Ole Miss Art Instructors Display Ceramics, Sculpture, Prints at NWCC

Northwest Mississippi Community College’s November Art Exhibition will feature ceramics, sculpture and prints by University of Mississippi art instructors Andrew Smith and Ernest Forward.
Smith, a sculpture instructor and technician, earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from The University of North Florida and his Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Texas A&M, Corpus Christi. His work has been shown in Texas, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina and New York. In addition to Ole Miss, he has taught at Texas A&M, Corpus Christi and worked extensively with the Young Authors Camp while there, teaching elementary and high school students. He was a visiting lecturer at Nichols State University and has presented at various conferences, including the Southeastern College Arts Conference in North Carolina, the Sixth International Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Arts in Kidwelly, Wales and the National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Arts and Practices in Birmingham.
He is a member of the MidSouth Sculpture Alliance, the Mid America College Art Association, Southeastern College Art Conference and the College Art Association.
Smith works in a variety of different materials and processes, including metal fabrication, installation art and foundry practices. “It is my intention to deal with the connotation of the word “home” within my works. While I find inspiration in my past experiences on the road, moving from home to home, it is the fleeting idea of what a home really is and what truly defines it that has sent me into an internal investigation and search for answers,” Smith said. ­
Forward is an instructor and ceramic technician at Ole Miss. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics from The University of Alaska, Fairbanks and his Master of Fine Arts from Montana State University. His teaching experience includes work as an assistant instructor in ceramics at the Alaska Fine Arts Academy and art instructor at Montana State University.
He also had a full-year residency at the Red Lodge Clay Center in Red Lodge Montana. His work has been shown in Montana, Wyoming, Alaska and China and is in permanent collections at Montana State University in Bozeman and Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in China. He has given workshops and lectures in Wyoming, Montana and China. He won the Best of Show and the Best of Ceramics at The University of Alaska, Fairbanks Juried Show in 2005 and 2006.

“My inspiration for this work is derived from my local surroundings and experiences in Mississippi. Traditions run rich and true in Southern culture — so true I can say I have never experienced anything like it. The forms I have chosen are influenced from ammunition, the rifling of the barrel and the potential energy they posses in providing the harvest. I chose to draw the animals from my current surroundings here in Mississippi. The gold luster and food caches are reminiscent from my time growing up in Alaska, and I choose to capture significant life experiences within my work as a method to keep it fresh, and to retain my roots and values,” Forward said.
The opening reception will be held on Thursday, Nov. 6 from 5-7 p.m. and the exhibition will run from Nov. 3-24 in the Northwest Art Gallery on the Senatobia campus.
Gallery hours are 8 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. – noon, Fridays. Admission to the gallery is free.
For more information contact Art Chair, Lawayne House, at 662-562-3399 or e-mail lhouse@northwestms.edu.
Courtesy LaJuan Tallo, Communications Assistant, Northwest Community College.