Though summer is coming to an end, art in Oxford is in full bloom.
The University Museum is preparing for its fall 2016 exhibition called “The Beautiful Mysterious: The Extraordinary Gaze of William Eggleston.” The exhibition will open on Sept. 13 and is curated by novelist Megan Abbott. The museum will showcase a series of photographs, some of which have never been on display before, by the Memphis native.
“‘The most beautiful thing we can experience,’ Albert Einstein once said, ‘is the mysterious.’ Nowhere does this feel more true than in the photographs of the legendary William Eggleston,” Abbott said of the exhibition. “While his subjects — a parking lot, a jukebox, a sun-baked road sign — may seem, on the surface, mundane, the photos themselves exert a powerful, enigmatic force.”
“The Beautiful Mysterious” will be on display at the museum until Jan. 14.
In the spring, the museum will present paintings by the late Holly Springs artist Kate Freeman Clark. The untitled show will begin Feb. 28 and will continue until July 22. Soon after, in the fall of 2017, the museum will present artwork by another Holly Springs artist, Randy Hayes.
Off campus, the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council will host four major events this fall. The Oxford Arts Crawl begins Aug. 23. On the fourth Tuesday of every month from 6 to 8 p.m., free exhibits and receptions displaying art by both local and out-of-town artists are spread throughout the town of Oxford at featured locations including Shelter on Van Buren and High Point Coffee. The crawls begin at Powerhouse Community Arts Center with complimentary drinks. The event is free to the public, and attendees will ride the Double Decker Bus to various locations.
The YAC will host three other events — Food Truck Fight, Full Tilt and Three Blind Wines — throughout the months of August, September and October. More information can be found on their website, www.oxfordarts.com, and on their Facebook page.
Besides hosting their annual film festival, Oxford Film Festival also has events planned each month for the rest of the year. They will host a glow-in-the-dark rave on Sept. 9. They are also recruiting volunteers for the film festival in February.
University art professor Philip R. Jackson curated an exhibition titled “Night Sun,” which will be on display at Southside Gallery until Sept. 10. Most of the artists involved in the exhibition are members of the Perceptual Painters, and the works included in the exhibition depict subjects under artificial light.
There will be several artists showcased at Southside Gallery on the Square throughout the year, including painter Jerrod Partridge, mixed media artist Blair Hobbs, photographer Susan Bryant and mixed media artist Billy Renkl.
For those who want to venture outside of Oxford, Bozarts Gallery in Water Valley just launched an exhibition titled “Synesthesia: Seeing Sound,” and hosts numerous artists throughout the year. The current exhibit explores the idea that artists can “see” sound.
In the spring, the popular Double Decker Arts Festival will return to downtown Oxford. The festival entices Oxonians and out-of-towners alike for a unique two-day celebration of food, music and art.
