Jackson Free Press

Art is the most intense form of individualism the world has known," said Oscar Wilde, a man who knew a thing or two about exercises in individual expression. That phrase rings true for the 2014 Mississippi Invitational showcase.

The Mississippi Invitational, which began in 1997, provides the state's contemporary artists with a venue for their work. Artists selected for the invitational must be residents of Mississippi, in contrast to the Mississippi Museum of Art's "Mississippi Story," a permanent exhibit where artists must only have a connection to the state, whether grand or minute.

This year, the guest curator is North Carolina-based artist Carla Hanzal, who recently served as the curator of modern and contemporary art at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, N.C., a position she held for 10 years.

"It is just astonishing," Hanzal says about the breadth and talent of the artists around the state interviewed for a spot in the invitational.

"Mississippi provides a good place for artists to work," she says. "I was impressed that the museum took on a labor-intensive project like this one and did a great job. Other museums replicate the type of work shown in Los Angeles, New York or Chicago. Here, visitors will get the chance to support artists from the state and local area."

Hanzal, along with MMA curator Roger Ward, narrowed the list of applicants from 100 to 24 and set out on the roads of Mississippi, traveling from studio to studio and meeting each artist and viewing his or her work firsthand.

"I felt like it was important to see the work up close, compared to a photograph," Hanzal says. "(I got to meet) the artist; allowing them time to explain their work gave me an impression of the level of art in the state. I can also recommend them for other shows."

Hanzal and Ward then chose artists based on their inventiveness, the quality of their work, and the use of narrative and colors.

Each artist was also eligible for the Jane Crater Hiatt Artist Fellowship, which totals $15,000 for travel and study expenses. The artist receives support for his or her creative development and further creation of adventurous and imaginative art. The chosen artist is required to donate at least one original work to the museum's permanent collection and create five pieces for the collection during the fellowship's two-year period.

As the recipient of the 2014 Hiatt Fellowship, abstract painter Carolyn Busenlener is no stranger to adventurous ideas. Her work is intuitive in the painting "After the Rain." Lines and shapes of bright colors punctuate the soft palate of the backdrop, creating vivid contrasts.

"The natural environment surrounding my studio in rural Mississippi influences my choice of shapes and mark-making," she says on MMA's website.

"I see and sense marsh grasses, the movement of bayou waters and the dance of living creatures in their habitats." Most of her art is abstract, layered with shapes, vivid colors and fuzzy brushstrokes to create her scenes.

Busenlener will complete the Hiatt Fellowship in Ireland, Wales and Great Britain, which she says will allow her to work on mark-making and line work.

Jackson-based artists Anne O'Hara, David Jason Pressgrove and Gregory Walker are also part of the invitational. In her work, O'Hara creates photo-realistic nature scenes with overlapping elements that create hidden images, such as in her exhibition piece, "Sanctuary," a tinted charcoal drawing of a leaf-filled puddle

Pressgrove's sculptures, often made of building materials that are not fit for use in construction, center around themes of architecture, place and community. His piece in the invitational, "ren4" looks similar to the blueprint of a house and is made of wood, metal and ink.

Walker's art examines past media technology and how we must remember and appreciate it in times of fast-moving technological change. He often incorporates distortion into his pieces, whether it be a gradual distortion of one photo or sound distortion. His piece in the invitational, a still from his "Acoustic Negatives: A Memoir in 4 Parts," uses sound and image distortion to explore information and how our brain translates it. The video begins with a few seconds of Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock," then distorts it. It gradually gets lighter and lighter until it transitions to text and then turns darker and darker.

Other Mississippi artists in the invitational include Adrienne Callander and Neil Callander from Starkville; Shawn Lee Dickey from Columbus; Marcus Frazier from Natchez; Lou Haney, Andrew Smith and Milly West from Oxford; Chatham Kemp and Don Norris from Hattiesburg; Ruth Miller from Picayune; and J. Marcus Weekly from Gulfport.

"I thought about the influence of place and also about how artists seldom work in isolation. ... I thought about language, loss and music; narrative and handicraft; investigating the past; and collecting meaningful fragments," Hanzal says. "These meandering thoughts informed the shape of this show."

The 2014 Mississippi Invitational shows through Jan. 25, 2015, in the Jim and Donna Barksdale Galleries for Changing Exhibitions at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St.). Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $6 for students. Museum members and children under 5 attend for free. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon-5 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 601-960 -1515 or visit msmuseumart.org.