Mississippi Arts Hour

This week on the Mississippi Arts Hour, Maria Zeringue chats with quilter Marcella Harville of Corinth, MS. Harville is very active in her quilting communities, both online and locally. She is a member of two quilting guilds in northern Mississippi. She also teaches classes and is a pattern tester. This year, she is a recipient of MAC’s Folk Arts Fellowship grant. During this episode, Harville discusses her journey to quilting and the past seven years of creating community and honing her craft. 

Lauren Rhoades talks with writer, journalist, and MAC artist fellowship recipient Ellen Ann Fentress. A lifelong Mississippian, Ellen Ann is a literary nonfiction writer, journalist, filmmaker, and podcaster. She worked as a newspaper and radio reporter in Mississippi and also freelanced for national dailies. She currently teaches nonfiction in the Mississippi University for Women’s Creative Writing MFA program. Her debut memoir-in-essays, The Steps We Take: A Memoir of Southern Reckoning, was just published by the University Press of Mississippi. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB. https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast

David Lewis sits down with two young Mississippians representing our state on the National and International stages! Edward Wilson is the 2023 Poetry Out Loud (Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest) 2nd Place National Finalist from Jackson Preparatory School. In June, Alexei Orohovsky took home the gold medal in the Junior Males category at the USA International Ballet Competition held in Jackson, MS. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB. https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast

Larry Morrisey visits with stained glass artist Rob Cooper and his family members (and fellow artists), spouse Wendy Eddleman and daughter Lucie Cooper. They each talk about their work as artists as well as how the arts fit into their family life. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB. https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast

Lauren Rhoades talks with writer and MAC artist fellowship recipient Exodus Brownlow. Exodus graduated from Mississippi Valley State University with a BA in English and earned her MFA in creative writing from Mississippi University for Women. Her debut fiction chapbook “Look at All The Little Hurts of These Newly-Broken Lives” and “The Bittersweet, Sweet and Bitter Loves” were published with Ethel Zine & Micro-Press this year, along with her debut collection of essays “I'm Afraid That I Know Too Much About Myself Now, To Go Back To Who I Knew Before, And Oh Lord, Who Will I Be After I've Known All That I Can”, which was published with ELJ Editions. Tune in to hear more about Exodus's latest books and her journey as a writer and creative. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB. https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast

David Lewis speaks with Kayla Fuentes. Kayla is a mezzo-soprano, vocal pedagogue, and quirky theatre teacher from Starkville, Mississippi, where her passion for music and singing found its roots. She is currently the Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Meridian Symphony Association. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB. https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast

David Lewis speaks with visual artist Alexis McGrigg, a contemporary artist who examines themes of Blackness, space, spirituality, identity, and collective consciousness. Her artwork utilizes the mediums of painting, drawing, and interdisciplinary media to explore the multiplicity of Blackness through figurative abstraction and conceptual narratives. She integrates poetry, sound, and performance in her arts practice and research. Alexis is currently South Arts 2023 Mississippi’s Fellow for Visual Arts. Her work is featured in the South Arts 2023 Southern Prize and State Fellows Exhibition at the Ohr-O'keefe Museum of Art from August 17 - December 13, 2023. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB. https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast

This is a special back-to-school edition of the Arts Hour, celebrating the start of a new school year by taking a close look at our Mississippi Whole Schools program. Recorded at this year’s Whole Schools Summer Institute in Hattiesburg, Leslie Barker talks with some educators, teaching artists, and administrators who bring the magic of arts integration to classrooms all over our state. Interviewees include Chris Espinosa, XYZ, Katie Coon, Andrea Schipke, Dana Bell, Misty Ratliff, and Amanda Koonlaba. Photo Credit: Dr. Stephen Coleman

Larry Morrisey speaks with Jacob Crook, an artist, and printmaker in Starkville, this week on the Mississippi Arts Hour. Crook teaches in the art department at Mississippi State University. His artwork is focused on the mezzotint process, a labor-intensive printmaking technique with roots in the 17th century. Crook is one of MAC’s recently announced Artist Fellowship grant recipients.