Mardi Gras free exhibit set; reception scheduled

A Mardi Gras weekend reception for Le Courir – Explorations of Community and Culture in a World turned upside-down – artwork by Herb Roe will be held from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 1 at the Jean Lafitte National Park & Preserve, Prairie Acadian Cultural Center, 250 W. Park Avenue in Eunice, LA.
The exhibit features 20 oil paintings and graphite drawings depicting the colorful costumes, music and revelry of the rural Mardi Gras runs, the traditional pre-Lenten celebration of the Cajun and Creole people of Louisiana prairies.
The free exhibit will be on display Feb. 20 through March 18 with artwork for sale. Another exhibit on display Jan. 1-March 4 is the Western Acadia Parish Rural Mardi Gras Art Exhibit featuring costumes, official area Mardi Gras songs, and timeline information starting from the 1800s.
Mardi Gras (March 4 this year) concludes in Eunice with run from the city, into the country and back into the city, concluding with a 3 p.m. parade.
An Ohio native and resident of Lafayette, Roe has been a professional artist for nearly 20 years. After receiving a scholarship in 1992 to the Columbus College of Art and Design, Roe became an apprentice to Louisiana mural artist Robert Dafford. Some of Dafford’s works can be seen in murals in Downtown Eunice and Opelousas.
Roe worked for Dafford for 15 years on mural projects throughout the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys. He specialized in large scale and long term historical murals, usually connected with local chambers of commerce, tourism bureaus and downtown development agencies. Many of these projects took five to 10 years to complete, and ranged from one to 50 murals in each town.
In 2007, Roe pursued his own fine arts career, specializing in oil paintings, historical illustrations and murals. His work has included classical portraits, figure painting and American Indian illustrations that have been used by the Chickasaw tribe, American Archaeology Magazine and PM, a German language science magazine.
Writer Anna Purdy featured Roe in the Dec. 28, 2011 edition of Lafayette’s weekly newspaper, The Independent. In the article, Roe said he often uses computer programs to combine various photos to create an image that inspires a painting.
For more information on Roe’s exhibit, contact the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission at 948-8004 or visit www.cajuntravel.com, Jean Lafitte National Park & Preserve, Prairie Acadian Cultural Center 457-8499.