Whether their inspirations are mentors, life experiences or personal beliefs, artists hold them in high esteem.
Beginning tonight, Josh Hailey and Meadow Overstreet will use their bachelor of fine arts thesis exhibition as a way to pay homage to such inspirations.
Tonight’s opening reception marks the beginning of the month-long run of Hailey’s “The Moon and Stars” collection and Overstreet’s “Cotton Mill Village” series in the McComas Hall gallery. Both photography emphasis students plan to graduate in December and will display their work in order to meet standard bachelor of fine arts requirements.
“I have been working on this for probably about 2 1/2 months,” Hailey said. “It’s a pretty rigorous process.”
Hailey came to Mississippi State from Jackson with plans to study architecture. After spending time in the darkroom, he picked up a book and began to teach himself the art of photography. Now it is time for Hailey to display the fruits of his three years in the photography program.
Hailey finds beauty in the human form and has revived the work of an artist who inspired him. Hailey draws most of his influence from Alphonse Mucha, a late 19th century painter who focused on the human form.
“It’s sort of a way for me to pay a contemporary homage to him,” he said.
His works are 3 feet by 7 feet in dimension, very large for photographic prints.
Contemporary styles meet classic styles as Hailey attempts to convey what he deems the “birthright of beauty.”
Most of Hailey’s pieces feature nude models.
“It’s shocking to some people, but it is a very fine element of beauty,” he said.
Hailey uses photography to communicate what he finds appealing. The artist said he genuinely values many relationships in his life, which explains his personal attachment to this series built upon photographs of his friends and family.
“It’s a way that I can entice the world. It shows my skills and what I am passionate about.”
Former MSU basketball player Overstreet uses an “across the tracks” perspective to create her own “Cotton Mill Village” series.
“Everyone knows it’s there. Whether it’s on the other side of town, down a dead end street or across the railroad tracks there is an element of adversity near us that everyone knows about,” she said.
Her collection is built on images of people from “across the tracks” in Starkville, Atlanta, Alabama and Tennessee.
“You don’t walk into a gallery and expect to find yourself in this place where you can see adversity by the wrinkles in the faces of those people,” Overstreet said.
“You have to create some sort of a relationship with these people. They have to feel your interest and sincerity.” Overstreet says it is important for her to approach the people in her photographs genuinely.
“You can’t try to blend in or stand out because you don’t. It’s not my experience, but theirs.”
Overstreet becomes part of the experience of such people and invites her viewers to do the same through her work.
She said one of her most memorable experiences occurred in downtown Starkville with a local woman picking flowers. Finished with her project already, Overstreet said she agreed when asked to help pick flowers.
“After I left, I realized how great it would be to take her picture,” she said, smiling. “So I went back and I’m just shooting pictures and she’s talking about this and that and her daughter from Atlanta, and I’m just still shooting.”
Sophomore Mary Elizabeth Curtis said she is looking forward to the event. “It’s not every day in Starkville that you get to go to an art gallery,” she said. “I can’t wait to see what our students are capable of.”