PINE BLUFF, Ark. — MTSU art professor Michael Baggarly’s mixed-media sculpture “Lady-Like” was awarded second place in the 2019 Irene Rosenzweig Biennial Juried Exhibition.

The awards were announced during the exhibition’s opening reception Oct. 10, according to news release from The Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas.

Michael Baggarly

The show at The Arts and Science Center in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, recognizes established and emerging mid-South artists. The exhibition continues in ASC’s William H. Kennedy Jr. Gallery through Jan. 4, 2020.

Baggarly, an associate professor of art, he teaches sculpture and 3D design.

“Lady-Like” by MTSU art professor Michael Baggarly. 3D-printed polylactic acid, porcupine quills and stainless steel; 26 inches by 12 inches by 9 inches; 2019. Baggarly’s piece is among the works selected for the 2019 Irene Rosenzweig Biennial Juried Exhibition at The Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas (ASC) in Pine Bluff, Ark. The exhibition runs from Oct. 10, 2019, through Jan. 4, 2020. (Photo courtesy of The Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas)

“‘Lady-Like’ is a direct reaction to the misogynistic actions and statements of men in power,” Baggarly explained in the release. “‘Lady-Like,’ ladened with sharp quills, is both offensive and defensive in structure. It represents my hope (as a father to my teenage daughter) that she is viewed by society as fierce and formidable and that there is a cost to be paid by those who choose to transgress upon her boundaries.”

Baggarly is drawn to a range of materials, he said, and working among cast iron, complex wood fabrications or 3D-printed mixed-media forms allow him a range to address his conceptual interests. Viewing himself as an object-maker, he creates forms that give voice to his love-hate relation to the world around him, the release states.

Baggarly has exhibited nationally and internationally in juried and invitational exhibitions in places such as Vanderbilt University in Nashville; Huntsville Museum of Art in Alabama; East Tennessee State University in Johnson City; the Gloria Singletary Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky; and Limner Gallery in Hudson, New York. He has also exhibited in Germany and South Korea.

His works are included in collections at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville; SUNY Geneseo in New York; Museo de Collage in Morelos, Mexico; and Learning Connexion in Wellington, New Zealand.

He earned Master of Fine Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Iowa in 2002 and 2001 as an Iowa Arts Fellowship recipient. He also has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.

View Baggarly’s work on his website.

ASC invites artists in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas to submit artwork in all traditional forms, including paintings, drawings, original prints, fiber art, ceramics, sculpture and photography.  For more information about The Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, go to https://www.asc701.org.

(Correction: The original story incorrectly listed Baggarly as interim chair of the Department of Art and Design. Nicole Foran chairs the department. MTSUNews.com apologizes for the error.)