Here in Mississippi

Here in Mississippi, where I have taught for the past year,

the holy trinity for most is family, football, and church. 

This model presents me with a unique teaching opportunity

in a region dominated by sports and Baptists.

Many of my students are able to accept only two of three

dominant search modes for universal understanding: Theology, Science, or Art.

 Though all three strive to order the raw data of our perceptions

into familiar structures, many a young Mississippi student cannot reconcile

faith and evolution, or self-expression and service to community.

In New Jersey, Indiana, Kentucky, and Mississippi,

I have encountered a common challenge:

in order to teach effectively,

I must learn the cultural language that my students speak

as I speak to them in the language of contemporary visual arts.

FiberPaperArt Club (FPA)

FPA had a great week. Tuesday evening found club members in Briscoe taking a letterpress workshop with Prof. Suzanne Powney. Suzanne will lead FPA members in a series of paper-based workshops this semester. This week, everyone had a chance to run the press - first for blind embossing and then all inked up. Later this month, she will meet with the club to teach everyone how to make a simple pamphlet with letterpress cover. In early November, she will teach us more complex bookbinding. You will never be without a sketchbook once you learn these techniques. This summer, I made a simple pamphlet from left over brown paper bags for my mountain profile studies:

Suzanne's are much prettier:

Final product for Workshop #1:

Other moments in letterpress:

While in Studio B,

the professionals were at work:

On Wednesday evening, we met as we do every week in Stafford.

This week, we sample dyed with turmeric:

Next week, we will use these samples in mini art quilts.

FPA members will present the art quilts
to the Golden Triangle Quilt Guild.
The Quilt Guild will donate mini quilts to
the Starkville Arts Association for their scholarship drive.

If you want to play with color and learn quilting basics - see you next Wednesday!

Also, Molly showed us this super fast baby blanket that she made:

Molly will send out a material list for everyone interested in making their own

and will lead the tutorial - maybe in two weeks?

A rough cut of the

Josh Azzarella / Tiffany Calvert artist talk:

Azzarella / Calvert Lecture

I look forward to editing; I want to drop in still shots of the work over the audio.

In the meantime, link to their websites:

Josh Azzarella

Tiffany Calvert

Last week, Josh Azzarella, Tiffany Calvert and Ronna Lebo came to Starkville.

As visiting artists, they delivered artist talks, met with students, had dinner with MSU Art Department faculty, and hosted a gallery talk and reception.

They were tremendously generous with their time;

it was great having them here.

I did not have a chance to document Tiffany and Josh in the classroom,

but I did capture Ronna as she led a Design class

on shape and building abstract compositions:

At the reception, Brittany became very attached to her clicker,

as she constituted one-woman crowd control:

It was especially great to see students engage the work:

Many thanks to these artists for their commitment to art

in the studio and in the teaching community!

Selected works from the exhibition catalog:

A few of the works by the other artists in the show.
Belinda Blum, Julie Evanoff, Gabbe Grodin, and Carin Rodenborn: