Sammy Britt (left), former professor of painting and drawing at Delta State, and alumnus Brandon Moon ‘03, will both receive awards from The Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters June 6 at the Lake Terrace Convention Center in Hattiesburg.The Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters (MIAL) has announced its award winners for works first published, performed or shown in the year 2014. The award recipients, chosen by out-of-state judges prominent in their respective fields, will be honored at the annual awards banquet to be held at the Lake Terrace Convention Center in Hattiesburg on June 6.
Two artists with ties to Delta State University’s highly-praised Department of Art will be recognized for their artistic excellence.
The Noel Polk Lifetime Achievement Award winner is painter Sammy Britt, a native of Ruleville who resides in Cleveland after a long career as professor of painting and drawing at Delta State.
Britt received his B.F.A. in painting from the Memphis Academy of Arts and his M.F.A. in painting from the University of Mississippi. In 1963, Britt began studying with Henry Hensche at the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown, Mass. He continued studying with this master of painting for 25 more years.
After learning from Hensche, Britt was inspired to teach thousands of students over his legendary 35-year career at Delta State. After retiring from the university in 2002, Britt received the Kossman Outstanding Teacher Award and was also named professor emeritus of art.
“I cannot tell you how surprised and honored I felt when I was nominated for the 2015 Noel Polk Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Britt. “I am very pleased and proud to be recognized by members of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters as the recipient of this award.”
Britt reflected fondly on his interactions with students and faculty over his lengthy Delta State career.
“Delta State was the beginning of my career as a teacher of art. I was blessed with a great chairman, Malcolm Norwood, and a talented, diverse art faculty,” he said. “We grew together into a well-respected art department. I was also entrusted with very talented, hardworking students during my 35 years at Delta State. I am thankful God enabled me to learn and then to share with students during my years at Delta State and beyond.
“God, my family and Delta State are the foundation for my receiving the Noel Polk Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Britt has won many awards in competitive shows throughout his long career and has served as a juror for shows in several states. In 1999, Britt was featured at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel, Miss. in a show entitled “A Painter’s Painter: Charles Webster Hawthorne; The Influence of Provincetown and Henry Hensche on Sammy Britt, Gerald DeLoach, Richard Kelso, and George T. Thurmond Exhibition.”
He was also featured on Mississippi Educational Television, is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa Honorary Leadership Fraternity, was chosen as one of the Outstanding Educators in America and is listed in Who’s Who in American Art.
Britt continues to paint and teach workshops in the tradition of Hensche.
Brandon Moon is this year’s MIAL winner of the Visual Arts Award for “10 Works by Brandon Moon.”
A native of Jackson, Moon received his B.F.A. in painting from Delta State in 2003 and continued his studies in the graduate painting program at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga. He continues to create art in Jersey City, N.J. and New York City.
His work has been featured in shows in New York, Mississippi and Ohio.
“It is extremely difficult to express the surprise and elation upon hearing of the honor,” said Moon. “I work and create because I must — and to have such personal output not only recognized but lauded as well, is quite extraordinary.”
Moon added that his time as a student at Delta State prepared him for his career as an artist today.
“My time at DSU was really my stepping stone into the exploration of techniques and color,” he said. “I owe so much to the faculty at DSU from 2000-2003, from the encouragement to find myself, to the challenges my professors put forth. I can’t think of a more compacted influential period before or after.”
While Moon now resides outside Mississippi, he said the Magnolia State would always be home. He is humbled to be included with this year’s award winners and is thankful to MIAL for promoting the arts in Mississippi.
Moon is the son of Dr. Beverly Moon, dean of Graduate & Continuing Studies & Research at Delta State.
For information on the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters, visit http://www.ms-arts-letters.org.
