Photo courtesy Mark St. James
This Saturday, August 9, 2014 from 6 pm to 9 pm, STAA presents an Art Talk and closing reception for the 49th Juried Artists Exhibition, the Summer Show. Exhibition juror Beth Batton will lead an informal talk with exhibiting artists in the show about their work. The talk will begin no later than 6:30pm, and wine and refreshments will be served. The closing event, held in conjunction with Covington’s monthly Second Saturday Art Walk, is free and open to the public and presented at the St. Tammany Art Association, 320 N. Columbia Street.
This year’s Summer Show features 36 pieces by 32 artists from 13 states, selected from a field of 370 works by 136 artists. On opening night July 12th, $2,500 in cash prizes was awarded to four artists while another was recognized with an Honorable Mention award.
The juror for the 2014 Summer Show is Beth Batton, who serves as the Curator of the Collection at the Mississippi Museum of Art where she has served since 2005. Exhibitions she has curated at the Museum include Italian Art from the Permanent Collection (2013-2014) and Oraien Catledge: Photographs of Cabbagetown (2010). From 2001 to 2005, Batton served as Arts-Based Community Development Director at the Mississippi Arts Commission. Prior to that, she was a project coordinator at Mississippi Cultural Crossroads, an award winning community arts organization in Port Gibson, Mississippi. Batton received a B.A. with honors in Fine Arts from The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. A photographer, her photographs have been exhibited in galleries in Atlanta, Austin, and Jackson.
