Artist Allyson Dombey showcased her previous Mardi Gras designs as part of the “Our Louisiana Heritage” series for UCA’s Artist in Residence program.
K. Adele Okoli, a French professor, said she pitched the idea of featuring artists from Louisiana to supplement what she teaches in her French classes.
“It’s the faculty that proposes which artists to invite, and it lets us educate through the arts by letting students hear the perspectives of the artists themselves,” Okoli said. “I could tell them all day and try to educate them about masking traditions of Carnival in the Creole-Atlantic world. But if someone like Allyson comes to visit, I’m showing them and they are actually learning how to do it.”
During her artist residency at UCA, Dombey did two class visits Nov. 16 and a presentation called “The Business of Art” and an art display and reception Nov. 17.
Junior Kaitlyn Maxwell said she decided to attend the reception in the Wingate Center for Fine and Performing Arts because Dombey had spoken in one of her classes and the information caught her attention.
“Her work was very interesting to me. I like the idea of how this is a very creative process for her,” Maxwell said. “She spoke about it being a very messy process, and it’s somewhat different from formal art, so it was really interesting. I wanted to know a little more about her creative process.”
On the keystone steps in the Windgate lobby, several of Dombey’s works were on display. Dombey said she made most of the pieces for herself to wear to Mardi Gras.
She said many aspects go into how she creates her costumes.
“A lot of my hats would have coverage in the back of the neck because of functionality, so its function over form,” Dombey said. “You’re often walking miles, so it became another sort of element of thinking about how it’s not just like a runway look. We’re going to be spending six or 10 hours outside walking.”
Dombey makes her own outfits to wear to Mardi Gras events.
Dombey said she’s been in New Orleans since 2004 and started parading in 2018.
“The opportunity to share this culture of costuming and masking with the students is really exciting,” she said. “It’s something that I think in New Orleans we can take for granted, but it really is a unique craft. It’s exciting to share that and it’s special but it’s also accessible to a lot of people. I think that’s an opportunity for people to really see themselves in art.”
Dombey said her art is unique because it was never made to be on display.
“It’s very ephemeral. So that’s one thing, I’m designing for the day. The fact that my costumes have survived this long is sort of an incredible feat because they’re not meant to last longer than that really short period of time,” Dombey said.
“It’s meant to really be living in the moment, and not worrying about anything else. I’m excited to share that a lot of my pieces are broken because they’ve been through a lot out there,” she said. “I’ve lost things along the way, but it’s OK because being attached to the material is less important than the experience I had while costuming, because it really is an embodied art form that we don’t see a lot of in museums.”
Maxwell said the Artist in Residence program has given her the opportunity of new experiences.
“The main thing it does is expose us to different artists and people that you don’t always come across, people that you wouldn’t normally catch,” Maxwell said.
Okoli said the “Our Louisiana Heritage” series gives students a unique perspective on history also.
“I tend to teach in some way on Louisiana, so it helps me enrich my students’ learning experiences with the objectives I have in mind for them,” she said. “Arkansas used to be Louisiana, which a lot of people don’t realize that Louisiana’s history is also our history. We used to be part of the Louisiana territory before it became the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. So it’s kind of a fun way to explore our own rich heritage here in Arkansas that we have intimate ties to.”
Artist Allyson Dombey creates headpieces featuring multiple materials, such as glitter, paint and lights.
Okoli said the series has already featured three artists: Cherice Harrison-Nelson, Ben Dombey and Allyson Dombey.
In spring 2024, the series will feature two more artists. In February, Nathan Rabalais will hone in on film, guitar, poetry and Cajun humanities. In April, Sean Ardoin will focus on Zydeco music and public speaking.
More information on the Artists in Residence can be found at uca.edu/cahss/artists-in-residence/ or on Instagram @uca_cahss.
