Mississippi Invitational

October 8, 2011 through February 5, 2012

Initiated in 1997, the Mississippi Invitational surveys recent developments by contemporary visual artists living and working across the state, and includes work in diverse mediums.  All artists chosen for inclusion in the exhibition are eligible to apply for The Jane Crater Hiatt Artist Fellowship in the year their work is featured.  The fellowship was created in 2005 by Jane and Wood Hiatt in response to the need to nurture and invigorate the arts.  A grant of up to $15,000 is awarded to one of the exhibiting artists who may use it for study with an individual artist or in a studio, workshop, or residency setting; to purchase supplies and equipment; to conduct research; and to travel. The artist is then required to donate one original work of art the Museum from at least five works created during the two-year period.

The Mississippi Museum of Art presents the eighth installation of the Mississippi Invitational this Fall. Works for the Mississippi Invitational have been selected by Los Angeles-based acclaimed curator Franklin Sirmans and coordinated by the Mississippi Museum of Art. The Invitational is housed in the Donna and Jim Barksdale Galleries for Changing Exhibitions and reflects current directions in Mississippi art. A full-color catalogue is available for purchase in The Museum Store.

This exhibition is sponsored by The Hiatt-Ingram Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson/Jane Hiatt.

Franklin Sirmans is the Terri and Michael Smooke Department Head and Curator of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. From 2006 to 2010, he was the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, where he organized several exhibitions including NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith; Maurizio Cattelan, Steve Wolfe: On Paper; and Contemporary Conversations: John Chamberlain. Prior to that, Sirmans worked as an independent curator, freelance writer, and teacher at Princeton University, after holding positions at Dia Center for the Arts and Flash Art magazine. He was co-curator of One Planet Under A Groove: Contemporary Art and Hip Hop; Make It Now: New Sculpture in New York; and Basquiat. Sirmans has written essays for several exhibition catalogues and articles and reviews in publications such as The NewYork Times, Time Out New York, Essence, and Grand Street.

The following thirteen Mississippi artists have been selected for the 2011 Mississippi Invitational:

Suzi Altman, Brandon
Duncan Baird, Cleveland
Critz Campbell, West Point
Causey Cato, Yazoo City and Starkville
Marcus C. Frazier, Natchez
Tammy McGrew, Port Gibson
Rod Moorhead, Oxford
Susa Nawrocki, Columbus
H. C. Porter and Gretchen Haien, Vicksburg/Jackson
David Jason Pressgrove, Jackson
Steve Shepard, Gautier
Evert Witte, Bay St. Louis

click icons below for larger image