University of Mississippi Museum Education Blog

William Eggleston painted the abstract watercolor! While William Eggleston is most famous for his photography, he is also an avid watercolorist. Many people are surprised to discover Eggleston's overlooked passion, but it's not hard to imagine a world where his paintings are lauded instead of his photographs. They have been a near constant part of his artistic oeuvre since he was four years-old, and he came into contact with mentors, like abstract expressionist painter Tom Young, who might have encouraged him to pursue his longstanding talent instead of photography. Photography, like many great things, happened by happenstance. Eggleston began experimenting with photography in earnest when a friend at Vanderbilt gave him his first Leica camera. Bill and his camera drifted from Vanderbilt to Delta State and finally settled at the University of Mississippi. During his time at the university, he was inspired by the mastery and innovation on display in Henri Cartier-Bresso...

While most famous for his photos, this Mississippi photographer has dabbled in a number of different mediums. In addition to his camera, he also enjoys playing the piano and took art classes with famous abstract painter, Tom Young.  Do you have any idea of who it might be?  Even his paintings showcase his love of bold color and extraordinary gaze!  pARTicipate Challenge Grab whatever art supplies you have at hand and turn on some music! Based on how the music makes you feel, create your own abstract masterpiece. Want to increase the difficulty? Have someone switch the songs every minute for 5 minutes. Then, show your work to someone who hasn't heard the music and challenge them to guess what kind of song you were listening to (happy, sad, slow, fast, etc.) Post your work in the comments below or @ us on our social media!

The Museum isn't just a place to look at art, but also a place to pARTicipate as well! Between free and paid family programming , tours , traveling trunks , and self-guided activity cards in the galleries, there are a ton of ways to be involved and create at the Museum. One of our favorite ways for visitors to pARTicipate is the pARTicipate Wall, nestled in our Interactive Educational Area. This is a map of all the interactive education experiences at the Museum. The pARTicipate Wall is located in the Interactive Educational Area. Planning a visit to the Museum soon? Download this Kids Museum Rules and Map to start planning your trip today! The pARTicipate Wall rotates every three months, so families always have a new and interesting project to do when they visit the Museum. For Fall 2016, we were inspired by Luster Willis's  Untitled (Portrait of a Lady), on loan from Gordon W. Bailey ,  and challenged visitors to create fancy self-portraits of themselves. A ne...

That's right, Mississippi turns 200 years-old this December!  For all of 2017 our Monday Museum Mysteries will be related to Mississippi history and artists! We'll share rarely seen pieces from our collection as well as share facts and links related to Mississippi's bicentennial! We hope you enjoy discovering more about our beautiful, complicated state and look forward to your participation in 2017.  Unlike other MMM Reveals, we can't tell you what was in every picture in the last post because some will show up in later Monday Museum Mysteries this year! Be on the look out and we look forward to celebrating Mississippi's 200th Birthday with everyone this year!  7 Things that Happened in 1817 March 3, 1817, Mississippi Territory split into the Mississippi and Alabama Territory March 4, 1817, James Monroe succeeded John Adams as President of United States April 15, 1817, The American School for the Deaf opens in Hartford, Conneticut...

Marty Vinograd (b. 19-- d. 2014) became famous after members of the Israeli National Bank saw her portrait of Golda Meir in a student exhibition. The bankers were so impressed that they commissioned her to create portraits of all the Israeli Prime Ministers to hang in their boardrooms. Best known for her collages, she used her early experience with quilts to help guide her in putting together materials in inventive ways. "The Powerhouse," is a fabric collage of a famous Oxford landmark with the same name that has since been converted into an event space. It is also home to one of our favorite partners, the  Yoknapatawfa Arts Council ! Marty Vinograd Powerhouse Collage Materials:  Black and white print out of a favorite landmark Coloring utensils (pictured, oil pastels, permanent marker, colored pencils) Collage materials (buttons, scrap paper, yarn, etc.)  Glue Scissors Estimated time: 20-40 minutes 1. Find an image of your favorite ...

Welcome to 2017 and the first Monday Museum Mystery of the semester! For today's Monday Museum Mystery, we want to wish a place very close to us a very special and happy birthday, can you guess where it is? Look at some of their items below. Why do you think they were important to this place? What story do they tell you about it? What wonderful place could have created all of these things? This is a pretty abstract watercolor; I wonder who painted it?  What an interesting sculpture; I wonder who carved it? This pottery is so interesting; I wonder where it's from? This painting is so familiar; who could have painted it? This woman looks like a great storyteller; I wonder who she is?

Look at this cool lithograph from Alexander Calder that we have in our collection!  Untitled Alexander Calder, b. 1898 d. 1976 Alexander Calder, Sandy to his friends, is an American painter and sculpture artist famous for his mobile sculptures and bold, geometric paintings. Born in 1898 in Pennsylvania, he was friends with famous artists and writers like Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, and Marcel Duchamp! In today's Try it Out, we'll be making our own mobiles and paintings inspired by Calder's unique style! Calder-Inspired Mobiles Calder invented his delicately balanced sculptures because he wanted to draw in the air. As Marchel Duchamp watched them transform and move with the wind, he said Calder should call them mobiles.  When Calder started creating his mobiles, he made a whole circus and invited famous friends like Pablo Picasso to come watch performances. After you hang your mobile, head to a public library and find Sandy's ...

Look at this interesting piece of pottery that we have in our David M. Robinson Collection of Greek and Roman art! What do you think they are? What do you think they could have been used for? What images do you see depicted on the surface? What can the shape tell us about how this vase was used? What about the color?  Look at this small opening, this probably wasn't used to pour something thick... These are called lekythoi (one = lekythos). Typically, the small vases were used to hold oil or perfumes and were frequently found in baths and gymnasiums. They were used often and were decorated to withstand a lot of wear and tear. Many were either all-black or decorated with red figures. The ones displayed above, however, are decorated with fine line drawings and are all-white, a style most commonly associated with funerary offerings! Here is our completed lekythos with another replica.  Required Materials: Air dry Clay (red will look the most authentic) Bla...

Winter is here and so is our first Monday Museum Mystery of December! The temperature is down and the snow is starting to pile up all around the country! As the little ice crystals descend, they cover everything and turn the world into an icy paradise. Do you like the cold? What would you do if you had a Snow Day from school? Where do you think this winter wonderland is? Don't worry, we won't give you the cold shoulder! Come back next Monday, December 12th when we reveal the answer to today's Monday Museum Mystery!