Published: September 03, 2008 07:25 pm            

Backstage Pass:

Meridian Museum of Art Around Mississippi 2008

A special invitational exhibit featuring work by:



Jere Allen

Rick Anderson

Claudia Ka Cartee

Gwendolyn Magee

Annabelle Meacham



Reception:

6-8 p.m., Saturday,

September 6



Gallery Talk:

6:45 p.m.



On Exhibit:

September 6- October 4, 2008



The Museum is located at 628 25th Avenue. The museum is open 1-5 p.m. Tuesday -Sunday.





Rick Anderson



Rick Anderson grew up in the Mississippi Delta. He attained his Masters in Art Education from Delta State and began teaching in 1975 in Mississippi. He retired from the classroom after teaching for 25 years, but continued working as a professional artist. He has exhibited throughout the United States, won many awards, and had his work included in both private and corporate collections. In 2003 Rick illustrated his first children’s book M is for Magnolia: a Mississippi Alphabet. He traveled throughout Mississippi and wrote three more books: N is for Natural States: an Arkansas Alphabet, P is for Passport: a World Alphabet, and 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi: a Mississippi Numbers Book. Rick is a professional speaker and literacy advocate, a member of the International Reading Association, and an art consultant on art curriculum. He and his wife, Merrie, live in Clinton, MS. Rick has been added to the Artist Roster and the Arts in Education Demonstration Roster of the Mississippi Arts Commission.



Artist Statement



"Art is my passion. This passion began at a very early age and has never faded. I paint. My work changes. It evolves. Currently, my paintings include compositions of realistic images juxtaposed with abstract design that often include collage elements, textures, geometric shapes and both bold colors and earth tones."



Jere Allen



Jere Allen was included in Who’s Who in American Art and studied on a Group Studies Fulbright Grant in Costa Rica, Central America. He received the 1993 Visual Art Award of the MS Institute of Arts and Letters and an Individual Artist fellowship from the MS Arts Commission. He has exhibited every other year in “Art for Art Sake” at the Carol Robinson Gallery in New Orleans. Recently, he exhibited in the Huntsville Museum of Art, the LSU Museum of Art,and he exhibited in Outward Bound which traveled to China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore. Jere has had a number of solo exhibits throughout the US and Europe and had work shown in group exhibits in 35 states. His work has been included in permanent collections in a number of galleries. He is represented by Carol Robinson Gallery, New Orleans, LA.



Artist Statement



Jere Allen, whose work is figurative, concerns himself with the representation of political and social realities, stated, “ My paintings employ a reactive method in the search for an elusive notion that has perplexed me for many years. The images, symbols, and composition that stem from personal, social, political realities are often a foil to assist in the realization of feelings generated by that evasive notion.”



Claudia Ka Cartee



Claudia Cartee lives and works near Seminary, Mississippi. She has been a professional studio clay artist since 1970. She received her BFA in ceramics from California State University at Fullerton and graduate work at The University of Southern Mississippi in art education. She was awarded a scholarship to the Penland School of Crafts in 1988 and received an Artist Fellowship Grant from the MS Arts Commission. Claudia has been a member of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi since 1978. She has shown her work nationally in gallery and museum exhibits and received numerous awards at regional art festivals, including the Honored Artist Award form the National Museum for Women in the Arts. She was featured on Mississippi Educational Television on “Southern Expressions” and also featured in the article, “A Potter’s Impression,” in the April, 2005 edition of SASSAFRAS. Claudia’s work consists of both functional and sculptural pieces. Her pottery is entirely handmade, both wheel thrown and hand built. She uses glazes that are original and unique.



Artist Statement



My work is a balance, an almost symbiotic relationship, between functional pottery and artwork. The skills and rhythms developed through the functional work further enable the growth of my artwork. The freedom inherent in the purely expressive nature of the artwork brings joy to the functional potter. I find in my work a balance of freedom and responsibility with respect to the clay. I am inspired by the infinite beauty of the natural world, observing its offering of color, shape, and texture. Also, I am stimulated by the history of man’s response to that world through his creative, artistic endeavors ancient and modern, conscious and unconscious. These connections have been long represented in clay; and as a potter, I revere the classical forms to be found in the ancient works of various cultures. These forms appear and reappear throughout history. I expect their reappearance in my work and I hope to express therein some of the beauty of the natural and the manmade.



Gwendolyn Magee



Gwendolyn Magee, originally from High Point, North Carolina, has been a resident of Jackson, Mississippi, since 1972. She has exhibited widely and has been featured in many books and publications. Her solo exhibit, “A Journey of the Spirit: The Art of Gwendolyn A. Magee” toured eleven venues which included the monograph by the same title. She was honored as Visual Artist of the Year by the MS Institute of Arts & Letters in 2003, adjudicated by the Southern Arts Federation in 2004, awarded an Artist Fellowship by the Mississippi Arts Commission in 2005, and named “Honored Artist” by the Mississippi State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in 2006. She was named Ford Fellow, United States Artists, as well as, Fellow of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi.



Artist Statement



Textiles, fibers and threads are my artistic medium of choice, but color drives my art. Whether the palette is vivid, vibrant, lush – or muted, subdued, somber, it is color that sets the tone and establishes the mood appropriate for the subject at hand. It creates an energy that infuses the work and engages the viewer. Intricate patterning is used to subtly or explicitly reinforce each artwork’s theme. Textural elements are incorporated that intrigue and tantalize the viewer with the desire to engage it through their senses of touch. My art is concentrated within two primary formats: Narrative: dramatic, visual representations of the African American experience and Abstract: explorations of vivid, vibrant, lush color. Using the format of the quilt as my voice, each artwork is designed as a forum for dialogue and communication. Each is an open invitation for the viewer to embark with me on a “journey of the spirit”



Annabelle Meacham



Annabelle Meacham, born in Virginia, has lived in Mississippi most of her life. She received her BS Degree from Florida State University and studied at the Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN for three years. She has participated in many group shows since 1982, the most recent being the Delta Axis Power House Art Auction, in Memphis, TN, “…and the levee broke” (about Hurricane Katrina flooding), Richmond, VA, and Memphis, TN titled “New Work.” The major juried shows in which Annabelle’s work has been included are 49th Annual Delta Exhibition, Little Rock, AR, the Micro Museum, Brooklyn, NYC, Memphis, TN, and Fredericksburg, VA. She has had one-artist exhibitions at Duke University, the Arts Center of the Ozarks, and the Savannah College of Art and Design, GA, and other museums and galleries in the south. Her work is included in collections of Federal Express, Promus Hotel Corp., Holiday Inns, and others. She lives and paints in Senatobia, Mississippi and is represented by Jay Etkin Gallery in Memphis and Brick Gallery in Clarksdale, Mississippi.



Artist Statement



Annabelle Meacham’s art is about mental associations, and exploring and making images of those associations. She utilizes images from any source, ranging from nature to pure imagination. The paintings she chose for this exhibition are early favorites, from her Surrealist work.

        

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