STARKVILLE — Debbie Funderburk, a dance instructor at Mississippi State University, sat in a chair Tuesday and witnessed the official announcement: Her husband, Brent, would be the official artist for next year”s International Ballet Competition.
Although at the moment she remained still and inconspicuous at the back of the room during the press conference at the Hunter Henry Center on the MSU campus, she had spent years instilling in her husband the value of dance in society, sometimes showing by example.
While her point of view may have sunk in, when he meshed the visual arts with dance in a painting to submit to the IBC, he did not end up using his wife as a model for the dancer he ended up painting. He painted one of her students, Lauren White. Still, Debbie Funderburk is proud of her husband, who has been teaching art at MSU since 1982, in light of his latest accomplishment.
His work will be featured on commemorative posters and other promotional material for the next IBC, which will take place in Jackson over a span of two weeks in June. Ballet dancers from around the world will converge to compete for corporate, financial and scholarly rewards.
“What a pleasure this is,” he told the crowd of about the 30 at the press conference.
After Tuesday”s press conference, Debbie Funderburk thought back to the painting her husband made with the IBC in mind. “It was great. It was great,” she said. “The images he”s working on are quite stunning.” They”re “lush,” and “deep,” she said.
Sue Lobrano, executive director of USA IBC, said during the press conference she”d instantly found herself drawn to Funderburk”s submission.
“It was just striking to me, and so bold,” she said. “… He has captured the dancer”s form in a mystical way.”
The image “Firebird 2010,” which originated as a watercolor painting measuring about 20 feet by 30 feet, will be revealed at a press conference in Jackson in October. Meanwhile, all Lobrano could do was praise it. After the press conference, she looked around the room and spotted two prints of Funderburk”s paintings. “You like the color in these?” she said. “You wait until you see this. It”s just vibrant.”
Over lunch at the City Bagel Cafe on Thursday, Funderburk told the story of how the concept of the painting evolved.
His wife brought the Ballets Russes to his attention. Attempted for the first time in Russia in 1910, the Ballets Russes showcased all the arts on one stage; musical composers, artists, dancers, actors and costume designers joined forces. But none of it was filmed.
“What happened to me is all of a sudden I started thinking about what I would do if art and dance came together,” he said. The Ballets Russes gave him ideas.
One composer who contributed to the Ballets Russes, Igor Stravinsky, composed “Firebird.” White, his wife”s student, kept popping up in his head as Firebird.
“Before I was even frontally thinking of her, I would see her dancing in my head,” he said. “She just appeared before I even tried to think about it.”
He had her come over to his house for several hours on several nights and pose for photographs. He made the painting based on the photographs. He constructed the “stage” of a year-round “fantasy garden” in which the dancer appears.
His goal for the painting?
“I just hope it enjoins people in dance and visual art to see and feel the connections,” he said.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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