SHOUTOUTS

Area Artists Featured in Biennial Exhibit

Six northeast Mississippi artists are among 15 whose work is featured in the 2023 Mississippi Invitational.

The 13th biennial exhibition at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson will be June 10 through September 17 and will feature a myriad of mediums created by this group of contemporary visual artists who live and work in Mississippi.

Included in the 15 are Adrienne Brown-David, James Kane and Taylor Loftin, all of Water Valley; Kariann Fuqua and Brook White, of Oxford; and Caroline Hatfield of Starkville. Rounding out the artists are six from the Jackson area, two from the Delta and one from south Mississippi.

Katie Pfohl, associate curator of contemporary art at the Detroit Institute of Arts, chose the work for the exhibit.

“I am thrilled to work with the wonderful team at the Mississippi Museum of Art,” she said. “From my seven years as a curator in New Orleans, I know the talent, depth and thoughtfulness of artists in the Gulf South. I am honored to have this opportunity to continue a dialogue with artists from the region and craft a project that responds to this moment in Mississippi’s history.”

The theme of the exhibit is “Gulfs Among Us,” and its intent is to challenge the many divisions which now mark our country and our world.

“The art in this exhibition responds to a series of everwidening gulfs: between people and communities, humans and the environment, and our interior and exterior selves,” said Betsy Bradly, director of the Mississippi Museum of Art. “These 15 artists from across Mississippi are united in envisioning how art can speak across and between divides.”

The artists whose work will be featured will have the opportunity to apply for The Jane Crater Hiatt Artist Fellowship, a $20,000 grant awarded to one artist. The recipient will be announced during an opening reception June 8.

The MMA was established in 1911 and is the largest art museum in the state. It’s located at 380 South Lamar Street. For more information on the museum, visit msmuseumart.org.

TCT Director Tom Booth Receives Posthumous Award

As Tupelo Community Theatre began each of its four season-ending performances in late April, Lynn Nelson, a board member of the American Association of Community Theatre and a former TCT board member, came onstage and made a bittersweet announcement.

She shared that longtime TCT director Tom Booth, who died suddenly and unexpectedly Jan. 11, will receive national recognition for his work and unwavering support of the arts during the AACT’s national awards ceremony this month.

Booth will posthumously receive the AACT’s Special Recognition Award, which is given to people and organizations for special and profound contributions. Nelson along with other TCT members will be present to accept Booth’s award.

“This award is further confirmation of the esteem in which Tom was held on a state, regional and national level,” Nelson said.

Though his degrees were in education and accounting, Booth, a native of Wren, possessed a particular passion for community theater. He was a fixture at TCT beginning in 1992, when he began as a volunteer, actor and director, and ended up in 2002 as TCT’s first executive director.

His work went well beyond the arts community in Tupelo. Booth played prominent roles in the Mississippi Theatre Association, the Southeastern Theatre Conference and AACT. He also served as an adjudicator for various theater festivals all over the United States.

Tupelo’s Boerner Skatepark Open for Fun

Almost 20 years after it originally opened in Ballard Park, Tupelo’s beloved skatepark has been reimagined and reopened to a new generation of skateboarders.

To address wear and tear from regular use and aging, in 2022, the City of Tupelo made plans to repair the skatepark. In September, Grindline Skateparks, a construction company based in Seattle, signed on to do the work of deconstructing and rebuilding the skatepark to the tune of $572,000. The work began in January.

Boerner Skatepark, named for Hank and Helen Boerner, reopened in April after a final inspection was done by the city. Several additions to the renovated park are artistic in nature. The city, with hopes of quelling park graffiti, has built a wall designated for street art. And Hal Boerner, artist and son of the Boerners, created a mosaic including the name Boerner Park at its entrance.

Now that the skatepark is upgraded and renovated, local skateboarders have high hopes for the future of the sport in Tupelo.

Carter Riley, an avid skateboarder and responsible for the skatepark association’s resurgence, said he wants to bring major skateboarding tournaments to Tupelo. And the ultimate goal? A second skatepark in east Tupelo.