Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 2, 2010

Contact: Jason Andreasen, Executive Director, (225) 383-1470

*Phone Number for PRESS USE ONLY – Please Do Not Publish*

Baton Rouge Gallery

1442 City Park Ave.

Baton Rouge, LA 70808

batonrougegallery.org

Baton Rouge Gallery Features Barbier, Gould and Henry in August

BATON ROUGE – Baton Rouge Gallery, a BREC facility, features the work of three of its artist members – Charles Barbier, Frankie Gould and Randell Henry – in a unique exhibition running from Aug. 1-26.

A “First Wednesday” Opening Reception for these three artist members and their work is scheduled on Aug. 4 from 7-9 p.m.

Charles Barbier is arguably one of the gallery’s most recognizable artist members, having been associated with the gallery since 1994. He received a Master of Fine Arts from Louisiana State University in 1989 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of New Orleans in 1974.

Before receiving instruction, Barbier was a self-taught artist for 15 years. He cites his experience of being a veteran of the Vietnam War (1968-1969) as a strengthening factor in his artistic development. In tackling controversial subjects and themes that often reflect a local context, Barbier employs complex compositions with meanings that are open to the interpretation of the viewer.

Barbier’s exhibit, Current Works, uses sometimes controversial subject matter that can be disturbingly honest with a hint of surprise and humor. His current work is influenced by pop culture movie posters, pin-up girls and the powerful nature of the female form. To enhance these factors he employs dramatic viewpoints and colors, unusual scale changes and strong contrast to exaggerate the dramatic psychological effects and emotional impact.

Frankie Gould has been an artist member of the gallery for over 25 years. She received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Nebraska and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kansas State University. Gould’s body of work, whether literal or abstract, is about the attraction of seductive shapes, bold colors, lines and textures, all conveyed with a definite whimsical element. Gould works in a variety of media, including acrylics, colored pencils, mixed media, watercolor, scratch board, block prints and sculpture. Her work is in the collections of Buena Vista College and Sheldon Museum of Art. In conjunction with her accomplished art career, Gould is the director and professor of communication and public relations at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center. In addition to administration and leadership, her professional experience has been in public relations, crisis communication, graphic design, multimedia, publications and Web development.

It is no surprise that Gould’s exhibit, Equine, features images of horses. Horses have always been a passion of Gould. Drawing them from a very early age, Gould finally received a horse of her own during the summer of 1967. Having studied works depicting horses by Deborah Butterfield, Edgar Degas, Susan Rothenber and even Spain’s Altamira caves, Gould’s pieces depict figural horses that exude power, speed, fragility, duty and elegance.

Randell Henry decided to become an artist when he was in the sixth grade and has never looked back. While in junior high school, he spent much of his free time in the school library studying the paintings and sculptures of professional American and European artists. Henry went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in art at Southern University in 1979 and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Louisiana State University in 1982. Henry has been an artist member of the gallery since 1985. Henry’s paintings have been on view in galleries and museums from New Orleans to Ghana including the Southern University Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of African-American Art, the Museum of Arts and Science in Daytona Beach, Fla. and the National Museum of Ghana. Randell Henry currently serves as a professor of art at Southern University.

Henry’s exhibit, Figures, Faces and Fantasies, showcases his approach to making collages that involve the use of improvisational methods of playing with shape, color and pattern. These mixed media paintings and collages are based on the use of figures and faces while playing with fantasy and myth. With influences from abstract expressionism, cubism and African and Asian art, Henry explores figures, faces and fantasies through his surrealistic collage images.

Barbier, Gould and Henry ‘ARTiculate’ at Sundays@4

On Sunday, Aug. 8 at 4 p.m., join Baton Rouge Gallery, a BREC facility, and its featured artists during the month of August for another ARTiculate event.  

A new addition to the gallery’s Sundays@4 program, ARTiculate invites art aficionados and novices alike to meet Charles Barbier, Frankie Gould and Randell Henry for a guided gallery tour loaded with insights into the techniques, thoughts and inspirations that went into the powerful and brightly colored works featured in each of these artists’ exhibits.

Whether you are interested in the improvisational collages of Henry, the strong colored paintings of Gould or the sensational power of Barbier’s paintings, you will be treated to the artistic specialties of all three of these perennial favorites at ARTiculate.

As always with Sundays@4 events, this tour is free and open to the public and starts at 4 p.m.

Sundays@4 Celebrates the “Best of LSU Fiction” with a Reading by Laurie Lynn Drummond

On Sunday, Aug. 22 at 4 p.m., Baton Rouge Gallery’s Sundays@4 program hosts a special reading celebrating the “Best of LSU Fiction.”

The “Best of LSU Fiction” is a one-of-a-kind collection of 20 stories written by LSU teachers, students and editors. Readers who love Southern fiction find both old and new favorites in this volume, which includes three Pulitzer Prize winners and one National Book Award winner. From Pulitzer Prize–winner Robert Penn Warren to Olympia Vernon, winner of the Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, this vital anthology includes original author biographies that trace the establishment of LSU’s prestigious literary tradition.

Contained within the “Best of LSU Fiction” are stories, some never before published, by LSU notables James Wilcox, Andrei Codrescu, Walker Percy, Moira Crone, David Madden, John Ed Bradley, Tim Parrish, Rebecca Wells and many more.

Though these writers have the experience, of attending LSU, in common, they explore the craft of fiction with diverse and unique world views.  Bradley writes of a failed LSU football hero, Wilcox writes of the quirky interactions of a dysfunctional family on a camping trip, Crone writes of a northerner’s firsthand experience of a Louisiana hurricane, Wells writes of an anti-war cotton grower in the Deep South and Drummond writes of a legendary Baton Rouge policewoman’s experiences on and off duty. The stories, ranging from traditional to experimental, are profound and entertaining.

The “Best of LSU Fiction,” edited by Nolde Alexius and Judy Kahn, two instructors in the LSU English department, is not only a literary history of Louisiana’s flagship university but also an original presentation of some of the country’s best fiction writers.

Former LSU and Baton Rouge police officer and Edgar Award-winning fiction writer, Laurie Lynn Drummond, shares her story, “Katherine's Elegy,” from “Best of LSU Fiction” at the gallery’s Sundays@4 series, on Aug. 22. With captivating detail, Drummond explores the public and private lives of police officers living and working in Baton Rouge. The story was part of her collection, “Anything You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You.” After the reading, enjoy some refreshments and have your personal copy of “Best of LSU Fiction” signed by Drummond and editors Nolde Alexius and Judy Kahn.

Baton Rouge Gallery’s Sundays@4 Hosts the annual Cangelosi Dance Project Open House

Baton Rouge Gallery’s, a BREC facility, Sundays@4 program hosts the Cangelosi Dance Project’s annual open house on Sunday, Aug. 29 at 4 p.m.

The Cangelosi Dance Project (CDP) introduces its exciting 2010-2011 season, with several performances to be held for the upcoming season in and around the Greater Baton Rouge area. CDP is providing entertainment at the open house, with all three CDP dance companies performing works from their spring 2010 repertory, Summer Splash Workshops, and much more.

For more information about CDP, contact Artistic Director Kris Cangelosi at 225.291.4587 or visit cangelosidanceproject.com.

As always with Sundays@4, this event is free and open to the public.

Baton Rouge Gallery’s Movies & Music on the Lawn Charges Forward with dayDREAMS & nightSCREAMS August 28

Baton Rouge Gallery’s, a BREC facility, Movies & Music on the Lawn continues its 2010 season on Aug. 28. 

This year’s theme, dayDREAMS & nightScreams, focuses on our wildest dreams and our darkest nightmares. The gallery invites everyone to come out on the last Saturday of the month, May through October, to snack under the stars and enjoy an exciting silent film paired with live music supplied by local contemporary musicians.

On Aug. 28, come enjoy “The Hands of Orlac,” a 1924 Austrian silent film. “The Hands of Orlac” is a classically celebrated thriller that bends macabre ecstasy with the visual symbolism and performance techniques of German expressionism.

Based on the novel of the same name by Maurice Renard, the film charts the mental degeneration of a virtuoso pianist, played by, Conrad Veidt whose hands are transplanted after a gruesome railway crash and replaced with the hands of a recently executed murderer. When Orlac’s father is murdered by the dead man’s hands, Orlac begins a steady descent toward insanity.Produced in Vienna, the hotbed of Freudian psychoanalysis, “The Hands of Orlac” is writhing with innuendo and Freudian imagery.

As always with Movies & Music on the Lawn, local musicians provide a fresh take on the film with contemporary music performed live, both rehearsed and improvised, sure to enhance the experience. The (New) Zeelanders provide the score this fourth installment of Movies & Music on the Lawn’s 2010 season.

Admission to Movies & Music on the Lawn is $5 for non-gallery members, free for gallery members and includes free popcorn.  All Movies & Music on the Lawn events begin at 8 p.m. or sunset, whichever comes last.

Other dayDREAMS & nightScreamS events include: Sept. 25 (“The Adventures of Prince Achmed”) and Oct. 30 (“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”).

For more information about this program go to batonrougegallery.org or call 225.383.1470.

Sundays@4 Welcomes Back NACUSA for a Summer Concert

Baton Rouge Gallery’s, a BREC facility, Sundays@4 program welcomes back the National Association of Composers/USA’s (NACUSA) Mid-South Chapter for another summer concert featuring performances by members Lindsey Jacob (alto saxophone) and Joe L. Alexander (tuba) on June 13. NACUSA Mid-South officers are Lindsey Jacob, president; Joe L. Alexander, vice president; Giselle Eastman, treasurer; and J. Corey Knoll, secretary.

The objectives of NACUSA Mid-South are designed to promote music of composers in the Mid-South region of the United States. The chapter sponsors several annual concerts, which feature various guest ensembles, soloist, lectures, and multi-media presentations. The chapter is currently based in Baton Rouge and provides compositional opportunities for local members as well as members outside the region. Since its creation in 1995, the NACUSA Mid-South has presented numerous concert performances around Baton Rouge and the surrounding area including Southeastern Louisiana University and the LSU International Cultural Center.

As always with Sundays@4 events, this performance is free and open to the public and starts at 4 p.m.

For more information about this program go to batonrougegallery.org or call 225.383.1470.

Baton Rouge Gallery, a BREC facility, is supported in part by funds from the Louisiana State Arts Council and the Louisiana Division of the Arts, the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge (through the Decentralized Arts Funding Program) and a grant from the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge through the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Gallery also receives support from the Community Fund for the Arts, WRKF, its Community Members and the late Paula Manship.