Contact: Sammy McDavid
A celebration of the life and work of the Mississippi State art department's founding administrator will take place Oct. 8 at the university's main art gallery.
The public tribute to Arthur Leonard Farley will begin at 7 p.m. in the Art Department Gallery in McComas Hall. The program includes a reception and the formal presentation of an exhibition of photographs by the Clanton, Ala., native who died in 1997 after a decade of retirement from an 18-year MSU career.
"Leonard and his wife Deedie traveled extensively throughout the United States and the world," said current department head Brent Funderburk. "This retrospective exhibit will illustrate some of the photographic results of those travels." Farley's acclaimed Natchez Trace Parkway Series is a prominent part of the collection, Funderburk added.
The gallery exhibition, which opens Thursday [Sept. 30], runs through Oct. 22.
Farley was a University of Alabama and Ohio State University graduate who taught at Arkansas State University before coming to MSU in 1968.
"Leonard influenced hundreds of students in his 18 years at Mississippi State and his 'investment' in them and the department has paid off in so many ways," Funderburk said.
"Today, we enroll some 300 majors and, with a 150 percent increase in majors over five years, are the fastest growing department in the university," he said. "We also believe it to be one of the best art departments in the South."
To further honor Farley's memory, Funderburk said a scholarship fund is being created through the university's Office of Development.
"This scholarship program, like Leonard's academic career, will help make a difference in the lives of young, talented students," Funderburk said.
For more information on the exhibition or scholarship fund, contact the art department by e-mail da@ra.msstate.edu or telephone (662) 325-2970. The mailing address is P.O. Box 5182, Mississippi State, MS 39762.