The Jefferson Davis Campus Fine Arts Gallery will host “In the Act of Flourishing” art exhibition October 5-30. A reception will be held at noon on October 8 with artist Taylor Robenalt in the gallery located at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s Jefferson Davis Campus. Hadley Hill, a music student at the campus, will entertain with acoustic guitar and vocals at the reception.

Robenalt, a fine arts graduate of Southern Methodist University, received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Georgia. She is an adjunct professor in ceramics at Auburn University. Her current exhibit features clusters of animals and flowers constructed of porcelain with minimal glaze and underglaze application. In these works, the animal heads are bursting forth from a heavy cluster of flowers, as though they are escaping from the thicket. With each piece created in the series, the flower clusters become more heavy and ornate, usurping the prominence of the animal heads.

“The contrast between the chaotic consumption and preciousness of the material helps with the conceptual concept I am trying to convey,” Robenalt said. “I view the work as a metaphor for the way that humans are consumed by the paradigms we create, as well as the idea that it is inevitable that nature will reclaim all.”

Robenalt said the use of porcelain is a key part of her work because is has a pristine, dainty and delicate quality.

“The precious quality in each piece is achieved by sanding the surface of porcelain and the minimalistic glazing,” she said.  “This also lends a sacred and ghostly quality to the work, and I choose not to use heavy glazes and leave portions of the raw clay visible because of this. The limited color palette lends itself to accentuating the details and depth of the piece, whereas an overly colorful palette tends to distract from those intricacies.”

The exhibit is free and open to the public.  Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., and Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. For more information about the exhibit or the reception, contact Cecily Cummings, gallery director, at 228.897.3909 or cecily.cummings@mgccc.edu.