Interviewed by Leslie Criss | Photographed by Joe Worthem
Local arts festivals bring the community together to celebrate and support musicians and artists of all kinds. We talked to Mississippi artist Charlie Buckley about the great opportunities arts festivals like Double Decker offer to working artists.
“As a young artist, I started my career participating in arts festivals. My wife and I would pack up the car with a tent, display panels and loads of art. This was the most instructional and formative time of my life as a working artist, and it allowed me to understand what folks were looking for and how to create work that would be more marketable. Festivals give artists the opportunity to show their work to thousands of people in a setting that encourages growth, innovation and playfulness. Double Decker and Gumtree are standout examples.
They exist to build a dynamic creative industry in Mississippi. I encourage as many early-career artists as possible to take advantage of the possibilities created by the community they’ll find at festivals across the state.”
Charlie Buckley received his BFA at the University of Mississippi and MFA at Miami University, and has taught drawing and painting at Miami, Mississippi State and Ole Miss. Since 2011, he has been working exclusively as a painter and is represented by Fischer Galleries in Jackson and Southside Gallery in Oxford. A two-time fellow in Visual Arts from the Mississippi Arts Commission, Charlie has been awarded the Visual Arts award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters, given annually to the artist with the best selection of new work in the state. Buckley lives in Oxford with his family and a menagerie of animals.