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Student's life
remembered by community: Annmarie Campbell
By Emily Wuchner
News Editor
Murray State University Newspaper
Summer 2006
Art, nature and adventure were a few of Annmarie Campbell’s
greatest passions.
Campbell, a December 2005 Murray
State graduate, was snorkeling in Florida when she was fatally attacked by
an alligator in early May.
An art major, Campbell devoted
much of her time to drawing, printmaking and photography.
Dawn Yankeelov, Campbell’s
mother, said art was a constant presence in her daughter’s life.
“When I was a reporter in
Florida, I used to take her to meetings I would cover and she would take a
box of crayons and color pictures for people at the meetings,” Yankeelov
said.
Campbell’s mother said she
favored “touchy feely” art to computer-based creations.
Yankeelov said she has over 150
pieces of Campbell’s art and hopes to one day start a gallery in
Chicago.
“One of my goals is to have a
gallery and have
Murray
students use it as a launching pad,”
Yankeelov said.
Nicole Hand, associate professor
of art, knew Campbell for about four years and remembers her as full of
energy. Hand said in her work,
Campbell often used references to food, such as Cupcakes for Katrina, the
last art show she participated in at Murray State.
“Conceptually, her work dealt
with things that were beautiful yet repulsive, the ideas of excess and an
abundance,” Hand said.
A scholarship was established in
Campbell’s name for Murray State art students. Eventually, Campbell’s
mother hopes it will become an endowment.
Along with art, Campbell also
loved nature and travel. She
reveled in her recent trip to Europe, especially seeing the “other
Paris,” a contrast from her home in Tennessee.
Claudia
Dishon, Campbell’s friend and roommate, said Campbell saw life as an
opportunity and approached everything with energy.
“She approached all aspects of life with the same perspective,”
Dishon said. “She was an artist and an art major but it didn’t just
stop there with making art. She approached decorating her house the same
way ... She cooked with the same intensity and when it came to cleaning
the bathroom or vacuuming, it was always with this artist’s perspective.
It never stopped for her. She always managed to see and recreate beauty in
all aspects of her life.”
Dishon said the two were known
to taste unique foods, like Campbell’s homemade seaweed soup. There were
also times when Campbell would put off homework to write letters to
long-distance friends or make scones.
“The best she articulated
herself and her personality is most evident through the things that she
did through her artwork, through her blog,” Dishon said.
“I think that best represents
who she was because she was so unlike anyone else.
It makes it almost impossible to describe accurately.”
Dawn Yankeelov said
Campbell
’s
ashes are scattered in
Bernheim
Forest
in Bullitt county, a place she viewed as a sanctuary. Birdhouses and a
bench are in the area and this fall, plans to build a zen garden with a
contemplative rock are in the works. |
