AiPP - Spring Showcase

The Starkville Area Arts Council is excited to announce our first Art in Public Places (AiPP) Group Exhibit of 2023, the 2023 Spring Showcase. This exhibit will be on display beginning March 6, 2023.

This exhibit will be on display in-person and online on the SAAC website (starkvillearts.net/creativeeconomy) from March 6 to May 1, 2023, in the Starkville Area Arts Council's gallery in downtown Starkville (122 East Main St.)

Please join us for an Opening Reception on March 7 at 5:30 pm at SAAC (122 E Main St) to celebrate this exhibit. See you there!

Works may be for sale. If you are interested in purchasing any of these works, please continue reading below.

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About the Exhibit

This show has the theme of Spring: new life, new beginnings, reinvigoration, a shedding of the old, and a representation of starting over. This exhibit will feature 47 works by 26 artists, including photography, acrylic, oil, printmaking, visual poetry, digital, metal, and more. Participating artists are local to Starkville and regional; some are from Chicago, IL, Alabama, and Washington.

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​Works on display in-person until May 1, 2023.

Hover or click on images below to view title, medium, and pricing. Click image to view fullscreen.
Please CALL OR EMAIL SAAC (info at bottom of this page) if interested in purchasing available works.

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Laurie Burton

Laurie Burton is a local artist working in multiple media, her artwork includes sculpting with mixed media and found objects, landscape and surreal painting, and occasional furniture making. With a business degree and minor in art from MSU, she is largely self-taught, and finds that she enjoys the challenges of working with different mediums and exploring new concepts and ideas.  Laurie has participated in many local and statewide shows, she is a former SAAC President and board member, a co-founder of the SAAC’s annual Art in the Park event for children, and is a strong advocate for the arts.    Laurie retired from her corporate position as Costing Manager in 2021 and now devotes herself fully to art and living the life of a creative person. Find Laurie on social media to learn more.

Website:  www.laurieburtonart.com
e-mail:  laurieburtonart@gmail.com

Laurie Burton
Rebirth
Found objects, resin, wood, sea shells, twine, beads, acrylic paint
12” x 8” x 20”
$350

"Rebirth is an assemblage art piece, and is based on the the concept of the old, broken, or discarded  finding new life and opportunity for rebirth and metamorphosis.  As in spring, our goddess is awakening, with a renewed outlook of peace and balance."

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Libby Cagle

Libby Cagle taught visual arts and drama in the Starkville School District’s VIVA program for 30 years. Since childhood, she has been enamored with the huge variety of styles and movements of art throughout the world and at different time periods. Libby states, “Art transcends universal cultural barriers that humans often create.”  Her favorite personal style for creating art is nonrepresentational abstract and abstract realism. Libby believes that these styles allow the viewer to interpret the art and find their own personal meaning in it.  She enjoys listening to a variety of musical genres and losing all thoughts and worries of the world when she creates.  She describes the artistic experience as therapeutic in nature.

Libby Cagle
Spring Fever
Acrylic
12” x 24”
$300

"This painting represents the beauty, colors and excitement of Spring."

Libby Cagle
Seasons of Joy
Acrylic
16” x 20”
$300

"The bright colors of Spring make me feel renewed and joyous and bring a new energy to life."

Libby Cagle
Spring’s Solace
Acrylic
12” x 24”
$300

"I named this painting Spring's Solace, because the warmth of Spring brings comfort and relief after a dreary and cold winter. While I usually thing of Spring in images of bright colors and excitement, there are also many softer, pastel colors in nature's art.  To me  the softer, pastel colors represent a sense of peace and contentment."

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Casey Cooper

Casey was raised in the south surrounded continuously by art, nature, and various outdoor activities with her loving family.  Originally from the Hattiesburg area, Casey graduated with her bachelor's in Biological Sciences from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Even as a young child, Casey has always had a deep interest in nature, art, and animals.  Now as a budding artist, nature has heavily influenced her art. She hopes her paintings are able to express the true beauty in the simple things that surround us in nature.

Casey Cooper
Beaten Path
Oil paint
4” x 4”
$35

"A quiet walk down a well beaten path, now beginning to be overtaken by the smallest of mushrooms as warmth returns bringing the spring rains. Moss flourishes onto the sturdy oaks and tallest of pines. The painting represents the slightest of ecological changes that display the return of spring."

Casey Cooper
Lilies
Oil paint
4” x 4”
$35

"Spring showers always brings May flowers, as they say.  This compact painting is a softly abstract interpretation of a lily pond starting to bloom with bright colors. The emphasis is on the contrast of the bright pink blooms with the array of blues and greens of the water and the reflections."

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 Abbye Danielle

Abbye Danielle is a 3D Sculpture artist from Hernando, Mississippi. She mixes cast metal and blacksmithing techniques to create work that focuses on growth after losing a loved one.
Grief and loss are two things almost everyone in the world will one day go through. By drawing inspiration from her own life and experiences, she creates artwork focusing on the beauty of life and how to grow from devastation. She achieves this through her use of materials that are strong in their own unique ways. By using cast iron frames that specifically hint at the idea of memories and combining this imagery with nature she is implying how connected the world is through the heartbreak of loss.
Abbye Danielle graduated from The University of Mississippi in 2022 with a degree in fine arts and is currently residing in Hernando, MS with her family.

Abbye Danielle
Memory Lane #1
Metal
17” x 17”
$250

"I’ve always been fascinated by nature and the unrelenting battle it endures, knowing that come spring nature has a way of bouncing back and becoming even more beautiful. Using cast iron frames and forged Daylilies to reference the ideas of memories and loss, I am presenting various versions of this flower, from blossom to bloom, signifying the idea of the time it takes to try to grow during the grieving process."

Abbye Danielle
Untitled
Metal
37.5” x 26.75”
$300

"Life still continues and grows even through grief.  Forged vines and Daylilies connect the once broken frame, referencing that our memories are imperfect fragments of the past and life still continues and grows even after a devastation.  It is believed that daylily blossoms can help you forget difficult memories of sorrow and pain. By presenting these flowers from blossom to blooms my hope is to reference the time it takes to grow through grief."

Abbye Danielle
Memory Lane #2
Metal
29” x 19.5”
$350

"I’ve always been fascinated by nature and the unrelenting battle it endures, knowing that come spring nature has a way of bouncing back and becoming even more beautiful. Using cast iron frames and forged Daylilies to reference the ideas of memories and loss, I am presenting various versions of this flower, from blossom to bloom, and forged vines to signify the idea of the time it takes to try to grow during the grieving process."

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Walter Diehl

Walter J. Diehl is an avid world traveler and amateur photographer.  He hopes that his photography provides viewers both a glimpse into those places that he has been privileged to visit and inspires them to travel on their own to experience the cultures and beauty of new places.  Diehl does not try to be the typical travel photographer, and he probably breaks most of the ‘rules’ of travel photography.  Rather, he is a traveler first who tries to take the most inspiring photographs that he can under the conditions that exist at the time.  His travel habits rarely allow him to sit in one place very long or take advantage of the best light for chosen scenes or subjects.  Depending on the trip, he may focus on photographing nature, architecture, and/or culture.  In his world, scenes are rarely perfect, and so he is constantly trying to improve on how he deals with this reality.  Diehl enjoys the reactions of people viewing his photographs.  In an admittedly selfish sense, their reactions allow him to enjoy his travels all over again.  But only for a while, because now he is already thinking about how to photograph his next trip(s).

Walter Diehl
Spring in the Namib Desert
Photography
21” x 15”
$150

"It is always spring in the Namib Desert.  The dunes, sculpted by the wind, are constantly on the move, and so the desert is in a perpetual state of renewal, never the same from year to year. "

Water Diehl
Pier in Need of Renewal
Photography
21” x 15”
$150

"A pier on Grand Cayman Island was damaged in the most recent hurricane to hit the island.  But the foundation remains strong, awaiting funds to initiate its renewal.  Even so, the sea inside the reef teems with life, paying no attention to the disrepair above."

Walter Diehl
Banderas
Photography
15” x 21”
$150

"Colorful banderas fly over the streets in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  Hung in preparation for festivals held throughout the year, the flags of Vallarta and the Bay of Banderas await spring tourists weary of the cold."

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 Leah Harrell

Leah Harrell studied photography at Mississippi State University and received her Bachelor in Fine Arts cum laude in 2011. A Mississippi native, Leah has remained in Mississippi, encouraging and promoting local art efforts. She now spends her time raising small citizens at home and finding artistry in the everyday lives and personalities of her children. Leah uses 35mm color film to express the ageless theme of adventure and curiosity in an often overlooked stage of life.

Leah Harrell
Clover Bed
Photography
16” x 20”
$75

"Imaginations soaring, enjoying the warmth of the sun in a comfortable bed of clover."

Leah Harrell
Creek Bank Fishing
Photography
16” x 20”
$75

"Grab your doll and a stick and ‘fish’ in a hidden spring creek bank."

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Kadence Lewis

The Two Headed Calf is a poem that focuses on the beauty of a short lived deformed calf born on a summer night. Rather than focusing on the tragedy that the calf will not make it through the night, it focuses on the beauty and comfort it finds in the stars.

Kadence Lewis
Twice As Many Stars
Printmaking
7” x 10”
NFS

"This piece is based on my favorite poem, Two Headed Calf by Laura Gilpin. It celebrates the short but sweet life of a deformed calf. It celebrates new life however short lived, and the difference that make experiences and lives unique to one another."

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JC Long

JC has carried a camera most of his adult life. Photography allows him to deepen and develop his understanding of the world around him and of himself. The act and ritual of photographing restores calm within him, strengthens his heart with the practice of kindness amid chaos, improves the quality of his human relationships and role in the community, and relieves anxiety through the simple act of walking and observing color. His favorite subject to photograph is.. people, and his inspiration is empowering others to see themselves in healthy ways that challenge the status quo. His goal is to redefine the notion of physical beauty in America that has led so many people to believe they aren't good enough, to empower one human at a time to see themselves with new admiration, self-respect, and confidence.

https://www.jjj-engineering.com/photography

JC Long
Snow-covered Sapling Rising
Photography
8” x 12” x 2”
$50

"The forest regulates itself: coniferous trees depend on fires and squirrels to open and distribute seeds locked in their cones; the life cycle begins anew, and from its unlikely position beneath the snow, a Spruce sapling pushes up into the light, casting off the icy snow to become a tall and mighty mountain tree."

JC Long
Backyard Love
Photography
8” x 12” x 2”
$75

"When seen from afar, most people would identify this beauty as a weed. As I walked through my back yard, the stunning deep yellow caught my eye, as it was rising from the abysmal blues in the dusk shadows, and it looked just like a three dimensional heart. From an unlikely perceptual beginning, this common flower imbues a message of love, and I will never again call it a weed."

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Rah Lowry

Artist Rah Lowry, 27, born in Brooklyn NY and has lived in several US states including Miami, where he attended the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. After marrying his wife Brie and the birth of their first son, he moved to Mississippi in 2021.

Rah’s innate desire to express himself creatively nurtured his curiosity about different artistic tools and mediums including becoming a tattoo artist at the age of 16. He continues to reflect his artistry through the use of clay/wax (sculpting), markers, ink, pastels, watercolor, pencil and the manipulation of technology and software programs.

Rah and his works have been featured in various outlets including: The Little Yellow Building's podcast, newspapers across the United States and yearly events such as South Florida's' Art Basel.

Love for life, its challenges and family are great motivators for Rah,  " What motivates me is the unnoticed creativity around me and my kids motivate me on a daily basis ".

Rah has an eye on the future and his goals are to impact the youth internationally, offering art that can be multifunctional, accessible and imagined in various settings and life experiences. He aspires to be the founder of a creative, interactive-experience school.

exceliusart.com

Rah Lowry
IMMORTALITY
Copic markers
13” x 19”
$250

"IMMORTALITY RELATES TO SPRING BUT MORE SO ON THE SIDE OF 'SHEDDING NEW LIFE'

IMMORTALITY SYMBOLIZES NOT THE DIRECT DEFINITION OF 'ETERNAL LIFE' BUT THE ASPECT OF SHEDDING A PREVIOUS 'LIFE' LETTING GO OF THE PAST, AND FINDING THE BEAUTY IN A ONCE TOXIC MIND (THE MUSHROOM WHICH REPRESENT FUNGI)"

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Joseph MacGown

Joseph MacGown works in an improvisational manner with an eclectic array of colorful mediums, often creating absurdist, fantastical, or whimsical tales with subversive satirical messages. He finds inspiration in nature, children’s art, cartoons, and the unconscious mind

http://instagram.com/joseph_h_macgown

Joseph MacGown
Rabbit Field Theory
Ceramic
12” x 12”
$700

“Rabbit Field Theory” is a whimsical play on unified field theory in which rabbit-like clay beings unite physical reality together with their smirking faces and poetry hidden in their skin. They appear in our physical plane once every spring and spark rebirth with their mystical powers"

Joseph MacGown
Mr. Jimmy’s Magic Nerves
Spray paint, marker, pen
6” x 8”
$150

"This piece represents a colorful new experimentation with mediums, aesthetics, and processes. It is a part of a series all started together with spray paint which got me interested in art again, providing me with a sense of creative new beginnings."

Joseph MacGown
Mr. Wonderful Wonders Where the Fool of Wonder Lurks
Spray paint, marker, pen, ink
7” x 10”
$150

"This piece represents a colorful new experimentation with mediums, aesthetics, and processes. It is a part of a series all started together with spray paint which got me interested in art again, providing me with a sense of creative new beginnings"

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Jamie Mixon

Jamie Burwell Mixon is an artist, illustrator, designer and Professor Emerita of Art at Mississippi State University. When she’s not diving deep into her sketchbooks documenting her travels and favorite animals, she’s designing and illustrating concert and event posters. Her work has been featured in Communication Arts, Print, HOW, Creative Quarterly, Logo Lounge, French Paper Sample Room & beyond.

www.cargocollective.com/jburwellmixon

Jamie Mixon
Birdsong
Brush and ink, watercolor on French Paper
12” x 16”
$150 SOLD

"A cacophony of song, beckoning the season."

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Sheridan Morris

Sheridan Morris is an artist from Pelahatchie, Mississippi and recently graduated from Mississippi State University with a degree in Interior Design. She prefers to paint in acrylic due to its forgiving nature, and enjoys implementing texture and plenty of color into her paintings. By using instinctive fluid movements and layering, she creates lively floral paintings in her free time.

Sheridan Morris
Spring Bridal Arrangement
Acrylic
12” x 12” x 1.5”
$80

"Based on a 2022 spring floral arrangement for a beautiful wedding, this painting encapsulates the liveliness of blooming spring flowers."

Sheridan Morris
Mississippi Spring
Acrylic
30” x 30” x 1.5”
$150

"This painting is inspired by the beautiful blooms found in Mississippi during the spring season. The focal point of the piece is the pastel magnolias which are surrounded by pink camellias. These flowers are a beautiful part of spring in Mississippi."

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 Olin Norton

Olin Perry Norton (Perry) was trained as a mechanical engineer and moved to Starkville in 1982 to work for the university in a research position. Retired since 2007, he has found time to pursue his lifelong passion for photography. He can often been seen with his camera as he goes for his daily walk from the Cotton District to downtown Starkville and back.

This magnolia blossom was in his yard, and was photographed with a 4x5 view camera. The photographer considered removing the insect, or submitting a different photograph, but eventually he decided that he liked having it there.

Olin Norton
Magnolia #1
Photography
20” x 24”
$200

"This is a pretty literal representation of spring. Magnolias in this area are usually in full bloom around the beginning of May. Nothing says spring in Mississippi to me like magnolia blossoms."

Olin Norton
Gardenia #1
Photography
20” x 24”
$200

"The association between flowers and spring is pretty literal. I love the gardenias that bloom in my yard every spring, not only for the beauty of the flowers but the rich fragrance.

This gardenia grows just outside my back door. The image is soft because I used a vintage lens (early 1950's Leica screw mount) on a modern digital camera body."

Olin Norton
Gardenia #2, Close Up
Photography
20” x 24”
$200

"Again, this close-up of a gardenia is a pretty literal representation of spring, since spring is traditionally associated with flowers, and the land coming back to life after winter."

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Anne Louise Phillips

Anne Louise (Weez) Phillips is a photographer, digital artist, writer, and student from the Deep South. In her work, she aims to express different ways of seeing the world.

Anne Louise Phillips
Life & Death
Photography
8” x 10”
$50

"This photograph juxtaposes life and death, endings and beginnings."

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Katie Randall

Katie’s impressionistic work portrays the vivid cheerfulness of a spring break vacation. People can be found relaxing on the soft sand or floating on brilliantly-colored inner tubes. The turquoise water will make anyone wish to be transported to a tropical destination.

Katie Randall
Umbrellas on Spring Break
Acrylic
14” x 14”
$50

"The ideal spring break destination is the beach. Everyone loves relaxing in the soft sand and so do these umbrellas!"

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Andre Ray

 Art chose me from an early age. It has always been a part of my family history from the art of my great Aunt to the C.M. Russell catalog I was given by my parents. r. Growing up in the south and in Boy Scouts I always had a love for nature. Many of my themes are things that interested me since childhood. I view each painting as a journey into the unknown. The fun is in the discovery. I first start by covering the whole canvas with paint, then develop the form and texture. While I started with traditional tools such as brushes and palette knives I have since expanded into rags, butter knives and recently a silicone brush. I begin with a realistic point of view that drifts into abstraction and unique color choices. These decisions made while painting lend a unique interpretive “in the moment” experience to my art. Instead of the traditional route for graduate school, I chose the route of art therapy. This has allowed me to work with many clients.  In the end I feel art is an important part of life and we are all connected to the process.

andres-art.com

Andre Ray
Blue Rocks
Oil Paint
12” x 36”
$600

"This Painting says spring to me because it's the coldness of the running water. The green trees symbolism of new growth and the warmth of the yellowish sun coming through says new possibilities and a coming in out of the cold. The running water is a symbol of life. "

Andre Ray
Blue Forest
Oil Paint
12” x 16”
$225

"The colors of spring are green yellow and brights. They symbolize new growth and possibilities. The bright colors and the composition make you want to be outside in the spring. "

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Peyton Rushton

When you start looking for the beauty in the mundane, you'll find it. Suddenly your daily life becomes art work - a statement in itself. What beautiful artist's we can all be.

Peyton Rushton
Spring Moon
Acrylic
16” x 20”
$150

"The moon goddess stands at the forefront of my painting. She is the deity of spring, flowers, fertility, love and marriage. The moon is  associated with the divine feminine and was important in ancient calendars, helping people to measure time and to determine when the best time was for planting and harvesting crops."

Peyton Rushton
Don’t Forget to Look Up
Photography
5” x 7”
$60

"In the spring, trees start to become green. The empty branches start blossoming with life once again - so don't forget to look up. All is not lost, it's just above your head."

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Kenzie Sherrell

Kenzie Sherrell is a Sophomore Graphic Design student at Mississippi State University. She is from Spanish Fort, AL.

Mackenzie Sherrell
Iris Germanica
Printmaking
15” x 11”
$50

"When I think of Spring, I immediately think of nature, especially flowers. My piece depicts a few of the different types of Irises."

Mackenzie Sherrell
Garden of Irises
Printmaking
7.5” x 11”
$100

"When I think of Spring, I automatically think of nature, especially flowers."

Mackenzie Sherrell
There is No Planet B
Printmaking
13” x 10”
$75

"Earth Day is one of the many holidays that happens during the Spring Season. I created my piece in order to inspire others to take care of our Earth because there is only one of it."

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Carys Snyder

Carys is a Starkville-raised artist, filmmaker, actor and writer. As a photographer she specializes in fine art portraiture and on-set photography, but through her many travels she seeks to capture paradoxes, unexpected beauty, and local culture in a non-intrusive way. Carys is a graduate of Columbia University and has spent time living in Ireland, England, Spain, Turkey, and Morocco.

carysglynne.com/art

Carys Snyder
Dawn Breaks
Photography
11” x 14"
$75

"The sun peeks through the dark clouds after the passing of a storm in the Bahamas' rural Adelaide Village, shining new light on an abandoned swing set that was overtaken by the rising ocean, both metaphorically representing hope and literally showing springtime weather."

Carys Snyder
The Purge
Photography
11” x 14”
$75

"Passing from old to new isn't always a peaceful process. Fire is an unexpected metaphor for spring as a time of purging, catharsis, and transformation."

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James Wagner

As an artist I am always looking for exciting and different ways to bring everyday situations and imagery to the viewer. It is my intention to illicit some form of emotion or rememberence for whomever views my work and process. If someone pauses and thinks for more than just a passing glance before moving on then I have fulfilled my purpose for that viewer and for myself as a creator.

Contact info: jameswagnerfineart@gmail.com

James Wagner
Emergence
Oil paint
26” x 38”
$1,200

""Emergence" is a time for new growth, life, colors and energy forcing it's way through the last gasp of Winters grip.
We live our lives year by year, fast, faster. When was it last that you noticed the wooded thicket across the street changing colors, the random nature you pass, speeding to work, or simply admired the cracks in the sidewalks, filled with dandelions in bloom. Nature's emergence surrounds us, embrace it."

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Mike Wagner

Shining light on the overlooked

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MikeWagnerArt

Mike Wagner
Golden Hour
Acrylic
24” x 30”
$350 SOLD

"The golden hour right after sunrise and the hummingbirds that return for the first bloom."

Mike Wagner
Radiate
Acrylic, spray paint, rain
24” x 30”
$250

"A flower radiating it’s presence through a dark backdrop containing the rain of winter."

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About AiPP

As part of SAAC's AiPP series, works may be listed for sale, including framed and unframed pieces. SAAC collects and pays sales taxes on behalf of the artist for any work sold, and the artist keeps 80% of the proceeds. ​

Please CALL or EMAIL SAAC if you are interested in purchasing any of these works.