Events

Victoria Smith’s It Seemed Right is an attempt by the artist to visually catalog several of her personal relationships. For her project at the Masur, she created symbolic representations of people, events, and objects, as well as herself, which chart the ebb and flow of how she deals with people. This soul-searching work is cathartic for Smith and will likely be for visitors as well. If you were presented as a single image, perhaps resembling a coat of arms or family crest, how would your personage and conduct be manifested? Smith’s many exhibition credits include shows at the Upstairs Gallery (Monroe, LA), Rumo’s (West Monroe, LA), Parlor House (Monroe, LA), University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg, MS), and Agora Borealis (Shreveport, LA). In 2019 Smith will show with the Bossier Arts Council as their Emerging Artist. She and her sister, Mashall Smith, are gaining renown in Northeast Louisiana with their mobile screen printing shop Pint Sized Printers.

Stinson’s fine oil paintings explore the many ways in which individuals create their own worlds, and often cut themselves off from others. His anthropomorphic landscapes are particularly interesting when thinking about how people perceive the world because they are incomplete. The in-progress nature of this work is fitting when thinking about this idea because perceptions are always changing. Ultimately Stinson’s are inherently positive because their intrinsic beauty mirrors humans’ indomitable optimism in the face of hardship and struggle.

Youngblood uses Northeast Louisiana’s landscape and old family photographs as inspiration for her artistic practice. She reclaims her roots by creating stunning oil paintings using these two types of source images. Her reclamation project mirrors her coming of age as a young artist with that of her family pursuing the American dream in the Delta in the past. She approaches her work with a reverence that is palpable. The visceral nature of her work is fitting being as you are witnessing her becoming something new when spending time with her paintings.