Published February 27, 2018
By Kelsey Bohl
Special to the University of Louisiana Monroe
The Downtown Arts Alliance has nominated University of Louisiana Monroe student Accie
Sullivan for the 2018 Northeast Louisiana Arts Council Dorothy Bassett Emerging Artist
Award.
The Dorothy Bassett Emerging Artist Award was created to honor the next generation
of artists in the northeast Louisiana area. The award recognizes emerging artists
aged between 17 and 25 that show talent in innovation and individual expression. The
Northeast Louisiana Arts Council awards the winner with a $1,000 cash prize, so the
artist can afford further training in their craft.
Accie Sullivan stands near the collaborative mural that is on display in ULM's Sculpture
Garden. Photo by Emerald McIntyre/ULM Photo Services
Sullivan is a senior art major with a concentration in painting. Much of Sullivan’s
work displays strong inspiration from the imaginative worlds of video games.
“I too can create fantastical universes for those of us who need respite from reality,”
Sullivan stated.
Sullivan plans to apply for graduate school after in May to continue to refine his
skills as an artist and hopes to enroll in a program that offers significant networking
opportunities for students looking to enter the extremely competitive realm of professional
art.
Sullivan wants to pursue a career as a concept artist for the gaming and film industries,
so he can continue building the worlds that have inspired him since childhood. Once
he has achieved his career goals, Sullivan plans to teach art, so his students can
learn to “build their own universes and translate their mind’s contents into language
others can enjoy.”
The Northeast Louisiana Arts Council will host the 33rd annual Arts Awards on March 1. Nominees for the awards were nominated by area arts
organizations. A panel of artists and arts organization leadership from outside of
Northeast Louisiana will judge the nominees.
ULM art students and faculty collaborate on new bayou mural
The ULM Art Department recently unveiled a new mural installation as part of the sculpture
garden.
ULM art instructor Vitus Shell coordinated the development and installation of the
mural along with eight other ULM art students. The art students that enrolled in the
advanced drawing class worked together with Shell for about a two-week period to come
up with a concept for the mural.
Students paint individual panels of the mural.
The brainstorming sessions included researching and drawing sketches for the surrealistic
bayou themed mural. The art students chose the bayou theme because they wanted to
work on a collaborative project that reflected the campus and the community.
“As artists, we wanted to push the boundaries and create something surreal and beautiful,
but we also wanted everyone to enjoy and understand the scene we were trying to unfold”,
said ULM art student Ashlyn Thompson.
The entire process was collective between the art students and Shell.
“We shared lots of laughs and conversations,” ULM art student Roneshia Robichaux said.
“The art program is like one big family, so it was an easygoing process to complete.”
Shell gathered the supplies for the physical work, and heand the art students reported
to Stubbs Hall during the fall semester and began painting.
“It was exciting to see the blank white boards take on the colorful image,” Thompson
stated, “The process was one that took longer than expected, but it’s an amazing feeling
to walk past a work of art that you had a part in making and know that hundreds of
other people get to experience it with you.”
