Ellington

Franklin Sirmans, the curator of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, was out of his element a few months ago in the woods outside Oxford. He had visited about 50 different art studios based on more than 200 photographic applications. His mission was to find a dozen of the state's best contemporary artists for the Mississippi Invitational exhibit at Mississippi Museum of Art. He was near the end of his visit, but finding sculptor Rod Moorhead was not going to be easy.

"GPS won't quite get you here," Moorhead said from his home outside Oxford. The sculptor met Moorhead in town, and the curator and his entourage followed Moorhead back to the reclusive studio.

Moorhead's wife of seven years, Younok Chong, fixed the visitors a Korean dish of vegetables and rice with a sesame sauce and served it with wine. Sirmans told everyone at the table it was the highlight of his day and how happy he was not to be eating junk food again.

"He's a fairly big-deal guy," Moorhead said. He showed the esteemed curator his work and watched him look at it. Long pauses and blank looks left Moorhead not sure what Sirmans thought of his work. The curator from California looked at the classical human shapes that filled the studio.

"Why don't they have arms?" Sirmans asked him.

"They don't need arms," Moorhead said. And then Sirmans said nothing for a long time, but looked at the statues. It was an awkward silence for Moorhead.

"I have a hard time talking about my art in way that is not inarticulate," Moorhead said. "I didn't know what he'd pick."

Sirmans selected two entries from Moorhead's studio. One is a collection of seven small figures that Moorhead calls "Furies." The other entry is a single, larger figure he calls "Restoration." It is electric blue, wingless and reminiscent of classic armless statues like "Nike." Moorhead nicknamed this sculpture "Neo Nike."

Moorhead, 47, grew up in the Oxford area and got dual bachelor's degrees in math and English from the University of Mississippi. He is one of 13 working artists Sirmans chose for the Mississippi Invitational exhibit. The exhibit opened in October and continues through Feb. 5.

The other artists are: Suzi Altman of Brandon; Duncan Baird of Cleveland; Critz Campbell of West Point; Causey Cato of Yazoo City and Starkville; Marcus C. Frazier of Natchez; Tammy McGrew of Port Gibson; Susa Nawrocki of Columbus; the pair H. C. Porter and Gretchen Haien of Vicksburg and Jackson; David Jason Pressgrove of Jackson; Steve Shepard of Gautier; and Evert Witte of Bay St. Louis.
The 13 artists chosen for the Mississippi Invitational are eligible to apply for The Jane Crater Hiatt Artist Fellowship in the year their work is featured. Jane and Wood Hiatt created the fellowship in 2005 in response to the need to nurture and invigorate the arts. One of the exhibiting artists gets a grant of up to $15,000 and may use it for study with an individual artist or in a studio, workshop or residency setting; to purchase supplies and equipment; to conduct research; and to travel. The artist is then required to donate one original work of art to the museum from at least five works created during the two-year period.

The exhibit is in the Donna and Jim Barksdale Galleries for Changing Exhibitions in the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St., 601-960-1515). Admission is $5 adults, $4 seniors and $3 students. For information, visit msmuseumart.org.