11 August Art exhibit August 11, 2017 By Thomas, Donna S. General 0 “Places and People We Love: An Artists Private Collection” by Dot Courson of Pontotoc and her daughter, Susan Patton of Bruce, is currently on display in the W.O. Benjamin Fine Arts Center gallery at the Itawamba Community College Fulton Campus. The exhibit, which will run until Sept. 22, includes paintings in Courson’s personal collection. The mother and daughter work as full-time artists, but in slightly different genres. Patton paints portraits and figures, and Courson’s specialty is landscapes. Occasionally both paint figures, still life and landscapes. The collection shows the family, past generations of people and familiar places that the artists love, and all of its paintings are contemporary realism or representational works. Mediums are oil, acrylics and watercolors. Patton paints her Mississippi heritage in her works depicting people in the landscape near her home, and her mother has acquired several of these. Courson holds dear the work she has done due to the subject matter: disappearing landscapes from her childhood, her grandchildren’s playgrounds, some of the children at play or plein air paintings from time spent with special artist friends. Courson has been a full-time oil painter since 2002, and for the past 10 years, she and her husband have been running an art school to ensure affordable art education to rural areas in the south that do not have access to other art schools in distant states. Her work can be found in several corporate and private collections in the south. She has been selected for inclusion in the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Museum when it opens in Meridian next year. She is listed as one of the few “Legends” in Visual Arts in Mississippi, along with contemporary artists such as William Dunlap, Wyatt Waters and Jere Allen. Patton is the wife of Jeff Patton and the mother of two children. Both she and Courson represented Mississippi artists in the reception for the media at the 2008 Presidential Debate in Oxford, where they did demonstrations and displayed their artwork. Patton has won awards, both locally and nationally. Gallery hours are from 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except for holidays. For more information, contact Shawn Whittington at (662) 862-8301 or eswhittington@iccms.edu. Related Articles Work of former ICC art instructor Greely Myatt featured in new exhibit at ICC Gallery The work of West Memphis artist and former Itawamba Community College instructor Greely Myatt will be on display through February 27 at the W.O. Benjamin Fine Arts Gallery at the Fulton Campus. “Defying Gravity on an Airport Carpet in Watermelon Sugar” is an exhibition of sculptures made from various materials and using varying approaches – an exploration of intersecting narratives, where literature, music and the mundane converge to reveal my view/experience of the world, Myatt said. The works draw inspiration from the whimsical and surreal novels of Richard Brautigan, the poignant and tender lyrics of Jesse Winchester’s song, Defying Gravity, and the abstract yet deeply familiar patterns of airport carpets. According to Myatt, Brautigan’s writing, with its dreamlike quality and moments of absurdity, provides a lens through which the world can be viewed as both fleeting and profound. Similarly, Winchester’s Defying Gravity captures a yearning to escape, to transcend limitations and to embrace the weightlessness of possibility with a shy humor. Each piece is an invitation to pause and reflect, to consider how the ephemeral moments of ... Art exhibit features the work of Tom and Sam Douglas This month, the Itawamba Community College art gallery is featuring an exhibition of the father and son team of Tom and Sam Douglas. The exhibit will run through Oct. 31 with a reception planned from 2-3 p.m. that day. The show titled “Tom and Sam for Max” is a collection of acrylic on board paintings and engraving prints by the artists respectively. Tom Douglas’s work, which focuses on personal, historical and religious narratives, comments on the interconnectedness of these elements. Likewise, Sam Douglas’s groupings of portraits explores connectedness by degrees of separation between people. The show is dedicated to Max Hochstetler, a former art teacher of Tom Douglas. Tom Douglas earned the Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Mississippi in 1983. He then joined the ICC faculty, becoming the art department chair and serving for 30 years (1983-2013). He was the department chair and associate professor for Southwest Baptist University in Missouri from 2013-15. Sam Douglas is a recent graduate of Mississippi State University. Gallery hours ... ICC exhibition features work of alumnus Bryce Camp The Itawamba Community College Fine Arts Department is sponsoring an exhibition of photographs by Amory resident Bryce Camp, who is a recent graduate of Mississippi State University and an ICC alumnus. He discovered his passion for art after having taken a class in Art Appreciation at ICC, and it was while transferring to Mississippi State that he declared himself an art major specializing in photography. Of his work he says, “My current series of photographs of roadside memorials show the beauty that can arise amidst the tragedy of death and loss. Accidents happen every day, but people can transform that grief into something beautiful and constructive. The memorials pictured in my series are all from the North Mississippi area. They were spread out across our corner of the state, but they all represent the same thing. These memorials are not simply crosses or balloons on the side of the road; they represent a lifetime to someone, the route they may have traveled to work or home, the laughter and the tears, and to some, an ease of pain.” His ... ICC students among winners in juried art exhibit Several Itawamba Community College students are among award winners in the juried exhibit that was recently on display in the W.O. Benjamin Fine Arts Center gallery at the Fulton Campus. They include Belden – Karol Adriana Aris-Little, third place in 2D design for “Little Earrings;” Fulton – Emily Tibbs, Best in Show for “Gorgeous Golden Lady;” Keyelle Holder, second place in drawing for “It’s Not A Pipe;” Alexis Grant, honorable mention in drawing for “Nightmare Baby From Hell;” Greenwood Springs – Vega Taylor, honorable mention in drawing for “Amongst The Folds;” Guntown – Alli Porter, first place in drawing for “Bass and Glass;” Mooreville – Monserrat Garcia, first place in 2D design for “1863 Jungle” and honorable mention in the same category for “03’ Louisiana;” Pontotoc – Isaiah Pannell, third place in drawing for “Self Portrait” and honorable mention in the same category for “The Baby Bottle;” Mak Masters, third place in 3D design for “Enchanted Ukelele;” Tupelo – Meliah Senter, second place in 2D design for “Stylization Tryptic;” Noah Sartin, first place in 3D design for “Fairie Trifecta;” ... ICC student artwork featured in exhibit in newly-renovated W.O. Benjamin Fine Arts Center The artwork of several Itawamba Community College students is currently on display in the newly-renovated W.O. Benjamin Fine Arts Center at the Fulton Campus. The first student exhibition in the new space, which consists of approximately 80 pieces of art including drawing, painting, computer art and sculpture, will be on display until May 5. Artists include Taylor Braxton of Amory; Jamecia Walker of Baldwyn; Bayleigh Caldwell of Caledonia; McKenna Powell of Hatley; Alli Blansett, Makenzie Brooks, both of Houston; Olivia Jones of Mantachie; Francisco Garcia of Mooreville; Mia Coggin of Nettleton; Michaela Pearson, Rachel Gann, Kaitlin Stegall, Brianna Hall, Maria Tinajero, all of Pontotoc; Lily Wright of Red Bay, Ala.; Jaiden Hutson, Danielle Thompson, Elliana Parker, all of Saltillo; KaJatlon Clark of Shannon; Selena Crowley of Tremont; Ana Chambers, Drew Edmonson, Camille Campbell and Brianna Dent, all of Tupelo. Normal gallery hours are 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Thursday. For more information, email Shawn Whittington at eswhittington@iccms.edu or call (662) 862-8301. 'Curious Narratives' exhibit extended to Nov. 16 The paintings of Brooke Polly Alexander of Oxford, instructional assistant professor of art at the University of Mississippi, will be on display in the Itawamba Community College gallery on the Fulton Campus through Nov. 16. Entitled “Curious Narratives,” the exhibition features a collection of oil paintings on canvas from her recent show at Southside Gallery in Oxford. Her work deals with figurative and landscape motifs with an underlying implication of a story. The narration is implied but not explicitly stated. Alexander leaves it to the viewer to bring to the paintings their own interpretation of her images. Alexander was born and raised in Athens, Ala. She earned the B.A. degree in studio art with a minor in English from Athens State University and the M.F.A. degree in studio art with a concentration in painting from the University of Mississippi. Her work has been shown both regionally and nationally. Gallery hours are 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Admission is free. For more information, contact Shawn Whittington at eswhittington@iccms.edu or (662) 862-8301. Comments are closed.