Holiday Arts Tour Stops: The Frame Up & Lewis Boutique

Holiday Arts Tour Stop: The Frame Up, 102 N Vienna St.

Winner of the Holiday Arts Tour 2013 People's Choice Award, awarded to Tour attendees’ favorite artist and artwork display, Hooshang Khorasani has been supporting NCLAC as a professional artist and promoting local opportunities for artists to have chances to display their work, like they do with on the Tour, for over 20 years. It was our pleasure to reward his long history as a working artist last year as Hooshang showcased a new turn in his colorful body of art.

Regardless of whether you recognize Hooshang more from his dynamic flower still-lives, or one of his racing horse images he is nationally known for, all of his work vibrates with his vigorous color palette and mark making. If you haven't seen Hooshang’s work before, be sure to stop by the Frame Up to see if all on display! To view Hooshang’s work online, check out absolutearts.com/hooshang.

The Frame Up is a professional framing shop that carries a wide variety of metal and wooded frames, archival framing, and more. The Frame Up also carries popular LA Tech Football prints, and other items that make great holiday gifts.

Holiday Arts Tour Stop: Lewis Boutique, 110 N Vienna St.

Lewis Boutique is an inviting upscale fashion and cosmetic store that normally carries a number of great gift items, like Vera Bradley accessories and stylish scarfs, and during the Tour this year it once again host German artist Christiane Drieling.

Christiane’s love of her homeland’s story-telling traditions is evident in all of her work, from her classical “Kaspar” hand puppets, her traditional toy Christmas ornaments, to her jewelry and small boxes that feature the story line’s of her family’s favorite children’s books. 

Christiane says "The aesthetics I am drawn to and the way how I use materials is clearly rooted in my childhood. My family was not particularly artistic but quite resourceful, as they inspired me to pick up the empty match boxes from our gas stove and make them into little houses; I kept the red wax that sealed the cheese loafs and shaped it into tiny people.

'Small worlds' has been my constant theme in both my life and my art: the small worlds of the fairytales I grew up with, and the “real” small worlds I found myself in as a child and young adult. The “real” world felt rather limiting to me with all those cultural, social, and socioeconomic barriers that prevent free choice of which way to go.  The fairytale world, on the other side, fascinated and inspired me because anything could happen and everything was possible there."

In addition to her Swirling Swirls line of art-objects, Christiane also teaches. She is the art education teacher at Montessori School of Ruston, and also leads art  classes for children and adults at her Brush Hour Studio.

Christiane is also one of our Sprout Sunday artists. She will be leading children in a frog prince folded paper project. She's a great teacher-- be sure to bring your kids! (Sunday, 1:30-3:30, 202 N Vienna)

Lewis Boutique will also host the “a cappella harmony” of the delightful all-women Rhapsody Quartet on Thursday from 6-7pm, and an amazing magical performance by Michael Savage on Saturday afternoon.

Holiday Arts Tour Stop: 202 N Vienna Special Events

17th annual Holiday Arts Tour, November 20-23, 2014 Yesterday we told you about the artists who will be exhibiting at 202 N Vienna, so today we need to finish this site with the special events that will be taking place.

On Saturday, Nov. 22 at 4pm we will be holding a Round Robin Poetry Reading featuring four regional poets. This event had its pilot year during last year's

Holiday Arts Tour, and it was so well received we are bringing it back. The participating poets will be Veronica Schuder, Genaro Ky Ly Smith, April Honaker, and Errol Miller. I'm including brief descriptions for each of our poets, because their lists of publications and awards are extensive.

Veronica Schuder, instructor of English at Louisiana Tech University, received her MA at Ohio University and her MFA at the University of Arkansas. She will read a sequence of her  poems about the human condition, grounded in the personal perspective: wife, mother, woman, and person.

Genaro Ky Ly Smith teaches literature, composition and creative writing at Louisiana Tech University. He received the ATLAS grant by the Louisiana Board of Regents for 2013-14, and has previously received both the Louisiana Division of the Arts Artist Fellowship and minigrant. His  poems center around family diversity and history, and grappling with personal struggles. He had a big year with the publishing of his book The Land Baron's Sun: The Story of Ly Loc and His Seven Wives.

April Honaker is an instructor in the Department of English at Louisiana Tech. Her work has been featured in the 2River View, fall 2012 and she received a Louisiana Division of the Arts Artist Advancement Grant in 2012/13. Honaker’s poetry focuses on family and relationships through the use of metaphor, imagery, and dialogue.

Errol Miller, another recipient of a Louisiana Division of the Arts Artist Advancement Grant, creates works based on Southern people’s stories, hopes, dreams, and failures. He has been called “the Woolworth Poet of America,” publishing thousands of poems in magazines and journals since 1972.

After the readings the poets will be available to discuss their works. There will also be books available for purchase.

On Sunday, Nov. 23 from 1:30-3:30, NCLAC will offer Sprout Sunday for families. These free art activities will expose children to art processes and concepts, and allow them to take home projects and ideas from Holiday Arts Tour.

Christiane Drieling, of Brush Hour Studio, will be leading participants in a Frog Prince paper project. The Frog Prince can be used as a puppet as well as a catching game. (Christiane's site for her work on the Tour is Lewis Boutique.)

Maureen Hinton will offer a reading of her children's book, William's Troublesome Tongue. (Maureen's home site for the Tour is Pastry Moon.)

Rachel Johnston will show students how to make a woven ornament with yarn and fabric. (Her work on the Tour is

displayed at Beau Monde.)

Bonnie Ferguson will lead children in a petri dish ornament project to accompany Maureen's book. (Bonnie is an artist as well as the shop owner of Pastry Moon.)

Adrianna Speer will offer a Picasso Portrait project that kids will be excited to take home. It's always good to learn about important artists! (Adrianna's site for the Tour is 202 N Vienna.)

Holiday Arts Tour is a free event open to the public. It is supported by a grant form the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council and administered by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council.

Holiday Arts Tour Stop: 202 N Vienna

17th Annual Holiday Arts Tour, downtown Ruston, November 20-23, 2014 Don't miss the 202 N Vienna listing on this year's Holiday Arts Tour map. We will have 7 artists plus the Piney Hills Quilt Guild with displays, in addition to the Round-Robin Poetry Reading on Saturday and Sprout Sunday. We'll go over artists now and will cover the special events tomorrow. Let's get started...

First up, we have an exhibit of quilts by members of the Piney Hills Quilt Guild,which is based in Dubach, LA. The quilters will have large quilts on display that represent a number of quilting styles and methods, as well as some smaller art quilts. These will look amazing on the large walls in the building, as well as in the windows.

The next group of artists are currently MFA candidates at Louisiana Tech University. In case you don't know, Tech's School of Design is incredible, and these artists are examples of such. They will all have work at this stop on the Tour.

Zachary McCauley - says "Growing up in the American South, I have always been surrounded by and been aware of ideas that the region is one of magic, pride, family unity, and rich history.... This ongoing collection of images represents the camaraderie and love that I share with displaced or forgotten spaces, moments, and objects foun during my recent period of uprootedness within the South from one state, both geographically and emotionally, to another."

Meredith McGregor - Graphic Designer, Illustrator, and studio artist. Her work is a combination of her love for storytelling and a fascination with juxtaposing images. It is influenced by mysteries surrounding family history, her family’s relationships with each other, and the different demons that people cope with. Meredith says she has "chosen to work with collage because I would like for my pieces to have a surreal and fabricated quality. The process of finding, cutting, and tearing items allows me to have a wide range of color and texture as I bring my stories to life."

Adrianna Speer - says "I inherited my love of painting from my grandmother, Granny Boots. From a very young age, Granny Boots would bring me “artin’” with her every week in Magnolia, Arkansas. I knew from the first day I picked up a paint brush I was going to be an artist. Since then my focus has been painting and drawing which has propelled me into earning my Bachelor of Fine Arts from Louisiana State University, studying in Ireland at Burren College of Art as well as studying in France at Atelier de la Rose." She enjoys exploring the relationships between color and space "to create a believable scape in a work of art."

Megan Landis -  functional ceramic artist. Her work focuses on creating a new existence for lost and forgotten forms destroyed through time, fragility and commonness. She received Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Drawing & Painting and Ceramics from The University of North Texas in Denton, Texas in 2008 and has worked as a post-baccalaureate student in Ceramics at Collin College in Plano, Texas. She is now pursuing a MFA in Studio, concentrating in Ceramics. Her current work is an exploration of common historical forms, glaze experimentation and a study of firing techniques. Megan donated some fantastic mugs for NCLAC this year as part of our 2014 Membership Drive. Thanks, Megan!

Jenna Fincher - comes from south Louisiana. She earned her BFA in studio art with a minor in art history from Nicholls State University in May 2012. There she focused on figure drawing. She is concentrating in Studio Art for her MFA. She creates artwork through experiments with media and traditional and technological processes. Her current work is informed by childhood memories of home, with an interest in the idea of human presence.

Hannah Cooper McCauley - received a BFA from Jacksonville State University in 2012. She enjoys working in narrative photography, both digital and analogue, and her most recent project Seven Days addresses the complexities of growing up based on the transitory nature of her childhood. Hannah's work has been exhibited in group shows at various venues internationally, including the Houston Center for Photography, Photoplace Gallery (VT), and the Pingyao, China International Photography Festival. In 2013, she was awarded the Board of Regents Fellowship at Louisiana Tech University, which serves as a collaboration between the Departments of Art, Engineering, and Science.

Kathy Crow - an artist interested in "how fairytales and mythology both tie into the real world and act as an escape from it....There is also a sense of wonder to these stories, as they are always filled with the understanding that the impossible things they describe are commonplace somewhere." Kathy's current body of work consists of using lasercut paper painted and floated on the wall to show not only direct representations of these stories, but to give a hint at the deeper meanings within.

A BIG THANKS to Patricia Willis, owner of The Children's Shoppe, for letting NCLAC use her empty storefront at 202 N Vienna for Holiday Arts Tour. It's been wonderful to have this large space to use for a variety of purposes. Her offer was very generous, and we appreciate it!

We'll be back tomorrow with the special events that will take place at this site during Holiday Arts Tour.

Jason Coleman....Tickling the Ivories this Saturday

This week's Art Talk Monday is written by Ashley James. Ashley is a past Dixie Board member and founding member of Troupe Dixie. She is passionate about supporting and serving all arts and cultural organizations in North Central Louisiana. Jason Coleman Returns to Ruston for his Third Performance at the Dixie

The Dixie Center for the Arts is thrilled to bring back by popular demand Jason Coleman, grandson of the late Floyd Cramer, featuring Meagan Taylor on guitar. The show will be held on Saturday, November 15, 2014, at 7:00 p.m., and is sponsored by Bobby Conville, Ron Deal, Earl Smith, Financial Advisors & Wells Fargo Advisors.

After more than 140 performances of Jason’s Legacy of Floyd Cramer concert since 2010, Jason is excited to present The Piano Magic of Floyd Cramer. In addition to the new name, the concert will feature some new songs and a few special surprises alongside the Floyd Cramer classics that he has been performing for years.

Jason performed on TV twice with his grandfather; once in 1989 on Nashville Now and once in 1994 on Music City Tonight. He also treasures the memories of playing the piano on occasion with his grandfather at his live shows. A very special moment for Jason was being asked by Hank Locklin to play the piano with him at the Grand Old Opry in 2002. They performed “Please Help Me, I’m Falling”, which his grandfather originally recorded with Hank nearly 50 years prior.

Performing with Jason at the Dixie will be Meagan Taylor, the great-niece of famed guitarist and producer Chet Atkins. Meagan began learning from Chet his unique style of guitar playing in 1999, and since his death, she has been privileged to continue learning from many of his close friends and fans.

Meagan Taylor and Jason Coleman’s paths first crossed only in recent years, but their musical styles were compatible from the very beginning. The two currently play together in venues both large and small, reviving the beloved sound left behind by Floyd and Chet, and we are delighted to have them back at the Dixie this season.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by calling the Dixie Box Office at 318-255-1450. Season ticket packages are also still available for purchase. The Dixie Center for the Arts, located at 212 North Vienna Street in Ruston, is a non-profit volunteer-driven organization that works in partnership with North Central Louisiana Arts Council, Ruston Community Theater and Ruston Civic Symphony Society. For more information, visit www.dixiecenter.org.

Holiday Arts Tour Stop: Kelly Moore Bag and Embellishments

17th annual Holiday Arts Tour, November 20-23, 2014 Today's Tour Stops include Kelly Moore Bag and Embellishments. Here you will see works by Joey Slaughter and Emma Melville, as well as hear the music of Monty Russell.

Ruston is fortunate in that Kelly Moore  Clark, of Kelly Moore Bag, is one of our local ladies. Kelly ships her camera bags around the globe and she's opened a brick and mortar store right here in downtown Ruston.

For this year's Tour she will host Joey Slaughter. Joey's artwork investigates the "look" of digital information as it is transmitted around us, providing an overabundance of stimuli and therefore, distractions. He combines the hands-on acts of painting and sculpture with digital media, using a blend of tight and loose, machine and man, all working together for a unified whole. The combination of these traditional and non-traditional processes is important to Slaughter, and allows for a play between spontaneity and precision. Joey is Associate Professor of Art at Louisiana Tech's School of Design, as well as Graduate Coordinator and a Gladys Lawson Rogers Endowed Professorship in Liberal Arts. Check out this recent article about Joey in the November issue of Bayou Life.

Monty Russell will kick off the Tour's Friday performances with a show at Kelly Moore Bag from 5-6pm. Monty Russell is a singer, songwriter, Americana radio personality, and concert promoter based in Northern Louisiana. After having been taught to accompany himself by sliding a knife blade over an open E tuned guitar at the age of 8, and having been immersed throughout his youth with the honky-tonk, gospel, western swing, and blues music played by his Grandfather Leon Russell, a rural self-taught barrelhouse piano player, guitarist, and fiddler, Monty set out on a musical journey that has lasted over 30 years. He has played theatres, listening rooms, festivals, honky-tonks, churches, and any other place people would listen.

Over the past decade, he has shared the stage with the likes of Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, Billy Currington, Gary Allan, Little Feat, Merle Haggard, Reckless Kelly, Blues Traveler, Irma Thomas, Marcia Ball, Charlie Daniels, Confederate Railroad, Bucky Covington, Robert Earl Keen, Delbert McClinton, David Alan Coe, Pat Green, Jerry Jeff Walker, Paul Thorn, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Del McCoury, Radney Foster, Reckless Kelly, Pete Anderson, and many others.

Just down the street a bit is Embellishments, a privately owned shop that offers a wide selection of gifts, home decor, bamboo bedding, jewelry and more. Tanya Florence, shop owner, will be hosting Emma Case Melville. Emma is a local potter who's recently begun a line of functional ceramic items, called Chene  Clay Company. For this year's Tour she will be offering an assortment of niche items, such as shaving bowls and yarn bowls, in addition to other more traditional pieces. A shaving bowl--what a great gift for the hard-to-shop-for man! Of her new business Emma says, "My family comes from a place in Louisiana called Bayou Chene. They were a hard-working people who lived off the land and water. Though the community of Bayou Chene was forced to disperse to make way for a spillway, Chene Clay Company is a continuation of the spirit of my family and the people who worked hard to live good lives and give back to their community."  Emma made some beautiful mugs for NCLAC during our Fall 2014 Membership  Drive. Thanks, Emma!

Holiday Arts Tour programming is free and the public is invited to enjoy! HAT is supported in part by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council and administered by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council. 

Holiday Arts Tour Stop: Studio 301

Holiday Art Tour Stop: Studio 301 301 N. Trenton St.    Studio 301’s 1100 square feet of white-walled exhibition space will feature the “Viaggio Italiano,” for the Holiday Arts Tour. Kit Gilbert created this open two-story showing space and studio to help enliven Ruston’s downtown, and to give our local professional and visiting artists more exhibiting venues.

All of the works in “Viaggio Italiano” were made in Italy, or were inspired by trips the artists made to Italy. Participating artists include Dean Dablow, Jonathan Donehoo, Dianne Douglas, Kit Gilbert, Patricia Tait Jones, Peter Jones, Phoebe Allen Mathys, Catherine McVea, and Annie Richardson.

The artwork in this show spans many years, and gives an intimate look at how each artist personally interpreted their Italian journey through drawings, paintings, and photography. If you haven’t gotten that trip-money saved up to take your own vacation to Italy, come live vicariously through the landscapes of this once in a lifetime show in Ruston!

kitgilbertstudio.com

Holiday Arts Tour Stops: The Children's Shoppe and Lagniappe Embroidery & Gift Shoppe

Holiday Arts Tour Stop: The Children's Shoppe 109 N. Trenton St., Suite A Patricia’s Willis’ children’s gift and clothing store has plenty of adorable things for youngsters, but during the Holiday Arts Tour this year it will host some wonderful paintings as well.

Painter Nina Stephens’s love of life and all the quiet moments we are given to appreciate it, resonate through her warm oil paintings. From the apiary tools of a beekeeper, to “The Man” (Nina’s resident rooster), her subjects softly occupy their frames and invite the viewer to visit with them for a while as they get to know each other. Nina will also be giving a life painting demonstration on Saturday, so be sure to come by and see who/what will be making its way onto her next canvas!

Whether you are looking for the perfect gift for that toddler this holiday season, or a new friend to show off on your mantel, The Children’s Shoppe and Nina Stephens are a great place to stop this Holiday Arts Tour. Check out her website at impressionsofcolor.blogspot.com.

Holiday Arts Tour Stop: Lagniappe Embroidery & Gift Shoppe, 130 Park Ave.

The newly opened Lagniappe Embroidery & Gift Shoppe will feature local woodcraftsmen Allen Tuten, and photographer Sonny Monteleone. If you haven’t stopped by to see what these ladies have to offer with their personal embroidered monogramming and more, you should! It would certainly be a shame to miss visiting while these great artists are here.

Allen offers an array of beautifully handcrafted wooden items, including wooden pens made from locally sourced woods, wine-stoppers, and intricate birdhouses. Each of Allen’s items makes great holiday gifts.

A Breaux Bridge local, Sonny specializes in photography that captures the Louisiana spirit, especially that of our serene natural environments. From south Louisiana’s aging plantation homes to the iconic bayous our state is know for, Sonny has photographed it all! Check out his work at bellaarti.com.

Holiday Arts Tour Stop: Chartreuse Pear and The Fashion of Ruston

17th Annual Holiday Arts Tour, November 20-23, 2014

Chartreuse Pear and the Fashion of Ruston have such awesome locations on West Park Avenue.  They are neighboring shops in the historic Harris Hotel building. The Fashion of Ruston is a women's boutique with clothing, jewelry and shoes. Chartreuse Pear offers an eclectic mix of home decor, antiques, gifts, custom bedding, and rugs. In addition to the artists featured below, you can hear Karl Puljak play classical selections on the cello on Thursday evening, from 5-6pm.

Chartreuse Pear will be featuring paintings by Caroline Youngblood. Caroline says "Searching through junk drawers and closets overstuffed with ephemera left by four generations of family, I create art from an assemblage of objects discovered at historic Breston Plantation in Riverton, Louisiana." Caroline's work is in numerous private collections around the country, as well interiors of hotels, hospitals and more. One from her recent series of oyster paintings has such a stunning color palette it's hard for me to look away. Bits of Louisiana life, whether literal pieces through collage, or themes and icons, such as oysters and cotton, figure prominently in her work and are handled with beauty and passion.

Along with Caroline at this location will be Dorene Kordal, whose felt accessories can add some spunk to your life. Dorene has been featured at Chartreuse Pear the last few year for HAT so shoppers will know just where to find her. Hairbands, bags, jewelry, stockings and more fly from Dorene's fingers, and are incredibly gift-worthy.

The Fashion will be hosting Lacey Stinson in the "carriage way" between the two shops. A Louisiana native, fine art painter of landscapes, portraits and surreal masterpieces, Lacey Stinson currently resides in north central Louisiana with his feline companion and muse Pip, who regularly sits in Mr. Stinson’s lap while he draws and paints. Lacey's drawings captured my eye when I first saw them several years ago, but his paintings are also incredibly beautiful. He will be showing some of these at this year's Tour; I'm excited to see them in person!

The Fashion will also be hosting artist Shalis Stevens. Shalis, an artist, graphic designer and puppet maker, has recently returned to Louisiana after  time studying at Savannah College of Design. For this year's Tour, she is making beautiful pendants-- handcrafted one-of-a-kind jewelry items that each wearer should feel proud to own. I love imagining her hands building each layer and stitch.

Holiday Arts Tour Stop: Carriage House

Holiday Arts Tour Stop: Carriage House 101 E. Maryland Ave.

The Carriage House of Ruston was founded by Patricia Tait Jones, and other local like-minded artists that wanted a place to come together to practice, teach, and celebrate making art. The charming historic building was in fact a carriage house at one time, and the resident artists revel in its authentic surfaces and details. Classes and shows regularly encompass many mediums, including drawings, paintings, collages, and 3-dimensional art.

The artists that will be on display during the Holiday Artist Tour are Becky Bennett, Nan Cole, Beth Holland, Laura White Lewis, Patricia Jones, Catherine McVea, and Annie Richardson. Seeing how the styles of each of these women overlaps one another’s as they learn from each other, and then how they differ as each widens their practice, is part of the joy of seeing group shows at the Carriage House.

Be sure not to miss this stop on the Tour, even if you have to walk a few extra blocks down Bonner Street to get there. Perhaps the rich artistic and historic environment might inspire you as well to sign up for a future art class at the Carriage House!

carriagehouseart.org

Art Talk Monday: The Classical Singer

This week's Art Talk Monday is written by Jessica Slaughter, NCLAC Executive Director. NCLAC had an exciting week last week, as we held our beer-tasting fundraiser, ARToberfest, as well as our annual School Show Presentation.

Opera soprano Brenda Wimberly presented her show, The Classical Singer, to 232 students and chaperones at the Dixie Center for the Arts.

NCLAC holds a musical presentation for Lincoln Parish middle school students each year at the Dixie Center. This year’s participants included students from IA Lewis, Simsboro High School, Ruston Christian Homeschoolers, and Montessori School of Ruston. Her stage show included a portion of Puccini’s Vissi d’arte from Tosca, which brought tears to my eyes. It was breathtaking. Ms. Wimberly sang works in English, as well as Italian, French and German. The performance included arias, art songs and musical theatre. The students were a very respectful audience, and Brenda says she was “amazed” at the experience and “the way that I (she) was received by the students.”

Ms. Wimberly offered an interactive element to the show with a student sing-a-long and a question and answer session. She led the audience in a vocal exercise using the word pizza. Their 200+ voices singing together sounded angelic. Brenda walked around and answered questions offered by the students, such as how long she had been singing, what inspired her to sing opera, and “Are you famous?!”

This unique, private educational performance was made possible through sponsorship by Ruston Civic Symphony Society and NCLAC’s partnership with the Dixie Center for the Arts. In addition, Lincoln Parish Achieve provided bussing for the public schools, making this educational field trip free for each of the schools and students. Thank you so much to these wonderful sponsors who help NCLAC in our art education programs.

Wimberly is a Louisiana native who has studied opera around the globe. She holds degrees in vocal performance from Prairie View A&M University, where she received the Presidential Citation in Performing Arts from NAFEO, and the University of Michigan. She has also studied with the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and the San Francisco Opera. She was accompanied by pianist LaDonald Ensley from Monroe.

It is proving more difficult each year to secure student attendance for this annual performance. Perhaps it’s testing, changing school policies, a tighter academic timeline … I’m sure there are many reasons for the change. The NCLAC office has pondered if perhaps bringing performers to the schools, rather than bringing schools to the theatre, would be a better plan. However, as I was sitting in this historic theatre experiencing Ms. Wimberly’s program, I decided that it is necessary to continue to bring students to this space.  There is definitely a time and place for bringing artists to schools – it is essential as well! – but there is also something incredibly magical about seeing an artist in an environment dedicated to his/her craft. So as long as we’re able to coordinate these shows and bring students on site, we will continue to plant the seeds and cultivate an appreciation for the arts.

If you would like to see more photos from this performance, visit our facebook page.

HAT 2014: Dixie Center for the Arts and Makers Union

The NCLAC office is ready to begin our array of descriptions for this year's Holiday Arts Tour artists. We will be listing each of the artists who will be participating this year, so that you can familiarize yourself with the talent and works that will be on display. Mark your calendars for November 20-23!

The first post for HAT 2014 is 212 N Vienna: the Dixie Center for the Arts. This location will serve as the information center for the Tour, and will be displaying a group art exhibit. The exhibition will feature most, if not all, of the artists in this year's Tour! The works will be a perfect way to get a visual idea of the variety of art available. The pieces will be for sale, and will remain on display until January 5th.

Also in the Dixie Center will be the ballot box for the People's Choice Award, to be given at the close of the Tour on Saturday evening. As you enjoy each Tour day, be sure to consider who your "favorite" artist is, and cast their name in the ballot box. The artist with the majority of votes will receive a cash award. Two of the artists in the Dixie exhibition will receive Judge's Choice Awards as well, judged by an art professional outside of Lincoln Parish.

Last year's Artist Awards winners were Julie Crews, Judge's Choice Non-functional Work; Casey Parkinson, Judge's Choice Functional Work; and Hooshang Khorasani, People's Choice Award.

Make sure the Dixie Center for the Arts is one of your stops on the Tour, and don't forget to cast your vote.

Next door to the Dixie is Makers Union, an artists' collective where "makers" gather to share ideas and create. At this spot will be Frank Hamrick, displaying his handmade books and award-winning photography. Frank is an associate professor at Louisiana Tech University in the School of Design. His work mixes photography, storytelling, handmade books and found objects. Frank received his BFA from the University of Georgia and his MFA from New Mexico State University. NPR has written about Frank's handmade books and in 2012, Oxford American Magazine listed Frank as one of the 100 Superstars of Southern Art. His work is housed in collections including the Georgia Museum of Art and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans. And yes, he lives right here in Ruston, LA, and will be here during the Tour selling his artwork.. Frank is a wonderful teacher and a thoughtful artist; be sure to stop in and say hi.

Another element at the Makers Union site will be Bethany Raybourn's performance on Friday evening. Bethany is a singer-songwriter from our region whose alt-country originals are excellent... and  her voice is magic. If you've never heard her, don't miss this chance.

Troupe Dixie Gearing up for Halloween Movie Night at the Dixie

This week's Art Talk Monday is written by Elizabeth Lewis, Troupe Dixie member. Elizabeth has over 15 years of experience in marketing and advertising. She currently splits her creative time by passionately working at two local companies: Innesto Marketing and McKinney Honda. What to do? Where to go? Where’s the fun? We all find ourselves asking these questions. It’s human nature for us to yearn for something new and different yet to stick with what we know… same events, same food, same people, same time, same place. However, that same-ole-same-ole routine can certainly get boring. Luckily for us here in Ruston, we have many local organizations that host unique cultural events throughout the year which entice us to step out of our comfort zone. The Dixie Center for the Arts is home to a vibrant and energetic network of young volunteers who work hard to continue to offer fresh, new events that appeal to the whole community.

On Thursday, October 30, Troupe Dixie will host its 4^th annual Spooktacular Night at the Dixie featuring the 1989 film The 'Burbs. The pre-party for the event will kick-off at 6:00 p.m. with the show starting at 7:00 p.m.  Come early to enjoy light fare and brews followed by plenty of popcorn for movie time. Patrons are encouraged to come dressed in their best costume and enter the costume contest. There will be lots of fun to be had, plus a few tricks and treats at this year’s festivities.

”This is a great, inexpensive opportunity to gather with friends, enjoy food and drinks, and watch a fun Halloween movie” says Kristi Lumpkin, the Economic Development Administrator for the City of Ruston and Troupe Dixie Chairperson. Lumpkin added, “The Dixie Theatre is a historic building located in downtown Ruston.  It is a great location to watch all types of shows and there is not a bad seat in the house.  The Dixie is an important piece of Ruston's history and should be valued for generations to come”.

General admission tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance at the Dixie Theatre and at Fine Line Art Supply in downtown Ruston. Tickets will also be available at the door. The event is sponsored by Marsala Beverage, Sundown Tavern, and Celebrity Theaters.

Troupe Dixie, founded in 2010, is a group of young professionals who support Ruston's Dixie Center for the Arts and are dedicated to generating awareness and involvement at the Dixie among Ruston's forty-, thirty- and twenty-somethings. The Dixie Center for the Arts, located at 212 North Vienna Street in Ruston, is a non-profit volunteer-driven organization that works in partnership with The North Central Louisiana Arts Council, Ruston Community Theater and Ruston Civic Symphony Society.  Learn more about Troupe Dixie hosted events at www.facebook.com/TroupeDixie.

5th Annual ARToberfest!

Tickets available now--

NCLAC's beer-tasting fundraiser is Friday!

Beer tasting fundraiser?! Yes, that's what happening! Celebrate the craft of beer brewing this weekend--- Trust us: it's the best night out in Ruston!

Tickets are on sale for the North Central Louisiana Arts Council’s 5^th Annual ARToberfest, which will take place at The Norton Building on Friday, Oct. 24. This event celebrates a variety of styles of beer, from the finest commercial bottles to our region’s unique home brews.

There are still General Admission tickets available for $20. These include 6:30pm entry,live music, bar snacks and unlimited beer tastings. Food trucks will be selling food on site. The night ends at 10pm.

Tickets are available at the Dixie Center for the Arts and Fine Line Art Supply.  Call (318)255-1450 for more information.  No one under the age of 21 will be allowed at the event. The Norton Building is located at 207 West Mississippi in Ruston.

Tickets will also be available at the door.

This year's Title Sponsors are Marsala Beverage and Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living. Additional sponsorship provided by The Norton Building, Fine Line Art Supply & Print Lab, Devine Wines & Spirits Plus, and Sundown Tavern, with support from Super One Foods and Raising Cane’s.

We appreciate our sponsors who help make this night a success!

Home brews are a highlight! Devine Wines and Spirits is back again with the Devine Home Brewer Awards. Be sure to vote for the People's Choice Brewer.

We will have four raffle baskets with exciting prizes, and food trucks will be on site to sell tasty food. Be sure to bring some cash!

ARToberfest supports NCLAC’s Holiday Arts Tour that is set for November 20-23 in downtown Ruston.    

. 

Enterprise Center Features Damon Caldwell

This week's Art Talk Monday is written by Hannah Bustamante, Administrator/Gallery Director for the LA Tech Enterprise Center. The Enterprise Center Gallery Presents a New Exhibition:

I’m Planning to be Spontaneous… Tomorrow

The Louisiana Tech Enterprise Center Gallery is pleased to showcase a series of new quilted works by Damon Caldwell titled I’m Planning to be Spontaneous... Tomorrow. Within these works Caldwell explores the parallels between the layered constructions of quilts to the layered construction of walls.  Much like the designing of a structure, one must plan and consider all the materials, patterns and inner workings of the design before that actual process of constructing the quilt.  This process leaves very little room for spontaneity, and through this series Caldwell attempts to find ways for ‘planned spontaneity’. He jettisons the use of traditional block assembly in favor of subtractive and reactive interplay on the studio wall with the hope that in all cases, each piece will embody and evoke a sense of emotion, landscape, dance, depth, surface, and movement.

Damon Caldwell currently teaches architecture and interior design in the School of Design at Louisiana Tech University, where he is a tenured Assistant Professor and Graduate Coordinator for the Master of Architecture program.

We invite everyone to join us for the opening reception Thursday, October 23^rd from 6 pm – 8 pm.  The reception and exhibition are free and open to the public. The exhibition runs October 23rd –November 14, 2014, and is open Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm.

For more information about the Enterprise Center’s  programs and exhibitions, please contact Hannah Bustamante by email at hannahb@latech.edu or call her at (318)257-5281. The Rawle Enterprise Center is located at 509 West Alabama Avenue in Ruston.

From the NCLAC office: We are looking forward to this week’s ARToberfest! Make sure you get your tickets to this beer-tasting fundraiser that will be held Friday, October 24 at the Norton

Building in downtown Ruston. Tickets, both $30 Early Bird and $20 General Admission, are available at Fine Line Art Supply as well as the Dixie Center for the Arts. When you stop into the Dixie, be sure to notice the paintings on display. We are showcasing work by students of Renee Hunt at The Art House. These elementary-aged students have painted their interpretations of a Matisse work titled The Roofs of Collioure. These will be on display till November 10^th.

Shared Earth: The Ancient Mounds Project - Oct. 30

Event: Opening Reception (FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)Details: This reception is in support of Shared Earth: The Ancient Mounds Project featuring photography by Jenny Ellerbe. Ellerbe will speak at 6:30 pm Date: Thursday, October, 30th Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm Location: Masur Museum of Art, 1400 South Grand Street, Monroe, LA 71202 Cost: FREE Contact: 318.329.2237 or like the Masur on Facebook

Please join us at the Masur Museum of Art on Thursday, October, 30 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm for a reception celebrating the opening of Shared Earth: The Ancient Mounds Project. This reception is FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Jenny Ellerbe will speak at 6:30 pm. The Masur always has free admission and Shared Earth is on view from October 29, 2014 – February 14, 2015. The Masur is located at 1400 South Grand Street, Monroe, LA 71202. This exhibition is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council as administered by the Northeast Louisiana Arts Council.

This exhibition features photographs by Jenny Ellerbe. It deals with the landscape of Northeast Louisiana as a cultural object whose layers heap one on top of another. Some are forgotten, others not. Specifically, Ellerbe’s subject matter is the ancient mounds scattered throughout Northeast Louisiana. Some of the mounds were constructed as early as 5000 BCE, but the largest and most complex mounds, located in the Poverty Point State Historic Site, were constructed from 1700 to 1100 BCE. Built by hunter-fisher-gatherers, the Poverty Point design has not been duplicated anywhere in the world. The site includes a variety of earthen constructions including five mounds ranging between two and twenty-two meters tall and six low lying concentric rings, the longest of which is over one kilometer long. One factor that likely contributed to the mounds’ successful construction was a highly developed trading network that accounted for great deposits of non-local building and tool materials found there. These materials include quartz crystals, steatite, copper, galena, and iron oxide: materials that are found as far afield as Iowa, the Ozark and Appalachian Mountains, and western Georgia. The mounds at Poverty Point are also unique in North America for their age, the proliferation of new styles of tools and cultural objects, their size, and the fact these infrastructure intense projects were completed by hunter-fisher-gatherers. The civilization that occupied Poverty Point from 1700 to 1100 BCE marked a high water point for cultural achievement that was not surpassed for several hundred years. This degree of achievement makes Poverty Point truly noteworthy in the history of humankind. The Poverty Point mounds were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List* earlier this year. The mound building tradition continued in Louisiana and throughout the Southeast at varying scales until contact with European cultures disrupted it.

The manner in which Ellerbe photographs the mounds positions them as monuments to humans’ fleeting existence and a testament to the power of a nearly forgotten culture’s achievements. She often uses long dramatic shadows to indicate the passage of time and portrays contemporary human objects as though they are detritus. From image to image the mounds may be depicted as monumental or as hidden, virtually forgotten things. This contrast parallels inconsistent general awareness of the mound tradition in Northeast Louisiana. Ellerbe uses dramatic Louisiana cloud formations as a critical foil to this issue. Their regular appearance points, as it does in many art historical traditions, to the importance, majesty, and timeless nature of a thing. The Shared Earth exhibition will pair photographs with a selection of archaeological artifacts from Poverty Point. This element of the exhibition is intended to contextualize the historic nature and importance of the developments at mound sites in Northeast Louisiana within the overall story of human civilization. The artifacts speak to what we know of a moment in time as well as the human condition itself by illustrating how all human endeavors, artistic and otherwise, drive and shape our environment, ensuring our survival and giving our lives’ meaning. This is the unavoidable nature of the human condition.

Shared Earth: The Ancient Mounds Project exhibition is a collaboration between the Poverty Point Station Archaeology Program and the Masur Museum of Art. It will feature fine art photography and archaeological artifacts. Free lectures and educational activities will take place at the Masur and Poverty Point State Historic Site during the exhibition. Call the Masur at 318.329.2237 or like us on Facebook for more information.

*To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. Please visit http://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/ for more information.

from Benjamin M. Hickey Curator of Collections and Exhibitions

Masur Museum of Art 1400 South Grand Street Monroe, LA 71202

Holiday Arts Tour Sites and Artists

NCLAC is pleased to announce its artist roster for this year’s 17^th annual Holiday Arts Tour. This year will be the largest arts tour on record, with 35 Tour sites, and a wide array of performing arts offerings. The following downtown merchants will be displaying artists' works for the 17th annual Holiday Arts Tour, November 20-22. Musical performances, as well as demonstrations by artists, will take place at select locations.

Carriage House: Patricia Jones, Catherine McVea, Annie Richardson, Laura Lewis, Becky Bennett, Nan Cole, Beth Holland

Townsend House: Laura Glen Lawson

Sundown Tavern: Todd Cloe, Emily Lawson; music by Dan Sumner Quartet

House of Flowers & Cake Shoppe: Julie Crews, Leigh Buffington

The Frame Up: Hooshang Khorasani

Embellishments: Chene Clay Company

Lewis Boutique: Christiane Drieling; music by Rhapsody Quartet

202 N Vienna: Adrianna Speer, Meredith McGregor, Zachary McCauley, Cathy Crow, Jenna Fincher, Hannah Cooper McCauley, Megan Landis; Piney Hills Quilt Guild; poetry reading; Sprout Sunday activities

Kelly Moore Bag: Joey Slaughter; music by Monty Russell

Makers Union: Frank Hamrick; music by Bethany Raybourn

Dixie Center for the Arts: group exhibition of Holiday Arts Tour artists

Art Innovations: Jackie Cochran, Francis Carson

Studio 301: Jonathan Donehoo, Dean Dablow, Peter Jones, Patricia Jones, Annie Richardson, Kit Gilbert, Catherine McVea, Phoebe Allen Mathys, Dianne Douglas

Turbo Goat Sporting Goods: Shawn Hood

Turbo Goat Bicycle Shop: Whitney Caskey

Rumo's Barber Shop: Todd Maggio

Pastry Moon Soaps: Rickey Pittman, Maureen Hinton; music by Rickey Pittman

Frame of Mind: Peter Hay

Beau Monde: Rachel Johnston

Fine Line Art Supply: Sienna Haralson; music by The Taylor Outfit

Stitchville: Allie Bennett

Re/Max Results Realty: Marguerite Hogue, Emily Gautreaux; music by Elizabeth Vidos

Accent of the East: Ruth Yung, Michele McGehee; music by Meihan Guo

The Children's Shoppe: Nina Stephens

Chartreuse Pear: Caroline Youngblood, Dorene Kordal

The Fashion of Ruston: Shalis Stevens, Lacey Stinson; music by Karl Puljak

Main Street Exchange: Maggie Jones Boudreaux, Shelly Nealy Edgerton; music by Cain Budds

Lagniappe Embroidery  & Gift Shoppe: Allen Tuten, Sonny Monteleone

Social & Leisure: Alice Morgan

Delta Day Goods: Richard Kordal

Park Avenue Antiques: Loretta Owens

Blue Wire Electronics: music by Stiff Necked Fools and the Bluesaholics

Rodeo Botuique: Cheyenne Morrow

Social Bites of Ruston: Nicole Duet

The Fabric Shop: Allison Vestal

A Round-Robin Poetry Reading will be held on Saturday afternoon with readings by poets Errol Miller, Veronica Schuder, April Honaker and Genaro KyLy Smith.

Sprout Sunday Projects will  include a book reading by a local children's author,  fiber arts projects, ornament making, and more.

A Community Variety Show will be held Sunday afternoon at the Dixie Center for the Arts featuring performances by the following: Elizabeth Vidos, Mike Sullivan Dance Studio, Marc Faulkner, Meihan Guo, LG Dance Studio, Ruston Community Theatre, and Grambling University Choir, with Emcee Joel Sharpton

More details about Holiday Arts Tour will be added as the date approaches. Follow along with news about the Tour on our facebook page.

NCLAC’s Holiday Arts Tour is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts council and administered by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council.

Art Talk Monday: ARToberfest Is Almost Here!

This week's Art Talk Monday is written by Jessica Slaughter, NCLAC's Executive Director

The countdown is on to this year’s ARToberfest, which will be NCLAC’s 5^th annual beer-tasting fundraiser. This tasty evening will be Friday, October 24, from 5-10pm, at the Norton Building in downtown Ruston, giving us more room than ever to showcase the region’s home brews, a variety of commercial beers, and to provide hours of musical entertainment. Tickets for the event can be purchased at Fine Line Art Supply and the Dixie Center for the Arts. Two options are available. Early Bird tickets, at $30 each, provide 5pm entry, a commemorative pint glass, and a pretzel necklace. Only 100 of these are available, and they’re going quickly. General Admission tickets, at $20 each, provide 6:30pm entry. Each option offers the ticket holder tastings of beers until 10pm and access to live music. Pint glasses will be for sale, as well as pretzel necklaces and raffle items. New this year will be food trucks, offering sales of food that pair well with beer, so be sure to bring cash for dinner. The music line-up for this year includes Ken Carter; Bethany Raybourn and the Goodness Gracious; Danny Lee and Dave; and the Swinging Richards.

Let’s talk about who is making this event possible. First of all we have Marsala Beverage as Grand Title Sponsor, providing 70 commercial beer varieties. These give attendees the opportunity to try many new beers that are available for purchase in our area without committing to an entire six pack at the store. Next, Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living is our Title Sponsor, providing clean, smoke-free air for this indoor/outdoor event. For our dedicated home brewers, Devine Wines and Spirits Plus is once again offering the Devine Home Brewer Awards, with handsome trophies for our People’s Choice and Brewers’ Choice winners. The Norton Building itself is our Site Sponsor, assisting with our new, larger venue. Sundown Tavern is the After Party Sponsor, so be sure to head over to Sundown when ARToberfest ends to finish your night right. For our hardworking volunteers, including brewers and musicians, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers is providing dinner, and Super One Foods, our Snack Table Sponsor, is providing bar snacks for ticket holders. Behind the scenes we have our fabulous ARToberfest Committee who has been working for months to make this night the best it can be: Meg Waters Allen, Allie Bennett, Cain Budds, Nicole Duet, Amanda McCoy and Elaine Thompson.

We are grateful for the support of so many people with this event because it raises funds for Holiday Arts Tour, scheduled for November 20-23. This year’s Tour, the 17^th annual, is the largest in memory, with 35 downtown locations participating. Our roster of artists this year includes 60+ visual and literary artists, and 15+ musical performances, including a Community Variety Show on Sunday, Nov. 23, that will feature ballroom dancing, singing, international music and more. We will again offer Sprout Sunday activities for children, artists’ demonstrations, a poetry reading, and artists who are ready to share insight into their works with you. Mark your calendars for Holiday Arts Tour next month, and visit nclarts.org to get more details about the weekend.

So, now that you’re in the know about all-things-ARToberfest, be sure to get your tickets! Once again, they’re available at Fine Line Arts Supply and the Dixie Center for the Arts. No one under 21 will be allowed at the event. For more information, visit our ARToberfest facebook page, or our ARToberfest page on our official site .

'Til Beth Do Us Part - Opening Thursday

Art Talk Monday this week is by Hilary Hileman-Hyacinth of Ruston Community Theatre. Call the Box Office at (318)255-1450 to get your tickets to this week's performance. Ruston Community Theatre’s next production is a two-act comedic play titled ‘Til Beth Do Us Part, a Jones-Hope-Wooten comedy.  The play is sponsored by Northwood Medical Center and opens October 9^th at The Dixie Center for the Arts in Ruston.  The director is Satish Bharadvaj.

Bharadvaj says, “'Til Beth Do Us Part is a comedy play. The cast is great! Some cast members are born comedians while others fall in situation where they become funny for the viewers just to be in such situation. The cast of six characters create a hilarious synergistic results. I enjoy every moment of being part of the production.”

The protagonist, Suzannah, is a frazzled career woman climbing the corporate track at her dream job but she gets no help from Gibby, her slothful spouse whose glory days are long past. Enter Beth, a southern belle on steroids who promises to whip Suzannah’s life into shape as her new personal assistant. Everything goes smoothly until Gibby realizes the steel magnolia from hell’s newest plan for efficiency involves moving him right out the front door. He enlists Suzannah’s best friend Margo and her ex-husband Hank to help him derail Beth’s plans for world domination. Will they succeed before Suzannah’s British boss from Carmichael’s Chocolates arrives?

The dates for ‘Til Beth Do Us Part are October 9^th, 10^th and 11^th at 7:00 p.m. and an October 12^th matinee at 2:00 p.m. at The Dixie Center for the Arts in Ruston. Tickets at the door are $12 for adults and $6 for students/children. RCT season tickets are now available for $40.00 for ‘Til Beth Do Us Part and the three remaining productions:  Holiday comedy The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, classic drama To Kill A Mockingbird and award-winning musical Bye Bye Birdie. Visit RCT’s website at www.rctruston.org, on Facebook at www.facebook/RustonCommunityTheatre, and on Twitter @RustonCoTheatre.

This Thursday in Monroe, 10/2

News about this week's Downtown Gallery Crawl in Monroe. Read for the details: First Thursday—time to enjoy the festive atmosphere of the Downtown Gallery Crawl in the cultural districts of Monroe and West Monroe—time to be inspired, to indulge your senses, to share the joy of art and life with neighbors and friends! Thursday, October 2, 5-9 pm, is the time, and it’s free. Music will be playing on both sides of the Ouachita River, at both ends of the Endom Bridge at both Bry Park and Antique Alley. Food and drink will be available at many galleries, and artists will be on site to talk with guests about their work.

Besides the River Jam band in Monroe and the Twin City Hot Club rocking out in West Monroe, there are more special events, highlighted by the ART BATTLE on Monroe’s Art Alley, sponsored by the Masur Museum from 5-7 pm, when five teams of artists compete to create the best art. Teams from the Downtown Arts Alliance, Grambling State University, Louisiana Tech University, University of Louisiana at Monroe, and the Masur Museum will create their entries right in front of Crawl guests, and then the public will be invited to vote on their favorites by dropping money in donation jars. The five creations will be displayed all evening.

The party continues in the galleries, where both resident and guest artists present new, fresh exhibits. Some of the 50+ artists will be giving talks sharing their inspirations and methods, and most of the art will be for sale—a great opportunity to expand a personal collection or to buy the perfect gift for a loved one. Galleries are on DeSiard Street and Art Alley in Monroe and on Antique Alley (Trenton Street) in West Monroe. Several other Antique Alley shops will also be open on the night of the Gallery Crawl.

All are invited to the party! You can begin wherever you’d like—on either the east or the west side of the River.

Right in the midst of the eleven galleries, on Art Alley, you’ll find the MAD Art Gallery, where the featured artist is Downtown Arts Alliance president Stacy Thomas Medaries, an instructor of fine art at Louisiana Delta Community College. The show is titled “Rummaged, Recycled, and Reused,” a one-person show of new paintings and sculpture. Each piece contains at least one old and rusted “found” object. The images are sculpted from paper pulp and then painted with acrylic paints.  Each piece is colorful and imaginative, culminating in an exhibit that will delight its viewers.

Just down the block, the Palace Gallery, 220 DeSiard Street, is pleased to present Daniel Adams, a printmaker and professor at Harding University. He says of his work, “I love to observe the world around me and then translate the overlooked design into visual form so others can see what I have seen. Sometimes these overlooked design elements are emotional or spiritual relationships, at other times, very interesting bits and pieces of physical reality.”

Down DeSiard Street at Luna Blue Yoga Studio and Gallery (428 DeSiard), the show is “You Are Here” by EmJ Cruz and Ali Hijazi. The duo’s collection focuses on the frustrations associated with being a stagnant product of an environment—technology all around us, chronic transitional stages, evolutionary processes—all are parts of our existence. By using a variety of mixed media including sculpture, oil, acrylic, and photography, Cruz and Hijazi explore their radius. They will further explain their work in an artist talk at 6:30 pm.

Brooke Foy, instructor of art at ULM, received an MFA in sculpture from the University of Memphis after earning a BFA in sculpture from ULM. Her exhibition at UPSTAIRS on Art Alley is called “Domestic Discussions”--a playful response to a glimpse into some of the most private moments of domestic lives, the best and worst of days, including reflections of the artist’s own family. Materials for this show showcase fabric, concrete, string, wood and paper. As the daughter of a contractor, Foy saw every day how to make things that functioned but was drawn to make things in a different, playful way. She will share more about her art in an artist talk scheduled for 7:30 pm.

Artists exhibiting in The Big Room (also on Art Alley) include guest printmaker Stefan Nodarse.  Ben Bennett and Lacy Mitcham—the last two students to graduate from ULM with degrees in sculpture--are exhibiting sculptural work as well as paintings. Resident artists Jon Aiken, Emily Caldwell, Betsy Putnam, Ricky Sikes, and Victoria Smith are showing ceramics, mixed media work and paintings.

ARENDER studio + gallery presents Cognitive Dissonance--digital artworks by Gabe Cardinale. Gabe is a Monroe native who left Louisiana for Los Angeles and now resides in Dallas, Texas. Next door, Sugar Gallery has something for everyone:  Mary Thompson’s oil paintings; acrylic paintings by Leah Smith Reitzell; colorful acrylic paintings and mixed media collage by Melanie Douthit; mixed media aluminum/alcohol ink art by Stacy Medaries; award-winning beautiful photography by Burg Ransom and William Holley.

DOWNSTAIRS gallery (137 Art Alley) presents PEDAGOGY, by Michele Whitley Olinde, a native of Morgan City. She earned a BFA in drawing and digital graphics at ULM, then returned for her teacher’s certification. She is now a permanent resident of Monroe and is the Fine Arts Department chair at West Ouachita High School.  Most of her paintings are inspired by the beauty found in a country landscape. Mixed media drawings and pen and ink are the two most common media in the collection. Pedagogy needs to be explored through the thinking and practice of those educators who look to accompany learners, care for and about them, and bring learning into life. As we learn through Michele, teaching is just one aspect of their practice. “Creating art is a journey I take by myself, and my work reflects the experiences I have along the way,” Olinde says. Her artist talk will take place at 7 pm.

Rusty Patterson is the featured artist for the Ouachita River Art Gallery at 308 Trenton Street in downtown West Monroe. A life-long resident of Monroe, Patterson developed a fascination for wood in the early 1980’s after a brief conversation with his now deceased grandfather. With his grandfather’s words of wisdom and encouragement, the journey began. His work is available for viewing during October, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am- 5pm, as well as during the Downtown Gallery Crawl. This self-taught wood turner travelled throughout the South from the early 1980’s through the early 1990’s, participating in various art shows where he won numerous awards, including Best of Show as well as monetary awards for his works. Early works of Rusty’s can be seen in museums including the Fine Arts Museum in Mobile, Alabama, and the Snyder Museum in Bastrop, Louisiana.

Presenting Sponsor Creed and Creed Law Office leads a group of faithful sponsors to support the Downtown Arts Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging the fine arts and developing the downtown areas of Monroe and West Monroe. Other sponsors include BancorpSouth, The News-Star, Sir Speedy, Monroe-West Monroe CVB, DeltaStyle, KEDM Public Radio, Northeast Louisiana Arts Council, Atmos Energy Corp., Heck Law Firm, Hollis & Company Jewelers, Riddle Builders, Community Trust Bank, Cross Keys Bank, Val Salomon Law Office, Charles Kincade Law Office, Rawls DeSigns, Marsala Beverage, Restaurant Cotton, Warehouse #1 Restaurant, and Choice Brands.

Downtown Monroe and West Monroe will be partying with art, fun, food, music, and friends on Thursday, October 2nd—and will rock again on December 4^th at the next Downtown Gallery Crawl!

Art Talk Monday....The Shadow Box

  This week's Art Talk Monday is written by King Godwin, Chair of the Dept of Visual & Performing Arts, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, at Grambling State University. Call the GSU Box Office at 318-274-ARTS (2787)

Welcome to a “Season of Family Matters”

The Floyd L. Sandle Theatre Company of Grambling State University will open its 76^th production year with Michael Cristofer’s The Shadow Box, directed by Dr. King David Godwin, Dean of the College of Arts Sciences.  The production will focus on three distinctly different family groups and their abilities to handle death and dying.  The psychological and emotional complexities of both care giver and victim to be are explored in great detail.   In keeping with the theatrical theme of “Family Matters," this production drives home the revelation of humanity’s sometimes inability to accept the ultimate realism that we are all going to die.  More importantly, it reminds us all that we must live in each moment.  Death is no respecter of personal status, gender, age or person. The characters in the play cut across varied demographic elements.  There is a middle age father and mother who struggle with trying to find the right approach and best time to tell their only child, a teenage boy, that his father is dying. A non-traditional couple and an ex-spouse must reach beyond their personal differences, political, social and religious convictions to accept the inevitable while at the same time dealing with their own demons and sensitivities.  Lastly, there is an elderly mother who lives in yesteryear longing for her eldest daughter to return home, while her younger daughter, who is her caregiver, must strive to keep her comfortable and peaceful.

This production will make you laugh, cry and think.  The script is well written and runs about one hour and thirty minutes.   Characters include, Roman Higgins, Anthonia Hall, Melanie Williams, Franklin, G. KaDarius Gray, Roderick King, Leon Norvell, Ericka Good- Perry, and Jaleshia  Williams.  Set Design is by Joseph Osborn, a senior visual and performing arts major, Technical Consultation and oversight is under the tutelage of Professor Mary Fran Crook, Teshia Lincoln is costumer and make- up artist, Jamelia Hickman, Stage Manager  The production will run September 30-October 3,2014 with curtain time at 7:00 PM, in the Floyd L. Sandle Theatre of the Fine Arts Center.  The production will take place on the main campus of Grambling State University.