Alice Gatewood Waddell, 73, is an award-winning artist who has spent most of her life creating and sharing her artwork. A Bowling Green, Kentucky native, she attended Western Kentucky University, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and became the university's first African American homecoming queen in 1972. In addition to her artistic career, Waddell has served as the Executive Director of the Bowling Green Human Rights Commission for over a decade and continues to volunteer her time to humanitarian efforts.

Waddell's family lived in Jonesville, a historic African American community that WKU displaced in the 1960s, and a place that she remembers visiting often as a child. She is widely recognized for painting the Jonesville mural featured in the Kentucky Museum, as well as co-producing a documentary about the Jonesville community.

Today, Waddell uses her art as a tool for advocacy and education, helping others better understand discrimination. This keeps her passionate about the work she's doing at this stage in her life. "There is so much to illustrate: things I didn't think about as much when I was younger, as far as being an advocate for certain causes," Waddell said. "It's a tool now. It can be messages and it can be stories told through your work."