Birmingham-Southern College is celebrating the centennial of artist and activist Dorothy Gillespie’s birth, hosting an art exhibit on campus throughout September. The traveling exhibit features pieces that were refurbished by two BSC students.

BSC’s relationship with Dorothy Gillespie began in 1987, when she was honored as a “Woman of Distinction” at GALA. While visiting to receive the award, she took time to work with BSC art students in the classroom and even donated a sculpture to the art department.

Gillespie’s work can also be found on the second floor of Norton Campus Center. JoAnne Gray Engelbert ’53 gifted the college with a nine-panel Gillespie installation for students to enjoy.

Since her death in 2012, Gillespie’s son, Gary Gillespie Israel, continues to honor her memory through the Dorothy Gillespie Foundation, which funds multiple scholarships in her name at colleges across the country. At BSC, Gillespie established the Dorothy M. Gillespie Award in Visual Art, which funds a summer internship for two female art students at Gillespie’s studio in the Catskills.

This summer, 2019 award recipients and juniors McLean Boone and Sarah Wilkes spent two weeks in rural Narrowsburg, New York, at Gillespie’s studio. Boone and Wilkes cleaned, photographed, and catalogued art pieces, including an enamel on aluminum piece titled “Dance for the Court” and an acrylic on aluminum piece titled “Earthscape II,” both of which are part of the BSC exhibit.

Although the process of cleaning over 40 pieces was a joint effort, each student found ways to focus on her specific skills. Wilkes, whose interest is in photography, was able to take pictures for the online archives, while Boone was able to develop her future career in cataloging.

In addition to organizing Gillespie’s art pieces, they also saw the social impact of her work.

“It was so interesting to learn how much she had done in her career. When we were going through her personal achievements and archives, we found keys to cities like Roanoke, Virginia,” Wilkes says.

During her lifetime, Gillespie was awarded a key to the city from the mayors of Roanoke, Virginia, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, for her progressive ideas and meaningful art.

“It was amazing to find out about that and how involved she was with the feminist movement,” Wilkes says.

Gillespie worked primarily in metal, which was uncommon for women artists at the time. Her efforts to obtain equality through the women’s movement was inspiring to both students.

“As a female art history student, being able to interact with a female artist with such a prolific career, to touch and see her life’s work and her studio was just incredible,” Boone says. “We are seeing what has been a male dominated field progress towards being equal, and Dorothy Gillespie was a trailblazer in making it happen.”

The Durbin Gallery of the Doris Wainwright Kennedy Art Center and Azar Art Studios will host the exhibit through Sept. 25. The gallery is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. All shows are free and open to the public.

Find more information about exhibits at the Durbin Gallery here.