- May 14, 2025
- More articles By Sala Levin ’10
- Top photo by John T. Consoli
- Art courtesy of Stamp Gallery
A UNIQUE EXERCISE has long been playing out on campus, not in the weight room of the Eppley Recreation Center or on the basketball court of Ritchie Coliseum, but on the walls of the Adele H. Stamp Student Union.
Since 2006, the biennial Contemporary Art Purchasing Program (CAPP) has given a small group of students from any major a sizable budget, roughly $50,000, to decide together how to spend on artwork to add to the Stamp’s collection.
For students, CAPP represents an opportunity to dip their paintbrushes into the world of art collecting, visiting galleries and artist studios locally and in New York City. “We have a really great group of students who are passionate about the best way to get our UMD community to engage with art and really use art to learn about new perspectives and to consider global issues,” says Trin Tatum ’26, one of six current participants.
To celebrate CAPP’s 10th cohort, Tara Youngborg, manager of the Stamp Gallery and Studio A and CAPP adviser, takes Terp on a guided tour of some of the most memorable pieces purchased by the program’s participants.
“GAME CHANGING (ACE, KING, QUEEN, JACK)”
DERRICK ADAMS, 2014, SILKSCREEN AND GOLD LEAF
These striking pieces elevate playing cards into images of Black royalty. “They remix and interrogate the symbolic codes underlying coats of arms … by incorporating African textile patterns and garments,” says Youngborg. “These are the pieces I get the most emails about from people who want to buy them from us.”
“FAIRY RING WITH WHITE CLOVER”
PATRICK JACOBS, 2010, PAPER, ACRYLIC, EXTRUDED STYRENE, COPPER, ACRYLIC GEL MEDIUM, HAIR, STEEL, ACRYLITE, TIN
This whimsical piece is nestled above the bustling Food Court. A 3-inch lens in a hole cut into the wall serves as a portal to a meadow scene contained within a 2-foot-wide box. “It’s a hidden delight in the collection,” says Youngborg. “It feels really magical, and it’s something you could lose yourself in.”
“FEAR ON THEIR FACES (PAGE 7)”
HUNTER REYNOLDS, 2011, PHOTOWEAVING, C-PRINTS AND THREAD
This 4-by-5-feet photo collage of newspaper articles about the LGBTQ+ community and AIDS is intensely personal; Reynolds also included photographs of himself as a teenager, the lipstick signature of his performance-artist alter ego and photographs of his own HIV-positive blood. “The combination of personal and public and political is really resonant to students,” says Youngborg.
“15 MOUTHS”
LORNA SIMPSON, 2002, PRINTS ON VELOUR PAPER MOUNTED ON HAHNEMUHLE COPPERPLATE PAPER
The first CAPP cohort purchased this set of close-up photos of mouths in 2006. “That group called it their home run,” says Youngborg. Simpson, the first Black woman whose art was shown in the famous Venice Biennale cultural exhibition, “uses the camera to shine a light on the Black female experience and the Black experience in general.”
“SILVER LAKE OPERATIONS #1, LAKE LEFROY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA”
EDWARD BURTYNSKY, 2007, DIGITAL CHROMOGENIC PRINT
The aesthetic beauty of this aerial photograph of a gold mining operation stands at odds with the destruction it depicts. “As you get a sense of the scale, you realize how much damage has been done to the landscape,” says Youngborg. Purchased by CAPP’s second cohort, this piece was the first to touch on environmental themes that have been prominent in artwork acquired since.
Issue
Spring 2025Types
Campus Life