Rick is a nationally acclaimed artist whose career has spanned more than 40 years. A native of Clarksdale in the Mississippi Delta, he nurtured a passion for art from an early age. In imitation of his older brother, he could be found drawing most everywhere he went. He fondly remembers his Mom once telling him not to draw during church.

When he was about seven years old, he and his parents met with a nationally known artist who lived nearby, hoping to receive encouragement for his talent. To their disappoint, this man looked at several drawings and informed Rick that he had no artistic ability and should never consider art as a career. Rick refused to allow his dreams of becoming a well-known, successful artist to be dampened, and persisted in his pursuit of excellence in art. In an interesting end to this tale, years later this same artist judged an art show at the university that Rick was attending, and awarded Rick first place on one of his paintings.

Rick began preparing for his career at a state junior college and then continued his education at Delta State University in Cleveland, MS, where he earned an undergraduate art degree and a Master of Arts Education degree. He began his twenty-five year teaching career in 1970, while simultaneously working as a professional artist. Over the course of his career in the Mississippi public educational system, Rick has taught art at every level from elementary school through university classes. Rick was also an adjunct art instructor at Mississippi College.

Rick received his first art award at the Gum Tree Festival in Tupelo, MS in 1975. Since then, he has received over 150 awards in local, regional, and national art competitions. Today his work can be found in both private and corporate collections.

In recent years, Rick’s artistic talent has found a new outlet in the illustration of children's books. The first of nine books was published in 2003 by Sleeping Bear Press. He is currently working on his tenth children’s book which he is both writing and illustrating.

Rick’s motivation to create his art is self-induced, and his passion to paint is endless. Instilling a love of art in Mississippi’s school children continues to be a passion for Rick. He visits multiple schools not only in Mississippi, but throughout the US connecting children with art.

A retrospective exhibit of Ricks work of forty years would reveal a wide range techniques, from photographic pencil drawings to large contemporary two dimensional mixed media work on both canvas and illustration board.

The photographic pencil drawings are accomplished with painstaking technique, and can require more than a hundred hours to complete. To produce these drawing Rick employs F, 6H, 3H, H, and Ebony pencils in a layering process that begins with the hard leads to produce light lines and progresses to the softer, darker leads. This technique produces a visual depth to the work that can only be achieved in this manner.

His paintings usually include landscape elements juxtaposed with non-objective designs. He uses a layering process similar to the one he uses in his pencil drawings, but employing wet transparent washes combined with thick opaque applications on the canvas. Some paintings may include elements such as pieces of canvas applied to the surface, gold leaf, Prismacolor pencil, and pencil drawings.

These layering techniques, his characteristic mixture of media, as well as his use of contrasting light and dark areas to break up the space within his paintings, and his characteristic use of lines have created a signature style which many people have come to recognize on sight as his.

Rick plans to continue to paint and exhibit his work wherever the opportunities arise, whether it be art galleries, indoor, and outdoor art festivals, or in private showings at his home. He recently opened an art show in a gallery in his home town, and has several art festivals lined up for this coming spring.

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I am a native of Starkville, Mississippi and still reside there. I am retired from the Mississippi State Chemical Laboratory, where I worked as an analyst for many years.

Although I have had a great interest in art since childhood, I did not begin painting seriously until 2001. I am primarily a painter of landscapes, working in pastel, watercolor, oil, and acrylic. My goal as an artist is to create the same emotion in the viewer that I felt in experiencing the original scene in nature.

My education as an artist includes workshops with Alan Flattmann, Frank Federico, Sandra Burshell, Carole Katchen, John Kelley, and Greg Biolchini.

"Although I've had a lifelong interest in art, I didn't start painting seriously until 2000. I painted mainly pastel landscapes, and participated in several juried art shows and pastel workshops. Since retiring from Mississippi State University in 2010, I have been experimenting with oils, watercolors, and acrylics, and thoroughly enjoying the adventure."

Jamie Tate is an abstract artist residing in Mississippi. Jamie's seeds of creative inspiration are almost always planted by her observations of the fields, the forests, the people, and the cultures that make up the "Crazy Quilt" of the Mississippi Delta. Landscapes are at the heart of Jamie's work - her personal interpretation of the Mississippi Delta - evolving over the years from representational work to the contemporary and abstract style of today.

Jamie has received numerous awards for her art and continually presents her works at solo exhibits and group exhibits. She is a founding member of the Delta Artists Association in Mississippi, currently holds Board of Director seats on the Greenville Arts Council and the Mississippi Art Colony. She has previously held Board of Director seats for art associations in Texas and Arkansas.

About the work

“ I like to think of my work as 'sophisticated abstract.' My paintings are explorations of color, lines, and textures – experimentation with the materials and mediums at hand – layering of paints, mediums and glazes, while using tools to achieve texture, richness and depth. The process is as enjoyable as achieving the final result."

“I like the use of the meandering line to dissect the canvas and divide the space, giving the piece both an aerial viewpoint and a linear one, at the same time.”

"Techniques vary from painting to painting. Some are heavily textured, while others have a smoother surface. All paintings are done in acrylics, starting with drippy washes and division of space. Layers of color and texture are built with help from tools, pencil markings, and other objects."

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