Natchez artist Carolyn Margaret Weir has received a $500 grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC) to support the continued development of a new series of hand-painted kinetic mobile sculptures. The award is part of more than $1.7 million in grants awarded by MAC for Fiscal Year 2027.
Weir has been a full-time artist since 2013 and is best known for her kinetic mobile sculptures, which use balance, movement, shape and color to create artwork that is constantly changing. Her work ranges from small tabletop and residential mobiles to large-scale commissioned sculptures and has been purchased and commissioned for homes, businesses and public spaces in the United States and internationally.
In recent years, Weir has been exploring ways to bring another part of her art practice—painting on textiles—into her kinetic work. The MAC grant will help fund materials for that exploration, particularly lightweight textile-based surfaces that can be individually hand painted and then incorporated into larger mobile sculptures.
“I’ve spent years making painted mobiles but have always had the vision of creating moving paintings, large mobiles with paintings that you could walk through that would be placed in museums for all to enjoy” Weir said. “This project gives me the opportunity to bring the two together. Instead of creating a painting that is viewed from one position, I’m creating paintings that actually move through space. As the individual pieces turn, the colors, compositions and relationships between them continually change. I think of them as moving paintings.”
The grant also provides something particularly valuable to an artist developing a new body of work: the freedom to experiment.
“Experimentation can get expensive very quickly,” Weir said. “You don’t always know which material or technique is going to work until you actually try it. Having support from the Mississippi Arts Commission allows me to test those ideas, learn from what doesn’t work and keep developing the ones that do. I’m incredibly grateful for that opportunity.” “In my opinion, the arts are essential to creative thinking and should be fundamental in the classroom,” Weir said. “Art teaches problem solving in a way that nothing else can!”
“The arts consistently demonstrate a positive impact on communities and local economies and are an essential aspect of Mississippi’s rich cultural landscape,” said David Lewis, executive director of MAC. “MAC grants support artists, arts programs, and arts organizations, who in turn reinvest in their communities and enhance quality of life across Mississippi.”
Funding for MAC’s grants comes from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Mississippi State Legislature.
The Mississippi Arts Commission is a state agency serving more than two million people through grants and special initiatives that enhance communities, assist artists and arts organizations, promote arts education, and celebrate Mississippi’s cultural heritage. MAC is funded by the Mississippi Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mississippi Endowment for the Arts at the Community Foundation for Mississippi, and other private sources.
For more information about Carolyn Margaret Weir and her kinetic sculpture, visit Skysetter.com.
For more information about the Mississippi Arts Commission, visit arts.ms.gov or contact Ellie Banks, Communications Director, at 601-359-6546 or ebanks@arts.ms.gov.