Delaina Jolley ’22 is this year’s Price Scholarship recipient

Bringing large ideas to life, and creating a network of artistic support and inspiration, is a huge motivation for Delaina Jolley ’22, Illustration, recipient of the Cynthia E. Price Memorial Scholarship for the 2020-21 academic year.

It’s the kind of creative life that the scholarship’s namesake, Cynthia Price, built, too.

J. Richard “Rick” Price and his two sons Jacob and Jordan, along with their families, established this scholarship,” Rick Price has said, “in the name of my wife Cindy who was an artist all her life. She saw the world of art as a way to give back to the community.”

It’s a motivation to which Jolley can relate.

“To me, art is what connects people the most. It’s the way that we can all express similar emotions when seeing a painting or listening to music,” Jolley says. “The way art preserves culture and creates identities … I’ve always tried to use my art as a way to reach people. Whether it’s explaining my progress on Instagram to help others learn more about art, or it’s curating” a show, as she did earlier this semester with Ruptura auténtica, a pop-up exhibition of Latinx PCA&D artists at the San Juan Bautista Hispanic Festival. Jolley aimed to use that experience, she says, “to uplift my Latinx community and artists.”

On campus, Jolley works as a gallery assistant for Director of Exhibitions Alana Coates and as a library assistant; contributes as a member of the Presidential Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; serves as a community assistant for Steinman Lofts, and is a founding organizer of BLAC, a new organization at PCA&D whose goal is to create a safe and welcoming space for students of color.

This scholarship, Jolley says, is not only a vote of confidence — it also frees her to pursue even more new experiences.

The Price Scholarship recipient, a student who has advanced beyond their first year at PCA&D, is selected by the College based on criteria set by the family. The recipient must be pursuing a degree in visual arts, have a strong academic and work ethic as indicated by a GPA of at least 3.50, and be determined to improve the world around them through the expression of their artwork.

“The Price Scholarship has helped me realize how much potential I have as an artist and that this year, I can really branch out and try new things knowing that some of my financial burdens have been lifted,” Jolley says. “I’m very grateful to the Price family for giving me this opportunity and I intend on making an impact in the world, starting with Lancaster.”

That impact includes working collaboratively with other artists, an interest that feeds into Jolley’s career goals of becoming an art director.

“I think it’s amazing to have the ability to work with creatives in all different aspects of the field. I’ve always dreamed about working on large projects and bringing ideas to life. Being able to reach out to artists for jobs that I think suit them or designing how a concept should be brought to life is really exciting to me,” Jolley says. “Becoming a curator (for Ruptura auténtica) has given me some insight on parts of the responsibilities of being an art director and has also been really thrilling. It really warmed my heart seeing how happy the artists were to be selected for this exhibition.”

Cynthia Price

Cynthia Price, who died in 2016, was an artist who took cues from the natural landscape she experienced as a child growing up in Lancaster County and during her travels abroad. Her stylistic monogram and initial designs led her to open a small shop, Love Letters, at Building Character, where demand enabled her to expand into Sanctuary.

Price’s family encouraged memorial contributions in her name to provide financial assistance to promising PCA&D art students.

Previous recipients of the scholarship include Quinn Waltman ’20, Antoinette Troller ’19, and Leah Limpert Walt, ’18.