By Hunter Jones
Maryam El-Awadi is a BFA student in Louisiana Tech’s School of Design and is graduating with a degree in studio art in May at Tech. She is known for painting and sculpting as her main mediums with an interest in printmaking and photography. And she — as well as fellow Tech student Rae Tedeton — has been hired to paint a mural at the Union Parish Library in Farmerville where they were asked to come up with designs that reference Red Heron wings and also reading.
The project is currently in progress but she expects it to be done within the coming month.
El-Awadi said she’s been making art her whole life but really got into it when she was 14.
“I would fill sketchbook after sketchbook with portrait and shading practice,” she said.
This commission is not her first either. She was also on a team of painters that painted a mural for the Ruston Farmers Market where they designed and pitched their idea for them which was painted in the spring of 2021. Additionally, she was part of the team of painters that painted the lounge of George T. Madison on Tech’s campus which was commissioned and designed by Nick Bustamante and Whitney Causey, the resident mural professors.
El-Awadi said she is proud of every exhibit she gets into and has had her work showcased in exhibitions like the 50@50 and Art On 45 which is hosted by the North Central Louisiana Arts Council every year.
Last summer her work was showcased for the Louisiana Contemporary at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, LA. El-Awadi said, “That was my first exhibition outside of the Ruston/Grambling area and it solidified to myself that I was a professional artist.”
Today, her work can be found at the MVA Gallery in Bethlehem, Penn., and in the Rhode Island Watercolor Society’s current online exhibition.
El-Awadi said she is also excited to be a part of the staff at Shakerag this summer in Sewanee, Tenn., which is three weeks of art related workshops at the St. Andrew’s Sewanee school.
El-Awadi said she to become a professional artist and simultaneously be a painting instructor at an art college which she calls “a typical combination for artists.”
She also has an upcoming show at the F.J Taylor Visual Arts Center on Tech’s campus with other seniors also in studio art. It’s reception will be from 5-7 p.m. May 3, and the galleries will be open for 10 days after that during normal building hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“I hope that we can get the school’s community and Ruston’s community to support the arts,” El-Awadi said. “There are art events hosted by NCLAC and shows at the Dixie every month that everyone should check out.”
