Acrylic paint, glass shards, paper and photos have overtaken the fourth floor of J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library.

Those are the materials that Wayne Amedee used to create his paintings and works that currently occupy the library’s gallery.

The two series, “Renewal” and “New Morning,” are satellite exhibitions of the city-wide art show Prospect.1, like Mark Grote’s “Yellow Cake” in the Academic Quad.

In these series, Amedee combines photographs he took of post-Katrina nature with acrylic paint, glass shards, newspaper clippings and other media into a collage on canvas and paper. There are also three “Exalted Freedom” pieces, which are constructed from wood and acrylic paint.
Amedee said he has been using this kind of medium since 1990.

These pieces were Amedee’s response and therapy for Hurricane Katrina, he said.

They’re the products of work during 2006, 2007 and 2008.

The colors in “Renewal” are based on the colors of the sea and the purity that they represent.

“It just was an image that I had to photograph,” he said. “The waters represented some sort of cleansing after the storm.”

“New Morning,” he said, is based on the colors in post-Katrina nature.

One painting, with harsh red paint on the canvas, was named after Hurricane Gustav.
The exhibit opened Oct. 16 and will be open through Nov. 20.

Amedee, a member on Loyola’s Visual Arts Visiting Committee, was already aquainted with Prospect.1 Director Dan Cameron. He met with him and quickly got involved with the program.
Prospect.1, will bring a lot of outside interest to New Orleans and its “very vibrant visual art scene,” Amedee said

“And it’ll elevate the image of Loyola as it elevates the visual arts community,” he said.

Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at [email protected].