A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Brent Funderburk is an artist and professor at Mississippi State University where he has served as department head in the department of Art/College of Architecture, Art, and Design, and has taught for 33 years. He received a BFA (’75) and MFA (’78) in Painting from the East Carolina University School of Art.Funderburk has exhibited his mixed media work in 30 one-person exhibitions across the US, has exhibited in over 70 regional, national and international competitive shows, and has lectured widely at conferences, museums, and universities. He was recently awarded the “Ralph E. Powe Research Excellence Award”, as well as being named a “W.L. Giles Distinguished Professor”, two of the university’s highest honors, in 2015.Chosen as the official artist of the 2010 International Ballet Competition, Funderburk has also received the John Grisham Teaching Excellence Award, the Burlington Northern Faculty Excellence Award, and the Coley-Lee State Pride Teaching Award at Mississippi State University.