Art department kicks off new year with 'Confluence'
A retired educator with more than five decades of photographic experience is sharing his recent work with students, faculty, staff and visitors in a new exhibition at Mississippi State.
Internationally recognized artist Jerry N. Uelsmann is presenting 58 photographs from his portfolio in “Confluence,” an exhibition on display Jan. 14-March 1 at the university’s Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery. Open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., the gallery is found on the second floor of the depot, which is located at 75 B.S. Hood Drive near Davis Wade Stadium.
A public reception takes place Thursday [Jan. 17] from 5-7 p.m. in the gallery. Refreshments will be served.
Lori Neuenfeldt, an eight-year instructor and gallery director in MSU’s College of Architecture, Art and Design, said “Confluence” is organized by the University Gallery at the University of Florida, curated by Amy R. Vigilante and made possible by the Gary R. Libby Charitable Trust and Hector Puig.
Neuenfeldt said the MSU art department is excited to present “beautiful and thought-provoking photographs from Uelsmann’s vast and impressive body of work in a must-see show.”
“This exhibition demonstrates the Department of Art’s commitment to bringing the highest level of art to MSU and the Starkville community for all to experience,” she said. “We are grateful for a generous grant from the Starkville Area Arts Council and the support of our incredible photography professors and students at MSU.”
Uelsmann earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1957 and his Master of Science and Master of Fine Arts from Indiana University in 1960. Now retired, he began teaching photography at the University of Florida in 1960 and became a Graduate Research Professor of Art in 1974.
A fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain and a founding member of the Society for Photographic Education, Uelsmann was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1967 and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1972.
In 2012, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Florida. His work has been exhibited in more than 100 individual shows in the U.S. and abroad in the last 50 years, and his photographs are featured in the permanent collection of many museums worldwide.
Home to the Magnolia State’s largest undergraduate studio art program, MSU’s Department of Art is part of the College of Architecture, Art and Design. More information on the department and college can be found at www.caad.msstate.edu. Neuenfeldt can be contacted at 662-325-2970 or lneuenfeldt@caad.msstate.edu.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.
Sasha Steinberg | Public Affairs
