Downtown Starkville image by MSU鈥檚 Jacob Crook included in Museum of Fine Arts Boston permanent collection
Contact: Christie McNeal
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜 Mississippi State Department of Art faculty member is one of five artists being honored nationally with a purchase award from the prestigious Boston Printmakers 2019 North American Print Biennial.
Jacob Crook, the department鈥檚 exhibition coordinator and a foundations courses lecturer, has received the Otis Philbrick Memorial Prize for his mezzotint engraving titled 鈥淣ightrise II,鈥 a piece that showcases a dimly lit alley on Lafayette Street in downtown Starkville. As part of the award, Crook鈥檚 work is being placed in the Print and Drawing Permanent Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.聽
鈥淚 happened upon it one night on a drizzly evening walk and was immediately captivated by the angularity of the shadows cast from various light sources and sparkling reflections in the rainy concrete and felt compelled to spend time with聽the composition,鈥 Crook said of his image.
The biennial received a total of 1,701 entries, with only 111 being selected for exhibition by juror Shelley R. Langdale,聽president of the Print Council of America and the Park Family Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.聽
Crook, a native of St. Louis, Missouri who joined MSU鈥檚 faculty in fall 2017, will teach all levels of printmaking courses during the upcoming academic year following the retirement of longtime printmaking coordinator Linda Seckinger.
鈥淭he Department of Art is very proud of Jacob鈥檚 research and the national recognition this purchase award聽brings to his work,鈥 said Department of Art Associate Professor and Head Critz Campbell. 鈥淲e are extremely lucky to have Jacob as a member of our faculty and are excited about his new role in the printmaking area. I cannot wait to see what his students produce.鈥
Crook works primarily in the intaglio printmaking technique of mezzotint but also is trained as an observational oil painter and draftsman. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts with emphasis in painting from the University of Missouri in 2009 and his Master of Fine Arts in printmaking from Syracuse University in 2014. Crook鈥檚 works have been exhibited both nationally and internationally, at the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts in Russia, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and in numerous academic institutions and private collections.
His creative research explores often-overlooked aspects of the built environment.
He described his works as 鈥減rimarily night-time, starkly lit streetscapes that act as empty stage sets, portrayed in such a way that they appear simultaneously long abandoned or soon-to-be entered, suggesting untold聽narrative possibilities just out of reach.鈥
Crook鈥檚 current work explores the similarities of these streetscapes to an abandoned shopping mall. Through this, he is looking at how relatively recent changes in consumer activity鈥攆rom shopping聽downtown, to shopping malls, to online retail鈥攃an impact the appearance and experience of聽the built environment. More details about Crook and his work are online at .
The Boston Printmakers 2019 North American Print Biennial is set to be on display from Aug. 26颅-Sept. 29 at Jewett Art Gallery at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, where a juror鈥檚 talk will be held on Sept. 8 at 1 p.m. along with a public reception from 2-5 p.m.
Part of MSU鈥檚 College of Architecture, Art and Design, the Department of Art is the longtime home of the state鈥檚 largest undergraduate studio art program. Learn more about the college and department at and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @CAADatMSU.
草莓视频is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .