Northwest Art Department welcomes Sheri Fleck Rieth to February

Northwest Art Department welcomes Sheri Fleck Rieth to February exhibit
Written by Sarah Sapp
Tuesday, 18 January 2011 17:45 -
Northwest Mississippi Community College’s February art exhibition will feature work by
Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Art at The University of Mississippi, Sheri
Fleck Rieth. Her exhibit will include a wide variety of large-scale, oil-based works on paper and
prints created from varied techniques.
The exhibit will be available for public viewing Feb. 3-25 in the Art Gallery on the Senatobia
campus and will run throughout the month. A reception open to the public will be held for the
artist Feb. 17 from 6-8 p.m. in the Art Gallery.
She has shown in local, national and international exhibitions and has work displayed in
collections at the Meridian Museum of Art in Meridian; Mobile Museum of Art in Mobile, Ala.;
and Opryland Hotel, Third Tennessee Realty and Associates and Watkins College of Art and
Design in Nashville.
Rieth has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing and painting from the University of Kansas and a
Master of Fine Arts in studio arts from Memphis College of Art. Rieth worked for 10 years as a
puppeteer and artist with Puck Players Puppet Theatre in Bloomington, Ind. and taught at
Watkins Institute of Art and Design in Nashville, Memphis College of Art and The University of
Memphis.
Following the honor of being granted the Artist’s Fellowship by the Mississippi Arts
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Northwest Art Department welcomes Sheri Fleck Rieth to February exhibit
Written by Sarah Sapp
Tuesday, 18 January 2011 17:45 -
Commission in 2004, Reith was named the Outstanding Liberal Arts Teacher of the Year at The
University of Mississippi in 2007.
“My work references those paths that I said I would never travel, the roads that I said I would
never cross and the miles that bear witness to passing seasons,” said Reith. “Who we are, what
we do and what we become in our lifetime are often unpredictable. My grandmother said,
‘Never say never. Often times you find yourself doing what you said you would never do and
doing so willingly.’ I now have an understanding of what she meant.”
With artistic influences ranging from Leopoldo Mendez and Joan Mitchell to Goya, images in
Rieth’s works are metaphors based on her memories of family and her personal journey. “I have
let go of ‘the time of never,’ embraced the swiftness of the changes in the air and taken my
place riding shotgun down the avalanche,” said Reith.
Northwest Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and Friday, 8 a.m. to noon.
Admission is free. The Northwest Fine Arts Division offers classes in the fundamentals of
drawing, painting, ceramics, art history and computer graphics for individuals seeking
opportunities for a career in the arts or for personal enrichment. For more information, contact
Lawayne House, chair of the Art Department, at (662) 562-3399 or e-mail
lhouse@northwestms.edu.
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