Virtual Open Studio: Wacky Faces On this Virtual Open Studio adventure, check out Paris Review by Alex Katz and create a wacky face inspired by his portraits with BIG, silly, features!  Alex Katz was born in 1927 during the height of the Great Depression in Brooklyn, New York. Katz is known for his landscapes, portraits, and collages. His work is recognizable for its dramatic, stylized features, as seen in this large scale cropped portrait used for the cover of The Paris Review in 1991. Katz has been featured in hundreds of exhibitions, and his style has been influential to many artis ..read more

 Virtual Open Studio Check out the Abstraction of Lake Georgeby Georgia O’Keeffe.  Georgia O’Keeffe grew up in Wisconsin and attended the Art Institute of Chicago and participated in the New York Art Students League, under important artists of the time like William Merritt Chase to learn traditional painting techniques. She later began experimenting more with her own style of art and is most known for her abstractions. She is known for her abstractions of flowers and in 1929 her trips to New Mexico began to inspire her art greatly with her scenes of the bright colors of ..read more

  Virtual Open Studio Born July 22, 1898, Alexander Calder is best known for his kinetic sculptures, dubbed “mobiles”, and his brightly colored paintings. Before he became an artist, Calder spent time as an engineer, and part of ship’s crews. It was during one of these journeys while on a ship that he saw the sun and the moon, perfectly aligned on opposite horizons of the ocean. He would cite this on many occasions in his life, and some would even attribute the event as the inspiration for his career in art. His artistic life was as widely varied in its venues and projects as his young ..read more

 Virtual Open Studio In 1848, John Millington was hired as one of the first professors at the University of Mississippi, and with him he brought his scientific instruments for class demonstrations. About five hundred 19th century scientific instruments, used by John Millington and Frederick Barnard to teach University students from 1848 to 1861, are preserved in the University Museum's collections. Included are telescopes, models of large machines, and demonstration devices for the teaching of natural philosophy and astronomy. The hiring of Millington not only brought the University an ..read more

 Virtual Open Studio Sugar Skulls are a folk art tradition from central and southern Mexico, made as part of the Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration.   Traditionally, a sugar mixture was pressed into a clay mold to make a skull shape that was dried and then inscribed with the name of the deceased on its forehead. The decorations were used as a way to honor the deceased and enjoy memories of them.  Sugar Skulls are still an important part of Dia de Muertos, and today they are decorated with colorful icing and sometimes non-edible sequins, beads, or feathers. The ..read more

 Virtual Open Studio Horace H. Walton, an Oxford merchant, built the house in 1880. He and his wife, Lydia Lewis Walton, lived there with their three children. After her husbands death in 1892, Lydia boarded university students upstairs to provide for her family. In 1895, Lydia married Dr. Alfred Young from Como, MS. Their wedding service took place in the parlor of the house. Dr. Young moved in with his son, Stark, and daughter, Julia. Stark Young became a well known novelist and playwright and was the most famous resident of the Walton-Young House. The Walton-Young Historic House ..read more

 Virtual Open Studio Welcome to this week's Virtual Open Studio! This week, we will be focusing on ancient Egypt. The first Egyptians were nomads (wanderers) who settled by the Nile River. The Nile River provided a source for crops and life in an area largely surrounded by deserts. The Egyptians were known for many unique historical developments such as pyramids and tombs.  Cats were revered in the culture of Ancient Egypt as being very important creatures. Some very important cats were even mummified in the same was as pharaohs were. Scarabs were tokens shaped like a bug with e ..read more

 Virtual Open Studio In today's Virtual Open Studio, we will be creating Pop Art Portraits inspired by a work of Pop Art in the UM Museum's collection by Andy Warhol! Andy Warhol, born in Pittsburgh, PA, was one of the founders of the American Pop Art movement. "It all began with the first Campbell's soup can in 1962...With this simple image, the concepts of appropriation, and commodification were let loose for good." After painting, Warhol would create silk screen prints of the work, making him the first to utilize this method.  Pop Art is an art movement that emerged in the 1 ..read more

 Virtual Open Studio Theora Hamblett, born is Paris, Mississippi, is a self-taught American folk artist who did not begin her painting career until she was 55 years old! We all know Theora for her bright paintings of everyday life in Mississippi, but especially her trees! Her tree painting technique is very unique and almost pointillist in nature. It involves individually painting each leaf in multiple layers to create an explosion of color that immediately draws the eye. Hamblett is so well known for her oil paintings that many do not know: she also wanted to be a stained glass artist ..read more

 Virtual Open Studio Marty Vinograd inspired Fall Trees! Today, we are going to learn about an artist with deep connections to our community and museum, Marty Vinograd! Marty entered the art world through quilt making. Working in this manner, she was able to 'paint' without paint. She applied the same principles of quilting, piecing an assortment of scraps and materials together, to her mixed media collages, including a number of unique portraits. The artistic challenge she faced was visualizing the likeness of her subject in her mind's eye using string, feather, yarn, thread and ..read more