CLEVELAND, Miss. — DSU’s Art Department will host an opening reception and awards ceremony for its Annual Juried Student Exhibition on Thursday, March 7, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Fielding Wright Art Center Gallery. The exhibition features work that students have produced over the past year and allows students to gain professional experience by preparing work for exhibitions and submitting it to a jury process. Students submitting work are also eligible to win monetary awards in various categories. The awards are made possible through the generous support of art patrons from the Cleveland community.
This year’s opening reception also marks the completion of an extensive renovation of the Fielding Wright Art Center which was funded by a grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission.
This year’s juror is Susan Maakestad. Maakestad is a Professor Emeritus of the Memphis College of Art where she taught from 1997-2020. She now works as an independent artist in the Memphis area. Her work is in public collections including the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and the City of Memphis. She recently completed a large glass installation for the Memphis International Airport.
The exhibition will also feature a Salon des Refusés in the Holcomb-Norwood Annex which will display a selection of artwork that were not selected for the main event but are of high artistic merit. The Salon des Refusés is inspired by a similar salon held in 1863 which featured work not selected by the academic selection committee.
Dr. Michaela Merryday, Director of the Fielding Wright Art Center said, “We want to express our gratitude to the Mississippi Arts Commission for awarding us a grant to renovate our gallery as well as to the following sponsors for supporting our students and the department through the donation of awards: Dave Alford and Adventure Frames, Maureen and Bucky Brooks, Cleveland State Bank, Betty Anne and Travis Cooper, Catherine and Ron Koehler, Bill Lester, Carmen and Cetin Oguz, Lisa Percy, Planter’s Bank & Trust, Carol Tatum, as well as Dr. Ellen Green, DSU’s Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Delta State University President Dr. Daniel J. Ennis, and the President’s Cabinet.”
Awards will be presented at 6:00 p.m. The Annual Juried Student Exhibition will remain on view from March 7 to April 18. The gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and Friday from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. For more information, please contact the Art Department at 662-846-4720.
