Larry “Kip” Hayes
Painting

Larry “Kip” Hayes is a celebrated artist from Broussard, Louisiana, whose work captures the quiet beauty and fading charm of rural South Louisiana. Born and raised on a farm, Hayes developed a deep appreciation for the landscape, structures, and everyday life of the region. His creative journey began in the 1970s as a freelance photographer, documenting the subtle poetry of barns, bayous, and fields through his lens before transitioning into painting. That photographic eye still informs his work today, lending it a grounded realism that resonates with viewers across the world.

Hayes is best known for his richly textured paintings in oil and acrylic, often created on reclaimed materials like 100-year-old cypress boards. His choice of surface adds a layer of authenticity and raw character that reflects the spirit of the land he portrays. Thematically, his art serves as a tribute to a vanishing way of life—capturing the soul of rural Louisiana through images of weathered barns, grazing animals, sugarcane fields, and old country roads. His paintings are infused with warmth, memory, and a sense of place that has earned him a devoted following, including celebrity collectors like Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bullock, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Hayes’ work has been exhibited locally and internationally, with pieces finding homes as far away as South Africa. He’s had gallery showings at Gallery 600 Julia in New Orleans, Sutton Gallery on Royal Street, and the Hemmerling Kalle Gallery and Museum on Esplanade St. His art is also part of BARE Walls, a Lafayette-based art subscription program that places original works in public and business spaces. Through this blend of traditional artistry and community engagement, Larry “Kip” Hayes continues to preserve and elevate the everyday beauty of Louisiana’s cultural landscape, offering a heartfelt visual legacy that bridges past and present.

Johnny Thomas
Painting

Johnny is Louisiana born and raised watercolor artist known for his emotive and expressive works. With a deep passion for capturing moments of beauty and emotion through his medium, he has garnered recognition in both the fine art community and beyond. His commitment to the craft extends beyond his personal artwork; as an educator, he shares his expertise and techniques with aspiring artists, inspiring the next generation of watercolor enthusiasts.

Through his social media presence, Johnny offers a glimpse into his creative process and artistic journey, further establishing his reputation as both a skilled artist and a dedicated educator. His work continues to resonate with collectors and art lovers around the world.

Kay Richoux
Mixed Media, Painting

My goal is to create art that connects to the viewer using vivid colors, textures, and often words or objects embedded into each piece; compelling the viewer to engage not only their mind, but their body and soul.

Artist Biography:
A native of Lafayette, Louisiana, Kay considers herself a self-taught artist. She has been drawing, painting, and creating art since she was a child. In 2015, she retired from a 25-year career in nursing to create her art full time. In 2016, she began teaching art. In June of 2022, she opened her art school, Soul Art School, LLC, which offers: classes, workshops, women’s retreats, art/grief therapy and art camps for all ages. Soul Art School, LLC is also home to Kate’s Legacy Products, LLC, a candle, soap, and bath salt business. Kay launched Kate’s Legacy in November 2022, dedicated to the memory of her late daughter Kate. It specializes in hand made products using essential oils and essential oil blends.

Kay’s artwork has been featured in several juried, member, and solo exhibits throughout the US. Her work “Clydesdale” was featured in Art in Public Spaces in Watersound, Florida in 2021. In 2022, her “Saint of Strength” painting of Saint Joan of Arc was selected by the Joan of Arc Project in New Orleans, Louisiana for promotion of their events, which included a juried special exhibition at Ariodante Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana. In November 2023, the Hallmark movie, ” My Southern Family Christmas” debuted on television and featured several of Kay’s paintings.

Kay’s work can be found at Soul Art School and San Souci Gallery in Lafayette, Louisiana, The Blue Giraffe in Inlet Beach, Florida, and Sundog Books in Seaside, Florida.

Memberships include: LA Crafts Guild, Lafayette Art Association, Lafayettte, Louisiana, L’Acadien Art Guild, New Iberia, Louisiana, The Craftsman’s Guild of Mississippi, Mississippi, The Rhode Island Watercolor Society, Rhode Island, The Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida and she is one of the Artists of 30A in Florida. Kay is a past board member, past-vice president, and past- president of the Lafayette Art Association in Lafayette, Louisiana. In recognition of her artistic contributions to the Joan of Arc Project, Kay was made an honorary member of the Krewe de Jeanne d’ Arc.

Stacey Fabre
Painting

I say, “I’M A CARVER OF PAINT”, a term I use because it comes the closest to how I feel best describes the way I paint. With a flick of the wrist, a twist of the tip or edge of the knife, an undercut of the paint, I create peaks and valleys in my paintings that remind me of carving clay. I play in piles of oil paint with palette knives choosing to minimally mix the paint on my palette allowing it freedom to mix on the canvas finding its form. I paint in an Impasto style, a truly sculptural form of painting creating lush textures that cast shadows from the peaks and valleys of the carved paint. I’m heavily influenced by artists of the Impressionist movement such as Van Gogh, Monet and Klimt. My art reflects bright colors, high contrast, the use of pointillism along with the incredible textures that surround us everyday. I continue to be inspired daily by the landscapes and buildings from South Louisiana including New Orleans, where I was born and the Houma/Thibodaux area, I now call home.

Sources of inspiration:

After a traumatic brain injury I was driven to create something unique to me, something that encompassed all of my favorite elements of art I’ve learned along the way. I chose to eliminate what I didn’t like about painting and only kept the good, happy parts and in that moment I was forever changed. I paint what I love, I embrace the history that surrounds us and I take in all the details as if it’s the last time I’ll ever see it. You see, I want to create a lasting memory in case my memory fails me in time. These paintings I create will forever hold all I hold dear of my surroundings while reminding me when I can no longer recall the why and the where. I also paint reminders of positivity as recurring themes because the power of positive thought is what got me through and continues to get me through the toughest of times.

Amber Voorhies
Painting

Amber grew up making art at her grandparents’ kitchen table in the prairies of South Louisiana, where she could see an endless expanse of rice fields and some of the world’s most beautiful skies. After graduating from LSMSA in 1998, she obtained a BA in Studio Art with a focus in ceramics. She is currently a working artist and arts educator in Alexandria, LA. She taught in a Montessori elementary classroom for almost twenty years and is currently a Resident Artist at River Oaks Square Arts Center in Alexandria, LA. She works primarily in acrylic painting and draws her inspiration from horseback riding with her two daughters as well as from the landscape and heritage of her native Cajun culture. She is also inspired by her amateur interest in astronomy, geometry, myth, and ancient history.

Sage Franz
Painting

As a child, my elementary school art teacher took the class on a field trip one year to the Art Institute of Chicago to see a Claude Monet retrospective. As the work was chronological throughout the exhibit, it helped me as a young artist to understand that the painter could simply paint the world exactly as they see it. I remember that lesson years later as in my own painting studio I can now pull from what I see out in the world and create a picture unique to my experience. In my painting, I seek to add beauty, joy, and peace to a world that seems often to not have enough of these qualities. 

Though I have been painting with oil on canvas since 2017, it is in the last year that I have worked independently as a painter on commissions, selling my paintings online and at art markets throughout New Orleans including on Jackson Square. In February 2022 I developed and installed my first solo show of 15 oil paintings at a local gallery. My goals in the next 10 years as an artist include continuing to progress in my technical skill and studio practice with painting as well as becoming involved in showing and selling my work at more festivals around Louisiana and becoming a member of the Louisiana Craft Guild. 

I draw inspiration from the natural world, my travels, and my connection to a true self. The painters that influence me the most at this point in my practice are self-taught often southern folk artists like Clementine Hunter and Purvis Young. Living in and experiencing the art and culture of New Orleans, LA, and the deep south over the last 17 years has had a large impact also on the style and choices I make in painting. I resonate deeply with a quote from Georgia O’Keeffe where she once said her goal as a painter was to ‘make the unknown known. By unknown I mean the thing that means so much to the person that he wants to put it down-clarify something he feels but does not clearly understand.’ 

Nicole Ockmond
Painting

I find human darkness, light, intensity, shadow, shade, shape and hue endlessly fascinating. Whether exploring those juxtapositions using paint on a canvas as my medium or combining thoughtful lyrics sung over guitar chords it is the driving force behind my creative expression. My favorite source of inspiration is the colorful and vibrant flora & fauna of New Orleans and south Louisiana.

I try to represent each subject, as they would choose to be portrayed in my portraits while drawing the viewer in and giving them a glimpse into the beauty, soul, and essence of my subjects. I prefer to take reference photos myself if the subject is available. I love to capture details in my paintings and will work in either acrylic or oils depending on time constraints. I prefer to work on canvas because I love the push and pull of the fabric as I move the paint across its surface. Each work is a living-breathing thing in my process. Although I do have a general idea of where the piece might go often it takes slight twists and turns or completely takes off into the cosmos. I don’t anticipate when creating. I go with the flow, remain open and listen to my intuition while working.

I was born in New Orleans but my dad was from Vacherie and so my summers were spent there growing up. I think that provided me with a nice mix of the cultural gumbo of our area. It wasn’t until I was older and traveling through other parts of the country that I came to appreciate how truly unique this blending of cultures is in our area. I am a singer/songwriter, was in the army national guard for 8 years, and ran several retail businesses for many years. In 2019 I decided to put all of those life skills to work for myself with my visual artwork.

I have been showing my work at various art markets and festivals in the area ever since then. I rarely know where my muse will lead me but I am excited to see what the future will bring. Please stop in and say hi if you see me at a festival or market in your area.

Bonnie Miller
Painting

I am a regular New Orleans painter often found roaming the streets sketching or painting.

Dusty Reed
Mixed Media, Painting

Born and raised in southern Louisiana, Dusty Reed creates art that reflects the vibrant culture of this region. Known as “The Cajun Picasso,” the self taught artist has been creating art for the past 15 years as a professional artist by using a broad spectrum of visual art from paintings and sculptures to multi dimensional installations. Dusty is continuously discovering new mediums to use in his art work he has deemed as “Colk Art.” Methods used in his form of art are derived from the foundations and understandings of folk art while transcending those elements to contemporary settings and introducing cubist traits of multi faceted elements to tell his story.

Dana Manly
Mixed Media, Painting

My paintings reflect… the rich and varied texture of Southern Louisiana with its diverse history and culture.  My work reflects the color, sounds and movement of the environment in which I live, giving voice to what is felt, perceived and experienced.  I am dedicated to allowing the images to depict the vibrancy of my curiosity and deep engagement with life.

This New Orleans native came to Lafayette, Louisiana in 1997 to study Fine Arts. She studied Fine Arts at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette and began showing her work in 2004.

Her studies include a Masters Degree in Kinesiology from LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and a Masters degree in Counseling from University of Louisiana, Lafayette. Her curiosity for the numinous led her to painting a tangible expression of the mysterious. She continues to challenge herself with large and medium scale commission work and studies various creative techniques that she applies to the canvas. She was the 2011 Miles Perret Games Poster Artist, the 2014 Festival International Poster Artist and was recently named the Official St. Jude Acadiana Dream Home Artist.  You can find her work displayed at The Roosevelt Hotel New Orleans, Ariodante Gallery on Julia St in New Orleans, Sans Souci Gallery and  The Birds Nest in Lafayette, LA.