St. Louis-based artist Kahlil Irving creates paintings, sculptures, and installation-based works that challenge accepted ideas about colorism, community, and the urban environment. A recent graduate of the MFA program at Washington University, Irving has exhibited throughout the Midwest. He is the 2017—18 recipient of Wellesley College’s Alice C. Cole ’42 Fellowship. The Cole Fellowship is awarded to an outstanding early-career painter or sculptor, providing funds to support one year of unimpeded time and space to experiment, develop a body of work, and focus on future artistic goals. Cole Fellowships are based on nominations from prominent members of the national arts community. The fellowship is made possible by the generous bequest of Wellesley alumna Alice C. Cole ’42. Aware of the burdens that face recent graduates of art school, Cole wanted artists to have “a limited time free of economic necessity”— an immensely valuable gift.