Seeking to better connect with the area’s natural environment, Mississippi State’s newest artist-in-residence is on a month-long visit at the Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge.
Between now and her scheduled July 3 departure date, Marian S. McLellan, a New Orleans-based artist and critic, said she is learning all she can about the more than 48,000-acre refuge located 12 miles south of the university campus.
Established in 1940, the federal land reserve spanning Oktibbeha, Noxubee and Winston counties serves as a feeding and resting area for migratory birds and resident wildlife.
McLellan will be creating works to be donated to the Friends of Noxubee Refuge volunteer organization and displayed in the auditorium of the refuge headquarters, located on the south end of Bluff Lake.
“I will walk amongst nature’s bounty, taking visual and textual notes, which I will translate into drawings, paintings and prints,” McLellan said. “An important part of my stay will be the compilation of area residents’ drawings to accompany a guidebook I have in mind, titled ‘An Unspoiled Glimpse of Noxubee,’ which in turn is a companion to a more global piece, ‘An Unspoiled Glimpse.'”
McLellan, a studio art graduate of Tulane University, teaches at both the University of New Orleans and Delgado Community College. She also holds a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Mississippi.
The Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge artist-in-residence program is a collaborative effort of the MSU art department, the refuge and its Friends organization, along with the Starkville Area Arts Council.
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