My recent and upcoming shows

***July 13, 2008*** I will be having a one man show in the relatively new Eupora Fine Arts Center this coming spring (2009). I am hoping to have at least 40 of my semi strange, very detailed, pen and ink, surreal works framed for this show. Dates are still tentative, but it should be in late March through mid April. I will post details concerning the exact dates and the opening date when I have that information. This gallery is an old downtown building, which is basically an elongate, rustic structure with brick and old wood. It is not a lot to look at, but it has two really long walls perfect for hanging lots of art! Hopefully, I can have a good turnout to the opening. I am getting great support for this show from Mark Wood, the owner of the Chalet, a local frame/art supply store here in Starkville, MS. Mark has been of great help in the framing/matting process, and I highly recommend anyone needing high quality framing or printing from this area to vist the "Chalet". This show is going to be of incredible quality (at least the frames) due to my works being framed and matted there. Addtionally, I recently received an artist's minigrant from the Mississippi Arts Commission and the National Endowment of the Arts to help pay for various expenses for the show.

Last night I went to the closing reception for the People's choice Competition at the Meridian Museum of Art (here in Mississippi) where I had entered my drawing "Nine Panes of Thought." This contest is a bit unusual in that the viewers vote for their favorite works. This is a large show with entries from several southeastern states, all of which were of high quality. Needless to say, I was happy to learn that I won first place in the drawing/print category! The best of show went to a very nice oil paint portrait of an old man done by a local artist from Meridian. I was more than content considering I am not from Meridian and did not have any friends there who could vote for me. I also met some good contacts and it sounds like I may have lined up a couple of gallery showings for the future with at least two of them.



April 21. Well, I managed to land second place in the Cotton District Juried Art Show in Starkville, MS with "Nine Panes of Thought." As in the previous couple of years that I have entered this cometition, mine was the weirdest stuff in the show! I have had pretty good luck with this show, having won 3rd place two years ago, 1st last year, and now second. It has developed into a very competitive show with lots of entries from the region. Not only that, there are no categories; therefore, you are competing with sculpture, photography, paintings, etc. So, I was quite happy with second place! Some of my local supporters were less happy and actually complained that my stuff was clearly the best and that the reason I didn't get first was that I had won the year before. I appreciated their sentiment, but didn't agree as all of the art in the show was very good. In fact, I would hate to judge a show like this, and I realize that it must be exceedingly difficult to pick winners from such a diverse assortment of artists. The winning piece was a wonderfully rendered pastel drawing of a manufacturing plant done by Michael Maxwell, from Oxford, Mississippi. Third place went to some ceramic work done by Robert Long, a pottery/ceramic professor at Mississippi State University. And of course, there were honorable mentions and some merit prizes for several others....