Artist Micheal LeBlanc Next Guest of Arkansas Folklife Web Series

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Michael Louis LeBlanc

The next installation of the Arkansas Folklife Web Series is set for 1-2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13. Host Lauren Willette will interview cast metal artist Michael Louis LeBlanc. The webinar is free and open to the public, and registration is required.

LeBlanc is a community-minded artist working in the tradition of cast metal art. He offers workshops and demonstrations in which he presents not only the process but the history of cast metal arts and heritage crafts. For over 15 years, he's been exhibiting and presenting research, both nationally and internationally, on cast metal art. In 2013, the National Conference of Contemporary Cast Iron Arts and Practices awarded him the title of "Mold Master." He was awarded a Sturgis Fellowship to practice in Japan in 2019. His solo exhibition at the Walton Arts Center, "Cajun,_____," ran from September through November of 2023. Most recently, he was a featured artist at the Delta Triennial at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock this past August.

Willette noted, "Micheal has built his own mobile foundry, taking this traditionally stationary practice and turning it into a tradition that can be shared with his community in many different ways."

Questions about the 2024 Arkansas Folklife Web Series may be directed to Willette at willette@uark.edu. Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts is a statewide program of the University of Arkansas Libraries dedicated to building cross-cultural understanding by documenting, presenting and sustaining Arkansas' living traditional arts and cultural heritage.