Emily Spikes is a painter born, raised, and working in Lafayette, Louisiana. Her work is influenced primarily by the sights, sounds, and traditions of Louisiana culture. Her biggest goal with her work is to remind the viewer that even the most simple elements of our culture are filled with beauty and intrigue. She spends most days creating new paintings in her home studio and documenting the process on social media. Some of her special projects include 30 original paintings commissioned for Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, as well as a children’s book, “Rise and Shine, Sweet Child,” by local author Taylor Curry....

I fell in love with dance at the young age of three years old. What started off as rolling around on the floor and making up dances for my friends and family turned into a lifelong passion. I studied dance extensively through my adolescence and high school. After a short hiatus from dance a few months before entering my college years, I quickly learned that dance and movement are an integral part of my life.  I studied dance at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and earned my BFA in Performing Arts. While in school, I began teaching dance. Upon graduation,...

Michael Eble was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He received a BFA degree in painting from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a MFA degree in painting and drawing from the University of Mississippi, in Oxford, Mississippi. He is currently Curator of Exhibitions, Events, and Engagement for the College of the Arts at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He also serves as Project Manager for the art subscription service BARE WALLS. He recently relocated back to Louisiana in 2016 from Minnesota where he was an Associate Professor of Studio Art and Curator of the Edward J. & Helen...

I am a dancer, choreographer, writer, and educator, currently splitting my time between Louisiana and Massachusetts. My work centers dance improvisation and compositional practice in conversation with a wide range of fields including ecology, neurophysiology, and philosophy to explore intersections between embodiment, perception, and design. The mode of my creative output encompasses choreography, performance, creative writing, and academic scholarship.  My choreography, presented in proscenium theatres, intimate studio settings, galleries, bars, and libraries, often sets into motion formal systems or processes, or explicitly introduces spatial, temporal, or gestural constraints, and then creates frames to witness how such systems and processes, and...

Rachel Adams is the Marketing Manager at the Acadiana Center for the Arts and co-owner of the new aerial gym in town, Sky Craft. Rachel finds herself captivated by Acadiana’s rich cultural ecosystem that includes art, local music, food, and the special places that create community. She was drawn to her position at the AcA because it aligns with this vision and offers a platform to cultivate the local creative community. She is a fan of the performing arts whether it be dance, theater or music and takes an active role as an aerial silks performer and teacher. Rachel discovered...

Grace Hamilton-Mayfield a 1982 graduate of University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She has advanced studies at Alvin Ailey School, Dance Education Teacher Certification at Western Kentucky University, and advanced studies at Texas Women’s University. In 1981 she Founded Hamilton Academy of the Arts (HAA) located in North Lafayette. In 1988 she expanded to Opelousas her hometown and founded the Hamilton Academy Performance Company (HAPC). In 2001 she developed a dance curriculum in accordance with long term objectives of existing lesson plans and organizational goals. Grace served as an Artist in the classroom for 15 years with the St. Landry Parish...

Monique Morton Derouselle is a filmmaker, actress, and educator originally from Shreveport, Louisiana. She is a graduate of Southern University Baton Rouge and California State University Los Angeles where she received her MFA in writing for TV, Film, and Theatre. She also studied improvisation at The Second City Hollywood Training Center. You may have seen her performing with Silverbacks Improv Theatre or on the short lived AOC comedic news show The Lagniappe. Monique has written, directed, and self produced a few projects to help strengthen her skills as a writer/ director. She won the Bckstry L.A. to L.A. screenwriting competition and...

Chase Julien is a fine artist focused on figurative painting based in Lafayette, La. Raised in the small rural village of Loreauville, he enrolled in the talent art program from early elementary through high school. Otherwise, he is a self-taught artist, inspired and influenced by the scenery of his rural hometown, his peers, and early surrealists like Max Ernst and Giorgio de Chirico. Chase’s work typically consists of portraiture and animals with a purpose of exemplifying grace, eloquence, and a degree of mystique, executed in a happy balance between realism, expressionism, and surrealism in the mediums of acrylic paint or...

Trinity Wallace is a visual artist based in Acadiana. Her current artistic focus includes: portraits and  abstraction of emotion and people. From a young age, art was nurtured and encouraged. After receiving her Bachelors in Art Education from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, she taught in public and private schools as an art educator for 7.5 years. In 2019, she heard God say it was time to deep dive into the artist world. This is when Tiawn Art Studio was born. Through Tiawn Art Studio, Trinity provides multiple ways to connect her art with the community.  Since then Trinity...

Aileen Bennett spends her days illustrating, designing, painting, writing, giving presentations, and creating stuff. She lives in that gap that often exists between business and the arts, finding inspiration in both areas. She writes the BE YOU column for The Advocate (and has done for 10 years), a place where she gets to feature people and tell the world a little more about them, something she loves to do. Aileen also is a specialist in Pitch Coaching training people to pitch their products and ideas in a few minutes. She has worked with everyone from local accelerators to large international...