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B4 AMERICAN PRESS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

both sides will be open to thepublic.

There will be a couplepotters here, and probablyon the hour, well do somelive throwing, well be at thepottery wheel, said artistTracy LeMieux. Theres agallery side and a studio side,and both will be open. On thestudio side well be throwing afew things, probably like cupsand plates.

Artists featured in the gal-lery include LeMieux, JennVan Putten, Louis DeAngeloand Cyndi Fails. LeMieux willgive talks about some of thepieces in the gallery and theircreation, introducing art walk-ers to some of her specially-

made paper clay works. Shesaid the event gives the publica chance to thoroughly explorea new art center in the area.

Were a newer art studiospace so we really like peopleto come by and check out thewhole studio. All of it will beopen, she said. We encour-age people to walk around. Itllbe really interesting.

For something a little moreunusual, art walkers canmosey over to Arts Desire andtry their hand at the ancient

art of gyotaku that is to say,fish printing.

Its an ancient Japanese

art form where you take anactual fish and you paint it,said artist Raejean Clark-Ger-man. Of course its dead, butits a freshly caught fish, andyou use it to print. Basicallyyou can enhance that imageor leave it very sparse likethe Japanese do. We will havefreshly caught fish out therefor people to do fish printingor watch a demonstration ofit.

For the less aquaticallyinclined, Arts Desire willalso have a display of wheel-thrown pottery by Julie Dallasand photography by BrendaLaFleur, along with a varietyof upcycled art, or art madefrom found items. Clark-German said upcycled art is a

large part of the businessesartistic philosophy. The artistsencourage people to interactwith their world creativelyand find the potential in thingsother people might regard asuseless or worn out. Itemssuch as worn-out paintbrushescan become little paintedpeople, and tree trunks mightturn into fairy houses or color-ful decorative pieces.

Clark-German will also leaddemonstrations of scarf paint-ing, one of the many tech-

niques taught at Arts Desire.We take a white silk scarf

and you just drop beauti-

ful dyes on the scarf. It runsthrough the scarf wild andfree, you cant control it, shesaid. You spray some wateron it and the colors run evenmore. You put salt on it and itgives it a wonderful texture.Its just beautiful.

Arts Desire will also host apreview of auction items fromthe upcoming Ups4Downsart auction. Ups4Downs is anorganization that supportsand educates the families ofchildren with Down syndrome.The groups children visitedArts Desire in August to paintand create items for their Oct.3 fundraising auction. Artwalkers can get a sneak peek

at the pieces and start plan-ning their bids.

Despite all thats going on,

Clark-German said its only atiny bit of what Arts Desirehas to offer. We do a lot ofstuff, its almost impossibleto show it all. We have to pickand choose, she said. We justwant people to come out andlearn about us.

The Gallery Promenadewill run 5-9 p.m. Friday, Sept.25. A list of locations andactivities is available online atartsandhumanitiesswla.org.Maps of participating loca-tions will be available at eachstop along the route. Call theArts Council at 439-2787 formore information, or visit theGallery Promenade 2015 pageon Facebook.

PROMENADEContinued from B1

Participating Venues1911 Historic City Hall: 1001 Ryan St.ACTS Theatre: 1 Reid St.ALA Gallery by the Lake: 106 W. Pryce St.Alexander Art Studio: 900 Ryan St, No. 102Art Associates Gallery at Central School: 809 Kirby St.,

Suite 208The Art Factory: 1753 Common St.Arts Desire: 1322 Ryan St.Black Heritage Gallery at Central School: 809 Kirby St.,

Suite 207The Common House: 1021 Common St.The Frame House Gallery: 1640 Ryan St.Exposure Magazine: 1118 First St.

The Foundation House: 720 Enterprise Blvd.Grand Gallery at Shearman Fine Arts Center, McNeese:

4205 Ryan St.Henning Cultural Center: 923 Ruth St. in Sulphur

Lake Charles Little Theatre: 813 Enterprise Blvd.Painting With a Twist: 4421 Nelson RoadStellar Beans: 319 Broad St.

TC Imaging at Central School: 809 Kirby St, Studio 337Upskale Beauty Salon: 502 Enterprise Blvd.USS Orleck: 604 N. Enterprise Blvd.

Art foundationto host inaugural

Aioli Dinner Supper ClubLife promises to imitate art in down-

town Lake Charles. Thursday, Oct. 1, at6:30 p.m., the George Rodrigue Founda-tion of the Arts will host its first LakeArea Aioli Dinner Supper Club at theBlue Dog Cafe.

Proceeds benefit the nonprofit or-ganization dedicated to youth develop-ment through the arts in education. Theprogram, founded by the late GeorgeRodrigue, helps schools use art to teachall subjects.

After the four-course meal by award-winning chef Greg Doucet of JoliesLouisiana Bistro, guests will be photo-graphed in a pose similar to the originalRodrigue painting, the Aioli Dinner. Costfor the dinner and program is $250 per

person.The Aioli Dinner is dads most

famous non-Blue Dog painting, JacquesRodrigue said. Its based on the oldCreole gourmet societies in their heydaybetween 1890 and 1920. These guys would

meet at a different plantation home inand around New Iberia, Louisiana. Thelavish meals were cooked by the women,served by the young men and enjoyedby the seated gentlemen. Each had theirown bottle of wine.

Diners wont be given their ownbottles at Thursdays benefit. However,each course will feature a different wineprovided by David Kenny of Uncorked.

Doucet will recreate the feeling ofthe historic lavish Creole menu with a

modern twist. The Amuse Bouche willbe fried escargot. The first course fea-tures Salad Louis with lump crab, gulfshrimp, fried eggplant and creamy sweet

pepper dressing. Other courses featuregrilled grouper and peppercorn crustedbeef tenderloin. The final course will bea fig and pecan pie with ice cream servedwith Domaine Grand Nicolet Nin DouxNatural Rasteau.

Guests shouldnt worry about French

pronunciations. Jacques said the focusis on fun, not fussiness. Even the ideaof recreating the painting was added tomake the event more fun.

Dressing in black and white is encour-aged and mimics the attire in Rodrigues

first painting that features people.

Guests can bid on several sold-outprints that may only be purchased atsuch events and will be able to get asneak peek of the Blue Dog Cafe sched-uled to open in October according to

Jacque Rodrigue.We love this building, said Jacque

Rodrigue. Ceilings are 15-feet tall whichgives us the opportunity to hang printssalon style from floor to ceiling. Wellhang about 30 to 40 images. Some repro-

ductions will be six to ten feet.The Blue Dog Cafe menu price range

will be from $15 to $25.Well have all the dishes the Blue

Dog is famous for, seafood wontons, duckquesadillas and crawfish enchiladas,

said Jacques Rodrigue, and will makesome tweaks after we get started.

Seating is limited for the event. Regis-ter online at AioliDinner.com.

By Rita LeBleurlebleu@americanpress.com

Special to the American Press

Rita Lebleu / American Press

Above:Thedowntown LakeCharles buildingat 609 Ryan St. is

undergoing aface-lift and willsoon be occupiedby the Blue DogCafe.

Right:GeorgeRodrigue paintedother versionsof the originalAioli Dinner andadded the iconicblue dog to thisone, titled Eat,Drink and Forgetthe Blues. Theartist died in

2013.

Special to the American Press

The 12th presentation ofthe McLeod Lecture Series onLouisiana Politics at McNeeseState University brings theSouthwest Louisiana com-

munity to a milestone anni-versary, said Patricia Prud-homme, director of Banners atMcNeese.

Hurricane Rita and Les-sons Learned 10 Years Later

is the title of the 2015 McLeodLecture Series to be held at 6p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, in F.G.Bulber Auditorium. This freeevent is sponsored by Bannersat McNeese.

2015 marks the 10thanniversary of HurricaneRita, said Prudhomme. TheMcLeod Lecture Series willexamine the political andgoverning changes that Hurri-

cane Rita brought to this areaas the community observesthe 10th anniversary of thishistorical storm.

She said a four-person

panel will discuss the waysthat Louisiana citizens recov-ered from this force of natureand highlight improvementof preparedness in South-west Louisiana, protection of

resources across the state andthe evolution of a strongerregion.

The panel includes: PhillipScooter Trosclair, programmanager at Rockefeller Wild-

life Refuge and commissionerand vice president on the

Chenier Plain Coastal Restora-tion and Protection Author-ity for Southwest Louisiana;Paul W. Rainwater, executive

vice president/chief strategyofficer of Plexos Group andformer chief of staff for Gov.Bobby Jindal; Ryan Bour-riaque, parish administratorfor the Cameron Parish Police

Jury; and David Phillips,an employee with the Fed-eral Emergency ManagementAgency since 2004.

This years panel modera-tor is Britney Glaser, 7News

Sunrise anchor and healthreporter for KPLC. Glaser - amass communications gradu-

ate from Louisiana State Uni-versity - is an award-winningreporter that has been recog-nized by the Louisiana Associ-ated Press and the LouisianaState Medical Society for her

reporting. She is also the re-cipient of the 2013 Michael E.DeBakey Award for Journal-ism from the Foundation forBiomedical Research in Wash-

ington, D.C., for a series onalligator blood being tested asa new antibiotic by a McNeesebiochemistry professor.

Trosclair has worked withthe Alligator Program at Rock-efeller Wildlife Refuge, where

he traveled across Louisianato alligator farms participat-ing in the ranching programthrough the Louisiana Depart-ment of Wildlife and Fisher-ies, and he was a habitat man-

ager for the refuge, where heinitiated intense managementprograms to enhance habitats

for Louisiana wildlife. He alsoserves on the Cameron ParishGravity Drainage Board inDistrict 5 and is an activistfor restoration projects alongthe coastline. He is a McNeese

graduate with a Bachelor ofScience degree in wildlifemanagement.

Rainwater, who left Gov.Jindals administration in2014, also served as Louisiana

commissioner of administra-tion, executive director of the

Louisiana Recovery Authority,legislative director and chiefof operations for former U.S.Sen. Mary Landrieu and the

chief administrative officerfor the city of Lake Charles.Rainwater recently retired asa colonel with the LouisianaArmy National Guard and hasalso served in the U.S. ArmyReserves. He is a McNeese

graduate with a bachelorsdegree in government. Hehas also received a Master ofInternational Relations degreefrom Salve Regina University

in Rhode Island and a localgovernment manager certifi-cation from LSU.

Bourriaque also served asassociate administrator withthe Cameron Parish PoliceJury, where he managedall state and federal grantprograms totaling nearly $200million to Cameron Parish

after Hurricanes Rita and Ike.With a background in plan-ning and development, hehas worked with more than

30 Louisiana communities tooversee grant administration.

He is a member of the ChenierPlain Coastal Restoration andProtection Authority Boardof Directors. He received aBachelor of Arts degree inpsychology and a masters

degree in natural resourceeconomics and environmentalpolicy from LSU.

Phillips - a retired U.S.Army intelligence operationsofficer worked as a FEMA

intergovernmental affairs li-aison to coastal parishes after

Hurricane Rita. During this

time he also served as direc-tor of the FEMA SouthwestLouisiana Area Field Office,overseeing the Public Assis-tance and Individual Assis-tance programs.

At this time, there weremore than 11,000 temporaryhousing units and nearly200,000 FEMA applicantsunder his jurisdiction. Hehas also served for 34 years

as a member of the U.S. Coast

Guard Auxiliary. He receivedhis Bachelor of Science degreefrom the University of Mary-land European Campus and heattended the U.S. Army Staff

Management College.The annual McLeod Lec-

ture Series honors the late BillMcLeod, a prominent retiredlawyer, district judge andformer state legislator from

Lake Charles. All research ma-terials, records and artifactspertaining to the annual lec-ture will become a part of theMcNeese Library Archives.

Hurricane Rita topic of tonights McLeod Lecture

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