Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Works by two Mississippi State students and two university art faculty members are being accepted into an international photographic exhibition.
In student-faculty competition at the Photo Imaging Education Association's annual conference, a national panel of judges recently chose 115 images from 91 entrants. More than 6,000 images were submitted this year by some 1,330 entrants at 114 schools in 10 countries.
PIEA is the world's largest photographic industry association. Its 2009 photo competition is producing separate travelling exhibitions for the United States and Australia.
Senior photography major Candace P. Hitt of Hernando took an honorable mention in the college student computer-assisted category for "Faded." Her digitally constructed image deals with the theme of depression. [Hitt is the daughter of George and Vera Hitt.]
Katherine J. Holmes of Madison, a December graduate in photography, was honored with a third-place award in the college student portfolio category. Titled "Nocturne: A Domestic Perspective," her 2008 bachelor of fine arts senior thesis series explores various domestic environments illuminated at night. [Holmes is the daughter of Beth Holmes.]
Veteran professor Marita Gootee, who heads the art department's photography program, won second place in the faculty single-image category. Her entry, "Crab on Beach," is a traditional black-and-white image taken with a pinhole camera and later hand tinted.
Visiting assistant professor Christopher Luhar-Trice received an honorable mention in the faculty portfolio category. Titled "Dixie Square Project," his series explores shadows found in the former Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Ill.
Gootee said the PIEA challenge is "very competitive." The selected exhibit entries represent the best efforts of talented student and faculty peers around the world, she observed.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more on the 2009 PIEA competition, contact Gootee at 662-325-2970 or click here.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.