Tonight there is culture in Starkville with the Starving Artists Union’s fourth show, “On Strike,” a group exhibition. Previous shows have gotten good response with different factions of the community showing up such as professors, students and locals. The past exhibitions have been laid-back affairs where people mingled while eating good food and enjoying beer or non-alcoholic beverages.
“On Strike” is composed of work that goes back many years into the portfolios of the six members of the Union participating in the exhibition.
Union member Carl Blackledge said this show is like looking into the artists’ diaries.
“It’s the stuff you do while you’re laying in your bed at night,” Blackledge said. “It is voyeuristic, like an actress doing her first nude scene.”
Artist Mitch Wright, a graduate of the Mississippi State University Department of Art, describes the show as a look at their most interesting work. He said it gives viewers a chance to look into their notebooks and see the things they hide.
Blackledge said there will be an enormous amount of work there, so much in fact that the walls won’t be visible. Since there are so many pieces, some of them will be inexpensive, ranging in price from 10 cents to $300.
The show runs from 7 to 9 p.m. and all work that isn’t sold by 8:45 p.m. will be burned. The idea behind burning their work is to be out with the old and in with the new.
“There are certain elements of painting that we’ve kept that act as a crutch,” Wright said.
To keep with the vibe of letting go of things that inhibit further growth, Wright will be burning letters and photographs from a girlfriend he had 10 years ago. These items will not be for sale.
The show will take place at what was previously the Boardtown Garden Center, located at 404 Highway 82 W. Admission and refreshments from the Blue Chef are free.
“We’ve sold work in the past, but we haven’t sold enough,” gallery owner August Goulet said. “We are trying to generate capital to put into the space and renovate the studios.”
Currently, the gallery is renting out studios that are inside greenhouses that the garden center used. The cost of a space is $60. To inquire on a studio space, call 320-9492.
“It is a collaborative space where artists can help each other out and share experience and tools,” union member Dylan Karges said.
Goulet and his wife, Susan McCann, also a union member, became the owners of the Starving Artists Union Gallery and Studio after his grandparents gave up their nursery business after 15 years of operation. He and the other artists believe the gallery was something that Starkville desperately needed.
“We are the only cultural outlet in Starkville to see art,” Goulet said. “I personally got tired of people saying Starkville had no cultural outlets.”
“This is something that has been talked a lot about in Starkville, and August (Goulet) and Susan (McCann) brought it about,” Wright said.
The union members encourage everyone to partake in this cultural experience. They said they have art of all kinds that pertain to a wide variety of interests.
All proceeds from the show will directly benefit the Starving Artists Union Gallery and studios.
The artists’ union is very accepting of volunteers who want to help out around the studio or submit work for a possible exhibition.