The information below was provided by Maggi Tinsley at the Visual Arts Center:

Opening Fri., Apr. 9, 2010, at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Loren Schwerd: Mourning Portrait is a series of memorials to the communities of New Orleans that were devastated by the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina. The public is invited to an opening reception from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Assistant Professor of Sculpture at Louisiana State University School of Art in Baton Rouge, Schwerd began by working from her photographs of vacant houses and businesses in the Ninth Ward neighborhood. She wove hair into portraits of these homes using human hair extensions she found outside the St. Claude Beauty Supply. “By documenting private homes, I venerate the city’s losses, both individual and collective,” says the artist.

The sculptures refer to historic methods of memorialization, including portraiture and the Victorian tradition of hairwork, in which strands of hair from a deceased loved one was woven or plaited into brooches, earrings and bracelets, as well as framed wreaths and horseshoes for hanging in the home. The artist explains that she favors “found materials that contribute their function, cultural value, and a trace of their mysterious personal history to my design.”

Mourning Portrait is a continuation of the multi-media artist’s practice of site-related installations and her investigation of mnemonic elements in found objects — in this case, hair. Director of Exhibition Programming Katherine Huntoon explains, “The associative possibilities present in the use of hair are not only personal and widely varied but also shared within a society. Through her constructions representing homes and neighborhoods, Schwerd connects our associations with hair to the social and familial symbols of home and place.

“Schwerd employs traditional methods of connection, such as tying, weaving and stitching, which act as metaphor to our associative connections to the portraits,” Huntoon continues. These methods also remind the viewer of the time, memory and obsession involved in such meticulous labor.

Loren Schwerd will present an artist’s talk and demonstration at 1 p.m. on Sat., Apr. 10. In other related programming, Sonya Clark, Chair of the Department of Craft/Material Studies at VCU, presents “A Hairy Subject,” discussing the use of hair as a medium in historical and contemporary artworks on Sat., Apr. 24, at 1 p.m. Suzanne Savery, Director of Collections & Interpretation at the Valentine Richmond History Center, presents “Hair, Art & Remembrance in the 19th Century,” using images and objects from the Valentine’s extensive collection on Sat., May 8, at 1 p.m.

Loren Schwerd received her BFA in Studio Art from Tulane University in 1993, and her MFA in Sculpture from Syracuse University in 1999. She was an instructor and visiting Assistant Professor at the College of Charleston from 1999 to 2005 and currently lives in New Orleans. Mourning Portrait was previously exhibited at the Sumpter County Art Gallery, Sumpter, S.C.; Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, La.; and, most recently, at The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design, Inter-institutional Center of the University of North Carolina, UNC-A Kellogg Center, Hendersonville, N.C.

The exhibition continues in the True F. Luck Gallery through June 6, 2010. Support for the exhibition is provided in part by Altria Group, Inc. Loren Schwerd: Mourning Portrait is presented in conjunction with Minds Wide Open: Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts, the first statewide celebration of its kind. Between March and June of 2010, thousands of special events will occur to honor contributions by women to arts and culture.

The Visual Arts Center of Richmond, at 1812 W. Main St., is open Monday-Fri., 9 a.m. – 7 p.m., Sat., 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Sun., 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. For more information click here or call (804) 353-0094.