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publicinfo@selu.edu Summer  2005 news releases Public Information home News archive

Contact: Christina Chapple
Date: 8/12/05
 
Fanfare 20th Anniversary PosterClick on image for publication quality photo 
FANFARE ARTIST TO SIGN 20TH ANNIVERSARY POSTERS AT CHAMBER AFTER HOURS, HOT AUGUST NIGHT
       HAMMOND – Fanfare, Southeastern Louisiana University’s annual arts festival, will unveil its limited edition 20th anniversary poster when the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts hosts this month’s “Chamber After Hours” event on August 18.
       Chamber After Hours is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. at the historic downtown Hammond theater, located at 220 E. Thomas Street. 
       Covington artist Piekarczyk, whose work was selected from among approximately 20 entries submitted in a statewide contest sponsored by Fanfare, will sign posters during the function and will also be on hand on August 19 from 5-6:30 p.m., when the Southeastern Alumni Association sponsors a reception at the Columbia Theatre during downtown Hammond’s annual “Hot August Night.”
       “It has been five years since Fanfare produced a poster, and we decided to create a really special one this year because it is our 20th Anniversary,” said Columbia/Fanfare Director Donna Gay Anderson. “We felt Piekarczyk’s work exuded an essence of celebration, which is what Fanfare is meant to be.  Fanfare is a celebration in every sense of the word!" 
       Signed and unsigned versions of the commemorative poster will be sold for $25 and $15, respectively, Anderson said. 
       The artist – whose real name is Donna Flanagan, but who goes by the pseudonym, Piekarczyk (“pah-car-check”), her mother’s maiden name – said she was flattered to be chosen as Fanfare’s 20th anniversary poster artist. The work selected for the poster was one of three she submitted for the contest, she said, and is one of her favorites, a piece that previously hung in her own home. 
       Titled “The Muse,” the work, she said, was originally conceived as a celebration of her own joy over her initial success as an artist. 
       “My work is often inspired by my family and friends,” explained Piekarczyk.  According to her Web site – www.piekarczyk.com – her work is also influenced by painters of the Expressionist and Fauves periods and evokes “a series of uplifting moments that allows viewers to dance through a litany of their own memories.”
       An accomplished business woman and longtime patron of the arts, Piekarczyk is a native of Florida who has lived in the southeast Louisiana for the past 27 years. She has dabbled in art her entire life, but only recently has considered herself to be a serious artist.
       In a biographical sketch on her web site, she explains, “One day I realized that both of my beautiful daughters were nearly grown. That realization prompted me to pick up a paint brush and dedicate my time to capturing many of the special moments that we’ve shared; a way to freeze a wonderful moment in time so that it can always be enjoyed.”
       One of the highlights of Hot August Night, sponsored by the Hammond Downtown Development District, will be a Southeastern pep rally, featuring the Lions football team, coaches, cheerleaders and the Spirit of the Southland marching band and Lionettes. The pep rally will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the corner of Cate and Thomas Streets.
       Southeastern’s 90.9FM KSLU is also participating in Hot August Night, hosting a live remote broadcast, giveaways, and music on West Thomas Street next to The Gallery/Old Frame House and The Funky Diva, said KSLU’s Liz Black. 
       She said the station also will give patrons the opportunity to register to win a special gift pack that includes a framed, signed and numbered Hot August Night Poster.