As I said in an earlier blog post HERE, I’ve set some goals for myself this year: to enter more juried art shows and competitions. I did already enter one show and didn’t get in but that’s just how it goes. In an effort to keep moving forward, I saw a shared post on Instagram about entries for the Greenville Arts Council’s 10th Biennial Mississippi Invitational juried art show. I was in that show years ago in 2009. How could that have been fourteen years ago? I don’t think I’ve sent an entry in since 2009 because shows slip up on me and I forget deadlines even though I keep a planner. And even with having a planner I still almost forgot about the show and hastily put together an entry the day it was due (don’t look at me like that, yall all know how I am.) I sent in three pieces and of course the one that I just made, don’t have printed or framed, and just threw in there because it’s the same price for entry whether you submit one image or three is the one that got in.

But, I got a piece in a show!

The image at the top of the page is titled “Forgotten Worship” and was just taken about two weeks ago, though it’s not the first time I’ve photographed this building the old Savannah M.B. Church. Those photos are on my old blog HERE. I always seem to photograph this building either in January or February and really need to get out there this summer and photograph it when all the trees surrounding it are fully leafed out. The trees around it are basically all that’s holding the building up at this point. I’m a huge fan of William Christenberry and his work has always had such an influence on my photography. He was well known for documenting buildings around his home in Alabama through the years and decades. Please look him and his work up when you have a moment. I got to hear him speak in person in 2004 right before I graduated at a SPE conference, best art moment ever. I really do hate that I was too much of a chicken to speak to him at the gallery show that night. I’ll always regret it.

I’m very proud and honored to have been juried into this show as it is a very competitive show. The work is always beautifully curated and the Roger D. Malkin Gallery in Greenville where the show is held is wonderful. So thank you to the arts council for hosting the show and to the juror for his time in judging.

I’m not a full time photographer anymore, but I am and will always be an artist. I at least try to live like that anyway. I made peace with the fact that art probably won’t ever be my full time job (nor at this point do I think I would want it to be a full time job…maybe….I don’t know…) but there’s nothing that says I can’t pursue art in the time I have allotted to me. Don’t get me wrong, being a full time artist would be a dream. Can you image? Making your living creating every day? A dream.

But at the end of the day whether I ever get into another show or simply continue to share my art with you here on the internet and Instagram and wherever people will let me share I hold to the thoughts of Georgia O’Keeffe (yes I’m a basic art girl that loves O’Keefe with my entire being okay?)

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” Georgia O’Keeffe

And that is one of the reasons I continue to photograph Mississippi and share it. There are so many unknown pockets of Mississippi that will never see the light of day because they exist on the backroads and woods and wilderness that is this state. And I love sharing those magical places with all of you. Thanks as always for reading and continuing to support me and my art. It means more than you know.