Art

Punk Diaspora in the Deep South Symposium

dlb134 — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 17:58:42 +0000

Punk Diaspora in the Deep South Symposium Art dlb134 Monday, March 30, 2026 - 12:58 pm No2026-04-09T18:00:00-0500 2026-04-12T20:00:00-0500 Mississippi State University Department of Art

The Mississippi State University Department of Art and Galleries are pleased to present the Punk Diaspora in the Deep South Symposium April 9-12, here on campus and April 12th in Oxford, MS in partnership with the Southern Punk Archive and Punk Flea Market.

A student-focused event will take place the evening of April 9th.

On Friday, April 10th, please join us for a panel discussion with several authors from the recently published "What Punk Taught Me" (Vernon Press, 2025) in the Old Main Art Gallery at 1pm.

Saturday, April 11th, first things first. Please be sure to attend the 34th Annual International Fiesta on the Drill Field. We will then host a public zine and poster workshop in Stafford Hall from 3-5pm.

Sunday, the Symposium will travel up to Oxford to take part in Punker Decker Weekend and the Punk Flea Market in the afternoon and evening.

Four days focused on music, culture, and ethos.

Presenters include:

Dr. Greg Blair, University of Southern Indiana

Dr. Jason Swift, University of West Georgia

Valerie George, University of West Florida

Scott Satterwhite, University of West Florida

Dr. Jenna Altomonte, Mississippi State University

Dixie Boswell, Mississippi State University

About the Presenters

Dr. Greg Blair

Originally from Red Deer, Canada, Gregory Blair is an artist, writer, educator, and activist that resides in Evansville, Indiana with his wife and two children. Blair is an Assistant Professor of Art and Design at the University of Southern Indiana where he teaches contemporary art history, digital illustration, and gender studies courses. Blair’s latest book project, What Punk Taught Me, was published by Vernon Press in 2025. Blair’s previous books include: The Politics of Spatial Transgressions in the Arts(2011) and Errant Bodies, Mobility, and Political Resistance (2018) - both published by Palgrave MacMillan. His writings have also been featured in Arts Magazine, The Journal of Art for Life, Echo: A Music-Centered Journal, Art Style Magazine, and Kapsula Magazine. Blair has also had the good fortune to hang out with the Guerilla Girls for an entire day.

Insta: @gregblairart

Dr. Jason Swift

Swift earned his BFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1994, his MFA from the Rinehart School of Sculpture, MICA in 1997 and his EdM in 2003 and EdD in 2009 from Columbia University. He was artist in residence for MICA’s Curatorial Experiences Program, guest lecturer at the Central Academy of Fine Arts’ Art Education Leadership Academy in Beijing and a resident at the Vermont Studio Center. In 1997 Swift received the Amalie Rothschild Award and the Enid Morse Fellowship for Teaching in the Arts in 2005. In 2004 he co-founded the Pearl Street Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Swift has served on the boards of artHarlem, Visions in New York City: Short Films and Video Group and ITI. He is an Associate Professor of Art at the University of West Georgia and in his studio and research practice, Swift investigates his experiences with skateboarding, punk rock and his Grandfather on his farm. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and published in Visual Inquiry: Learning and Teaching Art and Future Forward. Swift co-edited and published the book What Punk Taught Me and wrote the chapter Straight and Alert: Being a Straight Edge Punk in a Small Southern Town.

Insta: @jswiftart

Val George

VALERIE GEORGE (she her) is an artist whose work over the past twenty years has reflected holistically on art and life through installation, site-specific works, video, performance, sound, sculpture, photography, new media, drawing, collaboration, and curatorial practice. Her work explores grief, loss, and mortality through the lens of punk—drawing from lyrics, sound, archival fragments, and materials that carry the weight of lived experience. George engages processes of chance, entropy, and accumulation, allowing works to emerge through layered gestures, recordings, and objects gathered across time and place. Influenced by punk’s ethic of immediacy and emotional candor, her practice treats art as both artifact and action: a way of confronting impermanence while honoring the communities and histories that shape us. Through these investigations, George creates spaces where art and life collapse into one another, offering raw meditations on memory, presence, and the fragile intensity of being alive.

George received her MFA from the University of California, Davis, where she worked closely with Lynn Hershman Leeson and Mary Lucier. She is a Professor of Art at the University of West Florida, a member of Good Children Gallery in New Orleans, and a Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of the 309 Punk Project in Pensacola, Florida. Insta: @309punkproject

Dr. Jenna Altomonte

Jenna Ann Altomonte is an Associate Professor of Art History at Mississippi State University. She received her Master of Arts in Art History (2009) and Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Arts (2017) from Ohio University. Her primary area of research centers on contemporary art and digital performance studies.

Dixie Boswell

Dixie Boswell is an artist, curator, activist, and mischief maker. She earned a BFA in Drawing & Painting from Mississippi State University and an MFA in Studio Art from Claremont Graduate University.

As the Gallery Director and Exhibition Coordinator for the Mississippi State University Department of Art, her days are filled with designing exhibitions, working with students and community colleagues, and creating interdisciplinary publicly accessible programming.

She believes a better world can be built through collaboration and creativity.

NYC-based artist Andrew Mullally hosts printmaking workshop

jtm1050 — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 18:27:15 +0000

NYC-based artist Andrew Mullally hosts printmaking workshop jtm1050 Thursday, March 26, 2026 - 1:27 pm

Last week, Andrew Mullally held a one-of-a-kind workshop in the printmaking studio, located in the Visual Arts Center (VAC) on campus. Mullally specializes in print media, focusing on nature and climate crises. He taught students how to customize their own print using carved wooden stamps, taking inspiration from a technique called "exquisite corpse." After providing a step-by-step tutorial on how to apply ink onto the carvings and how to properly use the printing press, students had the freedom to mix and match their own choosing of a head, torso and legs to create a unique character.

"I knew his [Assistant Professor Jacob Crook] students were working through relief projects, and he asked me if I wanted to come out and talk to his students," Mullally states. "I was more than happy to come down and show some work."

Art

Image (Thumbnail)

Mississippi State’s Department of Art teams up with Tupelo firm to blend classroom and professional world

jtm1050 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 22:14:18 +0000

Mississippi State’s Department of Art teams up with Tupelo firm to blend classroom and professional world jtm1050 Tuesday, March 3, 2026 - 4:14 pm

One Night Only Exhibition

jtm1050 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 20:56:34 +0000

One Night Only Exhibition Art jtm1050 Tuesday, March 3, 2026 - 2:56 pm No2026-04-30T14:00:00-0500 2026-04-30T16:00:00-0500

Students from Jenna Altomonte's Global Contemporary Art class will be showcasing their artwork in this One Night Only Exhibition.

Mississippi State students travel to New York with the Department of Art

amw1419 — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 23:18:44 +0000

Mississippi State students travel to New York with the Department of Art amw1419 Thursday, December 18, 2025 - 5:18 pm

Art 3801 NYC Art Field Study – Fall 2025

amw1419 — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:40:49 +0000

Art 3801 NYC Art Field Study – Fall 2025 amw1419 Thursday, December 18, 2025 - 12:40 pm

This is a gallery combining the photos ART 3801 students took while in New York City and the pieces they created for the One Night Only Exhibition at the end of the course, a reflection on their travels.

Brad James Jr.

amw1419 — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 17:22:36 +0000

Brad James Jr. amw1419 Monday, November 24, 2025 - 11:22 am Alumni

By Ainsley Weems | MSU Communication Student Class of 2026

Brad James Jr. discovered his passion for art with the help of his art appreciation professor at Mississippi State University. He decided to change his major to art and grow his skills in figure and portrait drawing, illustrations and graphics. However, a new world opened up to James when he took Timothy McCourt’s non-representational painting course.

“That shifted everything to me. After graduating, I took about three months and just did nothing but abstract art,” James said.

James’ newly found style inspired him to enter a few abstract pieces of work in the 51st MSU Student Juried Exhibition. This exhibition is where his abstract piece won “Best in Show,” to his surprise.

“That came as a surprise because it was an abstract painting,” said James, typically a figure and portraits painter. “It meant a lot to get acknowledgment from your colleagues about something that you really don't even practice like that.”

When it came to painting the mural at Pita Pit’s Starkville location, he teamed up with fellow Department of Art graduate Donovan Weathers II, Class of 2024. James said this is just one of a few murals they have worked on together.

“It's not our first mural together,” James said, “but I think we'll both agree that this is definitely the most creative now the ones that we've done.”

Reflecting on his time as a student at Mississippi State, James said that he believes more art students need to get out of their shell within the first few years and connect with one another. By reaching out to a peer, the door is open for bonds to be formed. He also advises students to learn to take criticism well and look at it as an opportunity to grow.

“A lot of artists have a hard time with criticism, so if you find someone that you can get good criticism from and y’all both benefit from it, that will launch you,” James said, “because without criticism, you're not going to get better.”

Art

History of Art Pre-1300's - One Night Only Exhibition

amw1419 — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 17:19:40 +0000

History of Art Pre-1300's - One Night Only Exhibition Art amw1419 Monday, November 17, 2025 - 11:19 am No2025-11-20T14:00:00-0600 2025-11-20T16:00:00-0600 2nd Floor Union Art Gallery

Contemporary Art of Southwest Asia - One Night Only Exhibition

amw1419 — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 17:15:50 +0000

Contemporary Art of Southwest Asia - One Night Only Exhibition Art amw1419 Monday, November 17, 2025 - 11:15 am No2025-11-20T18:00:00-0600 2025-11-20T19:00:00-0600 2nd Floor Union Art Gallery

Come explore the different aspects of the Middle East through the eyes of students and their artwork. You can come and go as you please.

Former MSU professor creates portraits for Postal Service Revolutionary War stamp collection

amw1419 — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 02:26:10 +0000

Former MSU professor creates portraits for Postal Service Revolutionary War stamp collection amw1419 Monday, November 10, 2025 - 8:26 pm