and the time to build a body of work to pursue graduate degrees or to develop their own art studios.

In 2005, with new facilities, additional faculty and support from the administration, Vanderbilt began to offer a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio.  The Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award became an important element in the development of our art major.  The competition and the accompanying art exhibition have created a capstone experience for our seniors serving as a natural extension of a senior thesis.  The gift also enriches the senior major experience throughout the whole senior year, with guest artist visits as well as an art viewing trip to a city with a vibrant art community for all the majors.

Any graduating major in art is eligible for the competition. Two grants are awarded annually: the Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award ($25,000) and the Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Merit Award ($10,000).

See past award winners for the Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award.

Hamblet Jurors

The annual Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award competition is juried by three artist/educators from outside Vanderbilt. Each year, these jurors are given the difficult task of reviewing grant proposals, thesis exhibitions, and conducting interviews with senior art major students who have selected to compete for the two awards.

Meet the jurors for the 2026 Hamblet Award.