Brent Funderburk
Career. Funderburk graduated from East Carolina University School of Art and Design (Greenville, NC), where he gained his Bachelor's (BFA) and Master's (MFA) degrees in Fine art/Painting in 1975 and 1978 respectively. He taught art at Nebraska Wesleyan University before joining the faculty at Mississippi State University, where he has remained since, stepping up the academic ladder from instructor (1982) to his current position as Distinguished Professor in the College of Architecture, Art, and Design’s Department of Art, which he headed from 1995 to 2002. Apart from his regular work as a teacher of  painting and drawing and as thesis advisor at MSU, Funderburk has conducted illustrated lecture performances, art workshops, and exhibitions in galleries and museums in many U.S. cities such as Jackson, MS, Ocean Springs, MS, Chattanooga, TN, Memphis, TN, Golden, CO, Raleigh, NC, Charlotte, N.C. Punta Gorda, FL and Houston, TX, as well as in seven Chinese museums. Particular success accompanied Funderburk's watercolor series "New Solar Myths" and "Flying World", both featured in Watercolor Artist magazine (August 2016). "New Solar Myths" was on display at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, MS in 2014. It was also  included among works by 25 artists from around the world chosen to appear in the fine art category of Creative Quarterly: The Journal of Art and Design’s Best 100 Annual 2015. Having been on display at the 2015-16 International Watercolor Biennial at Shenzhen, China, "Flying World" was among 150 works included in a large competitive exhibit of water-based painting media which travelled to several Chinese museums. On this occasion Funderburk’s piece was chosen out of only 36 U.S. artist-produced works—from among nearly 3,800 entries submitted worldwide. Funderburk’s watercolor/mixed-media painting "A Dream  of Flying" was among more than 100 works—out of 430 submitted entries—chosen for the Houston, Texas-based Watercolor Art Society’s 2016 International Exhibition held in March 2016. In 2019-2020, Funderburk's pieces “Soul House (Red)”, “Anteroom”, “Angelus Vitae” and “Oaxaca” gained significant recognition at several juried art competitions. In August - September 2021, the artist presented solo exhibition "Here and There: Brent Funderburk - Paintings and Drawings 1981–2021", at the Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery, MSU campus (Starkville, MS). Research. Funderburk acknowledges influences by watercolor painters such as Edward Reep, Charles E. Burchfield and Walter Inglis Anderson. His  research activity has engaged the life, art, and influence of 20th Century American master Walter Inglis Anderson, whose life and creations he has studied for more than three decades. He has also curated national touring exhibits of Anderson’s work, presented illustrated lectures, developed courses, and written on Anderson and his creative work. Funderburk has lectured on American early and mid-century modern visionary artists including Anderson, as well as Edward Reep, Charles E. Burchfield, Robert Henri, Will Henry Stevens, Oscar Bluemner, and others. Awards. At MSU, Funderburk received the John Grisham Faculty Excellence Award (1994), the Burlington Northern Excellence  in Teaching Award (1986), the Ralph E. Powe Research Excellence Award (2015), and the Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award (2016). In 2015, he was named William L. Giles Distinguished Professor (2015). In 2010 he was named "Official Artist" for the 2010 USA International Ballet Competition. Other professional Awards he received in recent years include the Second Award at the National Biennial Art Exhibition, Visual Arts Center, Punta Gorda, FL (2012), and the First Prize at the 42nd Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Exhibition, Foothills Art Center, Golden, CO (2015).