The Ken Meyer Professional Studio Development Award is an annual honor presented to emerging artists from the School of Art as they enhance their studio practices and further develop their artistic careers.

Izsys Archer (MFA ’25) is a multidisciplinary image maker and self-described “space taker-upper” whose work expands archives into sites of identity, spirituality, and self-actualization. Originally from Lafayette, Indiana, Archer is based in Pittsburgh, working across photography, installation, and performance to interrogate memory, domesticity, and Black iconography. Her ongoing “Nutritional Archive” gathers personal photographs, letters, digital fragments, and cultural ephemera to construct a visual language that affirms the beauty, agency, and power of big-bodied Black women. In Pittsburgh, she has been a BOOM Universe Resident and a member of 1Hood Media’s Artivist Academy Cohort.

Last spring, her practice was on view in the 2025 MFA thesis exhibition “Holding Still, Holding On” at The Andy Warhol Museum. Archer presented an immersive installation that collaged family artifacts, mass media imagery, and sculptural forms into a landscape of inheritance and transformation. At its center was The Big Bodied Voice, a sculptural presence made from selfies and 3D materials, evoking interdimensional angels and aunties who watch, absorb, and protect. Through this constellation of images and objects, Archer traced the emotional legacies of segregation and representation while celebrating Fat Black femininity across time.

In recognition of this ambitious and deeply personal practice, Archer has been awarded the 2025 Ken Meyer Professional Studio Development Award. Named for CMU alumnus Kenneth Meyer (BFA ’75), the award supports emerging artists in building sustainable studio practices beyond their time at the School of Art. Past recipients include Emmanuel Lugo (BFA ’24), Rosabel Rosalind (MFA ’23), and Petra Floyd (MFA ’22). With this support, Archer will continue to grow her studio practice, further developing the archives and installations that anchor her vision of the world.