The Mid-South Sculpture Alliance (MSA) began in 2006 as the dream of two sculptors: John Henry and Verina Baxter and has developed into an innovative community of regional, emerging, mid-range, and established artists. The founders’ vision was to invigorate the culture for sculpture and sculptors within their community through a membership-driven arts organization.

In its infancy, MSA focused on exhibition, education, and networking opportunities hosted by partners throughout the Mid-South region. Today, MSA advances the creation and awareness of sculpture in its many and varied forms, provides accessibility and platforms for 3D art practitioners, and promotes diverse, inclusive, and supportive environments for sculpture and sculptors.

What began as a small, regional organization has grown to include members and partners throughout the United States and territories. Inspired by the growth in membership and led by our diverse board of directors, MSA focuses ongoing programming to make sculpture accessible, inclusive, and transformational.

The goals are essentially to connect communities in an underserved, overlooked region directly to the possibilities and opportunities of contemporary sculpture. Since its inception in 2006, MSA has broadened its reach to include not only sculptors but also educators, curators, architects, art lovers, universities, museums, galleries, and both public and private institutions working in and with sculpture. MSA has initiated public art competitions, conferences, confabs, symposiums, workshops, and exhibitions in Atlanta, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Cincinnati, Birmingham, Jacksonville, and Lexington, to name a few. These events highlighted a diverse range of sculptors and curators, providing visibility, accessibility, significant resources, and a network for practitioners. Venues include the Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga State Community College, University of Tennessee, University of Kentucky, the University of Cincinnati, and Riverwalk Chattanooga. Various partnerships include Midtown Partners, LexArts, Public Art Chattanooga, City of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, and more.

MSA progresses in its long-term goal to be a leader in the presentation of dynamic exhibitions and events that are aesthetically strong and intellectually challenging, with a particular interest in contemporary, technological, and cultural issues that engage the community. MSA welcomes professional sculptors, artists, curators, educators, students, and all art lovers at any stage of their career to join the membership and participate in these exhibitions and events.

MSA funds and promotes scholarship competitions in addition to mentoring opportunities that are designed to inspire, acknowledge, and support future sculptors. The MSA Scholarship for Outstanding Students is one of MSA’s most significant programs. Begun in 2016, the scholarship competition has since awarded thirty-five cash awards to students seeking degrees in sculpture. The funds received are coupled with speaking, exhibition, and mentoring opportunities that propel artistic production and public engagement as well as engage scholarship winners in dialogue, collaboration, and intellectual exchange with a professional network.

To build upon this effort of supporting sculptors throughout their careers, MSA recently initiated the Vision 2020 grant. The pilot Vision 2020 awarded three mid-career, Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) sculptors with unfettered access to funding for artists to use toward the production of new work. The fellows were invited to exhibit and/or present at the fall 2021 Conference in Cincinatti, furthering their opportunities to engage in critical dialogue, collaboration, and intellectual exchange with their peers in the field of sculpture as well as public engagement with their work. This is also part of the continuing effort to address ‘omissions and under representation’ of people of color and marginalized communities by providing platforms for collaboration and self-representation.

To further efforts to make sculpture accessible in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, MSA launched the MSA Online Panel Discussion Series aired on Facebook Live and archived on MSA’s YouTube channel. Panels have covered an array of topics including Tearing Down Monuments, WISE during the Year of Suffrage, and The Online Sculpture Classroom. Panelists and moderators have included professional artists, educators, arts professionals, and MSA members. Each discussion has included a Q&A segment allowing the public to engage experts and thought leaders regardless of their physical location.

Conferences and Confabs brought many of the nation’s foremost experts and talents in the field of sculpture to speak to members and the public in each host location. Conferences generally last three to four days and include multiple speakers, panel discussions, workshops, and exhibitions which foster artistic production, learning, and public engagement. Confabs are shorter, one- or two-day events built on the idea of a fireside chat and highlighting a specific theme during which presenters and attendees have the opportunity to listen, learn, and get to know each other. Aurora Robson, a recent Confab artist, delved into ideas of waste and green practices in relationship to sculpture. Last year’s BIPOC speaker, Anila Quayyum, discussed the intersectionality of art, identity, and gender/culture politics.

This year’s MSA Conference 2024 keynote speaker is Vanessa German. Organized by MSA Secretary, Stacey Holloway, Conference 2024 will be held in Birmingham, Alabama in conjunction with the University of Alabama Birmingham and Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark.

MSA’s Exhibition Programming collaborates widely with well-known/established, and emerging, students and mid-career artists, curators, and institutions for all its exhibitions. Outdoor and indoor exhibitions in Chattanooga and Knoxville in Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; Lexington, Kentucky; and at the Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park in Hamilton, Ohio have all increased public engagement through free exhibitions, artist talks, and tours. These events generate dialogue and bring artists and community members together to be inspired by and learn from each other.

Recent partnerships with non-profit organizations and academic galleries have enabled MSA to organize several juried and curated exhibitions that address issues in contemporary sculpture, the politics of the ‘body,’ marginalized presence, and inter- connectivity.  For example, MSA board of directors continue to initiate new programming in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in its desire to create and participate in exhibitions and workshops led by experts in the field and the arts to have proper training in DEI to effectively continue our work advocating and advancing all sculptors. MSA funded and partnered with StoveWorks, a non- profit art organization and exhibition venue in awarding its first annual BIPOC Artist Residency program.

MSA is a small organization with a working board of directors, committee members, an Ex-Officio member, and one part-time administrative assistant employee.