What's Good Mississippi

The LIttle Yellow Building, a creative production house by Mississippi artist, Derek Covington Smith.

Cover image of TLYB Art Magazine. Cover image by Ellen Langford. Credit: TLYB Art Mag.

I can think of no one who’s a better and more generous community-builder than Derek Covington Smith, my friend and fellow artist from Brookhaven, Mississippi.

Case in point.

In 2018, Derek began The Little Yellow Building as a teaching/art studio when he moved back to Brookhaven. He describes TLYB as a creative production house that serves as an art studio, gallery, and classroom.

During COVID, Derek launched the Mississippi Artist 2 Artist podcast as a way to connect with other Mississippi creatives through the isolation of the pandemic.

He’s recently created The Yellow Collective, “a think tank of creatives that understand that by communication and community, we can accomplish goals and set a strategy that shines a light on Contemporary Mississippi Artists. It's a group of people who need each other.”

And today, he launched TLYB Art Magazine, a gorgeous digital and print magazine dedicated to raising the visibility of contemporary. Mississippi artists.

(AND he’s an amazing painter and visual artist. Connect with him through Facebook and Instagram.)

What’s Good Mississippi. Credit: TLYB Art Magazine.

Derek was so kind to include The What’s Good Project in the inaugural issue of TLYB Art Mag. You can view it online here, listen to my interview, and purchase a print copy here.

Two of the super cool things about TLYB Art magazine is that you can search Mississippi artists by region and you can submit your work to be featured if you’re over 18 and an artist living or working in Mississippi. (The “working” part is how I got featured - Thanks, Derek!)

In this first issue, be sure to check out the article at Jx Farms, a new-ish Artist-in-Residency program outside of Cleveland, Mississippi, co-directed by artists Will Jacks, Church Goin Mule, and Jesse Brown. I’m beyond excited to spend two weeks there in November 2022.

Folks like Derek, Will, Church, and Jesse are such great role models for creative community building. If you’re an artist looking to make a difference where you live, take some damn notes on what these folks are doing.

Image by Church Goin Mule and Jx Farms, courtesy of TLYB Art Mag.