Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Running Sept. 13 through Oct. 9 at Mississippi State’s Visual Arts Center Gallery, “SURFACE • FUNCTION” is an exhibition of recent work by MSU Department of Art alumni Charlotte Smith, Sarah Qarqish and Morgan Welch.

A 5 p.m. public reception is planned for Friday [Sept. 13] at the Visual Arts Center Gallery, 808 University Drive in Starkville.

Originally from Brandon, Smith earned an MSU Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in sculpture in 2012. Currently living and working in Atlanta, Georgia, she focuses her work on functional design, specifically the creation of handmade ceramic cups.

In addition to https://charlottesmithstudios.com, Smith's work is available from Georgia-based companies Little Barn Apothecary and Steel + Plank. Charlotte Smith Studios has been featured on www.atlantamagazine.com, and Smith was named “Beloved Local Ceramicist” on fathomaway.com’s “A Quick Hit List of Atlanta Favorites.”

Founders of The HannaBerry Workshop in Ocean Springs, Sarah Hanna Qarqish and Morgan Berry Welch have been producing small scale pieces to large scale installations and interiors through their design build studio since 2014. The couple graduated with MSU Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in 2013—Qarqish with concentrations in graphic design and drawing; Welch, with a concentration in sculpture. With custom furniture clients including C-Spire and the Mississippi Children’s Museum, The HannaBerry Workshop has shown work across Mississippi and has been featured on WLOX’s Gulf Coast Weekend and vervesouth.com. Qarqish and Welch were selected as artists for the Mississippi Museum of Art’s 2015 C3 Community Art Series. For more, visit http://thehannaberryworkshop.com.

Additional information on the exhibition is available from Lori Neuenfeldt, MSU art instructor and gallery director, at 662-325-2970 or msuartgalleries@msstate.edu.

Part of MSU’s College of Architecture, Art and Design, the Department of Art is the longtime home of the state’s largest undergraduate studio art program. Learn more at www.caad.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.