Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss—Mississippi State’s art department and the university’s Ladies Social Circle organization are announcing the inaugural Great Chalk Walk.

Taking place Thursday [Aug. 20] in front of the department’s Visual Arts Center Gallery at 808 University Drive, the free 4-6 p.m. event is open to all interested members of campus and surrounding communities.

Participants of all ages will have the opportunity to create colorful, large-scale chalk art pieces designed to brighten a major thoroughfare leading to campus.

Chalk and sidewalk spaces will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Refreshments also will be served.

Art department students, faculty and staff will be on hand to assist participants, and share information about the academic unit’s diverse curriculum and programs.

“We want to show new students and others the main route that connects downtown businesses with the campus and also introduce them to the creative resources available here in Starkville,” said Lori Neuenfeldt, coordinator of the gallery and the department’s outreach programs.

“Come ready to have fun, be creative and get messy,” she added.

Neuenfeldt said this first-ever activity is among many in the university’s 10th annual Dawg Daze program—17 successive days of free activities to help welcome new freshmen and transfer students. A complete Dawg Daze schedule is available at www.dawgdaze.msstate.edu.

Support for the Chalk Walk is being provided by the Starkville Area Arts Council.

The Visual Arts Center Gallery is one of several art department venues that regularly features traveling exhibits, student shows, and group and solo exhibitions by professional artists. Fall exhibit hours for the gallery are 1-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, as well as by appointment. For more, visit bit.ly/MSUArtGalleriesFB.

Additional gallery information is available from Neuenfeldt at 662-325-2973 or LNeuenfeldt@caad.msstate.edu.

Part of the College of Architecture, Art and Design, MSU’s art department is home to the Magnolia State’s largest undergraduate studio art program. It offers a bachelor of fine arts degree, with concentrations in graphic design, photography and fine art (ceramics, drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture). Complete information is found at caad.msstate.edu, facebook.com/CAADatMSU and twitter.com/CAADatMSU.

MSU is Mississippi’s flagship research university, available online at www.msstate.edu.