New LSU Master of Interior Design Degree
The LSU College of Art & Design announces the new Master of Science in Interior Design Degree, the first graduate-level degree offered by the LSU School of Interior Design.
The first degree of its kind to be offered at LSU, the MS in Interior Design will serve design professionals in the region seeking graduate level education.
“The Master of Science in Interior Design provides opportunities for students to explore the broad spectrum of interior design research and practices related to the social, cultural, and environmental dimensions of health and wellbeing, and supports advanced research across multiple scales and settings, shaping the interior environment and human behavior,” said Marsha Cuddeback, Director of the School of Interior Design.
“The program facilitates a collaborative environment among disciplines for advancing creative and academic scholarship in interior design. Student will conduct applied research to address the impact of contemporary challenges to enrich the future of the lived experience.”
This program is intended for designers and practitioners interested in developing their knowledge and expertise related to the study of the interior environment, advance their professional careers, or pursue an academic career path. Areas of concentration might include, but are not limited to, health environments, cultural identity and place, environmental stewardship, integrated design, spatial design, lighting design, and daylighting.
Learn more at https://design.lsu.edu/interior-design/admissions/master-of-interior-design/.
LSU Art Faculty Exhibitions Fall 2024
LSU School of Art faculty are debuting new works in solo exhibitions this fall, including:
Jeremiah Ariaz, professor of photography, Kristine Thompson, associate professor of photography, and Lauren Cardenás, assistant professor of printmaking, all have works featured in the Baton Rouge Gallery’s October exhibition on view through October 31, 2024:
The Menard News and Messenger Newspaper, Menard, TX, Collyn Wright editor-in-chief, collyn@menardnews.com. Image courtesy of Ariaz & the Baton Rouge Gallery
Jeremiah Ariaz, professor of photography: Talking Hard Traveling Battleground Blues Verse II
Ariaz’s photographs examine the constructs of American identity within personal, community, and political contexts.
“Battleground Blues features dystopian scenes from the American landscape. The work was initiated in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election and will continue through the 2024 election. Made across the nation, in public and private spaces, as well as at sites of protest and civic unrest, the images evoke the anxiety felt by many at this critical juncture in our nation’s history.
“As the 2020 election approached, I was spurred on by my own anxiety and feelings of helplessness. I searched for a way to visualize our fractured democracy in a time of heightened division, making images to reveal tension and transition, mourning and protest. Seeking to visualize the democratic process, I visited election campaign and newspaper offices. I walked through cities whose architectural facades were transformed in response to protests in the streets. A steel wall was being erected at the southern border. The economic effects of the global pandemic have shuttered businesses on every Main Street. Landscapes were devasted by extreme weather events, intensified by climate change – a record fire season burned out west while an unprecedented number of hurricanes brought destruction to the Gulf Coast. In the years since, there has been a rise in political violence, from the January 6th attack on the nation’s Capital to the recent attempt to assassinate the former President.
The resulting photographs are a visual testament to the intensity and uncertainty of this era. I hope for the images to reveal the interconnectedness of events and experiences, part of the visual record of this time. While making this work, I kept returning to Roland Barthes’ statement that ‘photographs are prophecies in reverse.’”
Lauren Cardenás, assistant professor of printmaking: Borderland – No Home For You Here
Cardenás is interested in objects that often go unnoticed and yet are interacted with on a regular basis. Things like sheets, cheese slices, or a toner printer. She’s interested in the relationships that people have with the mundane things that fill our lives, and how that context is altered when they’re pulled from the expected habitats and contexts. Using a mix of traditional and experimental printmaking techniques she is able to add a layer of history and intrigue to the items.
“This work explores loss and conflict by examining one’s hybrid identity – especially that of Latin Americans and how they have become defined by U.S. borders. In the politically divided, nationalist, and insular U. S., many blame the country’s problems on minorities. The Border wall has become a tenuous space fraught with deprivation and demise. This work directly explores the current events presently taking place along the U.S./Mexico border; within the work, I focus on the Texas/Mexico border because of my home ties to the area. I once called Texas home, but now have reluctance because of its treatment of migrants crossing the border to seek asylum.”
94 Skies Over Sites of Consequence (2021-2024), by Thompson. Image courtesy of Thompson & Baton Rouge Gallery.
Kristine Thompson, associate professor of photography: Inflection Points
Thompson’s work explores both emotional and social responses to loss and mourning, including how we grieve and the memorial properties we attach to significant objects and spaces. Her work has increasingly considered the materiality of photographs, how images circulate publicly, and what power such images have to elicit empathy on the part of the viewer.
“This exhibition includes photographs made in response to contemporary political and social events. I utilize elements from daily newspapers and treat the paper and its contents as objects to alter, collage, and re-contextualize. The resulting compositions are my attempts to linger with the selected images, texts, and events and handle them in a tactile way. Through gestures of removal and reconsideration, I reflect upon the supreme court decisions, wars, displacement, climate crisis, and protests that have occupied our collective consciousness in recent years. An inflection point marks a moment of possibility–one that holds the potential for significant change. I think about this in relation to the subjects addressed here, in this moment before an election.”
LSU MFA painting alum Justin Bryant is also featured in the Baton Rouge Gallery’s current exhibition lineup.
Tokens of Remembrance, by Celentano. Image courtesy of Celentano & Cole Pratt Gallery.
Denyce Celentano, associate professor of painting & drawing:
Works by Celentano are on view at Cole Pratt Gallery in New Orleans through October 26, 2024:
“These works are based on collages conceived from imagination that variously source images from art history, contemporary forms of painting, and current news magazines. They are assembled in unexpected, perhaps illogical combinations to circumvent the meaning of any individual image or form to potentially arrive at the possibility of multiple interpretations. Some paintings combine figurative elements alongside abstraction; some are more purely abstract. I am interested in how abstract shapes and their relationships to each other can convey the equivalent meaning of the recognizable. As with “things,” abstract shapes even if we can’t name them, occupy space, contain gravity, exist in a figure ground relationship and have a logical sense of construction; all open to interpretation and allusions to experience. The underlying premise is shared experiences, and on some level, the difficulty of sharing experiences.”
Nature Morte, by Kelli Scott Kelley.
Kelli Scott Kelley, professor of painting: Nature Morte
Professor Kelley has a solo show at the Andrew Durham Gallery in Houston, Texas on view October 12-November 30, 2024.
Kelley says of her work: “In my work subconscious worlds, populated by hybrid beings, are woven into dreamlike tales. Figures, animals, and objects appear in metaphorical narratives which explore humankind’s connections, disconnections and impact upon the natural world. I am drawn to folklore and myth, and mine these sources for ideas. The pieces are inspired by the personal, psychological and sociopolitical. I am moved by the exquisite beauty in the world, as well as the absurdity and ugliness.”
On Our Way, by Ed Smith. Image courtesy of Smith and Spillman Blackwell Gallery.
Ed Smith, professor of painting: Peaceable Kingdom
Ed Smith’s exhibition Peaceable Kingdom is on view October 5-November 30, 2024 at Spillman Blackwell Gallery in New Orleans.
“Anyone involved in any creative pursuit knows how difficult it is to say where exactly the work
comes from and what exactly its about. So many factors come into play during the making.
Overall, from a distance they are about the environment. How they/we struggle to hang on, but
they are also about the human condition. How we struggle to find our place either in a physical
or psychological sense.
The paintings start with an idea…That rattles around in my head until I have an impulse to do a
quick sketch, and this starts the process of turning this idea into a painting. My paintings go
through a lot of changes until I start to settle on something…and then it changes some more. I’m
searching for something that’s just out of reach, but I can see it out there. Ideas come from lots
of different places…The news, politics, a walk in the woods and stumbling on an abandoned
Volkswagen, reading an article about orchids, a conversation with a stranger on the next barstool.
Something will just stick and if it stays up there long enough, I will start to see a painting.
I’ve been reading history books lately and that has me thinking about the ‘power dynamics’ that
we must all navigate. White Trash and Aaron Burr by Nancy Isenberg are both terrific. Anything
by Nathaniel Philbrick and the Liz Chaney’s Oath and Honor. I’m starting down the Lincoln rabbit
hole. I’m still inspired by those rare individuals who push against the prevailing winds, knowing full
well it might not turn out well, but they are principled in their convictions. I feel the same way
about those oddball painters….think of Sidney Nolan. And lastly painters look at painters. I have
a long list of painter crushes that change over time. Most are unfashionable. I am drawn to
painters who paint things in spaces. It’s difficult to paint things and space but I find it interesting.
The title of the show obviously come from Edward Hick’s sires of paintings called The Peaceable
Kingdom. It just seemed fitting in these disquieting times.”
Learn more about LSU School of Art programs.
Landscape Architecture Students Map Trees for Baton Rouge Community
Trees create oxygen, cast shade, and also play a role in reducing air pollution, especially in major cities. Trees have ecological benefits including contributing to storm water management, and other pressing issues for Louisiana. Trees can even improve mental health, lower surface temperatures, and fight the effects of climate change.
LSU landscape architecture students and alumni have teamed up on an innovative project: to collect data on the trees in the East Baton Rouge Parish’s public spaces, and share the information to help communities. This summer the LSU students inventoried the trees in the Baton Rouge region, using technology to analyze their impact on the surrounding community.
“Trees are the first line of defense from flooding,” explained Warren Kron, (BLA alum), GIS Practice Lead at Environmental Science Services, Inc. (Es2).
LSU landscape architecture students River Heath (MLA candidate), BLA candidates Brock Efferson and Andrew English, and Taylor Williams (BA 2024, now MLA candidate), are working with Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge (BREC) to catalog trees in Greater Baton Rouge area parks to provide meaningful data for a novel environmental database.
“The students are collecting data such as stormwater runoff retention, measuring the gallons of water per year saved by the trees, pollution impacts, carbon storage, and even all the dust that trees can hold. The aim is to create an inventory of over 10,000 trees,” Kron said. “I don’t know of any other communities conducting such a widespread tree inventory of this kind, so this is a truly innovative project.”
Fellow LSU alumni involved in the project include Reed Richard and Brett Wallace with BREC, Andrew Milanes, the Es2 President, and professional land surveyor Brennon Albarez.
The project’s goals include collecting geographic positions and characteristics of trees throughout a variety of different BREC parks. A goal of the data is to objectively value the tree canopy in public spaces, and ultimately create a public inventory for East Baton Rouge. The plan is to publish the information to communicate the value of these trees to the Baton Rouge community, Kron said.
“These parks have been spread out, which has allowed us to collect and provide a wide variety of data dependent on the areas of East Baton Rouge Parish (EBRP) each park is in and the unique microclimate and microecosystem each park has,” Heath said.
Parks where they have collected data so far include Anna T. Jordan Community Park, Blackwater Conservation Area, Howell Community Park, Jones Creek Nature Reserve, and Airline Highway Park, Zachary Community Park and Memorial Sports Complex.
The data collected by LSU students is then put into iTree, a collection of urban and rural forestry analysis and benefits assessment tools. Some of the important calculations iTree can put a number on include carbon sequestration, air filtration, urban cooling, stormwater management, property value added to a site and nearby sites, stress relief, and ecological benefits.
“The students are getting hands-on experience in the field, learning about plant materials, and using emerging technology in new and interesting ways,” said Kron, LSU landscape architecture alum who previously worked with Baton Rouge City planning.
The students conducted both individual surveys on specimen/individual trees, and plot surveys of forested areas. Individual tree characteristics collected include: tree species, ground cover, trunk diameter, height, tree “crown,” light exposure, physical characteristics such as leaves/bark, etc., and geographic position.
Kron, who is assembling all the data collected in the field, has used geographic information systems (GIS) to place boundaries around the forested areas at these parks along with the guidance of BREC. “Using some GIS and some of our own judgment in the field, we have attempted to spread out the plots equally throughout the forested area at each park to collect the widest variety of different plot data that we can,” Heath said. “I believe this has allowed us to collect the most accurate overall average of what type of tree canopy is found in each park (even if there are a variety of microecosystems and/or forest types in each park).”
“The most difficult part about this process, by far, is the number of invasive species that take up the forest floor blocking our sightlines and making moving throughout the plot nearly impossible at times,” Heath shared. “I knew invasive species were an issue in forests coming into this summer, but this job has made it glaringly evident.”
“I would say a plot is typically around 30-40 trees collected, but we have collected plots with up to 75 trees!”
“The project has been a lot of fun,” the students agreed. “Simply from a social standpoint, getting to hang out with Taylor, Brock, and Andrew and getting to know them better has been great. We were already familiar with one another because we are all in the landscape architecture program together but getting to know each other outside of the classroom and pick one another’s brain, especially while immersed in the local landscape, has been an enriching experience,” Heath said.
“Getting the opportunity to explore BREC parks all throughout EBRP has also been interesting. It has truly put into perspective for me how many properties BREC owns and how valuable they are to the urban areas where they are located. Simply from a conservation standpoint, preventing these areas from being developed but instead be used as ‘third places’ as well as an overall benefit to the environment around them is awesome.”
“I have learned a lot regarding the local ecology here in EBRP. I would say I can confidently name 90% or so of the trees I see on a day-to-day basis in the area now,” Heath said.
“As someone with an interest in ecological design and restoration, this experience has been very rewarding and encouraging to me that I am on the right track regarding what I would like to do with my future using my landscape architecture degree,” he said. “I believe BREC’s potential next step with this data collected is identifying and establishing a plan for eliminating invasive species and planting beneficial native species using ecological design and restoration.”
Learn more about the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture.
Interior Design PAVE Competition
LSU hosted the 2024 PAVE Student Design Competition August 29-30, 2024 at the LSU Student Union. Teams of LSU School of Interior Design students competed to design mobile health center prototypes aimed for improved health outcomes. The event is held in partnership with PAVE Global, Our Lady of the Lake Health system and the LSU Student Health Center.
PAVE Student Design Competition 2024 at LSU
LSU is partnering with Our Lady of the Lake Health to operate the Primary Care and Specialty Care Clinics and Mental Health Service. Together they are committed to providing comprehensive health resources and education that empower students to take ownership of their personal health and wellness – preparing them for a lifetime of good health.
LSU hosted the 2024 PAVE Student Design Competition August 29-30, 2024 at the LSU Student Union. Teams of LSU School of Interior Design students competed to design mobile health center prototypes aimed for improved health outcomes. The event is held in partnership with PAVE Global, Our Lady of the Lake Health system and the LSU Student Health Center.
The annual PAVE Student Design Competition promotes “real-world” design experience for college-level students globally, who are interested in pursuing careers in the design industry. 11 teams of student designers, in 11 hours, crafted 11 proposals for a new LSU Student Health Center education and engagement pop-up. The event was held with support from Dr. Catherine O’Neal, Our Lady of the Lake (OLOL) Chief Medical Officer, Ann Marie Marmande, OLOL Foundation President, and Kate Gannon-Cullinan, LSU Student Health Center Senior Associate Director.
“We invite students to think about the LSU Student Health Center holistically, including all units within the center, as this design concept will serve education and engagement for campus regarding the entire space and its mission to provide an integrated levels of care model for students,” the PAVE competition organizers wrote.
“This event is a great opportunity for LSU interior design students to work together to design spaces to promote improved health,” said Marsha Cuddeback, Director of the School of Interior Design. “Fantastic first annual PAVE Global Design Challenge at LSU! Many thanks to the PAVE team – Dash Nagel, Jerry Fox, Christine Sturch, Sharon Lessard, and Jon Soloman! Outstanding!”
On August 30, the competing student teams presented professional designs of a new LSU Student Health center “pop-up” that take into consideration accessibility, functionality, campus location, environmental factors, transportation, and sustainability. The design by the winning team will be implemented on LSU’s campus.
Team #6 won the 2024 PAVE Global Student Health Center Design Challenge.
The winning team #6’s design concept “PUSH – Pushing Towards Medical Convenience” will serve the LSU student population as an accessible and interactive outlet to educate the community about the Student Health Center. The design creates an immersive experience, and the pop-up plan prioritizes easy assembly, transport, and flexibility, offering multiple layouts catering to different scenarios. The versatile space will be able to be constructed as needed across campus to better reach LSU students as needed.
Pop-ups would support LSU students’ physical and mental health needs at different locations throughout campus, to give students greater access to healthcare. The proposed facilities, offered in partnership with OLOL, would provide services including health check-ups, mental health consultations, Lighthouse, and provide information to LSU students.
“We aim to create really inviting, calming spaces that students feel comfortable using,” the interior design student presenters shared.
“The quality of the presentations were incredibly professional, and truly impressive,” a PAVE judge reported. “There were so many great designs to choose from.”
Watch video:
Alumni Spotlight: Roy Sprague
Roy Sprague
Roy Sprague, AIA (BArch 1981) has changed many young lives – through architecture.
Sprague has a 40+-year career in architecture, construction and facilities management, including over 30 years in public education. Middle School No. 20 in Cypress-Fairbanks, Texas, was named Roy J. Sprague Jr. Middle School for him to honor his dedication to education throughout his career.
His career began after graduating from LSU with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1981.
“I believe that LSU truly prepared me well for my career in architecture. The five-year architecture degree was a very tough program which required significant number of hours working on architectural design projects,” Sprague said. “I had to fumble through learning time management skills in order to complete the design of each project to meet the submission deadlines we had in our architectural design labs along with our other courses we had to take to provide us a well-rounded education for the field of architecture.”
“I have many fond memories while attending LSU from 1976 to 1981. My most fond memories were the excitement and fun of LSU football weekends and attending our home games standing outside waiting in line on Saturday mornings to enter the stadium for our student seating for Saturday night games to try to obtain the best seats possible. Students would place their speakers by their windows in the stadium dormitories and played music for all the students waiting to enter the stadium,” he remembered. “There were many times I would attend the football games and then have to go back to the design lab to spend the rest of the weekend working all night in order to meet the design project deadlines.”
After graduating from LSU, Sprague served 10 years in various private sector roles for architecture and real estate development firms as project manager, construction administrator, tenant coordinator, senior tenant coordinator, A/E site representative and development coordinator before moving into public education. He was named supervisor of construction and energy for Spring ISD in 1991, where he was responsible for the overall management and coordination of the design and construction of a major building program for renovations and new construction of educational and administrative support facilities.
He came to the Cypress-Fairbanks School District (CFISD) in 1997 as the director of facilities planning and construction, managing a department of four and overseeing successful completion of a $264 million bond program in 1998. In 2001, he was promoted to senior director of facilities planning and construction. In this role, he developed the district’s standard architectural and construction contracts for all projects. He also developed districtwide facility design and construction standards for all new facilities and renovations.
Sprague was promoted to assistant superintendent of facilities and construction in 2006, a role he served in for seven years. In 2007, he took on the added responsibility of overseeing a maintenance department that included 180 employees. In 2013, he was promoted to associate superintendent of facilities, construction and support services—a role that was eventually named chief operations officer.
“He provided leadership, vision and support for the design direction, quality standards, administrative procedures and processes to develop 21st-century school designs for new construction and renovations of existing facilities,” according to the District announcement. He announced his retirement following an accomplished career effective June 2023.
Sprague has overseen the construction of more than 60% of the district’s current square footage totaling more than 11.7 million square feet. Altogether, he has completed the purchase of 41 property sites and overseen the planning and construction of 73 new facilities, which include 30 elementary, 10 middle, seven high schools, two special assignment campuses and 24 support facilities. He and his team have also handled hundreds of renovation and addition projects touching every district facility—enhancing instruction, health, and safety while providing campus equity that has impacted countless students, staff, parents and community members.
“Upon the announcement of my retirement from Cypress-Fairbanks ISD in January 2023, the proudest moment in my entire career was when the Board of Trustees approved the naming of their most recent new Middle School No. 20 as Roy J. Sprague, AIA Middle School in honor of my 26 years of dedicated service to the district with creating high performance and quality learning environments for the students we served,” he said.
“Little did I know that when we started the planning and design of this campus which is part of the Bridgeland Educational Village, that the middle school would eventually bear my name at the front entry of the building,” he said. “The educational village was a concept I was instrumental in developing with our curriculum and instruction department for the district to find more creative and flexible ways to deliver our instructional programs to increase student success.
The design concept locates an elementary, middle and high school on a multi-campus site where all three separate campuses would all be master planned in a college-like setting with shared site amenities, and outdoor learning court yards where students would be able to attend all K-12 grade levels at the same site, Sprague explained. This concept offers many opportunities for the use of shared facilities between the three campuses, collaboration and alignment with all three campus programs, mentoring opportunities with the students with each of the campuses which will help minimize the transition challenges for students going from elementary to middle school and from middle to high school.
Under his leadership, Sprague worked directly with all the district departments to develop and continually update our design guidelines and construction standards to provide high performance learning environments for the students and community. He also developed department procedures, processes and financial controls to efficiently and effectively manage the design and construction of over $5.2 billion of new construction, renovations and additions for the district over six successful bond programs, to efficiently manage the design and construction of over $5.2 billion of new construction, renovations and additions.
Sprague is a registered architect and registered interior designer with the State of Texas, and is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. He is an Accredited Learning Environment Professional (ALEP). He is a professional member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Construction Specification Institute (CSI) and the Association for Learning Environments (A4LE), formerly named the Council of Educational Facilities Planners International. He is also a member of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS), Institute for Leadership in Capital Projects (I-LinCP), Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO) and Association of School Business Officials (ASBO). Sprague served as the A4LE International Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2006-2007. He serves on the National Board of Directors for the Institute for Leadership in Capital Projects (I-LinCP) as well as the Collaborative of High-Performance Schools (CHPS) as Vice Chairman. He was instrumental in bringing CHPS best practices to Texas for K-12 educational facilities.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to have been selected as the namesake of Middle School No. 20,” Sprague said upon the announcement of the naming. “This distinguished honor bestowed by the Board of Trustees is certainly the pinnacle of my 42-year career. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined I would be selected to receive this highest honor in public education—being a school namesake,” he said.
“What an incredible legacy,” said fellow LSU architecture classmate Dale Songy, AIA, NCARB, principal of Coleman Partners Architects L.L.C. “He deserves the recognition. What a great guy!”
“It is an absolute privilege to have the opportunity to serve all our students and staff to provide them with high performance and quality learning environments so they can be successful in their academic years attending CFISD schools,” Sprague said. “None of this would be possible without the incredible support I received over the years from the Board of Trustees, my dedicated staff and colleagues, district partners, our CFISD community and most importantly, my family.”
For future architects, Sprague advises to explore your interests. “Architecture is a very fascinating and rewarding career with various paths that can be taken based upon your goals, skill set and experience. Your educational and work experience can lead you to various types of roles in the industry. There are those that love the designing of buildings and have a unique talent and vision for creating architectural design for various building types. You can look at specializing in a certain building type such as schools, hospitals, etc.”
“There are others that prefer the more technical side of the business where you can become an expert in specification writing and being the project architect responsible for taking the designers vision and turning it into a set of construction documents that allows general contractors to construct that vision into reality. There is also the specialty of project management to oversee the complete process from programming all the way through construction and completion of the warranty period working with all the various consultants, owners, city officials, etc.to take the project vision to reality.
“I was exposed early in my career for working for real estate developers and learning to be an owner’s representative overseeing and managing the entire process from land acquisition through the design and construction of the development. This was the route my career took back in 1986 and have been on the owner’s side ever since with utilizing my excellent architectural education from LSU and work experience to help developers and building owners create very exciting, sustainable projects to support the community.”
Design Classes Moved to Digital Media Center
Due to ongoing construction of Julian T. White Hall, LSU College of Art & Design courses normally housed in the building have been moved to the LSU Digital Media Center for the fall 2024 semester.
Joelle Nagy in Ogden Museum’s Louisiana Contemporary 2024
Joelle Nagy, MFA August 2024 graduate of the LSU School of Art, was selected to be included in the Ogden Museum of Southern Art’s Louisiana Contemporary 2024 exhibition. The works are on view August 3-October 13, 2024.
Nagy, a Louisiana-based multimedia artist who studied painting at LSU, was one of 37 artists to be selected from over a thousand submissions to the annual exhibition. This statewide, juried exhibition “promotes the contemporary art practices in the state of Louisiana, provides an exhibition space for the exposition of living artists’ work and engages a contemporary audience that recognizes the vibrant visual arts culture of Louisiana and the role of New Orleans as a rising, international art center.”
“I’m extremely honored to be included in the 2024 Louisiana Contemporary,” Nagy said.
Her featured work “Hunglish” is a grouping of ceramics works recreated from her childhood memories of “of my father’s daily routine of maintaining his native tongue of Maygar/Hungarian,” Nagy said in her artist’s statement. “These items create a still life memorializing these ordinary objects that I view as ritualistic.”
Nagy’s MFA thesis exhibition CSALÁDI is “a compendium of paintings and sculpture that narrate and itemize memories, mementos, and feelings from my childhood in relation to the home. It is an autobiographical agglomeration of objects and spaces that I am honoring and remembering through the act of creating. I am effectuating the feminine and maternal instinct of gathering and arranging my memories pertaining to personal history and inherited cultural identity through altar-making. Idiosyncratic items are collected and bound through color association and sensory memory. Constructed interior and exterior spaces of the home in a series of large-scale paintings wherein Proustian memories were involuntarily recorded through a child’s lens. These works serve as a fragmented memoir of my családi.
(Családi (Magyar/Hungarian) adjective: related to the family; related to the home.)”
This year’s juror is Lauren Haynes, Head Curator, Governors Island Arts and Vice President for Arts and Culture at the Trust for Governors Island. Learn more about the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Learn more about the LSU School of Art.
Brent Fortenberry Named RRSLA Interim Director
The LSU College of Art & Design has named Brent Fortenberry the new interim director of the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture. He is currently associate dean of research and graduate studies and directs the Doctor of Design in Cultural Preservation program.
Fortenberry joined LSU in 2023 from the Tulane School of Architecture, where he was the director of the historic preservation program. Prior to Tulane, Fortenberry was the associate and interim director of the Texas A&M University College of Architecture Center for Heritage Conservation. He previously served as the associate director for historic preservation, architectural history and archaeological research at the Clemson University Warren Lasch Conservation Center. He holds a B.A. in anthropology from the College of William & Mary, a M.A. in historical archaeology from Bristol University, a M.S. in historic preservation from Clemson University/College of Charleston, and a Ph.D. in archaeology from Boston University. He is also the founder and principal of Heritage Resource Management Consultants, LLC.
The Robert Reich Professor of Landscape Architecture, Fortenberry’s research and teaching areas include: historic preservation; vernacular architecture; digital documentation; architectural conservation; colonialism; Early Modern Atlantic world; heritage; outreach and education; architectural finish; and analysis and interpretation.