Introducing Lydia Young

Introducing Lydia Young

Lydia Young-Green, MFA, is a distinguished dancer, educator, and choreographer hailing from Acadiana. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performing Arts with a concentration in dance from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a Master of Fine Arts in Choreography from Wilson College. During her time at UL, she performed in numerous concerts presented by the Dance Department and later returned as a guest choreographer before joining the faculty as an Adjunct Professor of Dance. Her professional training includes participation in the Horton Teacher Workshop through the Ailey School, and she holds certification in Progressing Ballet Technique...

Introducing Anne-Marie Auer

Introducing Anne-Marie Auer

Lafayette photographer Anne-Marie Auer’s background in dance, fashion, and travel enlighten her work as a film and digital photographer. Anne-Marie was awarded an artist residency at Chateau Orquevaux, located in France, for two weeks in August of 2024 – decorated with an Emerging Artist scholarship and the Denis Diderot grant. Her collection “Golden Veil” will be published as the cover story/collection of Mob Journal, a fashion magazine, and a 10 page spread in November of 2023. Anne-Marie’s vast experience as a solo-traveler enlightens her photography deeply. Her travels have made her keenly aware of human diversity and natural modes of expression...

Introducing Kali Picard

Introducing Kali Picard

Kali Picard is a self-taught artist and educator drawing inspiration from her Cajun roots and infusing it in art history. Her work is playful, irreverent, and colorful with the purpose of telling a story. Whether it be Lady Agnew building her societal status in Cajun Country by choosing her portrait by an old oak with a raccoon upon her lap or Marie Antoinette sporting an elegant possum upon her head as she enjoys a leisurely morning walking through the grounds of Maison Mouton, each piece is a comment on how art and culture across the span of time replicate with...

Introducing Donna Davis

Introducing Donna Davis

Donna Davis currently resides in New Iberia. She attended the University of Louisiana and continued her education in Pocono Lake, Pennsylvania. She began drawing at a young age and experimented with pencil, charcoal, pen and ink, and pastels, finding her love for watercolor later in her career. “Watercolor is my center and heart. I love what a simple drop of water does to the page and how water, such an essential part of Louisiana culture, adds to the images of wildlife and nature we are rich in. My work continues to evolve with mixed media traditions, and is central to...

Introducing Rebecca Allen

Introducing Rebecca Allen

Rebecca (Becky) Allen is a multidisciplinary artist based in her hometown of New Orleans.  As a dancer, choreographer, and ceramic artist, her work explores the body in relation to materials, landscape and the natural environment.  She approaches performance as a practice of presence, deep listening, and embodied connection.    She has premiered choreographic works in collaboration with institutions such as New Dialect (a founding member), Intersection New Music Ensemble, the Marigny Opera Ballet, Tulane University Dance Department, the Louisiana School of Math Science and Art, and Northwestern State University of Louisiana. Her solo performance Siddhartha (2023) was presented at the International Dance Festival of...

Introducing Cristina Molina

Introducing Cristina Molina

Cristina Molina is a visual artist who hails from the subtropics of Miami and currently lives and works in New Orleans—two environmentally precarious cities that have influenced her research on identity, loss, and disappearing landscapes. Spanning video installation, photography, and performance, Molina’s artwork is set amidst vulnerable terrains both real and imagined. Using the language of magical realism, her works centralize little-known narratives to upend dominant histories. Molina’s projects are typically collaborative and often include the participation of The Crystal Efemmes—a myth-building collective that produces immersive installations and performances with feminist agendas. Parallel to her individual practice Molina has a...

Introducing Daniel Fetecua Soto

Introducing Daniel Fetecua Soto

A native of Bogotà, Colombia, Daniel is a New York-based dancer, choreographer, educator, and producer. Daniel has been a soloist member of the Limon Dance Company for ten years (2006-2016) dancing lead roles in Jose Limon’s master pieces and has appeared as guest artist in Pina Bausch’s Rite of Spring and Tannhäuser. Daniel is a master teacher of the Limon technique and reconstructor of Limon’s repertory, faculty member of the Limón Institute and founder member of Limon4Kids program. He is the founder and artistic director of two dance companies: Pajarillo Pinta’o, a dance company that preserves and promotes the Colombian...

Introducing Blakeley White McGuire

Introducing Blakeley White McGuire

Blakeley White-McGuire (MFAIA) born and raised in South Louisiana, U.S.A., is a New York-based dancer/choreographer/writer/educator and interdisciplinary artist critically acclaimed as a former Principal dancer and present official Regisseur of repertory with the Martha Graham Dance Company. Her current creative process creates contemporary dance theater and site-specific performative works through movement research including with Movement Migration and C.A.V.E.S. Project Entre El Cuerpo y La Naturaleza, an international collaborative interrogating the relationship between art, nature, and the human body. Her productions have been commissioned by several transformative presenters including the Dancing Human Rights Festival, Oxford, UK; The Museum of Arts and Design,...

Introducing Macie Menard

Introducing Macie Menard

Macie Menard is a mixed media artist born and raised in Lafayette, LA. Their creative journey has taught them the importance of flowing in creativity as opposed to forcing creation. They find inspiration in nature, travel, movement, life experience, and (most importantly) their intuition. In their time as a graphic designer, they felt their creative flame was smothered by deadlines. Having to work within the confines of branding and marketing strategies dampened their creative inspiration. In an effort to rekindle their creative flame, they put the laptop aside and dove into the art of analog collage. After some time, they...

Introducing Jack Budd

Introducing Jack Budd

Jack Budd, American multi disciplinary artist, was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana and graduated from the University of Louisiana’s Visual Arts program with a concentration in Painting and Printmaking. Budd’s achievements include pieces and instillations in the University of Louisiana’s Marais Press Collection and Bottle Art Loft Apartments. Budd has also been published by the SouthWestern Review, a University of Louisiana contemporary periodical, on the cover and as a featured artist. Recent instillations include LOUDHOUSE X ARCHIVES and (un)Common with Basin Arts. With work examining identity, imagination, and language in the context of socio-political, scientific, and religious ideology, Budd...