Student selected first featured artist in Harrisburg's Humanities Art Connect

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Penn State Harrisburg student Bryna Brinkman is the first student to have artwork displayed in the chancellor’s hallway in the Olmsted Building through the new Humanities Art Connect Initiative launched by the college’s School of Humanities.

The initiative is designed to give students and community members a platform to showcase their creativity. Brinkman was selected as the first featured artist after she won the 2025 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Poster Design Contest and caught the eye of organizers.

“Her work really stood out and reminded us just how much talent is here on campus,” said Denise Saunders, administrative support manager in the School of Humanities. “From there, the idea grew: What if we created a space where students, parents and friends of Penn State Harrisburg could display their work for a few months at a time? Humanities Art Connect was born — an opportunity to connect students and the community through creativity, self-expression and the shared experience of art.”

Brinkman’s exhibition, titled “Introducing Me,” features watercolor and ink works. Pieces include “Sweet Treat,” which shows children lining up for an ice cream truck; “Under the Parachute,” a depiction of children sitting beneath a colorful parachute in gym class; “The Dark Knight,” a portrait of Batman; and “Tribute to Ozzy,” a portrait of the late Ozzy Osbourne.

“Most of them are about childhood nostalgia and the everyday American experience,” Brinkman said. “I wanted everyone to be able to see themselves in the paintings — to recognize something familiar and joyful.”

Creating the collection was a monthslong process for Brinkman, beginning in April and continuing through August as she balanced her coursework with a summer job, often sketching at her workplace when she could find moments. Each painting was developed from her own ideas, with some taking as little as five hours and others up to 12, depending on their level of detail.

Brinkman noted the challenges of balancing her artwork with academic responsibilities and her job, recalling that she was taking a math class while creating the collection. Managing both required patience and discipline, she said, but her professors, classmates and family were very encouraging.

“My mom would tell me to go finish my painting before coming with her somewhere — she really pushed me to keep going,” she said.

Last spring, Brinkman won the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Poster Design Contest with a hand-painted and digitally illustrated portrait of King.

“That was my first chance to do art on campus and show my abilities,” she said.

The project originally called for a digital collage, but she decided to take it a step further by creating a watercolor and pencil portrait, which she later scanned into Adobe Photoshop.

“It meant a lot to me,” she said, and the recognition gave her confidence to share her work more publicly.

Brinkman, a biobehavioral health major, said she has always been “the art kid” and began painting seriously in high school, motivated by her interest in pursuing a career in art. She considered fashion design and film art direction before deciding she could combine creativity with science.

Her career goal, she said, is to help people through both art and medicine, and she hopes to become a plastic surgeon — a field she feels combines science, surgery and creativity. She also hopes to illustrate children’s science books and take on art commissions.

“I just want people to smile when they see my art,” she said. “Even if it’s for a moment, I hope it reminds them of something they love.”

Humanities Art Connect

Penn State Harrisburg students, parents, alumni and friends are invited to participate in Humanities Art Connect, a unique opportunity to display their artwork inside the halls of Penn State Harrisburg.  Interested artists should email humartconnect@psu.edu for guidelines.