Above: “Onnika” by Carmen Lugo
As Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College celebrates 50 years of educating the Gulf Coast Community, the Fine Art department honors the artistic legacy of many of its former students and faculty members. “An Alumni Exhibit: Fifty Years of Fine Art” will be held February 22- March 24, 2016, with an artists’ reception on March 3 at noon in the fine arts gallery.
The exhibit includes former Jefferson Davis Campus art students and faculty members who work in a variety of artistic media, including painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, photography, and digital art.
Many of the participants currently work as professional artists or continue to pursue their artistic talents. They are active in the art world and have become well-known figures in the field after attending MGCCC.
Among the many participating alumni is Steffanie Pinner, who currently resides in Los Angeles, California, but grew up on the Coast. After attending MGCCC from 2009-2011, she worked national marketing campaigns such as MGM Grand and travelled the country shooting for The World Series of Poker. In Los Angeles, she has shown her work in DTLA Artwalk, Lot 316, and KGB Studios. She continues to find inspiration in the widely diverse city and pushes her own creativity. Her diverse portfolio is ever changing in subject and style.
Alumni Carmen Lugo is a Biloxi artist who attended MGCCC from 2006-2009. She said that while at the college she was introduced to various mediums such as printmaking, collage, mixed media, and darkroom photography, and considers MGCCC an integral part of her foundation in the arts. Her teachers pushed her to apply for local galleries, scholarships, shows, and provided excellent mentorship. Lugo teaches children and teen classes at the Mary C O’Keefe Cultural Center for Arts and Education. She is a member of Mississippi Art Colony and has worked closely with art collective Art Can Change Everything on many public projects, including the Kress Building outdoor art installation, and Revieux, a public outdoor art gallery.
Rikki Rhodes began studying at the Jefferson Davis Campus in 2005 and went on to receive a Master’s of Arts: Visual Arts from the University of Arts London: Camberwell College of Arts. She is currently teaching part time at The University of South Alabama, while continuing to pursue her own art.
Dustin S. Templin, who studied at the campus from 2009-2012, now studies graphic design at MSU. “I like to invoke numerous emotions upon the viewer. This could be feelings of fear, intimidation, wonder, mystery and sometime glimpses of happy or hopeful things,” he said. He recalled former JD teacher Sandra Halat, who will also exhibit in the alumni show.
“I have her to thank for opening my eyes to wonderful and beautiful areas of art I thought I would never dabble in and even traveling the world from Paris, France to Dublin, Ireland,” he said.
Halat graduated from the Jefferson Davis Campus before becoming a fulltime instructor of art there from 2003-2013. She spends her retirement as an art consultant and instructor for the Pink Rooster Fine Art Gallery Ocean Springs.
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see,” she said, quoting Edgar Degas.
Participating alumni include: Steffanie Pinner, Carmen Lugo, Rikki Rhodes Gilbert, Dustin Templin, Tessa Stockstill, Jennifer Emerson, LucyEllen Landry Cummings, Dave Perez, Elizabeth Huffmaster, Danielle Wagner, Ashley Nudo as well as instructors Sandra Halat, Joely Corban, Mary Ott Davidson, Catie Daniel and Cecily Cummings.
The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday- Thursday, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. and Friday 9 a.m.- 1 p.m. The Jefferson Davis Campus is located at 2226 Switzer Rd, Gulfport. The art gallery is located in the fine arts building, building D. For more information, contact gallery director Cecily Cummings at cecily.cummings@mgccc.edu or (228) 897-3909.