After years of intensive study, training and lots of midnight oil, graduating seniors of the Department of Art and Design at The University of Southern Mississippi will celebrate their academic achievements April 16-24 with an exhibition of their works at the university’s Museum of Art.

The annual show will be divided into two exhibitions for the spring semester, with the first featuring drawings and paintings of four graduating fine arts students. A reception opens the exhibit from 4-6 p.m. April 16 at the museum.

The second half of the show will feature graphic design and sculpture works April 30-May 8.

A senior project involves the creation and defense of a substantial body of work. It is required of all students pursuing a bachelor of fine arts and an optional requirement for Bachelor of Arts students.

The painting senior show will include work by Monica Smith of Gulfport, Jason Ellis of Picayune, Kyle Goddard of Brandon and Eric Huckabee of Waveland.

Smith is a senior drawing and painting major who has also studied art abroad in Cortona, Italy, through the University of Georgia.  She won second place in painting in the Southern Miss annual student art show in 2008 and 2009.

“Art intrigues me,” Smith said.  “It interests me because no matter how much I've learned or how far I've come, there will always be more. I will never arrive, and that excites me.”

Ellis’ works consist of a deconstruction process of older works. Previous paintings and drawings are cut into strips and squares, reassembled and then composed into a new object.  “My current works involve the pieces being stacked on top of each other to create a form that resembles a totem pole,” he said. 

Born in Vicksburg but raised on the Gulf Coast, Ellis began studying at Southern Miss in 2004. He is a double art major in painting and ceramics. 

Goddard, a Brandon native and who served in the United States Army for nine years, has enjoyed studying art at Southern Miss and says his “artistic abilities have matured greatly here.”

“My art deals primarily with linear visual problems,” Goddard said.  “My paintings were always more about size and shape contrast than color.  In the past year, I decided to remove all color from my palette using only black and white to force me to focus only on size, shape and position, along with different edge qualities.”

For Huckabee, who has won “Best in Show” in the 2008 and 2009 Student shows, “painting is both an unmerciful and beautiful dialogue of honesty between the canvas and myself.”  

“Contemporary art does not have to be heroic,” he explains.  “It does not have to be political, controversial or of anything. In today's culture we are constantly bombarded with information, and instant gratification rules supreme. Making paintings that will stand on their own, that are pure expressions and reactions, that allow a viewer to sit quietly and spend some time feeling, seems rather fitting.”

The University of Southern Mississippi Museum of Art is located in the Fine Arts Building at the southwest corner of campus. Special hours for this show are Tues.-Wed., 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Thurs., 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Fri., 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission to the museum and reception is free and open to the public. School and community groups are welcome. Call the Museum of Art at 601.266.5200 for more information.

For more information, call the Museum of Art at 601.266.5200; online,  visit www.usm.edu/arts; or contact Angela Kilcrease at 601.266.4988.

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