The Visual Arts Gallery Center hosts several artistic events and exhibitions each semester.
Currently, the gallery, which has a main office located near Bulldog Burger, is exhibiting “Narratives of the Land,” an exhibit about the beautiful gem that is Mississippi, in honor of the state’s bicentennial.
This exhibit is one of the many birthday gifts Mississippi State University is giving to our home state, and it will remain in the gallery until the end of September.
The exhibit features work by Walter Inglis Anderson, Ke Francis, Bill Dunlap and Eudora Welty.
Admission to the exhibit is free, and it is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on all weekdays.
“Narratives of the Land” is part of the Mississippi Museum of Art’s “Art Across Mississippi: Twelves Exhibitions, Twelve Communities,” a statewide series of exhibitions featuring works by locally known artists and famous Mississippians from the past and present.
Lizzy Abston, the curator of the collection at the Mississippi Museum of Art, is excited to share the collection with MSU.
“Besides being an opportunity to have our collection on view to a wider audience, the collection itself contains over 5,500 objects, so we welcome any opportunity to expand to other gallery spaces,” Abston said.
Abston said those who have been to the Mississippi Museum of Art are sure to find something new at every traveling exhibit.
“Although our exhibition space is quite large, we can only have about 200 objects from the collection on view at any given time,” Abston said. “These traveling exhibitions are a way to keep the collection on view when they might not be able to fit into our exhibition space.”
Gallery director Lori Neuenfeldt said “Narratives of the Land” offers a window into exciting angles on life in Mississippi.
“These works of art show the diversity of the landscape here in Mississippi,” Neuenfeldt said. “There are photographs of buildings, front porches and the coastline, as well as paintings of homes and the dense forests.”
Each semester, different students work in the gallery as assistants. These hard-working students help put these exhibits and events together.
Katie Trapp, one of the gallery assistants this semester, said “Narratives of the Land” is a very special exhibit.
“The artwork is absolutely stunning,” Trapp said. “[It] really shows the diversity our state has to offer that we don’t always get represented as having.”
Trapp said she is excited to play a part in connecting the community with exhibits like “Narratives of the Land.”
“The show really exemplifies what our communities all over the state have to offer, and I’m very excited for our gallery to have the privilege of displaying this work,” Trapp said.
Neuenfeldt said she believes the exhibit tells the story of Mississippi in a way that is relevant to every MSU student and encourages everyone to visit the Visual Arts Gallery before the exhibit leaves at the end of the month.
“The exhibit is significant to MSU as we are a land-grant institution and so many of our programs are connected to the study and development of the natural resources of the state,” Neuenfeldt said.