LAEA Gatherings
2023 Summer Retreat
This year's summer retreat took place at The Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts (LSMSA) in Natchitoches, Louisiana. LSMSA is a public residential high school on the campus of Northwestern State University. We had a pizza slumber pARTy Friday night at the new dorms. Saturday morning, Nealy Atkins led a workshop, and we had our board meeting. The passing of the presidential torch was scribed into the meeting minutes of our board meeting!
2022 Fall Conference
Fall Conference was held in Lafayette November 4-5, 2022. We had a fabulous cocktail hour at Acadiana Center for the Arts for the LAEA Member Exhibition reception, and many community members joined in on the fun! Saturday morning, our keynote speaker Ingrid Hess gave a presentation and a workshop. Her research focuses on economic justice as a way to bring peace to the world & empowers kids to understand that they can make a difference. The rest of the day was full of great workshops at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, including several workshops led by professors at the university. Saturday evening, we returned to the AcA where our award recipients were honored, receiving art as their awards created by Lafayette based Sam Wróbel who specializes in Polish papercutting folk art of Wycinanki.
Artists in the Capitol Day
Youth Art Month artists were recognized for their work at the front steps of Louisiana State Capitol on April 24, 2023. The speaker at the event was Luke St. John McKnight, Chief Operations Officer at the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge. We were so excited that the students were able to meet State Senator Sharon Hewitt who attended the event.
Students and their families were able to go on a tour of the Capitol. Following the tour, the LAEA YAM flag designers were introduced as a group at the opening session of the Senate.
To contact and make an appointment with your senator or representative, visit their website, http://www.legis.state.la.us/. Phone numbers and email addresses can be found at this site.
Thanks to Kaila Verret, our LAEA Artists in the Capitol Chair for organizing this event!
"Wig Out" A Winter Gathering
The Winter Gathering was held in Alexandria, LA, on January 15, 2022. Our day started with our board meeting and art-making at the Alexandria Museum of Art. During happy hour, attendees participated in a mug swap and while showing off their fabulous wigs! Award recipients and regional and national nominees were honored at an awards ceremony followed by dinner at Embers downtown. So much dancing closed the night!! Thank you to everyone who was able to attend, and thank you to Bridget Gillane and Jennifer Keith for their hard work organizing the event!
The LAEA 2021 Summer Retreat was held in Lafayette, LA, on June 11th & 12th. We kicked off the event Friday night at Hilliard Art Museum Summer Opening Reception followed by hor d'oeuvres and drinks at one of our member's homes. On Saturday, members had the opportunity to attend the Just Breathe: Workshop with artist Linda Alterwitz at the Hilliard Art Museum before lunch and the board meeting. The rest of the day was spent making art and checking out downtown Lafayette's ArtWalk event. It was the perfect weekend! Thank you to everyone who was able to attend, and thank you to Claire Schultz and Olivia Morgan for their hard work organizing the retreat!
The Fall 2020 Conference was held virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. The theme for the conference was, "The Magic of Art," and it was a magical weekend! We began with a virtual board meeting on Thursday. On Friday evening, we held a virtual award ceremony hosted by our very own "Bendinni." Check out some behind the scenes magic tricks below! Saturday we made lots of art and featured our keynote speaker, Melody Weintraub. Thank you Margaret Holt & her team for their hard work organizing the virtual conference, and Ben Koch and his team for the magical award ceremony!