Sulton Rogers’ “Devil” wood carved figurine.
In honor of the University of Mississippi Museum’s 75th anniversary this year, the Ole Miss News Blog is featuring 75 different items from the museum’s archives of more than 20,000 objects.
Today, we feature Sulton Rogers’ “Devil” figurine, which is a carved wood piece made in 1989. Bill Ferris gave the piece to the museum.
Rogers was a folk artist from Mississippi who spent the majority of his life in Syracuse, New York. He moved back to Oxford in 1984 and lived here until he died in 2003. He started doing woodcarvings as a method to stay awake during the long hours he worked at a chemical plant in Syracuse. He said his art was inspired by what he saw in his dreams. Many of his pieces were grotesque looking humanoid figurines and ghostly creatures.
As part of the museum’s anniversary celebration, admission is free through Aug. 8, 2015. There will be a lot to see as the museum introduces several new exhibits and unveils a new major gift as well as the reinstallation of the David M. Robinson Collection of Greek and Roman antiquities.
The first of the 75 items to be featured was the Volute Krater, an ancient Greek artifact. The second item was Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Lake George” abstraction. The third was “Aphrodite,” a large-grained island marble piece that was made by an unknown Greek artist.
To see a complete list of upcoming events and information on the new exhibitions, click here.
The University Museum is open to the public 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The museum is closed Mondays and regular university holidays. Its facilities are handicapped-accessible. For assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-7084.