When I agreed to do this new artist residency at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, my initial assumption was that I’d fly down. However, upon deeper thought, that seemed like it’d be very expensive in that I’d then need to rent a vehicle for two months. I decided I’d instead drive down to Baton Rouge, which is approximately 16.5 hours away from my home in Sioux City.
I broke the drive into three days - on the first day, I finished packing and loaded the car up and then went down to Leavenworth, KS, to visit my very good friend, former colleague, and amazing artist Susan Nelson. The following day, I drove down to Benton, AR, where I had booked an AirBnB ahead of time. Then the final day I made my way to Baton Rouge, LA!
Some observations: It was extremely windy when I left IA (in fact, it was under a tornado watch) and it remained windy until I got south of the KCMO metro. In terms of roadkill, the main species in IA, KS, and most of MO were raccoon followed by possum. Then in southern MO through AR and LA, armadillo was the most common.
I arrived on a Tuesday evening and I met my host: the talented artist Rob Carpenter. He’s a retired art professor from Nicholls State University, and he graciously offered to house me for free in his “auxiliary dwelling unit” or “microtel” as he describes it. It is the smallest space I’ve ever lived in, so it is a novel experience for me. Rob and I then were treated to dinner with Sandy Sarr, the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine’s Communications Coordinator and my initial and primary point of contact.
That following morning, I arrived at LSU Vet Med to get onboarding processes begun and receive some orientation. The next two days were filled with meetings - I met a neuroscientist, an equine surgeon and an equine internal medicine clinician, a DNA researcher, and a clinical pathologist. As a part of these meetings, I explored several laboratories, became relatively familiar with the large animal (equine and farm animal) hospital, and met possibly the world’s cutest two-day-old baby Nubian goat.
In addition, I attended a Baton Rouge Gallery opening for their current exhibition of four members’ work: my host Rob Carpenter, Mary Ann Caffery, Theresa Herrera, and Brian Kelly. It was a hopping reception with a live jazz band, food and drinks, and lively conversation. I had decided to walk there as it was only a 20-minute walk from Rob’s house, and I was reacquainted to the fact that a lot of neighborhoods in Baton Rouge do not have sidewalks.
I also met with the LSU Museum of Art store manager, who looked over the originals and prints I brought down with me, and selected 49 reproductions they’ll put up for sale. While we were doing so, it began do downpour (I forgot how frequently it rains in BR!) so I popped upstairs and checked out the museum itself. By the time I was done, the rain had temporarily ceased and I was able to load back up without getting everything wet in the process.
