Artist Statement: We are pulling our images from the natural beauty that surrounds us in New Orleans. The main focus is an abstraction of Harold Fisk’s Meander Maps of the Mississippi River, hence the artwork title. We have highlighted this with bursts of colorful foliage in the form of palmetto leaves and hibiscus. We want the piece to be engaging, while also soothing and delightful. Under the direction of Kourtney Keller, we plan to project the images onto the piano, create line work, then treat it as a large paint by numbers.
We are an eight person group of close-knit friends who have the fortune of raising our children together in the Bywater neighborhood. Erica Amrine is a co-founder and manager of Clouet Gardens; Kourtney Keller has a career in Media Arts and has taught with NOCCA for many years; Jessica Bizer is a national, artistic treasure who shows frequently at Good Children Gallery and the Aquarium; Sarah Debacher is the Director of Curriculum for the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities; Shannon Faulstick works in Radiology at Tulane; Sarah Riley works with the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center, and Beth Rosch teaches first grade at Homer Plessy Community School. Clouet Gardens hosted a piano in April of 2022 and it was such a magical addition to the neighborhood! As a collective, we thought we’d throw our hat into the ring and apply to decorate one ourselves. We see it as a fun, out of the norm collaboration all of us can bond with while also giving to the community. If chosen, we would love to have our piano placed in Clouet Gardens, then possibly donated to Homer Plessy Commuinty School. We do understand that those decisions are up to the Sing for Hope organizers, so just a suggestion. Although only two of us are professional artists, we all have creative backgrounds and believe our design will be acheivable in the time frame.
