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(Photos of the opening reception on May 20 by Lori Neuenfeldt)

Painting creations by a Crawford artist are on display through July 22 at Mississippi State’s Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery.

Free to all, the second-floor exhibition at the university’s Welcome Center features Mississippi landscape-inspired watercolor images by Frances Hairston. Scenes include wildflowers, rural buildings, fields and cotton.

“Growing up in the Mississippi Delta and now living in the Black Prairie, I have a deep feeling for the land and for the natural surroundings,” Hairston said. “This feeling becomes a part of my paintings.”

“I am constantly inspired with ideas of things I want to paint,” she added.  “Everyday objects such as the sun shining through waving stalks of Johnson grass or cows grazing in my neighbor’s pasture attract my attention and urge me to paint.  As an artist, I want to lift the mundane to a new level, so that a viewer can find this same beauty and meaning.”

For more biographical information, visit .

The exhibition is made possible by the art department, home to the Magnolia State’s largest undergraduate studio art program.

One of several departmental venues, the Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery regularly features traveling exhibits, student shows, and group and solo exhibitions by professional artists. Summer hours for the gallery are 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Monday-Friday. For more, see at .

Additional gallery information is available from Lori Neuenfeldt, coordinator of the MSU art department’s gallery and outreach programs, at 662-325-2973 or LNeuenfeldt@caad.msstate.edu.