jesse ryan brown

2024 Delta State University Final Faculty Exhibition
October 3- 31, 2024
Fielding L. Wright Art Center
Highway 8 West, Cleveland, MS 38733

Participating Artists:
Cetin Oguz, Dr. Michaela Merryday, Ky Johnston, Jesse Ryan Brown

Wall Text:

On April 28, 1958, Yves Klein invited the public to the opening of his new exhibition at Iris Clert. The public arrived at a freshly whitewashed yet empty gallery. The event sparked lively discussions about the value of art. Delta State University’s art department has been a vital part of the campus and the community for many decades. Art by DSU art faculty and students can be found in every office on campus, across the university’s and the city’s green spaces, and in local businesses. The art department has been a cornerstone of Cleveland’s Crosstie Arts Festival since the festival’s inception and has organized or contributed to countless other community events. In light of the closure of Delta State University’s art department and the loss of its programs and facilities, we want to restate Klein’s question: What is the value of art? What does art mean to you and to your community? What would be Cleveland without its artists?

- Dr. Michaela Merryday

The growing trend of higher education institutions operating like businesses is deeply troubling, especially when it leads to the elimination of programs vital to a university's cultural and historical fabric. At Delta State University, students and faculty are increasingly seen as numbers by the administration. The focus has shifted from intellectual growth and the enriching experience of learning to bottom lines, enrollment figures, and cost-cutting measures. This is especially concerning when it results in cutting programs like art and music, which are integral to the identity and history of the Mississippi Delta.

Delta State exists in a region with a rich cultural history, particularly in the arts, and dismantling these creative programs does a great disservice to both its students and the region’s legacy. This decision undermines the core purpose of a liberal arts education: fostering critical thinking, creativity, and a deeper understanding of the world.

As David Foster Wallace once said in his Kenyon College commencement speech, "the real value of a real education... has almost nothing to do with knowledge and everything to do with simple awareness." The arts provide that essential awareness, offering students a way to explore and express the complexities of human experience.

By eliminating art and music programs, Delta State University deprives students of the chance to engage with these vital aspects of culture. Education becomes transactional, rather than the transformative experience it should be. This decision diminishes the university's role in preserving and advancing the rich cultural heritage of the Mississippi Delta, with ripple effects that extend far beyond the region.

The 2024 Faculty Exhibition responds to Delta State's decision to issue terminal contracts to two tenured faculty members and one tenure-track professor, effectively dismantling the storied Art Department—a department that has nurtured creativity and supported hundreds in pursuing lives in the arts.

These bare walls now symbolize the erasure of not only art but also the voices and visions of the faculty who once filled this space. The creative contributions of past and present faculty have been removed, leaving a void where their ideas and expressions once thrived. For those who have attended past exhibitions, recall the artworks that once adorned these walls—perhaps a piece that challenged the way you saw the world or transformed your understanding of a medium. That impact remains, even if the art is no longer here to remind us.

At Delta State, tenure, student engagement, and faculty excellence seem to mean little; the bottom line is everything. This reduction of students and faculty to mere numbers on a spreadsheet reflects a disheartening lack of empathy, intellectual growth, and sense of community.

To the students of Delta State, I am truly sorry that your final semesters are clouded by confusion and discontent. No matter what the administration believes, art is essential. I urge you to continue pursuing a creative life filled with curiosity and adventure. Best of luck to you all.

- Jesse Ryan Brown (2024)