Above: “Dancers” by Sandra Halat
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s Jefferson Davis Campus will host the South Mississippi Arts League (SMAL) exhibit in the campus Fine Arts Gallery from September 20-October 20. There will be a reception in honor of the artists on October 20 from noon-1:00 p.m.
Participating artists include Paulette Dove, Pat Abernathy, Julia Reyes, Norma Seward, Sandra Halat, Cissy Quin, Carolyn Busenlener, Patt Odom, Kat Fitzpatrick, Carmen Lugo, George Ann McCullough and Stacey Johnson.
Matthew Steadman, gallery director, said the group is made up of 13 local artists. “They are a relatively new collective of professional artists from various backgrounds that are all based in South Mississippi,” he said. “Their works are in a great variety – from sculpture to watercolors – and represent a wide selection of subjects.”
Sculptor Stacey Johnson works with the feminine figure in her works. “Women have been storytellers and keepers of wisdom for ages, and I like to think my female forms tell tales,” she said. “These feminine totems struggle with traditional boundaries, with sexuality, and with maternal thoughts.”
She said her Delta roots play a vital role in her work. “I grew up surrounded by cotton and blues and some of the best outsider artwork in the world. This was a deeply Southern stage, set with backdrops of fields and soulful history, of stereotypes dividing men and women, of rich and poor. These things have impacted my life and influenced my storytelling in clay. Each sculpture is a chapter in a book that I edit, color, and scribble upon… like a diary of unspoken thoughts, remnants of dreams. I work in clay because it is a forgiving, expressive medium…a material that I have known my entire life. Red clay, brown mud, dark soil.”
Norma Seward, of Ocean Springs, said her style is “loose, impressionistic, semiabstract to nonobjective.” She expresses herself in oils, watercolors, acrylics and mixed media. “I believe painting is a three-way dialogue between the artist, the subject and the Creator,” she said. “Painting can be a joyous experience when the subject is not tightly controlled, and the artist -subject-medium coalesces at a subliminal level to produce a unique creative expression. The journey of art is a lifetime of commitment and discovery that requires continuous redefinition, study and nurture.”
The exhibit is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are from 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and from 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. on Fridays. For more information about the exhibit or the gallery, contact Steadman at (228) 897-3736 or matthew.steadman@mgccc.edu.