Alumni News

Creativity comes home

Alumni artists among new collection in Hamel Honors and Scholars College
Two university students sit on lounge chairs with their laptops, with a large, colorful painting of a forest scene on the wall behind them.
The art collection came about after Huddleston Hall was renovated to host the Honors College following a $20 million gift from Dana Hamel. Staff submitted a proposal to an anonymous private foundation for furnishings and technology, specifically writing in items like artwork and plants that would help students feel at home. Here, students work in front of “Walk in the Woods — Autumn Flicker,” a painting by Molly Doe Wensberg.

Photo by Jeremy Gasowski
Like so many UNH Wildcats, a special group of alumni artists — and their works — have come home again to the Durham campus.

Thanks to the Hamel Honors and Scholars College staff and faculty, the hallowed halls of the recently renovated Huddleston building are now home to curated artwork, much of it original work by alumni artists.

The building’s collection of 51 pieces represents 35 artists, including 11 alumni, as well as two emeriti faculty, one current faculty and one current staff member.

“The building itself has been transformative for the Honors College, just to have this space for the students to gather. But we also wanted it to be a space that felt really good and didn’t feel like any other space on campus,” says Kate Gaudet, associate director of the Honors College, which opened in September 2024. “And I really believe in the power of original artwork.”

It was Gaudet who led the charge to curate and purchase the artwork, funded with private support from a foundation and not university funds. The gallery throughout the building is a fitting tribute to program benefactor Dana Hamel, who himself is a collector of art from New England and throughout his global travels.

Among the featured artists was alumnus Christopher Volpe ’96, with a piece entitled “Jewel Tide.” Volpe earned a master’s degree in poetry at UNH, and now owns an art studio with his wife.

“I never left the area, and I have fond memories of UNH. It’s cool to be back and making connections again,” said Volpe.

Alumnus Daniel Faiella ’19 created his piece, “Mount Washington, Evening After a Storm,” specifically for Huddleston Hall. Faiella, a former Hamel Scholar, was able to choose the space where his work would be displayed and design the piece for that space.

“I wound up actually coming into the space as the renovations were still underway,” said Faiella. “They asked me to look at places I thought might be good … I got to pick my spot, which is pretty awesome.”

The pieces on the walls join a large, colorful mural from Portland, Maine-based artist Ryan Adams in Huddleston Hall as distinctive representations of creativity in the building, something that was important to the Honors College leadership as they sought the grant and pursued the pieces to display.

“Our idea was that this could be a space where the artwork can connect current students with alumni and also with New Hampshire and New England, and the natural beauty of the area,” Gaudet said.

— UNH Today editor Keith Testa and Rebecca Colby ’28, staff writer for The New Hampshire student newspaper, contributed to this story.
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