Kayla talked about the juggle of parenting and making art while teaching. She shared how she approaches and structures her art practice and how that has shifted over the years. It was helpful to hear how that structure can move the dial little by little even when the amount of studio time available isn’t a lot. As she brings up topics of artistic voice with students, she also examines her own artistic voice and the themes of her work.
Kayla shared how she’s working with students who have been through not only the pandemic, but also a devastating hurricane that has left many of them displaced from their homes. Flexibility and empathy for these young humans has been vital. She talked about introducing them to artists who also inspire her own art-making and how the research she does for teaching feeds her art practice.
Kayla Louviere is a Teaching Artist based in Southwest Louisiana. She recently relocated here from Oklahoma City, where she spent several years living and teaching. She holds a BA in Visual Art and a MA in Art Education. Her experience teaching K-6 visual art ranges from the urban public school setting to the gallery setting. She has worked with students as a Visual Arts Educator in the Oklahoma City Public Schools and currently teaches with the Calcasieu Parish School System. She also spent several years as a teaching artist with the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, where she facilitated art camps and classes for children and families.
Her art practice focuses on marrying materials and subjects that traditionally seem disconnected, seeking ways to bring together diverse and discarded materials to tell one cohesive story through a work of art. She works with acrylic paint, repurposed textiles, embroidery, and paper to create paintings, mixed media work, and most recently collage.
Links:
- @kaylalouviereart on Instagram
