The annual Bi-State is a juried exhibition by the Meridian Museum of Art. It offers over $3,000 in awards and prizes, including the $1,000 Best of Show Cash Award. The exhibition aims to showcase contemporary artists in Mississippi and Alabama and reward their efforts.
Eligibility: Open to all artists who are current or past residents of Mississippi or Alabama.
Media: Original works of art, such as paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, photography, ceramics, fibers, glass, or mixed media.
Entries and Fee: A maximum of three (3) entries per artist may be submitted. The nonrefundable entry fee of $30 covers the costs for all three entries. Works must be original and created between 2021 and the present. Student-assigned work will not be accepted. Works may be submitted as digital images through the museum’s email address – meridianmuseum@bellsouth.net. A cashier’s check, money order, check, or PayPal will be accepted. Please do not send cash.
Entry Dates: Digital Images, ENTRY FORM, AND $30.00 FEE per artist must be received by May 4, 2024. The museum reserves the right to reproduce entries in catalogs and for news and promotional use. Sending an entry to this competition will constitute agreement with all the conditions in this prospectus.
Size Requirements: All 2-D work will not exceed 72 x 96 in. and should be wired ready to hang (unless special conditions exist). All 3-D work should not exceed 8 feet in any direction and weigh no more than 50 lbs.
Delivery & Pick Up: The last DAY TO RECEIVE accepted works is May 25, 2024. All shipped entries should be packaged in returnable containers, and a prepaid return shipment label should be enclosed. The museum is not responsible for returned shipments of works. Works will be returned in the same container within two months after the closing date. Other works can be picked up any time after the announcements and the closing date during regular museum hours: Tuesday – Saturday from 11:00 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sales: The museum will retain a 25% commission on all sales made during the exhibition.
Notification: The museum will email notification of acceptance/rejection on or about May 18, 2024. MMA is the final authority on eligibility and has the right, without liability restrictions, to reject any entry that is believed not to be creditable to the show.
Liability: The museum staff will exercise all possible care in handling entries. MMA will not assume responsibility for loss or damage to any artwork submitted to the show. The artist should ensure all art before submitting it to the competition. The museum will not insure works in transit to or from the museum. Works left by the artist two months after closing will become the museum’s property.
Awards & Honors: The juror will have a minimum of $3,000.00 for cash and purchase awards. The Best of Show artist will be featured in an exhibition at the museum in 2025.
EXHIBITION DATES: June 4 – July 27, with the closing reception from 1 to 3 p.m. The Awards will be announced at 3. A special invitation is extended to artists and their friends and family.
Juror Brent Funderburk was recently honored with the MS Governor’s Award for Visual Arts and Education in 2024.
Brent Funderburk is a William L. Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Mississippi State University, where he served as Art Department head and taught for 36 years. He has been recognized with the University’s highest academic, teaching, and research honors, including the Southeastern Conference Faculty Excellence Award (2016), the John Grisham Teaching Award, the Ralph E. Powe Faculty Research Award, and the Burlington Northern Faculty Excellence Award.
As an artist known for his exuberantly hued water paintings and energetic teaching and lectures, Brent Funderburk is a Charlotte, North Carolina native who has worked as a teacher/administrator for three universities in three states over 40 years. From a robust life of art practice and travel, Funderburk has researched, produced, exhibited, and lectured passionately, working from life and in the studio in Starkville, Mississippi. He has presented 34 one-person exhibitions across the U.S. He has been represented by galleries in Jackson, Atlanta, Charlotte, New Orleans, and Memphis (etc.), with work in public and private collections across the U.S. and abroad, such as the Mississippi Museum of Art, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Memphis-Brooks Museum of Art, and Meridian Museum of Art.
Funderburk’s artwork has been juried into over 100 regional, national and international shows, with numerous awards, such as the International Society of Experimental Artists Award, the Holbein Artist Award, and Isabey-Savoir Faire Award, at the National Watercolor Society 100th International Open Exhibition (San Pedro, CA, 2020), the Artistic Excellence Special Award I at the Missouri International Exhibition (Barcelona, Spain, St, Louis, MO, 2020), the Juror’s Special Award and Certificate of Merit at the 6th Fabriano International Prize (Fabriano, Italy, 2020), and had work that toured seven Chinese museums in the Shenzhen International Watercolour Biennial (2015-16).
Brent Funderburk’s work has been published widely in national and international periodicals such as American Artist, Artists Magazine, Creative Quarterly: The Journal of Art and Design, Studio Visit, Watercolor Artist Magazine, Southwest Art, and Splash: The Best of Watercolor. Funderburk’s “One to One” painting was chosen as the cover art for the 2022 Splash annual publication.
In 2010, Funderburk was named the Official Artist of the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, MS.
Regarded for his depth of research and enthusiastic delivery, Funderburk has presented talks to over 100 museums, universities, and professional organizations across the country. He curated and lectured with the exhibition “Ecstasy- The Mystical Landscapes of Walter Anderson,” which toured four U.S. museums (2008-2010), as well as has spoken about Anderson in association with the Smithsonian Institute exhibit “Everything I See is New and Strange” (2003). In addition to presenting his multi-media lectures, such as “A Halcyon Day! A Day in the Life of Walter Anderson”, “Deep Harvest,” and “The Beathing Eye,” he has presented illustrated lectures on 20th Century visionary modern American artists such as Will Henry Stevens, Robert Henri, and Edward Reep, subjects such as American watercolor, art, and architecture, and often about his art.
Funderburk has taught courses dedicated to the vision of Walter Anderson, “Sea Earth Sky” (’80s), “Encounters” (’90s), and “Walter Inglis Anderson and American Art” (2018), has led field classes in U.S. national parks, and has taught semester courses in Vicenza (2007) and Rome (2016), Italy.
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