ArtWalk Opening: Prairie Stories: Art and Ecological Restoration on Louisiana’s Prairies
Schedule
Sat, 08 Feb, 2025 at 05:00 pm
UTC-06:00Location
101 W. Vermilion St., Lafayette, LA, United States, Louisiana 70501 | Lafayette, LA
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This exhibition takes a look at a variety of stories which intertwine the work of artists, community groups, Indigenous Peoples, and science-led efforts to restore the ecological balance to the area known as the Cajun Prairie. Visitors will see the well known landscape paintings of Elemore Morgan Jr and photography from Lucius Fontenot’s Mémoire de la Boue (Memories of Mud) series. Visitors will see also collaborative projects, some of art and some of science. One such is an art installation between Rush Jagoe and Maaliyah Symoné. Maaliyah explains that, “through her artwork, she reimagines plants not just as subjects or props but as co-creators and storytellers.”Alongside the work of artists, this exhibition will showcase some of the work being done by scientists and naturalists who have taken to “rewilding” sites of the prairie. The Cajun Prairie Restoration Project in Eunice, Louisiana, Atelier de la Nature Aurore & Brandon Ballengée’s Eco-Campus in Cecilia, Louisiana and the Acadiana Native Plant Project based in Arnaudville, Louisiana. These organizations are spearheading local efforts to rebuild the biodiversity of prairie soil and bringing about positive change within the natural ecosystem of the coastal prairie.
As Dr Malcolm Vidrine explains, “Prairie is the fastest and easiest of the ecosystems to reconstruct, if native plant ecotypes are available. Farmers and fishermen in Acadiana are facing a near-term economic collapse that can be partially evaded if farmers and lawn-owners rewild parts of their fields as an ‘investment’ in the local, long-term regional economy. In general, reinvigorating soils, clearing rivers, changing hydrology, increasing biodiversity have numerous positive impacts.”
According to Dr Vidrine, the positive impacts of rewilding in this region are potentially breathtaking. Immediate impacts on both the global climate crisis and the global biodiversity crisis will be felt and grow exponentially. Generating prairie soils rapidly sequesters carbon and builds biodiversity deep into the soils, as prairie plants create a rhizosphere that reaches as many as 4.6 m. in depth.
As winter transitions to spring, join Acadiana Center for the Arts in a meditative exploration through Louisiana’s coastal prairie landscape.
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Featured Artists: Ashlee Wilson, Brandon Ballengée, Caroline Delahoussaye, David Alpha, Elemore Morgan Jr. , Emee Morgan, Leah Graeff, Lucius Fontenot, Maaliyah Symoné, Neil Martin Nehrbass, Rush Jagoe
Presenting Sponsor: Jones Walker
Host Committee: Caroline and Barry Ancelet, Brenda and Alan Broussard, Kathy and Richard Broussard, Chuck Boudreaux, Dr. Mary B. Neiheisel
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Where is it happening?
101 W. Vermilion St., Lafayette, LA, United States, Louisiana 70501Event Location & Nearby Stays:
