YAC Accepting Applications for Yokna Sculpture Trail

An example of a sculpture garden at Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.

The city of Oxford, the University of Mississippi and the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council are accepting applications through midnight on Jan. 26 for the launch of its first outdoor sculpture program throughout the area. 

The collaborative program, called the Yokna Sculpture Trail, will provide a total of 17 to 20 large-scale sculptures annually on a staggered two year exhibition schedule. The call for entries welcomes submissions from locally, regionally, and nationally exhibiting artists. 

“The Park is designed to be a reflective space. It will be a public art exhibit accessible to anybody and we are proud to be a part of something so special,” Wayne Andrews, director of the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council and one of the jurors, said. 

The selected sculptures will be exhibited in three distinct locations throughout Oxford between April 15, 2015, and March 1, 2017. The locations include Pat Lamar Park, an outdoor arboretum enjoyed for its walking trails, garden features, and lake. It will have nine pads for sculptures along the walking trails; the Powerhouse Sculpture Garden, offering four large pads for sculpture outside the Powerhouse Community Arts Center; and the Rebel Sculpture Park will have three sculpture pads in a large triangular-shaped courtyard directly in front of Meek Hall. There is also the possibility to exhibit sculptures at all three locations that do not require anchored footings.

Each artist selected and installed for the duration of the contract will receive a stipend of $1,500 per sculpture to defer any travel and transportation costs for delivery and removal of the sculptures. $1,000 will be given upon the successful delivery and installation of the sculpture to the selected site. $500 will be given to the artist upon the successful removal of the sculpture of the sculpture from the site on the agreed upon and scheduled date.

All applicants must be 18 or older, residents of the United States, and have created the works within the last five years, or they may be subject to omission from the selection process.  The non-refundable entry fee is $25 per application.  More information on guidelines, shipping and delivery, sales and commission, and the application itself are available online.

Applicants may email yacdirector@gmail.com or call (662) 236-6429 with questions regarding the program or the website. Any questions regarding the application process, removal, or installation of the sculptures should be directed to Durant Thompson at durant@olemiss.edu.