Senior art show celebrates journey from homelessness to college graduation

By Abigail Meredith, Assistant Arts Editor

“Wanderlust,” Peggy Mosley’s senior art show, captured aspects of personal growth.

Mosley and two friends, who have watched her experience this journey, senior Psychology/Pre-counseling major Shealy Davis and senior Anthropology major Kayla Boaz, shared Peggy’s struggles and successes.

“The theme is Wanderlust. She chose this to represent her love for traveling and her journey through life and her walk with Christ. It is unique because her art is very colorful and conveys a lot of who she is. Peggy is a very multifaceted person and this show conveys that,” Boaz said.

Peggy Mosley told her story so others could see how she has been inspired by where she’s been and where she’s going.

“I was homeless from my sophomore year of high school to my senior year of high school. Homelessness has given me a lot of determination and want to do better,” she said.

Mosley explained how her life changed and she was given the opportunity to attend OBU.

“I never thought I’d go to college. I wanted to, and when I got the acceptance letter from OBU, I was very excited. But I couldn’t pay the enrollment fee. I remember, I had talked to my youth minister at the time, and he was an OBU graduate. He told me not to worry, it would work out. A week later he came up to me with a receipt saying my enrollment guarantee had been paid for. My church helped a lot, with both the enrollment fee and constant encouragement,” Mosley said.

Even now, in preparation for the event, Mosley has faced struggles. Boaz discussed Mosley’s push to overcoming the difficulties she faced.

“Stress was the biggest difficulty Peggy faced. She had a lot of stress from different aspects of her life that could’ve affected her art. She also worried about whether she was heading down the right path, but she pushed through it and now she’s here today with her beautiful art show,” Boaz said.

Shealy Davis took the opportunity to reflect on how Mosley has grown, and how it has affected her art.

“Throughout college, Peggy has become somewhat of a social butterfly. I’ve noticed on multiple occasions that everywhere we go, she seems to know someone. She has a lively spirit and a caring nature, and her unique look at the world brings up a beautiful and inspiring touch to her work,” Davis said.

Mosley specifically mentioned pieces that were essential to her theme.

“There’s specifically three abstract pieces in my artwork that show my journey. They’re the main pieces of the show. They’re spray paint, oil and acrylic. You don’t normally mix spray paint and oil, but I wanted to reflect the type of life I’d come from, which was a lot of gritty and graffiti. The oil and acrylic are more classic mediums of art which is where I am now, so putting all of those three mediums together really blends the old and new parts of my life,” Mosley said.

Davis added that the show was important to sharing the joy Mosley experienced through her growth.

“This show is important  because it acts as a window through which we may observe a part of her inner world- a part she has spent hours and days of dedication pouring out so that we might share her joy and celebrate her talents,” Davis said.

“This is important because it acknowledges her potential and pushes her forward. It allows her to see her work praised and it reminds her that she is beautiful.”

Photo by Alena Blakley