NEWS

Louisiana Tech alum and contemporary mixed-media abstract artist Kenn Kotara will present the latest in the University’s School of Design “Visiting Artist Lecture” series Thursday, Oct. 6 from 5-6 pm in the F Jay Taylor Visual Arts Center, Room 103.

A question-and-answer session will follow; the public is invited.

The event is in conjunction with an exhibit of Kotara’s Braille-based artwork titled “the deepest soundings.” The exhibit runs through Oct. 29 at Fringe Art Experience, 111 E. Mississippi in Ruston. For gallery hours and information, email fringeruston@gmail.com.

Kotara (BFA graphic design ’90, MFA studio art ’93) will be at Fringe Friday, Oct. 7, from 1-5 pm for a meet-and-greet.

The solo show features about 20 three-dimensional Braille-based artworks on metal and metallic surfaces. This exhibit investigates language as value within a visual stratum.

“I look forward to this show and reconnecting with friends and making new acquaintances,” Kotara said. “My studies at Louisiana Tech were a watershed in my growth as a person and an artist. Ruston was not just a place, it was home during those formative years.”

A Lake Charles native now based in Ashville, North Carolina, Kotara, who as child “always had a pencil or a pen in my hand drawing or doing something,” considers himself “a landscape artist, but I don’t look to the landscape for inspiration,” he said. “I just sort of go down those rabbit holes of my brain.”

Visit kotarastudio.com for his extensive portfolio.

The School of Design lecture series brings local, national and international creatives to the F. Jay Taylor Visual Arts Center on campus. The Visiting Artist Lecture Series is open to the public to foster greater understanding of contemporary art and the issues that inspire those who create and reflect upon visual culture today. In addition to giving public lectures, our visitors engage with students through demos, group critiques and studio visits, forming a critical component of the educational experience at Tech.