Contact: Sasha Steinberg
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Printmaking creations on loan from the Mississippi Museum of Art's extensive permanent collection go on display Tuesday [Aug. 26] at Mississippi State's McComas Hall Art Gallery.
Also simultaneously being featured through Oct. 31 at the ground-floor gallery is a series of woodcut prints by contemporary Texas artist Mike Stephens. Since 2006, he has served as an adjunct art instructor at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi.
Free and open to all, the combined exhibit is sponsored by the university's art department.
"Italian Prints from the Mississippi Museum of Art" includes 20 paper creations completed between the 16th-20th centuries by artists Martino Rota, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Canaletto, Simone Cantarini, Orazio Farinati, and Girolamo Imperiale. They focus on a variety of subjects, including angels, religion, architecture and nature.
Stephens seeks to make social commentary through the application of traditional woodcut techniques combined with current images from popular culture. A master of fine arts graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, he employs a graphic comic-book style developed in childhood to explore his place within chaotic scenarios of modern society.
Stephens also holds a bachelor of fine arts from Texas A & M University at Corpus Christi, as well as an associate's degree from Del Mar. For more, visit http://woodencyclops.com.
The MMA exhibition is supported with funds provided by Entergy and the museum's statewide Traveling Exhibition Endowment that is supported through significant private contributions matched by the National Endowment for the Arts. For more, contact the museum at 601-960-1515 or visit www.msmuseumart.org.
One of several art department venues, the McComas Hall Art Gallery regularly features traveling exhibits, student shows, and exhibitions by professional artists. To obtain information about current or future exhibits, contact Lori Neuenfeldt, coordinator for gallery and outreach programs, at 662-325-2973 or LNeuenfeldt@caad.msstate.edu.
Information on MSU's College of Architecture, Art and Design is available at www.caad.msstate.edu and on Facebook www.facebook.com/CAADatMSU and Twitter @CAADatMSU.
MSU is found online at www.msstate.edu and on Facebook www.facebook.com/msstate, Instagram and Twitter @msstate.