The Mississippi Invitational is a biennial survey of recent works created by contemporary visual artists living and working across the state. Artists are invited to submit their work for consideration by a guest curator to be included in the bi-annual Mississippi Invitational exhibition.
The 2019 Mississippi Invitational exhibition will feature the works of 23 Mississippi artists: G. Douglas Adams of Natchez, Kali Blakeney of Jackson, Charlie Buckley of Tupelo, Critz Campbell of West Point, Claudia Cartee of Seminary, Rory Doyle of Cleveland, Rick Fifield of Poplarville, Robin Jayne Henderson of Oxford, Ben Hillyer of Natchez, Philip Jackson of Oxford, Joseph Johnson of Natchez, Amelia Key of Jackson, Andrea Kostyal of Hattiesburg, Sodam Lee of Itta Bena, Dominic Lippillo of Starkville, Rod Moorhead of Oxford, Betty Press of Hattiesburg, Phoenix Savage of Jackson, Stephen Threlkeld of Oxford, Kristen Tordella-Williams of Jackson, Jennifer Torres of Hattiesburg, Steven Wayne of Southaven, and Brooke White of Oxford.
In addition to exhibiting in the Mississippi Invitational exhibition, all artists are eligible to apply for The Jane Crater Hiatt Artist Fellowship. The Fellowship was created in 2005 by Jane Crater Hiatt and her late husband Wood (1930-2010) in response to the need to nurture and invigorate the arts within the state. A grant of up to $20,000 is awarded to one artist who may use it for study with an individual artist or in a studio, workshop, or residency setting; to pursue projects which further artistic development and support the realization of specific creative ideas; to purchase supplies and equipment; to conduct research; and to travel. The artist is then required to donate one original work of art to the Museum from at least five works created during the two-year grant period.
The fellowship recipient is announced at a reception for the exhibiting artists before the conclusion of the exhibition.
ABOUT THE 2019 GUEST CURATOR
Dr. Kimberli Gant is the McKinnon Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia. Previously she was the Mellon Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Arts of Global Africa at the Newark Museum, in Newark, New Jersey. Dr. Gant has held curatorial positions at UT’s Warfield Center for African & African Diaspora Studies (2013), The Contemporary Austin (2012), and the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA) in Brooklyn, New York (2005-10). She has curated numerous exhibitions including Wondrous Worlds: Art & Islam Through Time & Place (2016), De-Luxe (2012), There is No Looking Glass Here: Wide Sargasso Sea Re-Imagined (2010), and Johannesburg to New York (2008). Dr. Gant received her PhD in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin (2017) and holds both a MA and BA in Art History from Columbia University (2009) and Pitzer College (2002). Her scholarly work is published in academic books, such as Anywhere But Here: Black Intellectuals in the Atlantic World and Beyond(2015); art publications, such as NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art, Art Lies and African Arts; and exhibition catalogues for The Newark Museum, The Contemporary Austin, the Studio Museum of Harlem, MoCADA, Paris Photo, and the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos.
The biennial Mississippi Invitational and its exhibition and catalog are sponsored by the Community Foundation for Mississippi/Jane Crater Hiatt Fund.
