‘A big achievement for me’: KPU students’ artwork on display at all campus libraries

Once home to neverending shelves of books, these libraries now welcome student artwork. Across all four of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s libraries, 49 student art pieces are on display.

The project is a partnership between the KPU library art committee and the Office of the Provost. In 2023, Provost and Vice-President Academic Diane Purvey approved and funded the initiative to display student artwork at KPU’s libraries. 

Damaris Gugliotti, manager of library resources, says the idea started during a conversation with a colleague about new projects the library could take on.

The committee welcomes paintings, digital art, photography, glass art, ceramics, and even poetry as submissions, with the chance for students to be compensated if their work is chosen.

Students across various programs at KPU have their art on display. 

“[The initiative] really evolved from benefiting just art students with an artistic major to a student who has an artistic passion,” Gugliotti says.

In 2025, the committee received 149 submissions from 17 students — an increase from 2023 when just four students submitted six art pieces.

Creative writing student MJ Ao-Asen has two art pieces on display on the second floor of the Surrey campus library, right by the computer lab.

“I feel like both pieces I have displayed come from very emotional, very personal places,” they say.

Ao-Asen’s first piece, “Unmasked Fragmentations,” was drawn after a stay in the hospital. It illustrates a mask breaking into fragments, which then form butterflies.

“I was struggling a lot with grief at that time, and for me, drawing ‘Unmasked Fragmentations’ was this expression of an attempt at healing and moving forward from the grief,” he says.

Ao-Asen’s second piece also includes a mask — the character is depicted wearing a gas mask and holding a lamb. His story for the character takes place at an end-of-the-world apocalypse, where they are searching for Eden — a place that is fruitful, bountiful, and a return to when the world was natural.

“Their only companion is this lamb they found, and by finding this lamb — which is the symbol of innocence, of a fresh start, of purity — they found companionship,” they say.

Ao-Asen says creating art has made it possible for them to showcase parts of himself they have protected — including their gender identity, queerness, and mental health.

“I feel whenever I create things, I always put parts of myself into it,” Ao-Asen says. “I’m showing parts of my heart, my soul, and to have my heart on display is a very vulnerable feeling.”

Also on display at the Surrey campus library is business student Navjot Singh’s wax pencil drawing of a lion entitled “Shera.”

Singh said he began drawing around age 13 — mainly of his favourite superheroes and celebrities — and with time and more experience, he got better.

When Singh created the drawing, both his instructor and classmates really liked the piece.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect that my artwork would be displayed at the library,” Singh says. “[When I found out] I was excited and I told everyone — my family and friends — and they were very happy. It’s a big achievement for me.”

Singh says he’s happy if something he created can be appreciated by sharing it with the library.

“Whenever I go to the library with my friends, they see [my work] and really like it,” Singh says. “That kind of feeling gave me the motivation to submit it.”

Unlike Singh, fine arts student Emilee Stewart was at first embarrassed of having her work on display because of the attention from instructors and friends. Once the attention settled, she, too, felt excited to have her pieces on display at the Surrey campus library.

Stewart submitted four series of artwork to the initiative for a total 10 pieces, all of which were selected. The art includes analogue photography prints, copper etchings, and a charcoal drawing.

Among those displayed is also “Female Crucifixion,” a gender-bend reinterpretation of a crucifixion painting. The piece began from an assignment where Stewart had to reimagine a painting and create a photo that had been changed from the original.

“It was replacing Jesus, who’s on the cross, with a woman instead and trying to show the sacrifice and suffering that women also go through, which is overlooked because that sacrifice or suffering is somehow tied to femininity — and that somehow justifies neglecting or not acknowledging it,” Stewart says.

She adds it’s fun to have her work displayed because there’s foot traffic and people are seeing her work.

“At least it’s better than having it hung in your mom’s living room,” Stewart says. “I think it’s cool there might be at least one person on campus who sees it and can at least admire it or stand there and look at it for a second.”

Gugliotti hopes the library art committee initiative continues to receive funding so it can run next year as well.

“It’s a small thing we do, but I think it hits the spot.”