The natural environment, which poet and artist Claude Wilkinson–this year’s John and Renée Grisham Visiting Writer in Residence at the University–is known to describe in thin poignant lyrical narratives, is also the subject of his artwork to be displayed in an exhibition March 30-April 1 at the University Museums. Twelve of Wilkinson’s pieces, including landscapes and still lifes spanning a decade of work since 1988, will be displayed.

   The University Museums will sponsor an opening reception for the exhibition on Friday, March 30, at 12:30 p.m. Wilkinson’s exhibition coincides with the Oxford Conference for the Book, which takes place the same weekend. Wilkinson will read from his work and discuss the state of poetry during the conference session scheduled that day at 3:30 p.m.

      Wilkinson paints from the environment he remembers as a youth in Nesbit, Mississippi, a DeSoto County town that borders the Tennessee state line. With sadness, he often publicly laments how the natural woodlands and fields he wandered in as a child have been bulldozed to make way for offices and housing projects. It’s those memories of undisturbed lands from which he paints. “Most of my work has been created from the areas around Nesbit,” he said. “Most of those places have been ‘developed.’ In recent years, the places are no longer there.”

   For landscapes, Wilkinson prefers to use oils, sticks, and pastels. Watercolors are for his still lifes. He has been told that his art work is “representational” or “when you paint a tree it looks like a tree,” he said. “Nobody has really tried to label it. It’s realist, but it’s not photo realism. It leans slightly toward impressionism..”

   Deborah Freeland, program coordinator for the University Museums, eagerly anticipates the Wilkinson exhibition. “We’re excited because he is artistically talented, as well as literarily talented,” she said. “His work will be a real asset to the gallery.”

   In October, Wilkinson was awarded the 2000 Whiting Writers’ Award, a prestigious award that recognized 10 promising writers across the country. His Reading the Earth (Michigan State University Press, 1988), a collection of 44 poems, received national acclaim. Wilkinson, the first poet to serve as Grisham Writer in Residence, said he devotes an equal amount of time to painting and to writing.

   Hours for the University Museums are 1:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1:00-4:00 pm. On Sunday. For more information, call 662-915-7073. 

Deidra Jackson