By Ivonne Kawas
The Museum of Art in The University of Southern Mississippi’s School of Performing and Visual Arts will open the Little Things Matter: National Juried Small-Scale Sculpture Exhibition on Oct. 18 – Nov. 5 at the Hattiesburg campus.
With it being the first year for a show of its kind, artists from across the country were invited to apply, receiving a total of 526 entries. From these, 68 works were selected for the exhibition.
“If you love sculpture, this is the show to see,” said Mark Rigsby, Museum Director and associate professor of Art and Design. “This show represents a survey of contemporary small-scale sculptures made by artists across the country.”
“The exhibition encompasses a broad range of styles and subject matter and includes a wide variety of three-dimensional mediums from cast iron and bronze, to polymers, textile, wood, ceramic, found objects and mixed media, as well as some audio-visual components,” he added.
Participating artists include:
Megan Angolia (Chesterfield, Va.); Taylor Barnett (Carrolton, Ga.); Marc Bauman (Washington, Vt.); Linda Behar (Providence, R.I.); Eli Betchik (Perry, Ohio); Joseph Bigley (Lenoir, N.C.) Jo Ann Block (Ventura, Ca.); Emily Brannan (Biloxi, Miss.); Charles Brenna (Glenside, Pa.); Robert Bruch (Oberlin, Ohio); Vincent Burke (El Paso,Texas); Keith Buswell (Lincoln, Neb.); Danielle Callahan (Chester, Pa.); Nathan Carroll (Lubbock, Texas); Emmanuelle Chammah (Atlanta, Ga.); J. Casey Doyle (Moscow, Ill.); Thad Duhigg, Worden, Ill. (Worden, Ill.); Kurt Dyrhaug (Beaumont, Texas); Catherine Eaton Skinner (Santa Fe, N.M.); Virginia Elliott (Cincinnati, Ohio); Kim Fink (Salem, Ore.); Susan Fitzsimmons (Mobile, Ala.); Francis Fox (Boise, Ind.); Irwin Freeman (Philadelphia, Pa.) Jeanne Garrison (Cambridge, Mass.); Dennis Gerwin (Charlotte, N.C.); Frank Goff (Hot Springs Village, Ark.); Jack Gron (Kingwood, Texas); Sharon Harper (Springfield, Mo.) Mark Harris (Carbondale, Colo.); Lynnette Hesser (Wellington, Ala.); Zach Horn (Boston, Mass.); Meg Howton, (Carbondale, Ill.); Shawn Hull (Poem Lansing, N.Y.); John Humphries (Cincinnati, Ohio); Bethany Johnson (Austin, Texas); Chuck Johnson (Venango, Pa.); Ray Katz (Pontiac, Mich.); Chichan Kwong (Chicago, Ill.); Asia Mathis (Nashville, Tenn.); Cecelia Moseley (Meridian, Miss.); Steve Novick (Somerville, Mass.); Kyoung Hwa Oh (Grand Junction, Colo.); Hillel O’Leary (Providence, R.I.); John Oles (Jacksonville, Ala.); John Powers (Knoxville, Tenn.); Patrick Price (Fort Collins, Colo.); Paula Reynaldi (Athens, Ga.); Dennis Ritter( Rome, Ga.); Brian Row (San Marcos, Texas); Korey Rowswell (Maxwell AFB, Ala.); Casey Schachner (Savannah, Ga.); Nick Schroeder (Milwaukee, Wis.); Stacy Seiler (New York, N.Y.); Luke Sides (Oak Point, Texas); Gail Smuda (Concord, N.H.); Gregory Steel (Kokomo, Ind.); Suzanne Storer (Ogden, Utah); Rebecca Strauss (Maynard, Mass.); Grace Tessein (Rome, Ga.); Kevin Vanek (Greensboro, N.C.); John Vinklarek (San Angelo, Texas); Katie Virag (Buffalo, N.Y.); Jacob Wan (Orlando, Fla.); Alexandra Weaver (Berkeley, Calif.); Simona Wiig (Oviedo, Fla.); Brandon Witschi (Mesquite, Texas); Michael Woodle (Conway, S.C.); and Merrie Wright (Whitehouse, Texas).
The exhibition opens October 19 and runs through Nov. 5, in the Gallery of Art & Design, George Hurst Building. The Gallery is opens at 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Visiting artist and juror, George Beasley, will give a lecture at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 4. On Friday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m., there will be a closing reception in the Gallery.
Exhibition juror Beasley earned a B.F.A degree at the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1967 and an M.F.A. degree at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1970. He then joined the faculty of Georgia State University. He received the International Sculpture Center’s 1st Outstanding Sculpture Educator Award in 1996. In 2007, he was recognized as a “Regent’s Professor of Fine Art by the University System of Georgia” and is now retired as “Regent’s Professor Emeritus.”His works can be found internationally, in 28 major private, corporate and institutional collections.
The exhibition and events are made possible through support from the Nan and Ben Stevens Fund.
