East Campus Art Studio Set for Open House on April 26

Pictured are Mississippi College graduate student Katie McCann and art instructor Guy Stricklin, who are looking at some of the creative works at the new MC East campus Art Studio. Both are seeking a master's in fine arts. Stricklin is also an art instructor on the Clinton campus.

Art door prizes, free food and student demonstrations of their craft will be part of the lineup at Friday’s open house for Mississippi College’s new East Campus Art Studio.

MC faculty, staff, students, the public and other art lovers in the area are invited to the event from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. on April 26 at the studio in the former Clinton Junior High building.

The program “gives our graduate art students a way to show how the enthusiasm generated by the new areas is growing every day,” says MC art professor Steve Cook. “The idea of the open studios event was spontaneously created by the graduate students who are so excited about sharing their work and talent with each other, the university and the public.”

Visitors to the Art Department studio that opened in January 2013 will see finished works in media such as painting, printmaking, three-dimensional works, and graphic design. Art works in progress plus live demonstrations will also be going on.

In just a few months, the art studio “has already shown it is a magnet for students who are eager to work outside of class, at night and on weekends,” Cook added. “Student and faculty enthusiasm is very high.”

Seeking a masters in fine arts at Mississippi College, Katie McCann gives the art studio a thumbs up. “It is so large. Some of the graduate students get their own studios and a place to work.”

Some of her artistic creations jammed into her office include cat designs on her desk and an exotic bird on the wall. “I love it,” says the creative William Carey University graduate from the Gulf Coast.

Art Department instructor Guy Stricklin spends lots of time in the studio. He's a December 2012 MFA graduate. Prints, pieces of plywood, cans of paint and much more are all over the studio that’s become a second home for the Pascagoula native.

Parking at the East Campus is convenient for students and professors and that’s a big plus. By early this year, there were at least 30 MC students using the studio for printmaking, papermaking, and pastel painting.

Mississippi College purchased the old Clinton Junior High property from the Clinton School Board for $3.5 million in September 2010. MC’s art studio in recent years was located at the McGuffee House near the Hilltop Theatre before relocating a few months ago.

The open house for the studio on Fairmont Street across from the back of the Kroger in Clinton will be a real treat for visitors.

Stricklin will print a small etching and give away signed prints. Cook will put his skillful hands to work to print a woodcut block and give away prints with his signature. In addition, the professor is donating one of his signed watercolors as a door prize towards the end of the evening.

Cook believes the new studio will prove to be an excellent recruiting tool.

“The graduate emphasis of the East Campus Art Studio gives us new capabilities that will be attractive to potential graduate students,” he said.

The Mississippi College Art Department is presently based at Aven Hall.

For additional information, contact art professor Steve Cook at 601.925.3452 or scook@mc.edu.