Belhaven University Art Professor Receives Grant from Mississippi Arts Commission
August 19, 2024 (Jackson, Miss.) - The Mississippi Arts Commission’s (MAC) Artist Fellowship awarded Nate Theisen, Co-Chair and Professor of Art and Design Department, a grant in the area of visual art.
“I plan to use this grant to enhance the conceptualization, articulation, and reach of my three-dimensional work,” said Theisen. “This grant will bring an element of freedom to experience the work of other artists directly by traveling to see it and also have the resources to procure quality materials. I also believe this grant will benefit the quality of my student’s experience by showcasing to them a broader range of possibilities.”
The MAC Artist Fellowship program is funded by MAC and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), a federal agency, with additional support from the Mississippi State Legislature. Awards were made in 104 Mississippi House of Representatives districts and 60 state Senate districts.
Theisen teaches sculpture, two- and three-dimensional design, and painting. He received his B.F.A. with an emphasis in painting from the University of South Dakota and an M.F.A. with a major in painting and a minor in sculpture from Wichita State University. He also apprenticed in Germany under sculptor Anatol Herzfeld, a student of Joseph Beuys. Previously, Theisen taught at Butler County Community College in Kansas and Wichita State University.
"As an educator, I have the privilege of teaching emerging artists to discover their voice, articulate their vision, and think about what success in their field means," observed Theisen. "In this vein, my work serves as a visual representation of the possibilities of making. It illustrates, hopefully, a way to navigate through the difficult aspects of being an artist such as overcoming fear, iterating concepts, a serious commitment to craftsmanship, and the resolution of a work of art.”
His work has been shown in numerous solo, group, and juried exhibitions throughout the Midwest and South. His recent awards include a Visual Arts Fellowship Grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission; First Place at the 28th Annual Juried Exhibit in Texarkana, Texas; Second Place at the 24th Southeast Regional Juried Fine Arts Exhibition in Fort Walton Beach, Florida; and in 2015, Best of Show at the Mississippi Collegiate Art Faculty Juried Exhibition in Laurel, Mississippi.