Nurturing the Arts in North Central Louisiana 

Join our NCLAC family today for 2026 HERE!

NCLAC Peach Art Exhibition Call for Art Is HERE!

Peach Art Exhibit Entry Form

CURRENT AND FUTURE EVENTS

Geek Together Art Exhibit. The North Central Louisiana Arts Council (NCLAC) and the Lincoln Parish Library are hosting an exhibition in conjunction with the library’s annual Geek Together fest, a family-friendly celebration of all things comics, movies, pop culture, and more.  NCLAC invites Geek fans of all ages to submit artwork relevant to the to the Geek Together theme.This includes fandoms, comics/cartoons, anime/manga, video games, pop culture (inspired by movies, television, and social media), etc.

Rules will be the same as last year except for framing requirements.  Both two- and three-dimensional works are eligible. This year children do NOT have to frame their two-dimensional art because of the folding screens the library now has that will allow art to be installed with T-pins.  A lightweight mat is permissible on children’s art.  We are requesting that adults frame their work so that it can be installed with the library’s hanging system. All works must be original. No artworks made from kits or commercial molds or using AI should be submitted.  Works considered unsuitable for a general viewing audience will not be accepted.  Works may be listed for sale but do not have to be for sale (NFS); all sale prices should reflect 15% commission to NCLAC.  Neither NCLAC nor the library will be held liable for loss or damage of works.  The exhibition will open on March 7 for the Geek Together event and continue through April. 

Deliver your Geek art to the Lincoln Parish Library, Chautauqua Gallery, 910 N. Trenton St., Ruston, on Tues., March 3, 1-6 pm and., March 4, 9 am-1 pm.  Entry fees: Adults: $15; Youth and Teens: $10. Teachers may request vouchers for students who need them.

Judging: The work will be judged and first, second, and third place awards will be made in the following categories:  Adult (19 and over), Teen (13-18), and Children (12 and under).  Awards will be presented on Saturday, March 7, at 10:30 am at the Geek Together festival on the stage in the Dubach Room of the Lincoln Parish Library Event Center.  Dr. Mary Springer, Louisiana Tech art professor, will judge the exhibit. Dr. Springer holds a B.A. in studio art and religious studies from Doane University, a M.A. in art history from the University of Saint Thomas, and a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Iowa. A polymathic modern and American historian, she teaches global history and theory within Louisiana Tech's School of Design’s programs of studio art, design, and architecture. She also serves on the board of SESAH (Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians) as the Louisiana state representative, formerly the Alabama state representative. Outside of teaching and research, she is a landscape artist, typewriter aficionado, and arts and preservation advocate. Landscape is a principal focus in her painting, printmaking, and drawing, which collectively mine the myriad manifestations of land, sky, and atmosphere in physical and conceptual form.

Award sponsors: Friends of the Library will provide awards in the form of Walmart Gift Cards:  Awards are as follows:  Adult: $100 1st Place, $75 2nd Place,   $50 3rd Place /  Teen:  $75 1st Place,  $50 2nd Place,  $25 3rd Place /  Youth:  $50 1st Place,  $25 2nd Place,  $15 3rd Place. For questions, please email info@nclac.org   

Entry forms are available HERE

COMING SOON: CALL FOR PEACH FESTIVAL ART EXHIBITION ENTRIES. Show opens June 4 in Chautauqua Gallery, Lincoln Parish Library.

ONGOING EVENTS

Elizabeth Risinger Blackwelder Retrospective Exhibit HERE!

RECENT EVENTS

2025 Peach Art Exhibit

The Peach Art Exhibition is one of NCLAC’s longest-running programs. Featuring drawing, painting, photography, 3-D art, and mixed media; artists of all ages are encouraged to submit their own original art pieces, which are judged for awards provided by our sponsors. We are excited to continue the tradition of hosting the Peach Art Exhibit alongside the Louisiana Peach Festival for our 38th year.

Art work submissions can be brought to the Lincoln Parish Library on Tuesday, May 27th from 9am to 1pm or Wednesday, May 28th from 12pm to 6pm.

Artists must submit Entry Form attachments for each piece entered, which includes a portion that is taped to the back of their artwork(s). Entry Forms will be available at the Check In location, or may be downloaded. Please use this form.

An opening reception will be held in the Library Event Center on Thursday, June 5th from 5:30pm to 7pm with awards given at 6pm.

For more information, click here or email us at info@nclac.org.

May 22, 6 pm: NCLAC’s Annual Meeting at the Lincoln Parish Museum: Members reviewed the past year of arts activities, elected two new board members, and enjoyed refreshments catered by Board and Bottle. President Gary Faulkner gave the following President’s Awards:

Artist of the Year: Charlie Meeds:

Arts Organization of the Year: Ruston Community Theater

Arts Patron of the Year: Ross Lynn Charitable Foundation

NCLAC Board Member of the Year: Nina Cazenave

2nd Annual GEEKTogether Art Exhibit

The North Central Louisiana Arts Council hosted our second GEEKTogether Art Exhibit opening on Saturday, March 1, 2025. As a collaboration with the Lincoln Parish Library’s second annual GEEKTogether, this exhibit featured works that reflect subjects relevant to the GEEKTogether theme: fandoms, comics, anime/manga, video games, pop culture, etc.

The GEEKTogether Art Exhibit will be displayed at the Lincoln Parish Library in the Chautauqua Gallery from March 1st through April 28th. It will be available for public viewing during normal library hours.

We want to thank all of this year’s participating artists. Without your dedication and talents community exhibits like this are not possible. A very special congratulations to each of our winners this year:

Adult 1st Place: Shamar White, Adult 2nd Place: Amanda Berg, Adult 3rd Place: Obed Nti, Adult Honorable Mentions: Terence C. Williams II and Ronald McKinney, Teen 1st Place: Kimora Thompon, Teen 2nd Place: Madison Haneman, Teen 3rd Place: Susie Welsh, Teen Honorable Mentions: Chance Wood, Sebastian Isaula, and Nora Brady, Youth 1st Place: Giselle Raley, Youth 2nd Place: Kylie McKittrick, Youth 3rd Place: Scarlet Guzman, Youth Honorable Mentions: Lyla Good and Audrey Young!

This year’s judge was mixed media collage painter, Vitus Shell. Shell lives and works in his hometown Monroe, LA, where he is an Assistant Professor at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He was the 2021 Louisiana Artist of the Year and received an NPN Take Notice Fund in 2022. In 2007 while attending the University of Mississippi, Shell was honored with the MFA Grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation. Public Collections include the Center for the Americas at Vanderbilt University and the Elliot Perry Collection, among others. Additionally, Shell has taught at Grambling University and Louisiana Tech University. He is also the president and co-founder of the Black Creatives Circle of North Louisiana.

We offer a very special thank you to our prize sponsors: Creative Exchange, Board & Bottle, Lunar Art Painting, Haute Mess Designs, and the Northeast Louisiana Arts Council.

Reminder to all participating artists that artwork can be picked up on Tuesday, April 29th or Wednesday, April 30th from 4-7 pm in the Chautauqua Gallery of the Library. Any artwork purchased from this exhibit can also be picked up by collectors on those dates.

We look forward to GEEKing Together with our community in 2026!

Summer Art Camps

The North Central Louisiana Arts Council is very happy to have been given the opportunity to bring back our annual Summer Arts Camps this year. Our 2024 camps were supported by a Louisiana Project Grant funded by the Louisiana Division of the Arts.

This year NCLAC partnered with multiple local organizations to make the program accessible to as many children as possible and we were able to grow this year’s program by 60 for a total of 143 participating students. We hosted five weeks of art camps at the Lincoln Parish Library. We were also given the opportunity to partner with the Pinkie Wilkerson Life Development Center Foundation for a bonus week as part of their literacy camp held at Mt. Harmony Baptist Church in June.

We partnered with the Boys & Girls Club of Ruston for two weeks in June. We worked with the 3rd grade students to create custom shirts using bleaching, screen printing, beading and other methods. Students also designed tote bags and were given a tour of the NCLAC Peach Art Exhibit on display in the Library’s Chautauqua Gallery introducing them to various forms of art as well as the works of local artists.

Both sessions of the Boys and Girls Club camps were taught by Bonnie Ferguson, a local artist and educator. She has taught art at a local private school for the last 8 years after earning her Bachelor of Fine Art from LA Tech.

Public registration was made available for three weeks in July. For the first two weeks we worked with students going into 1st through 4th grade. Students were allowed to experiment with multiple materials to create two mixed media pieces as well as learn screen printing and cyanotype printing.

These weeks were taught by Martie Clary.  Martie earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Art Education from LA Tech and a Master’s Degree in Gifted Education. She has taught art for 34 years and currently teaches Kindergarten through 8th grade art at AE Phillips.

The final week of public camp students going into 5th and 6th grade worked on mixed media pieces as well as designing tote bags. The final project was inspired by Art on 45, a local art exhibit hosted to help raise funds for various local organizations. Because NCLAC’s 2025 Summer Art Camp was the recipient of the final Art on 45 fundraiser, we wanted to introduce the students to the history of the project and let them create their own.

The last week was taught by Brittney Shambro. Brittney has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with a Pre-K and Kindergarten Certification. She has 8 years of experience teaching Pre-K through 5th grade. She began her third-year teaching art this past Fall at both Cypress Springs and Ruston Elementary.

We want to thank the Northeast Louisiana Arts Council and the Louisiana Division of the Arts for supporting projects like this across Louisiana and allowing us be part of that endeavor. We also want to thank our local partners the Boys & Girls Club of Ruston, Lincoln Parish Library, and Art on 45. Without community partnerships such as these, projects like our Summer Arts Camps would not be possible.

NCLAC is proud to be a part of:

A very special thanks to: