One local artist is ready for an individual art show.

Jeff Youngblood, junior studio art major, said Annabelle Seelye Fuhr, Skyview Studio gallery chairman, contacted him about entering some work for her exhibit.

“She found me through a Web site that I have hooked up to the art department section of the MSSU Web site,” Youngblood said. “I built the Web site last semester and it’s basically just a lot of my artwork.”

The show, “Ports of Call/Landmarks in Life,” is an annual invitational show held at the Skyview Studio in Lamar. Youngblood said he could enter up to ten pieces but chose to enter only five.

“I felt like they were more cohesive with the theme she was going for and they were also ready for display,” Youngblood said. “The theme is basically landmarks in life.”

Most of the other contributing artists went with pieces portraying landscapes from places as far as Rome, Italy, Egypt and Korea to closer places like New Orleans and Carthage and Webb City.

But Youngblood said he went with metaphorical landmarks, which also goes with the theme.

“It’s all about identity for me,” he said. “I’ve gone through a lot of things confronting my identity and I work through that with my work. I’ve come to a point where it’s about the difference between what I project as my personality and what others see and if you go to see my work that’s what it’s about.”

Most of Youngblood’s artwork is mixed media, which he said gives him a lot of room to be imaginative.

“I do a lot of experimentation, then I learn what works,” Youngblood said. “And when I go with a motif I decide what I can pull from those set of skills that I think will most compliment the work.”

He also said when creating a piece, he leaves room for improvisation.

“For me it’s really about concept,” Youngblood said. “It’s all conceptual. I decide what I want a piece to be about and then I turn myself loose. I know for the most part what my work is going to be, but I always get something a little unexpected.”

The “Ports of Call/Landmarks in Life” exhibit will be on display until April 21 at the Skyview Studio inside the Java Mule in Lamar at 206 West 10th, a block west of the Lamar square.

He also has art displayed at the IQ Art Gallery in Tulsa and he has submitted some pieces to the University Gallery at Pittsburg State University. The show will open on Saturday.

Youngblood’s work can be viewed on his Facebook page by looking up his name in people search , or the student’s gallery section of the art department’s Web site.

For more information on the Lamar show, visit www.4statearts.com or [email protected].