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2024 Fall Conference

Award Presentation & Art Party
Friday, Nov. 15, 2024
Hal & Mal's

200 Commerce St., Jackson

Keynote Speaker

An artist known for his large, exuberantly hued, watermedia paintings as well as energetic teaching and lectures, Brent Funderburk is a Charlotte, North Carolina native who has worked as a teacher and administrator for three universities over 40 years. Funderburk is a 2024 Mississippi Governor’s Arts Award recipient and William L. Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Mississippi State University where he taught for 36 years. He was recognized with some of the University’s highest academic, teaching and research honors including the Southeastern Conference Faculty Excellence Award, the John Grisham Teaching Award, the Ralph E. Powe Faculty Research Award, and the Burlington Northern Faculty Excellence Award. Living a robust life of art practice and travel, the artist has researched and produced passionately, working in mixed mediums, on site and in the studio in Starkville, Mississippi. Funderburk’s work has been published widely, in periodicals and annuals such as Watercolor Magazine, Watercolor Artist Magazine, Artists Magazine, Creative Quarterly: The Journal of Art and Design, Studio Visit, Southwestern Art, Splash: The Best of Watercolor, and in museum publications. He has presented 35 one-person exhibitions across the U.S, and has been represented by galleries in Atlanta, Charlotte, New Orleans, and Memphis (etc.), with works in public and private collections across the U.S. and abroad. Brent Funderburk has curated, lectured with, and written for exhibitions that have toured U.S. museums. Further, his artwork has been juried into over 100 regional, national, and international shows, with numerous awards. He has spoken and taught extensively on the life and art of Walter Inglis Anderson, such as in association with the Smithsonian Institute exhibition, “Everything I See is New and Strange”, and with the show he curated, “Ecstasy: The Mystical Landscapes of Walter Anderson,” that toured museums in MS, FL, TN and LA, from 2008 to 2011. In 2010, Funderburk was named the Official Artist of the USA International Ballet Competition, and in 2015-16 his art toured China in seven museums. He has taught in U.S. national parks as well as in Italy and has conducted numerous painting/drawing workshops across the country. As a noted presenter, Funderburk has lectured in hundreds of venues, including museums, galleries, universities, and at regional/national conferences. His areas of expertise include American watercolor painting, modern American visionary artists such as Walter Inglis Anderson, Charles E. Burchfield, and Will Henry Stevens, as well as Robert Henri and his circle, the Transcendental Painting Group, and his own art. The artist is married to dancer/choreographer Deborah Wyatt Funderburk, a former university instructor who has taught studio dance and dance history, while directing the development of Terpsichore, the Mississippi State University student dance theatre company. They reside in Mississippi and have two adult sons.

Thursday Studio Sessions:

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Inside Nature: Chasing the Path of Light through Watercolor
with Brent Funderburk

Join Brent Funderburk for an inspiring watercolor workshop where you’ll learn essential techniques to enhance your painting skills. Perfect for all skill levels, this workshop offers a valuable opportunity to elevate your skills and creativity while exploring the unique techniques and insights that define Funderburks’ iconic style of watercolor painting. Limit 20 Participants.

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Hand Forming Clay and Mindful Awareness for Artists
with bech evans

In this workshop, participants will learn techniques for hand forming sculptural pottery, and use prompts inspired by a variety of wisdom traditions to help us “be here now.” It is so common for me to experience fear and doubt and anxiety and insecurity when I pull out art materials. Mindful awareness can help us notice what cuts us off—something like fear--from our own creativity and help us reconnect to it by bringing our attention to the experience of making, which can be delightful and boring. Through making one cup, one bowl, and one plate, participants will be invited to notice and befriend these ordinary human feelings, and learn how these feelings can benevolently guide us into new artistic territory. For brief portions of the day, participants will be invited to observe silence and refrain from using their phones. Participants’ work will be bisque fired when they dry and available for pickup in the Museum classroom within two weeks of the workshop.

Coil Basket Weaving

with Rebecca Lancaster

In this workshop participants will hear a brief history of weaving, explore a variety of weaving materials, and learn the coil basket weaving technique. Coil basket weaving is a traditional and versatile technique used to create baskets and other woven objects. This method involves coiling materials—such as reeds, grasses, or fabric strips—into a spiral pattern and then sewing or stitching them together. Once the technique is learned participants will be encouraged to create a series of small woven vessels, a vessel with a lid and handles, or go as big as they can in the time allowed! The goal of this workshop is to not only learn a new technique or skill but to also enjoy the social camaraderie an art like weaving can create. Limit 20 Participants.

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Experimenting with Cut Paper & Mixed Media Techniques with Robin Martéa

Unleash your creativity and delve into the world of cut paper and mixed media artistry. Through an exploration of techniques, materials, and artistic concepts, workshop participants will learn how to craft artworks that combine the tactile beauty of cut paper with the limitless possibilities of mixed media.

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Birds of a Feather:
Paper Pulp Painting
 
with Randy Miley

Wanna try something new? Try painting with cotton fiber! It's called Pulp Painting. Join papermaker Randy Miley as he gives this old approach a new twist. Our subject will be “birds” and our palettes will be wild! You will learn how to make paper, color pulp, and then use pulp to paint expressively. Get ready, this workshop is fun and time will “fly by!”

Dates: November 14-16, 2024

Locations:

  • Thurs.: Mississippi Museum of Art & Mississippi College

  • Fri.: MS Museum of Art

  • Sat.: Pearl High School

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