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Rebecca Mock Hargrove provides commercial interior design services at Somdal Associates in Shreveport, Louisiana. She also owns her own stationery and branding business, Magnolia Design Studio, in Shreveport.

Marcus McAllister, BFA 1991, of Little Rock, Arkansas, started his first sketchbook as a painting and drawing student at LSU. Now on his 101st sketchbook, he has dual French–American citizenship and is a full-time professional artist who has lived in Paris for more than two decades. His artist’s practice is centered on his sketchbooks. For more than 20 years, he has carried a sketchbook with him wherever he goes, using it as a tool for pulling order from chaos. The sketchbooks help him organize random information, digest experiences and memories, ideas and imaginings.

“The process secretes meaning,” Marcus noted. “I use the individual pages as a template for paintings on canvas. My idea is not to copy the pre-existing drawing, but to use it as a map for exploring formal possibilities of scale and matter.”

Marcus’s acrylic paintings are developments and expansions of the sketchbook-generated ideas. His paintings present dreamlike depictions of figures, characters, animals, and cities. Sometimes there are recognizable forms and places painted from life or memory; other times the depictions are more symbolic and abstract. Marcus’s characteristic style combines fine art, illustration, and mysticism—qualities that transcend time and setting.

Marcus had two exhibitions in Paris in fall 2016: Traverser les rêves, trouver les ponts at the Galerie de Buci showed his recent large paintings, telling stories of men transforming into birds and back again; Galerie Polysémie exhibited Marcus’s 7600 Drawings, focused on his recently finished 100th sketchbook.

“An interesting side-effect came from the presence of the sketchbook during this exploration on canvas,” Marcus shared. “As I searched for painting solutions, I naturally took up my sketchbook to think through possibilities on pages that in turn gave rise to other paintings. Paintings became the sketches for the sketchbook pages.”

Marcus’s work was recently shown at the Baton Rouge Gallery, March 1–31, 2017, in an exhibition titled, Spontaneous Order.

Marcus’s Portfolio

Mercedes Jelinek is a photographer and was a resident artist at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. She has built a freelance career working in several genres of photography, including architecture, fashion, event, and journalism. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and has been included in exhibits at the Odgen Museum of Southern Art, Gaston County Museum, and numerous private collections.

Mercedes’ Portfolio

David West received an MFA in printmaking from the LSU School of Art in 2009. He is currently an associate professor of printmaking at Gordon College.

David’s Portfolio

Nikki Villagomez is a nationally recognized speaker on typography. After graduating from LSU, she worked in New York City for three years. She freelanced in South Carolina, where she founded and served as president for AIGA SC, the professional association for design. She has been an educator teaching graphic design and yypography. In 2015, Nikki published a book, Culture+Typography: How Culture Affects Typography. Currently, Nikki is the creative studio manager at Dixon Hughes Goodman in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Marshall Collins, BFA 1977, has completed the two-year Texas Viticulture Certification program through Texas A&M Agrilife and Texas Tech. Marshall, who spent nearly 30 years leading university public relations and marketing, now runs a small vineyard and cow-calf operation. He still employs his design degree in everything he now creates on his farm/ranch.