spring 2014 / 33
FEATURES
Remembering the life
andartofBudSpivey
Cooper “Bud” Spivey, who taught art at BSC for
more than twodecades, passed awayonOct. 11, 2013,
at the ageof 66. Hewas a resident of Columbiana.
Spivey grounded the concentration inpainting
for ’Southern’s ArtDepartment, but his reachwas
far greater. He alsomentored students in theBFA
program, offered criticism and support in the
senior seminar, andwrote scholarly art reviews
and criticisms. Hisworkwaswidely shown and
celebrated. In1996, hewas awarded aVisual Arts
Fellowship from the SouthernArts Federation and the
National Endowment for theHumanities. Several of
Spivey’s paintings aredisplayed in the lobbyof the
college’s KennedyArt Center/Azar Art Studio complex.
Spiveyheld anMFA from theVermont Collegeof
FineArts and earnedMAE andBFAdegrees fromUAB.
He served as aU.S.Navymedical corpsmanwith a
Marine combat infantryplatoon in theVietnamWar.
Survivors includehiswife, Peggy, and adaughter.
At a campusmemorial service in Spivey’s honor,
AssociateProfessor of Art JimNeel ’71 sharedone
of Spivey’s last lessons as a teacher andmentor:
“Beopen to life. Life is going tooffer you lots of
challenges, but beopen to accepting them. Don’t be
afraid; don’t let fear get in yourway. Trust yourself.”
“Bud Spivey came intoour liveswhenweneeded
him, andwe are changedbyhis presence,” saidNeel.
“Hehaswritten a chapter inour individual novels that
no editor can remove.”
The family requests thatmemorial donations be
made to theBSCArt Students League through the
Officeof Institutional Advancement at BSC, Box
549003, 900ArkadelphiaRoad, Birmingham, AL
35254.
Spivey
TheArtDepartment, alongwith several of Spivey’s former
students, areworking on establishing the Bud SpiveyArt
Award in2015 to honor a junior artmajor who they say
“can prove he or she canmake art and talk about it at the
same time.” If you’re interested inmaking a donation
or pledge to the award, contact JohnSweeney, director of
corporate and foundation relations, at (205) 226-4910 or
.
