Works of Claudia DeMonte, a visiting New York City artist, are on display through Nov. 7 at the Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery at Mississippi State University.
Lori Neuenfeldt, art instructor at MSU, said she found DeMonte to be caring and captivating, and she is ecstatic about giving insight into the realm of art on the international level.
“She is very thoughtful and engaging. She  is also extremely open about discussing her artwork and giving insight to her pieces. I always enjoy talking to her. As an artist from and still living in New York, she makes the international art world very accessible,” Neuenfeldt said.
Neuenfeldt said DeMonte’s exhibit shows creations from over 30 years of her career and hopes her works will allow people to contemplate messages through her art.
“I hope visitors are moved by the small sculpture and are led to ask questions about what the artist is trying to communicate,” Neuenfeldt said.
Neuenfeldt also said she believes people will discover DeMonte’s work takes everyday images and manipulates them in a way that they portray modern day topics.
“They will find that DeMonte’s work takes familiar images and twists them to fit contemporary issues. They are beautiful pieces and also fun,” Neuenfeldt said.
Describing an example of DeMonte’s Calendar piece, a 12-month calendar that consists of different monthly photos of DeMonte and meaningful events, Neuenfeldt said it features everything from trivial events to big gallery shows.
Neuenfeldt said she loves this piece because even though it was made 38 years ago, it still applies to how people today interact with social media sites.
“What I love about this piece is it was made in 1976, but references how we are today with social media, posting every day about everything we do, where we go, what we eat and images of us doing everything and anything,” Neuenfeldt said.
Neuenfeldt said she believes DeMonte’s visit and her artwork is a great thing for students at MSU because students not only get an opportunity to meet her and find out how she does what she does, but also learn why art is important.
“Art is essential and speaks a language that is understood and spread throughout all different types of cultures. Students can find out how she is able to make a living off of being an artist, but also why art is so important,” Neuenfeldt said. “Claudia can speak to students about the responsibilities and power of using art as a means to cross cultural barriers, extremely valuable in today’s ever expanding global economy. Also, it brings great art to Starkville and the surrounding community.”
Adrienne Callander, exhibit coordinator in the museum of art at MSU, said she believes DeMonte’s exhibit has great historical worth.
 “The greatest value of this show is its historical value. The span of the work is from the mid-70s to 2009, and her work is as relevant today as it was 40 years ago,” 
Callander said. Callander said DeMonte is a very passionate artist.
 “She’s a vibrant, living, working artist,” Callander said.  “Through her work, DeMonte refers to domestic issues of women and does so with a cheerful and carefree address to these issues,” Callander said. “In DeMonte’s work, there are references to domestic objects and domestic experiences and the rejection of those. Demonte does it with a very light-hearted address to these subjects.  She takes things that might seem burdensome to women and turns them into fanciful objects.”  
Callander  said DeMonte’s art not only analyzes the higher ranking of males to females, but also analyzes the scale of materials she uses to create her art.
“ DeMonte has a way of not only critiquing gender hierarchy of male to female,  but also addressing the hierarchy of fine art material. She takes basic materials like plastic and paper pulp and elevates them to fine art status,” Callander said.
 Callander said she believes it is essential to know the issues of males being superior to females have been around for years, and by viewing Claudia’s works, students at MSU get the opportunity to understand the historical importance of the fine arts.
“It is important to know that this dialogue has been going on for a long time about traditional gender roles,” Callander said. “A great number of students, faculty and people from around the community have come to see DeMonte’s pieces. I am really pleased with the traffic and the large number of student faculty and people from the larger community who have come through,” Callander said.
Sydney Armer, student gallery assistant at the Cullis Wade Depot art gallery, said she believes viewing Claudia DeMonte’s work will help make people open-minded about art. 
“It   will help broaden horizons,” Armer said.  “People don’t really appreciate art, and they don’t realize art is all around them. Her artwork will make people appreciate art, open their eyes and allow them to not take it for granted.”