January 8, 2024
The Bo Bartlett Center will once again host the annual South Arts traveling exhibition showcasing works
by this year’s cohort of nine Southern artists. The exhibition opens Feb. 1 and will
be available for viewing until April 12.
South Arts, a nonprofit regional organization, empowers artists, organizations and communities,
and increases access to arts and culture. It fulfills that mission by supporting artists
and organizations through a rich and responsive portfolio of grants, fellowships and
programs.
Its annual Southern Prize and State Fellowships for Visual Arts program showcases the talents of nine Southeastern visual artists — competitively
selected by a panel of jurors from a pool of 800-plus applicants — who represent various
disciplines and career levels. The fellowships are awarded in cooperation with the
National Endowment for the Arts and state art agencies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee — and with additional funding from other
public and private donors.
“We are so excited to celebrate the 2023 State Fellows for Visual Arts,” said Susie Surkamer, president and CEO of South Arts. “Their work is a deep reflection of our time, powerfully
telling their individual stories of immigration status, disability, race, sense of
place and more. Each State Fellow has the talent to convey so much through their creativity,
and they collectively build toward our better understanding of artists in the South.”
The touring exhibition displays works by those State Fellows, who include Beizar Aradini (craft, Tennessee), Kelly Bryant (drawing, Alabama), Victoria Dugger (multidisciplinary, Georgia, winner), Chris Friday (multidisciplinary, Florida), Alexis McGrigg (multidisciplinary, Mississippi), Nadia Meadows (sculpture, North Carolina), Rachel Moser (multidisciplinary, Kentucky), Carlie Trosclair (sculpture, Louisiana), and Michael Webster (sculpture, South Carolina, finalist).
“We are delighted to host this amazingly talented group of artists,” said Mike McFalls, director of the Bo Bartlett Center and a professor in the university’s Department of Art. “Their work is a testament to the strength of art in the South, presenting diverse
themes, visions and styles.”
On Thursday, Feb. 15, the Bo Bartlett Center will host a South Arts public reception
from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Many of the artists are expected to be in attendance.
On Thursday, March 7, Victoria Dugger (pictured) will return for an artist talk beginning at 6 p.m. Dugger, winner of this year’s Southern Prize for Visual Arts, received her bachelor of fine art degree from Columbus State in 2016, and more recently, a master of fine arts in painting
from the Lamar Dodd School of Arts at the University of Georgia. Dugger works in painting,
mixed media and sculpture, creating pieces that challenge traditional categories and
explore new modes of self-expression and embodiment. Her work examines her identity
as a Black, disabled woman, blending playful compositions with grotesque imagery.
“As a disabled Black woman, I have a desire for people to accept or appreciate me
for both my surface and what’s below it; to humanize me not because of my appearance,
but despite it,” Dugger shares in her artist’s statement. “My paintings channel the
complexity of my identity. Through bold colors, sly references to art history, fractured
patterns, and overflowing viscera. I create a surface of works that are richly layered,
both demanding attention and refusing any simple legibility.”
Dugger had her debut New York solo show “Out of Body” with Sargent’s Daughters in
July 2021, which was featured by Vogue, Hyperallergic, artnet, ARTnews, Whitehot Magazine,
and artdaily. Her work has also been featured recently in New American Paintings South
Edition and in Burnaway.
The Bo Barlett Center appreciates philanthropic support from the Norman and Emmy Lou
Illges Foundation for making the South Arts exhibition possible. Following its exhibition
at the Bo Bartlett Center, South Arts 2023 will travel to Tallahassee, Florida.
ABOUT SOUTH ARTS’ STATE FELLOWSHIPS FOR VISUAL ARTS PROGRAM
As a response to a gap in regional funding opportunities for individual artists in
the South, South Arts created the Southern Prize and State Fellowships for Visual Arts to acknowledge of the important role artists play in the well-being of a region’s
culture. Now in its 7th year, South Arts’ State Fellowships for Visual Arts are awarded
annually to one artist in each of the nine states in South Arts’ region: Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina
and Tennessee.
Launched in 2017, the program aims to empower artists with visual narratives that
speak to deeper truths about the perils and hardships, as well as the opportunities
for optimism and justice, in daily life in the South and beyond. Spanning the diverse
scope of visual arts, the program supports artists across disciplines and categories,
including craft, drawing, experimental, painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media
and multidisciplinary.
Its flagship State Fellows program involves a state-specific prize awarded to artists
whose work reflects the highest quality visual arts being created in the South. A
national jury selects one winner per eligible state, for a group of nine state fellows,
based on artistic excellence that reflects and represents the diversity of the region.
Dugger (left) received the 2023 Southern Prize for Visual Arts, presented by South
Arts board chair Neil Barclay (right) (photo credit: South Arts)
Each awardee receives a $5,000 state fellowship and an opportunity to win the annual
Southern Prize for Visual Arts. The prize winner and finalist, both of whom are decided
by a second jury, receive an additional $25,000 and $10,000 prize, respectively. In
addition to the larger cash prizes, both Southern Prize recipients receive a two-week
residency at the 600-acre The Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences art sanctuary in Rabun Gap, Georgia.
Founded in 1975 to build on the South’s unique heritage and enhance the public value
of the arts, South Arts responds to the arts environment and cultural trends with a regional perspective.
South Arts offers an annual portfolio of activities designed to support the success
of artists and arts providers in the South, address the needs of Southern communities
through impactful arts-based programs, and celebrate the excellence, innovation, value
and power of the arts of the South.
ABOUT THE BO BARTLETT CENTER
Columbus State University’s Bo Bartlett Center is a dynamic, creative learning laboratory that is part gallery/museum, part experimental
arts incubator, and part community center. Located in Uptown Columbus and part of
the Columbus State University RiverPark Campus, its 18,000-square-foot interactive
gallery space hosts six to eight rotating exhibitions of regional, national and international
acclaim each year. It also permanently houses The Scarborough Collection — 14 monumental
paintings by the center’s namesake, artist Bo Bartlett — as well as the complete archive of sketchbooks, correspondence, journals, recordings,
photographs, artistic notes, memorabilia and objects relevant to the production of
Bartlett’s work.
Except when closed for holidays, the Bo Bartlett Center is open Tuesdays through Saturdays
from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit bartlettcenter.columbusstate.edu.
Media contact:
Joshua Newbend, Bo Bartlett Center gallery coordinator, 706.569.4099, newbend_joshua@columbusstate.edu
