Greeting everyone, from the University Museum and Rowan Oak, where Fall weather has taken a delightfully chilly turn from this Minnesota native’s Nordic-origins perspective. Writing here in the closing days of November gives me calendar leeway to adopt a thankfulness approach and theme to this month’s 5th & University communication to you all.

The Museum and our Faulkner site have so very much to be grateful for, and it all pivots around the exceptional ecosystem of support and thoughtfulness that surrounds us – and the people who make all of that happen. Those of you who have expressed your dedication, and I would add your faith and trust in us by sustaining your Memberships, are due a particular word of deep gratitude. When in 2013 we took a great turn toward broadened access for all by the removal of any admission fee at the Museum, we explicitly wanted there to be no barrier of income to visiting our Museum, and attending our public programs.

But in the process of going to Free Admission for all, we did place a greater budget reliance upon Membership support from our stakeholders. To those many of you reading this who have been long-term members, our deepest of thanks always! To those of you newer to our Membership ranks, please always feel entirely free to let us know how we are doing to meet your needs and your interests. We will always be a more impactful Museum and a stronger Rowan Oak if we maintain a vibrant dialog with you, and listen carefully to your observations and feedback. You may take as my ironclad 100% pledge that we will listen carefully and reflect fully on your input on any subject related to the quality of your experiences with us.

Others to thank – – in complete truth, so many of you. To all who attended our annual fundraising gala Harvest Supper, our profound thanks! This magical evening on the grounds of William Faulkner’s historic house has developed such a deserved reputation for its sublime yet understated grandeur, and from the professional staff perspective for the degree of annual support it provides to our mission fulfillment and our service to community, campus, and region.

This year there was the added high note of great celebration for the publication by the Friends of the Museum of the volume American Landscapes: Meditations on Art & Literature in a Changing World (University Press of Mississippi, 2023). To celebrate this momentous accomplishment three days of program activities were punctuated by a multi-speaker Symposium on November 2nd at the Lyric Theater. The volume is part of the University Press’ ongoing University of Mississippi Museum and Historic Houses Series, and much more can be learned at the Press website, https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/A/American-Landscapes

Thanks are always due in great order of magnitude to many University leaders and colleagues who offer their support throughout the academic year, and who help place us at the core of the University’s Arts & Culture initiatives and program offerings. Chancellor Dr. Glenn F. Boyce is a true champion of the arts who has never failed to think strategically and to act supportively on our behalf. In like manner, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Dr. Noel E. Wilkin is tireless in his dedication to supporting the needs and aspirations of the Museum and Rowan Oak, being a leader of whom we can genuinely observe how essential he is to our success, on a daily basis.

To the Friends of the Museum it’s impossible to overstate the degree to which their ambassadorship and their hundreds of hours of dedicated individual Board service annually have transformed the Museum and the Faulkner historic site over the decades of their existence. Ask any of us, it may be hard to limit the outpouring of gratitude and admiration you will hear from the professional staff and I regarding the transformative impacts of the Friends’ Board under the leadership of their President, Julia Thornton.

And last but very far from least, the staff of the Museum and Rowan Oak. While we constitute ten full-time staff in number, they may certainly be among the most productive museum professional teams of their size to ever have served a campus-based academic museum in this country. It’s genuinely an honor and a privilege to join them every day, and also in the process to observe their mentoring and career-impacting outcomes as they supervise the many University student (undergraduate and graduate) employees, interns, and volunteers who work at the Museum and the Faulkner property throughout the year. This cohort of professional staff is a dynamic, talented, and multi-skilled team, entirely dedicated daily to advancing the University’s mission of Teaching, Research, and Service.

Please enjoy the holidays ahead, and be sure to visit the Museum and Rowan Oak over the course of the full year ahead, recalling always that we are 12-month operations at both of our museum sites. Find additional information at our respective websites https://museum.olemiss.edu/ and https://rowanoak.com/, where our social media platforms are also linked.

Warmest of greetings to you all, with our very sincere gratitude for your inspiring support and your boundless thoughtfulness.

 

Robert Saarnio 
Museum Director

The 2023 keepsake celebrates the 175th anniversary of the University of Mississippi. The Mississippi Legislature chartered the University on Feb. 24, 1844, and the first classes were held Nov. 6, 1848. What began as a handful of programs and only four professors in 1848 grew to more than 120 programs of study across six campuses and a medical center.

The 175th anniversary celebration is themed “A Legacy of Calling”, a partial reference to Dave Isay’s book “Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work”, which details the role that passions and occupations play in leading a fulfilling life. Since the founding of the University of Mississippi, thousands of students have found their calling through their attendance at the University. Among the university’s alumni are five U.S. senators, 10 governors, scores of state representatives and elected officials, lauded singers, songwriters, artists, and actors, groundbreaking researchers, and men and women from across the globe.

175th ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI
CHAMPION CATALPA TREE

The subject of the 2023 keepsake highlights the Northern Catalpa tree, one of two champion trees on the University of Mississippi’s campus. The beloved tree is situated adjacent to the Student Union and the Grove, where its gnarled and unique appearance make it a prominent feature at the heart of campus. Many may assume that this tree has earned the title of “Champion” due to its age, which is believed to be as old as the University, or for its proximity to the Walk of Champions. However, the title of “Champion” is bestowed upon any tree which is the largest of its species in a state.

The University’s Catalpa was last measured with a height of 76’, a circumference of 22’ 7’, and a crown of 68’. The Northern Catalpa can grow to 100’ tall but averages between 60 and 80’. It bears heart-shaped leaves and white bell-shaped flowers covering the tree in late spring to early summer. The common name of “cigar tree” is due to the tree’s seedpods which grow 10 to 24” and turn brown once they mature in the fall.

To purchase a 2023 Keepsake from The University of Mississippi Museum and Historic Houses you may visit the UM Museum Store. To order a keepsake for shipping, please call UM Museum Store at 662-915-7073. Hours are Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday 10am-4pm.  Each 2023 ornament is $25 and can be shipped within the contiguous United States for $10. Sales tax is required for all sales shipped within Mississippi. 

Are you a member of the UM Museum? Members receive a 10% discount on all Museum Store purchases, including keepsakes! Please visit museum.olemiss.edu/join-the-museum for more information!

Museum’s Holiday Keepsake Honors University’s 175th Anniversary

October 17, 2023

New Publication Features Preeminent Artists, Authors, and Scholars Reflecting on Landscapes in Art and Literature during a Time of Unprecedented Change

 “American Landscapes: Meditations on Art and Literature in a Changing World”
(University Press of Mississippi, November 2023)

American Landscapes: Meditations on Art and Literature in a Changing World

Oxford, MS…The University Press of Mississippi (UPM) in association with University of Mississippi Museum and Historic Houses (UMM/the Museum) is celebrating the release of its latest volume in a series featuring artists and works in UMM’s collection: “American Landscapes: Meditations on Art and Literature in a Changing World.”

The publication is a vibrant result of UMM’s 2019 acquisition of William Dunlap’s seminal painting Meditations on the Landscape in Origins of Agriculture in America (1987). The acquisition was presented in an exhibition of 40 works by Southern artists curated by Dunlap and Melanie Munns Antonelli, UMM Curator of the Collections, revealing a range of interpretations of landscape. On the occasion of the exhibition, Friends of the University of Mississippi Museum and UMM organized a symposium featuring artists, authors, and scholars held in Oxford in March 2019 that included several of the book’s contributors.

The following contributors consider meaning in art and literature past and present, contextualizing the nation’s history—particularly that of the American South—during a time of unprecedented change experienced since spring 2019:

1. authors W. Ralph Eubanks, Drew Gilpin Faust, John Grisham, J. Richard Gruber, Jessica B. Harris, Lisa Howorth, Joseph M. Pierce, Julia Reed, Natasha Trethewey, and Curtis Wilkie;

2. artists John Alexander, Jason Bouldin, William Dunlap, Carlyle Wolfe Lee, Ke Francis, Linda Burgess, Randy Hayes;

3. photographers Sally Mann, Ed Croom, and Huger Foote; and,
4. museum directors Betsy Bradley, Jane Livingston, and Julian Rankin

This diverse group explores key events in American history portrayed in Dunlap’s painting, a landscape that evokes a range of narratives including the displacement and genocide of Native Americans, the enslavement of Africans, the Civil War, and William Faulkner’s fiction. Together, the contributors examine the history of landscape art and literature through the lens of the American South, connecting art with the works of major writers like Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Natasha Trethewey, and Jesmyn Ward.

In addition to illustrated essays, transcripts from the symposium, and artworks showcased in the exhibition, 18 new essays written during the pandemic and since the events of January 6, 2021, were added. While reflecting on a time of unprecedented change and transition, the contributors underscore how key issues Dunlap addressed in his artwork remain an integral part of the national discourse today.  Subjects range from the profoundly personal to the universal: the loss of a loved one to Covid-19; isolation and displacement; racial and economic justice; political division; and the power of art and literature to connect, among them.  

A common theme is how meaningfully a sense of place in all its manifestations is entwined in individual and civic identity. Dunlap writes, “Look at the art, read the writers, and know that there is something quite remarkable about the place that is home and/or known to us through art and literature.”

Publication of the book was made possible by funds from Friends of the University of Mississippi Museum. The Friends group is hosting a two-day launch event at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS, on November 1 and 2, 2023 (details attached). The event includes moderated discussions, gallery talks, a book signing at Off Square Books, and a live conversation with Gruber and Dunlap on Thacker Mountain Radio Show. Other participants include authors John T. Edge, W. Ralph Eubanks, Kathryn Schulz, and Curtis Wilkie; artist Ke Francis; and a conversation with journalists Casey Cep and Judy Woodruff. Honors College Dean Ethel Minor Scurlock will comment on the racial integration of the University, and Suzi Altman will exhibit her photographs of James Meredith, its first Black student. The events are open to the public.

The fully illustrated 272-page book retails for $50 USD.

Coeditors

Ann J. Abadie is former associate director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi and coeditor of numerous scholarly collections from the Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference. She served on the Program Committee for the symposium.

1. Richard Gruber, who was a presenter at the symposium and a contributor to the book, is director emeritus of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. He has published more than 45 books and catalogues, including Dunlap: William Dunlap; Dusti Bongé, Art and Life: Biloxi, New Orleans, New York; and A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana (the latter two also published by UPM). He has served as the executive producer of William Dunlap: Objects Found and Fashioned, an award-winning documentary film produced in association with Stanley Staniski and Staniski Media, Washington, DC.

Reviews

“Landscape is one of the sinews of American history, identity, and character. And nowhere is that better demonstrated than in this monumental volume. From the gorgeous illustrations to the historical essays to the reflections of the artists and photographers, this book is a cornucopia of delight. Editors Abadie and Gruber and their contributors have given us a book to be both valued and cherished.”

– Robert W. Hamblin, emeritus professor of English at Southeast Missouri State University

“You will want this collection on your coffee table or nightstand. Keep it close for reference, reflection, and inspiration. They are all here, an assortment of Mississippi luminaries, thoughtfully telling you about Southern road trips and the formidable power of this place we call home.”

– Margaret McMullan, author of Where the Angels Lived

“American Landscapes: Meditations on Art and Literature in a Changing World is a wonderful tribute to the life and art of William Dunlap. Twenty-five writers, artists, photographers, and art historians whose work is anchored in the American South reflect on Dunlap’s work Meditations on the Origins of Agriculture in America and how the region’s sense of place inspires its artists and writers. Beautifully edited by Ann Abadie and Richard Gruber, the book explores Southern art and literature in exiting new ways.”

– William Ferris, author of I AM A MAN: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1960–1970

Media contacts

University Press of Mississippi: Courtney McCreary, Senior Publicity and Promotions Manager, Jackson, MS, 601-432-6205, cmccreary@ihl.state.ms.us

Friends of the University of Mississippi Museum: Libby Mark or Heather Meltzer, Bow Bridge Communications, LLC, NYC: 917-968-5567, info@bow-bridge.com

Image captions

Book Jacket – William Dunlap (b.1944), detail of Meditations on the Landscape in Origins of Agriculture in America (1987). Wood, canvas, polymer and oil paint, steel, skakeskin, wire, flag. 48 x 96 x 24 inches. Collection of the University of Mississippi Museum and Historic Houses

John Alexander (b. 1945), Stars and Snakes Forever, 1980. Color pencil on paper. 36.6 x 46.5 inches (framed). Collection of John Alexander.

Jack Spencer (b.1951), One Tree, Itta Bena, Mississippi, 2014. Archival pigment print. 25 x 36.25 inches (framed). Edition 5 of 20. Collection of Jack Spencer.

Charlie Buckley (b.1982), Clouds over Soybeans, 2018, oil on linen, 9.75 x 9.72 x 2.25 inches (framed). Collection of Charlie Buckley, courtesy of Southside Gallery

 Ed Croom (b.1948), Sacred Cedars, 2017. Color photograph. Collection of Ed Croom

Museum Musings

Museum Education Interviews, Reviews, and Spotlights: from the galleries to your inbox.

Elizabeth Downing was the University Museum’s AmeriCorps VISTA Summer Associate this Summer 2023! Elizabeth is a senior Arabic major at the University of Mississippi and has been volunteering in multiple different programs at the Museum since the beginning of this Spring.

Summer 2023 Fantastic Storyteller Campers during their Morning Photo Excursion to the 1939 Mary Buie Museum historic portico entrance.

What was your favorite Museum Summer Memory of 2023?

My favorite memory from this summer at the UM Museum was teaching the first week of summer camp, Fantastic Storytellers. I was so excited to kick off the summer with an awesome camp full of fun art projects and wonderful students. My favorite project from that week was the photo journals the students made. It gave them the chance to learn a little bit about photography and how to tell a story through pictures. 

Share a valuable lesson you learned this Summer as the Museum Education’s VISTA Summer Associate.

This summer gave me the chance to learn about the importance of education through art. There are many ways students can learn about history, culture, and other topics through art. I believe pairing lessons with an art activity solidifies the information in the student’s memory making it a great learning tool.

One way we did this over the summer was through our World Explorers camp. Each day of camp the students learned about a new country or region of the world. After learning about the countries the students would do art projects related to the country of the day. By the end of the week, students were able to locate the countries on a map and name cultural facts about the places they had learned about.  

Tell us about a piece that fascinates you in our collection. 

A piece that fascinates me in the UM Museum’s collection is Georgia O’Keeffe’s Untitled (Abstraction, Lake George). It is exciting to see a piece by an artist that had such a significant impact in the American Modern Art movement displayed in our Museum. 

Why should people visit the UM Museum?

I always encourage people to visit the UM Museum because it is a free and easily accessible place. You can view a wide variety of exhibits in one place: from Southern Folk Art to American Modern Art, and from Greek Antiquities to 19th Century Scientific Instruments, there is something for everyone to enjoy.