During the month of June, CCA will highlight George Dunbar as the featured artist in the artSPARK Artist of the Month series. George Dunbar was born and raised in the New Orleans Garden District and after living in Paris as a young artist, settled in southeast Louisiana - calling Slidell home for the last 50+ years. His work has been displayed worldwide, including exhibits in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Austria, Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, the Philippines and more. He was recognized for his dedication to the arts in 2007 by St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis with the President's Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2008 Dunbar was also awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts by Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu. George attended Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia on the GI Bill and graduated in 1951. After art school, he briefly lived in Europe. Upon his return, George offered workshops at Tulane University&r squo;s School of Architecture. He and several other artists founded the Orleans Gallery, the first cooperative gallery in the New Orleans area. In order to support his love of art and family, he became involved in real estate and subdivision development.
George resides in Coin du Lestin where he maintains a studio for creating his unique sculptural visions. His recent works have been inspired by the environment, reflecting the marshes and waterways of Bayou Bonfouca. His signature style uses metal leaf over many layers of clay. He distresses the metalwork with files or sandblasting to expose the colors of the emerging clay through the gold, silver, platinum or Asian leaf.
As an original member of the St. Tammany Commission on Cultural Affairs, George is vocal about his efforts to help promote the arts in our community. He worked hard for passage of the Percent for Art Program; a program that requires a portion of the state's budget be used for public art installations. George strongly believes that the placement of art in public spaces will encourage young people, much as it did a very young George while visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with his mother.
During the June artSPARK program, George will discuss how his ideas develop and become reality. He will demonstrate some of the techniques he utilizes while working on his sculptures. artSPARK airs Mondays at 11AM, Wednesdays at 7PM, and Saturdays at 11AM on Access-TV Channel 10, or streaming live from www.stpgov.org.
Our Mission
The mission of the St. Tammany Commission on Cultural Affairs is to enrich the lives of the citizens of St. Tammany Parish by nurturing, sustaining, and enhancing the arts.
The St. Tammany Commission on Cultural Affairs has many programs and initiatives available to assist arts organizations and non-profit agencies presenting arts programs, so as to foster development of the arts in St. Tammany Parish. We offer programs and initiatives in grants, public art, arts marketing, leadership and organization development, cultural programs, cultural planning and technical assistance.
The St. Tammany Commission on Cultural Affairs is an agency of the St. Tammany Parish Department of Cultural and Governmental Affairs.
If you have any comments or questions please contact arts@stpgov.org.
