I was announced as one of ten ArtSpark winners for the 2023 cycle!
After attending several workshops, and many sleepless nights thinking about what I’d propose for this grant, I finally came up with the project Wildflowers. On April 4th of this month, I received fantastic news that I was accepted as a winner for the ArtSpark grant 2023 cycle for my proposed project!
Wildflowers | Cajun LGBT & Community
For this project, I will be using live models from the local LGBT+ community and pairing them with native Louisiana wildflowers and flora. I believe it is important to represent this subculture of the Acadian population in a time where it is actively being repressed. The goal of this project is to bring awareness to the beauty and perseverance of Acadiana queer individuals who aren’t traditionally perceived as fitting within Cajun culture. The grant would allow me to develop my professional artmaking career with new skills outside my usual methods.
This project will involve connecting with the local LGBT+ community with a local model call. I will be creating five large oil paintings of individuals in the Acadiana Queer community. I will need four contracted models to pose for live painting sessions in my studio for an estimated 20 hours per model. I already have two local LGBT+ models on board, Kate Johnson & Alexandra Culotta. I will be the model for the fifth painting (w/o pay). This body of work has the working title Wildflowers. With this collection of paintings, I will draw parallels to Louisiana’s native wildflowers to Acadiana’s local LGBTQIA+ population. “Even when the world wants manicured lawns, wildflowers continue to not only exist, but thrive.” The ArtSpark grant will be helping me cover the expenses of larger canvases as well as the adequate payment for my live models.
This project is supported in part by ArtSpark, an Individual Artist stipend supported by the Lafayette Economic Development Authority and administered by the Acadiana Center for the Arts.
