Festivals and Artwalks
It's been a while since I posted here and with Covid still happening, the craziness has continued. Until very recently there were very few opportunities to show our art. But we did get to finally participate in a few festivals and and artwalks starting late last spring and especially within the last couple of months. We did an artwalk in Meridian, the Threefoot Festival in Meridian, Expression Fest, the Prairie Arts Festival, Starkville Sunday Funday, the Starkville Artwalk, the Cotton District Arts Festival, and the Columbus Artwalk.
We have two more Sunday Funday events coming up this Fall on October 31 and November 21 on Sunday afternoons on Lafayette Street in downtown Starkville, MS. We are headed to the Peter Anderson Festival in Ocean Springs from November 6–7! This is a huge festival and hopefully the weather and buyers will be on our side.
Exhibitions
Back in late February through the end of March, Joseph MacGown and I had a really nice exhibition of our art at the Fine Arts Gallery at the Meridian Community College!
I had a small piece entitled EC's Dreamasaur in our Starkville Area Arts Exhibition called "Time on Our Hands" this past summer. This ink on Claybord piece was inspired by my creative stepdaughter, Emma Claire (EC).
Both Joseph and I had work accepted into the Cotton District Juried show, which is still on display through the end of October. Joseph had three cool ceramic pieces accepted and I had two weird pen drawings that made the cut. My "Microverse 1" won first place in the drawing division!
I have a collaborative drawing called "Honeymoon" done with Bernard Dumaine in a show in France up this month! The Exhibition entitled "Un autre Monde" is at the Galerie Art en Valois in Angouleme, France and includes sculptures by Olivier Martin, Lou Henix, and drawings and paintings by Bernard Dumaine, which include some of his collaborations!
Interview with The Mississippi Presenter's Network
The Mississippi Presenter's Network out of Oxford, MS recently did a series of videos about me and my process of making art. Here is the forward they wrote: "Starkville-based artist Joe MacGown doesn't consciously come up with ideas for his work. Instead, MacGown likes to let what he sees happening in the world, be it people, nature, politics, religions, stir around in his mind for a while and come out in its own way through his drawings or paintings. he calls his approach subconscious meandering."
These videos and others can be found on the Mississippi Presenter's Network FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/mspresentersnetwork. Here is a link to one of the videos done about me: https://www.facebook.com/185624931797925/videos/503586114125705.
MacGown Art Retreat concept
Over the last few years, we have been actively trying to create an art complex of sorts at our property in the Sessums Community just outside of Starkville, MS. The work has been slow, but continuous based on time and money! Basically, any art we sell goes to this project. We currently have a functional studio (very packed!), are almost done with a cool rustic art cabin, have started a gallery to show our art and conduct small workshops, my wife Jennifer and I are finishing up an artistically designed house, and our existing house will become an art house where visiting artists can stay or visitors for events may choose to rent the entire home or individual rooms. The backdrop of the structures is a revamped 3 acre+ pond with a pavilion all surrounded by Black Belt Prairie and Oak Hickory Forest habitat. We hope to start having small events as soon as the spring of 2022. In the meantime, our studio is open by appointment (art@joemacgown.com).
