Water in Three Ways

Water in three ways considers the undulated role of water within three creative processes. 

Water as light by Kassi Picou reflects her relationship to the changing waters of Louisiana and celebrates the depth of memories in its shallows. She explores the possibilities of acrylic paint while searching for the notes that sound like home.

Her works depict colorful, emotional responses to nature. Picou is a multidisciplinary artist with a BFA in printmaking from LSU.  An appreciation of handwork has led her to explore many different areas including fibers, beadwork, stained glass, and ceramics. Her studio is located in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and her work reflects a lifetime on the Gulf Coast.

Water as ecosystem by Hali Dardar inspires through complexity contemporary intellectual property infosystems. She works in mixed media and digital composition, combining archival media, contemporary digital ephemera, and sketched emotions to build narratives that address personal memory and collective record. Dardar was a 2020 Southern Artist for Social Change through the National Performance Network, a 2024 artist in residence at Sipp Culture’s Rural Performance Production Lab, a 2025 Self and Universe Artist in Residence at Tulane University’s A Studio in the Woods, and a 2024 Monroe Fellow at Tulane University. She is currently a Center for Louisiana Studies Fellow at the University of Louisiana (2026-2030)

Water as language by Shivers. Shivers is a multidisciplinary artist, her visions take on many forms of expression. With her current focus in fabric marbling, the process of painting on water, you can see how a material's nature and processes inform the direction of her work. 

These meditations on water were allowed to reveal themselves as swirling pigments balancing on the surface of water, it is much like witnessing sediment deposits settling on the banks of the river, this sentiment inspired the direction of these particular works. 

There was a time when many languages were spoken on this land, but to survive in a growing industry you had to be white and sound right. This land’s languages and cultures became shameful in the eyes of a time shaped by sociopolitical pressures and the growing industry of extracting Louisiana’s natural resources. This shame was actively happening as recently as her grandparents' generation who lived off the land and spoke Cajun French but were then forced to learn English in the schools and made to believe their sustainable practices and cultural beliefs were not as important as industry. That learned shame passed down to us has severed our connection to this land and to ourselves. It’s not just language but the natural ways of life that were pushed aside so the rich could become richer, taking from the land and river and disguising it as community progress. Shivers' intentions are to celebrate the beauty that was and is Louisiana’s land and spirit. May we always recognize Louisiana’s generous life sustaining land and acknowledge its waters that hold our stories and shape our lives.