 Sandra Murchison spoke on campus as part of Appalachian State University’s Visiting Artist Series Wednesday. Photo by Andrew Torrey | The Appalachian They fail to realize that Murchison, who currently serves as an associate professor of art and the chair of the Art Department at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., is only expanding her recent work. When she finishes, she hopes to pay tribute and bring awareness to the homeland of Blues music.
“The Delta is really the home of the Blue,” Murchison said. “Within this totally rural, remote [and] problematic region, you find the heart and roots of American music.”
The Mississippi Blues Trail utilizes a series of historic markers, meticulously placed at locations pivotal to the Blues movement, throughout the state.
Murchison presented her current work in the lecture hall of the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts Wednesday.
Sponsored by the Department of Art, the lecture was one of many coordinated throughout the semester as part of the Visiting Artist Series.
April V. Flanders, assistant professor of studio art, was attracted to Murchison’s use of color and texture.
Both Flanders and Murchison serve as members of the Southern Graphics Council Executive Board.
“I was interested in how she incorporates printmaking into other mediums,” Flanders said. “She’s not just using printmaking for print media, but she’s incorporating painting and even sculpture and three-dimensional [aspects]. That’s something that’s always interested me – kind of, pushing the boundaries of print media.”
Murchison utilizes fibers, printmaking based on drawings and photographs from the Delta region and encaustic painting, painting that combines oil and beeswax, to contain her mixed media work.
She uses tracing paper and graphite to create an etching of raised text and incorporates the text onto the markers.
Digital photographs of surrounding areas, including buildings and flowers, are collaged and/or projected on the surfaces she paints or draws on, allowing her to trace the outlines.
Murchison also incorporates disposable objects that she finds among each marker’s close proximity.
Murchison has visited 15 of 35 markers in the region and approximately 110 markers have been erected to date. An eventual 170 is planned.
While tackling her latest project, Murchison noticed a change in her art.
“My work used to be autobiographical,” she said. “The imagery was connected to my family history and relations. So, that’s sort of a major shift – looking to the community verses just my personal history.”
Storytelling and history, however, are continuing themes.
While performing her rubbings, Murchison developed an appreciation for Mississippi residents.
“The people I’ve met in my travels are self-sufficient, determined and kind,” she said. “They do not expect someone to take care of them.”
Murchison hopes her work will inspire others to be more proactive within their own neighborhoods.
“Ultimately, [I want] to encourage people to take in their own communities and be an advocate for establishing and preserving a sense of identity for wherever [they] are,” she said.
For more information on the Mississippi Blues Trail, visit msbluestrail.org.
Story: PHILLIP WYATT, Intern Lifestyles Reporter
Photo: ANDREW TORREY, Intern Photographer |
