Arts & Culture

Art Show Captures Katrina's 'Aftermath'

of

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 13, 2010) Since Aug. 29, 2005, we've been fascinated, terrified and inundated with images of destruction wrought directly – or indirectly by Hurricane Katrina. Yet these pictures somehow fall short in capturing not only the power of nature but the impact such deconstruction and even its ensuing reconstruction can have on the people displaced by the storm – especially five years later.

           

"Aftermath" is an artistic reflection on Katrina from the vantage of its five-year anniversary - a clearer look back on how the chaotic events, political, socioeconomic and personal shaped (and still shape) our lives. It goes beyond the familiar images and sensationalism and explores something more intimate. Participating artists include both New Orleans natives and residents during and after the storm: Loren Schwerd, Liz Swanson, Elizabeth Shannon and Daniel Kelly. The show is guest curated by Charlie Campbell. "Aftermath" will be on display Sept. 16 - Oct. 14, at the University of Kentucky Tuska Center for Contemporary Art. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Loren Schwerd received her bachelor's degree in studio art from Tulane University and her master's degree in sculpture from Syracuse University. She spent several years as a visiting assistant professor at the College of Charleston before returning to Louisiana in 2005 to join the Louisiana State University School of Art faculty. Her sculptures, installations, videos and costumes have been exhibited nationally. Recently her work has exhibited at: Visual Arts Center of Richmond, in Virginia; The Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design, in North Carolina; Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, in Michigan; Dana Women Artist Series at Rutgers University; and the State University of New Jersey. Schwerd has also participated in numerous artist residencies, such as the Djerassi Resident Artist Program and the Art Omi International Artist Residency.


Liz Swanson
received her bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Michigan and her master's degree in architecture from the University of California at Berkeley. Swanson's expertise and interest is in innovative designs for communities and buildings which stress social, cultural and environmental issues. She has received various awards including: first place for the Park Avenue International Design Competition in Marco Island, Fla.; first place for the Bridge Park Internal Design Competition in Buzzards Bay, Mass.; and the Top 10 Special Citation for the Urban-Open International Design Competition in Chicago, Ill. Swanson is currently an associate professor at the UK School of Architecture, as well as an author.


While born in Morgan City, La., Elizabeth Shannon has lived primarily in New Orleans since obtaining a degree from a consortium program of St. Mary’s Dominican College, Loyola and Xavier Universities. The University of the Americas in Mexico City provided further studies in art, photography, anthropology and poetry for the artist. Shannon’s public artwork and commissions have appeared in the New Orleans Museum of Art, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Frederick R. Weisman Collection, Audubon Institute, Kemper Williams Park, and corporate and private collections. The award-winning artist has engaged in lectures, residencies, curatorial work, multi-media productions and promotion of cultural tourism. Shannon has also worked in the Louisiana film, video and print industry and acted as an advocate of art education.

Daniel Kelly was born in Dillon, S.C., and spent his childhood in Mississippi, Australia and Scotland. Prior to college, he worked for an architectural firm in Cambridge, England, for a year. He did his undergraduate studies in art and design at North Carolina State University, studying painting in Tuscany for one year during that time. For the next 5 years he worked as a fabricator for Clearscapes, an art and architecture firm in North Carolina. A year-long artist residency brought him to New Orleans in June of 2009. He is currently a fellowship student in the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of New Orleans.


Charlie Campbell
is a digital artist working in video, installation, animation and generative photography. He obtained a bachelor's degree from Transylvania University. In the following years he did graduate studies at New York's Rochester Institute of Technology. Campbell is now back in Lexington where he is finishing up his Master of Fine Arts thesis.

For more information on the "Aftermath" exhibit, contact Dmitry "Dima" Strakovsky via email dima@shiftingplanes.org or visit the Tuska Center online at www.uky.edu/FineArts/Art/TCCA.