A Studio in the Woods

Matthieu Duperrex: Mississippi RiverBook
2026-08-11 17:30 - 18:30 UTC | Tulane River and Coastal Center, 1370 Port of New Orleans Place, New Orleans, LA, United States
ByWater Institute and A Studio in the Woods present Fulbright Visiting Scholar Matthieu Duperrex performing Mississippi Riverbook; an immersive journey along the contemporary Lower Mississippi through a panoramic watercolor mural, bilingual French-English text, and harmonica. Duperrex is a professor at the National School of Architecture of Marseille.
This will be a 30-minute performance followed by a reception. RSVP here!

Summertime Spitshine
2026-06-22 10:00 - 2026-06-24 15:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
We are excited to welcome volunteers to our annual Summertime Spitshine, the deep cleaning and beautification of our woods and studio. We provide pizza, salad, popsicles and good company! You’re welcome to bring other snacks and recruit friends.
We appreciate you so much and welcome you to stay past 3pm to relax and catch up in the AC.
The tasks for this summer range from waxing door frames, polishing wood, organizing the kitchen and the deep clean.
We are also looking for crafting and furniture items: Please bring any corks from wine or another bottle and any rags we can add to our cleaning supplies. We’re also in search of a tiny table and two chairs for an outdoor balcony (metal or waterproof). Kindly send a photo of any furniture before bringing.
Dates: Two days: Monday June 22, and Wednesday June 24. Please sign up for a day or both! All skills are welcome!
Volunteers must be aged 18 and up.

Register here!

Artist Salon: yrécha gay Jheanell
2026-06-03 18:30 - 20:30 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Join us on Wednesday, June 3 at 6:30pm with Self as Universe Resident yrécha gay Jheanell as they discuss their work and their Self as Universe Residency project.
Dinner and refreshments will be served. You can RSVP here!
yrécha gay Jheneall is a transdisciplinary artist born and raised between Kingston and Portmore, Jamaica, and currently based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Their practice moves between Caribbean and Gulf South landscapes and waterways, exploring Afro-Caribbean movement, ancestry, migration, gender, and memory.

Through installation, sound, (non)performance, print, photography, sculpture and film, Jheneall engages queerness as a somatic response to environment and landscape, treating water, and the natural world as collaborators in shaping identity and experience. Their practice centers vernacular materials; fiber drum barrels, bamboo, sugarcane, and textiles as interconnected knowledge systems and carriers of memory, labor, and diasporic exchange, offering alternative frameworks for understanding identity, survival, and belonging.

Previous works and collaborations include Black Brown Biennale, Alternate Roots and Black Discourse (UK). More recently they have participated in the group exhibition wata ways, at the Alabama Contemporary Arts Center in Mobile, LA and Refreshing America group exhibition at Contemporary Arts Center (New Orleans). yrécha earned their MFA in Interdisciplinary Studio Arts at the University of New Orleans.

A Studio on the Bayou: A benefit for A Studio in the Woods
2026-04-25 18:00 - 20:00 UTC | LA
We’re throwing a post-Jazz Fest bash to celebrate supporters of A Studio in the Woods at the home of Jane and Dr. Charles Billings on Bayou St. John. Join us for music, food, art, and fun after the first Saturday of Jazz Fest at A Studio on the Bayou.
If you’re already a monthly donor, check your email for an invitation in the coming days! Not signed up yet? Join us here to support arts and the woods year round.
A Studio in the Woods exists because of your generosity and support. Monthly donors allow us to From hosting over 50 artists and scholars each year to putting on FORESTival (and a million events in between!), this work wouldn’t be possible without you.

Artist Performance: Testimony: from the Mother River & Open Studio
2026-04-03 15:00 - 18:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Spring will be in full bloom as A Studio in the Woods hosts a Performance and Open Studio by two Self As Universe Residents: interdisciplinary artist and dancer Rochelle Jamila and traditional clay artist Gary L. White, respectively.
Jamila will perform Testimony: from the Mother River on the levee of the Mississippi River, accompanied by Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes. White will then open his studio doors for attendees to learn about traditional clay harvesting, processing, shaping, and burn techniques.
The event will begin at 3pm. Snacks will be provided.
In Testimony: from the Mother, River Rochelle draws from the blues, hoodoo, folktales, and her family’s history in the Mississippi River’s delta to process climate grief and treat the blues as oracle. Rochelle blends experimental movement, sound, and animist prayer to channel the wisdom of a land where culture emerged alongside river flooding. Offered from atop a New Orleans’ levee on the Mother River of the North American continent, Testimony: from the Mother River invites us to consider the patriarchal hubris of restricting the flow of the Mississippi River and the ecological and spiritual implications of levee creation and destruction. Toni Morrison posits, “water has perfect memory… they straightened out the Mississippi River in places, to make room for houses and livable acreage. Occasionally, the river floods these places. ‘Floods’ is the word they use, but in fact it is not flooding: it is remembering.” Accompanied by New Orleans musician Bruce Sunpie Barnes, Rochelle’s performance invites us to contemplate flooding as remembering, reclamation, and (re)evolution with water and land.
RSVP here!

Artist Salon: Ching-In Chen
2026-03-25 18:30 - 20:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Join us on Wednesday, March 25 at 6:30pm with Self as Universe Resident Ching-In Chen as they discuss their work and their Self as Universe Residency project. Project collaborator Cassie Mira will also be joining.
Dinner and refreshments will be served. You can RSVP here!
Ching-In Chen is a genderqueer Chinese American writer, community organizer and teacher. They are author of Shiny City, recombinant (2018 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry), and The Heart’s Traffic: a novel in poems.
They are currently working on “Breathing in a Time of Disaster,” a community-based performance, installation and speculative writing project exploring breath through meditation, health and environmental justice.

Artist Salon: Sultana Harris and Gary L. White
2026-03-04 18:30 - 20:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Join us on Wednesday, March 4 at 6:30pm with Self as Universe Residents and Sultana Harris and Gary White as they discuss their work and their Self as Universe Residency projects.
Dinner and refreshments will be served. You can RSVP here!
Sultana Harris is a social practice artist and the Interim Executive Director of The Descendants Project’s Woodland Plantation Museum. Sultana has worked with organizations such as Holistic Resistance, Grief to Action, Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Xavier University of New Orleans’ Department of Psychology, the Gulf Coast Fellowship for Community Transformation, and the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs. She serves as board Vice-President of the Seattle-based nonprofit Color of Sound, which supports artists of color filmmakers creating film projects with an emphasis on social and environmental justice. Sultana stands in solidarity with the land, its travelers, and all earth-others. Her focus during her residency is the somatics phase of an ethnographic art project nuancing the effects of land discrimination and the erasure of home and community while also exploring the tensions and negotiated intimacies that accompany it.
Gary L. White, a Native of Nashville, received his Bachelors of Fine Arts at Watkins College of Art and Design in 2011. He obtained a Masters Degree in Ceramics from University Tennessee Knoxville. Since then, his works have been included in solo shows and group exhibitions throughout the country. White conducts a cross-cultural visual investigation, which explores folkways, identity, and the experiences of the “Southern Other.” White currently teaches Ceramics at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and maintains his studio practice. His project will utilize clay from both the Mississippi River to create a series of ceramic pots. The pieces will be built on site and fired in the traditional method of pitfiring, which has ties not only to his home region, but also to southern Louisiana. The ceramic pieces will be effigies of local animals, incised with imagery of flora and fauna of the woods. Through this process old stories of the land will emerge, as place holds memory, and the clay holds place.

Rescheduled: Winter Tree Planting!
2026-02-27 10:00 - 12:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Come plant trees with us in the Woods! We’re hosting a Winter Tree Planting on Friday, February 27 from 10am – 12pm. We will plant cypress and tupelo trees, native to our area and vital for the continuation of our forest!
The planting will take place under the supervision of Ecologist David Baker. Lunch will be provided.
RSVP here!
Notes:

Please wear closed-toe shoes and long pants
Kindly bring a pair of work gloves, if available
This event is BYOS (bring your own shovel).

We have several shovels at the Studio, but if you have a shovel, please bring it!

This tree planting is generously sponsored by the New Orleans Town Gardners.
Note: This event was originally scheduled for January 27.

Volunteer: Winter Tree Measuring in the Woods!
2026-01-30 10:00 - 12:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
On January 30, join us as we measure trees and spruce up the Woods. Given the cold weather, we’ve rescheduled our tree planting to February!
RVSP here!
Please wear long pants and closed-toed shoes.
Note: This date was originally the Winter Tree Planting, but given the cold weather, that will now be held on February 27.

Volunteer: January Shed-tacular!
2026-01-14 - 2026-01-15 | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Join us on Wednesday, January 14 and/or Thursday, January 15 from 10 – 3pm as we spruce up our outdoor shed!
Our outdoor shed filled with artful materials and beautiful wood planks is in need of TLC. Uncover the treasures and stories of the forgotten wood shed with us! We would love help pulling usable materials out and rethinking/organizing that space to be utilized by artists and staff.
Dates: Two days: Wednesday January 14 and Thursday, January 15. Please sign up for a day or both!
Notes: All skills are welcome! We will provide pizza, popsicles, and good company.
RSVP here!
Volunteers must be aged 18 and up.

Artist Salon: Sarah Fouts and Fernando López
2025-12-04 18:30 - 20:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Join us on Thursday, December 4 at 6:30pm with Self as Universe Residents Sarah Fouts and Fernando López as they discuss their work, Fruit for Thought: Journeys Between New Orleans and Honduras. Fruit for Thought is a documentary series exploring the connections between Honduras and New Orleans through three key food commodities: bananas, palm oil, and coffee.
Dinner and refreshments will be served. You can RSVP here!
Sarah Fouts is an Associate Professor in American Studies and co-director of the Orser Center for Public Humanities at UMBC. Fouts’s research spans food and labor studies, political economy, disasters, and community engagement, with a focus on New Orleans and Honduras. Fouts’s book, Rebuilding New Orleans (UNC Press, 2025), explores immigrant labor, multiracial solidarities, and resistance in post-Katrina New Orleans. Fouts co-produced The El Camino Series which are two documentary shorts for Library Congress’s American Folklife Center. Fouts was a Whiting Fellow in 2022-2023 and contributes to outlets such as Southern Cultures, Gastronomica, Journal of Southern History, The New York Times, NACLA, and Gravy magazine.
Fernando López is a multidisciplinary artist and documentarian based in New Orleans. Working across photography, video, and writing, his practice reflects a Mexican and Indigenous worldview while centering people of color, immigrants, and diasporic communities in the U.S. Through portraiture, street photography, and layered visual storytelling, Fernando explores the beauty, complexity, and resilience of everyday life—while also engaging themes of cultural celebration, displacement, and social justice. His work offers both intimate glimpses and critical reflections shaped by his experience as a Mexican artist living and creating in the U.S.

FORESTival 2025: A Celebration of Art and Nature at A Studio in the Woods
2025-11-15 11:00 - 17:00 UTC | LA
Our 15th Annual FORESTival: A Celebration of Art & Nature will be held on Saturday, November 15, 11 – 5pm.
Purchase tickets here!
This family-friendly celebration features live music, artist presentations by current and former residents, special guest artists, guided walks in the woods with scientists, hands-on art and science activities for the entire family, local eats available for purchase and a silent auction!
Help make this celebration happen by volunteering or sponsoring this year’s event.
Please note: Standard parking requires a ~10 minute walk to FORESTival. Drop-off is available at the entrance. If the driver would like to request accessible parking, please email info@astudiointhewoods.org by Wednesday 11/13. Accessible parking will be available on a limited, first-come first-served basis.

FORESTival 2025 will feature:

Music performances by Leyla McCalla, Big Chief Juan Pardo & The Golden Comanches, Casa Samba, the Creole Cutie Baby Dolls, and Andrina Turenne!
Artistic presentations from former residents and guest artists including Ifátùmínínú Bamgbàlà Arẹ̀sà, Trinity City Comics, Issy Manley, Gregory Swafford, Hali Dardar, Miss Pussycat, Jacob Reptile, Asante Salaam, and ricRACK fabrics.
The Green House featuring frontline and fence-line climate organizations and efforts including Rise St. James, Culture of Cleanliness, Water Collaborative, and Healthy Gulf.
Local fare provided by Crescent City Burgers, Big O’s Pops, Eli’s Kitchen, Abita Brewing, and Greta’s Sushi.
Art & Science activities for kids and kids-at-heart alike including: festival favorite Build a Clay Forest, Gunderson Lab Lizards, DIY Pet Petri Dishes with Lane Birusing Tellegan, reading with RE(ad)TREAT, community quilt with Restore the Mississippi River Delta, cyanotypes with Climate Culture New Orleans and a visit from Chiquito the miniature horse at Sugar Roots Farms.
Walks in the Woods with Ecologist David Baker, and Entomologists Bella Termini and Rachel Clear
Photo booth with background by Jacob Reptile!
Silent auction of one-of-a-kind art objects and experiences.

A Studio in the Woods is located in Lower Algiers at 13401 Patterson Rd. New Orleans LA, 70131, about a 25 minute drive from downtown New Orleans.
FORESTival 2025 is made possible by its generous sponsors: The Barrios Family, Footprint Project, Power Systems Specialists, New Orleans Town Gardeners, and Tom & Ellen Prewitt.

Thank you to our 2025 Planning Committee:
Jessica Dandridge, The Water Collaborative
Alexandra Norris, Board Member
Natalie Nguyen, EisnerAmper

Aurora Levins Morales presents "Ferment"
2025-10-23 18:00 - 19:30 UTC | CANOA, 4210 St Claude Ave, New Orleans, LA, 70116, United States
What happens when a poet visualizes their words? Don’t miss this unique opportunity to see renowned poet Aurora Levins Morales present her foray into the world of digital art!
Please join Aurora Levins Morales on October 23, 2025 at CANOA as she presents Ferment. You can register for the event here. We kindly ask that you wear a mask to the event.
Ferment is a digital collage and poetic prose project on chemical harm and repair. Beginning with the artist’s own drug-resistant epilepsy, linked to childhood pesticide exposure in Puerto Rico, the work moves outward through global and historical uses of chemicals of control, which, whether in agriculture or war, are made for domination.
Images and text explore the spraying of the infamous gas chamber pesticide Zyklon B on teenage Mexican domestic workers crossing the US border for daily work in the 1910s, the multigenerational impact of Agent Orange on Vietnamese children, and the toxic residues of war from the landscapes of Gaza and Ukraine to the tortured landscape of Johnston Atoll, a US military dump for leftover chemical weapons.
Inspired by the research of Malian scientists on bacteria like Pseudomonas luminescens that can break down the pesticide dieldrin, Levins Morales celebrates the transformative power of bacteria like Lactobacilis pentosus MP-10 that protects Palestinians from the heavy metals that contaminate their olives, and in hopeful contrast to Johnston Atoll, the Antarctic species Pseudomonas sp.TNT3 found on Deception Island, which can clean residues of explosives from war zones. Seeking both healing and vision, she looks to inter-species alliances with bacteria that can mend harm, and imagines a biological and social ferment that could replace control with deep collaboration and repair.
Aurora Levins Morales (b. 1954) is a Borikua Ashkenazi writer and visual artist based in Maricao, Puerto Rico. She is the author of nine books, including Silt: Prose Poems, written at the Studio. This is the first major visual art project.

Artist Salon with Carl Harrison Jr. and Cory Diane
2025-09-22 06:30 - 21:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Join us on Monday, September 22nd 6:30pm – 9:00pm for an Artist Salon featuring Self as Universe: Mending Our Collective Ecosystem residents, Cory Diane and Carl Harrison Jr.
Cory Diane (New Orleans, LA) is a performer, composer and sound artist whose work often looks at sound and vibration as means of knowing and relating. While in The Woods, they aim to synthesize years of research and relationship building around Gravitational Wave Astronomy with their ongoing creative work related to climate justice, and their lived experience as a person with a physical disability and navigating chronic pain. Central to this project would be continued collaboration with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) physicists (based in Louisiana and across the globe), and the prototyping of a new instrument—a “harp” sounded not by the strumming of strings, but by sunlight.
Carl Harrison Jr. (New Orleans, LA) is an innovative interdisciplinary filmmaker and artist whose work explores the intersections of cultural memory, land, and Black and Indigenous traditions. Through a mix of documentary, animation, installation, and community-centered storytelling, Carl creates immersive experiences that honor ancestral knowledge and imagine liberatory futures. Grounded in both art and activism, Carl’s work is rooted in the soil of the Gulf South and grows from a desire to preserve heritage while nourishing collective transformation.
During his residency at A Studio in the Woods, he will be continuing work on Eve’s Garden: Seasons of the Soul, a hybrid personal documentary that explores the intersection of family, land, and memory in the Saint Roch neighborhood of New Orleans. Rooted in the story of his great-grandmother Eve and the food forest created in her honor, the project weaves oral history, filmmaking, and land-based practices into a living archive of Black and Indigenous resilience.
The event is FREE but registration is required. Click here to RSVP!
Parking will be on Patterson Rd. outside of A Studio in the Woods campus at visitor’s own risk. Event may be outside, please wear enclosed shoes and dress accordingly.
By attending this event, you understand that you may appear in marketing materials and herby consent to the reproduction and use of any image, video or audio recording for any promotional purposes you may appear in.

Bvlbancha Liberation Radio live from the Woods!
2025-08-19 16:00 - 20:00 UTC | LA
On Tuesday, August 19 from 4 – 8pm, Bvlbancha Liberation Radio and A Studio in the Woods are hosting a live broadcast from The Woods to mark 20 years since Hurricane Katrina, from Restoration to Adaptation to Replenish.
Tune in to hear stories from ecologist and land manager Dave Baker, past and current residents, scholars, and caretakers of this special bottomland hardwood forest on the banks of the Mississippi River.
Special guests on air will include Monique Verdin, Jeffery Darensbourg, Andy Horowitz, Monique Moss, Kathy Randels, Dr. Michael White, and more!
There are two ways to listen:

Tune in here on August 19 at 4pm.
Other Plans is hosting a listening party! Grab a chair or cushion and head over to this beautiful gallery in town to tune into the broadcast. And check out their new show featuring Jibade-Khalil Huffman.

Summertime Volunteer Days!
2025-07-16 - 2025-07-17 | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
We are excited to welcome volunteers to our annual Summertime Spitshine, the deep cleaning and beautification of our woods and studio. We provide pizza, popsicles and good company!
Our main goals are:
Wood shed treasure hunt!
Our outdoor shed filled with artful materials and beautiful wood planks is in need of TLC. Uncover the treasures and stories of the forgotten wood shed with us! We would love help pulling usable materials out and rethinking/organizing that space to be utilized by artists and staff.

Buildings and Woods
Creating a canoe launch area on our pond, detailed cleaning of buildings, polishing wood furniture, simple home repair tasks, creative utilitarian beautification projects and as always invasive vine removal.
Dates : Two days Wednesday July 16th and Thursday the 17th. Please sign up for a day or both! All skills are welcome!
Volunteers must be aged 18 and up.

Register here:
https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/9v8d4x2Ipf29aMrNItXe_w

Urban Woods Tour at the Bucktown Marsh Boardwalk with David Baker
2025-05-16 09:00 - 10:00 UTC | Bucktown Boardwalk
Join us for a Urban Woods Tour with A Studio in the Woods Ecologist & Environmental Curator David Baker at the Bucktown Marsh Boardwalk on Friday, May 16 at 9am to learn about his work at a Studio in the Woods and as an experienced botanist and consultant on this unique redevelopment of the 1,000 ft. Lake Pontchartrain marsh!
The event is free but registration is required and can be completed here.
Located at the intersection of 17th Street and Lake Pontchartrain, next to the Bird’s Nest Learning Pavilion. Please wear enclosed shoes and dress accordingly. No Pets allowed. Weather permitting, please feel free to bring your lunch and picnic on the Boardwalk afterward!

Mudbugs & Boots: An Afternoon Boil Benefitting A Studio in the Woods
2025-05-10 16:00 - 19:00 UTC | LA
Join us in your finest boots for a backyard crawfish social, great music and presentations from former residents at Mudbugs & Boots: An Afternoon Boil Benefiting A Studio in the Woods. Hosted in the beautiful art-filled home of Renee & Stewart Peck on Saturday, May 10, 2025, Mudbugs & Boots is a fundraising event supporting A Studio in the Woods’ residencies for artists and scholars, forest restoration, and science-inspired art engagement for all.
Boots will get stomping and crawfish will be peeling from 4pm-7pm so make sure you wear your finest boots whether cowboy, swampers or heels!
For Tickets & Sponsorship opportunities, click here.
We’ll also be holding a silent auction! If you’re interested in donating items please reach out to marketingastudiointhewoods@gmail.com.

Enjoy steaming hot crawfish and veggies from Nola Boils
Vegan offerings from Shay Youngblood
Live musical performance by Super Bowl LIX performers and the only all women’s brass band Original Pinettes Brass Band
Former Resident Artist presentations by Li(sa E) Harris and Sha’Condria “iCon” Sibley
Snoballs from Nola Snow
Open bar sponsored by board member, Renee & Stewart Peck

Special THANK YOU to our current event sponsors:
Renee & Stewart Peck, A Friend of A Studio In The Wood, WWNO, Elizabeth and Willy Monaghan, Dawn Barrios, Other Plans Gallery, Jane Eyrich, Lee Dupont and Theodore Naron.

Buy your ticket here

Artist Salon with Asante Salaam
2025-04-16 18:30 - 21:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Join us to meet and learn more about Self as Universe: Mending Our Collective Ecosystem resident, Asante Salaam as she give us a glimpse into the work she’s been working on during her first three weeks in residency followed by a light dinner and refreshments on Wednesday, April 16th, 6:30pm – 9:00-pm.
Asante Salaam is a native New Orleanian, a multifaceted artist, and a seasoned cultural arts director dedicated to harnessing the power of art and culture as a cherished force in communities worldwide. With roots in Black cultural arts activism, Asante views art as a spiritual journey, transcending life’s limitations and embracing harmony between material and metaphysical realms.
Asante intends to utilize A Studio in the Woods’ Self as Universe artist residency as a Conjuring Studio for Sweet Spot: A Cultural Arts Ecological Family Compound by conducting an informal charette process through research, interviews, and collaborative contribution sessions, plus encouraging community members’ shared-journey visioning and conjuring, while creating original art inspired by and catalyzing realization of her project.
This Artist Salon is sponsored by

The event is FREE but registration is required. Click here to RSVP!
Parking will be on Patterson Rd. outside of A Studio in the Woods campus at visitor’s own risk. Event may be outside, please wear enclosed shoes and dress accordingly.
By attending this event, you understand that you may appear in marketing materials and herby consent to the reproduction and use of any image, video or audio recording for any promotional purposes you may appear in.

Replenish Residencies 2025-26 Application Deadline
2025-04-07 | LA
Replenish Residencies provides one to two week restorative visioning retreats to South Louisiana artists and culture bearers. We offer these residencies to provide time to rest and restore, vision, and create. The call is open to artists and culture bearers from the South Louisiana Parishes including Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Allen, Jefferson Davis, Evangeline, Acadia, Vermillion, St. Landry, Lafayette, St. Martin, St. Mary, Iberia, Pointe Coupee, Iberville, Assumption, Terrebonne, West Feliciana, East Feliciana, West Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge, Ascension, St. James, St. John, St. Charles, Lafourche, St. Helena, Livingston, Tangipahoa, Washington, St. Tammany, Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines who have not attended a residency before.
The Studio focuses on interrelated areas of programming, including residencies for artists and scholars, forest restoration, and science-inspired art engagement for children and adults. We center interdependence, wonder, care, and inclusivity in all of our work and believe the essential and transformative powers of art and the natural environment are central to a thriving future for all.
Click here for more information and to apply.

Replenish Residencies 2025-26 Info Session
2025-03-19 12:00 - 13:00 UTC | LA
Join us for an online information session about Replenish Residencies. Staff will give an overview of the application process and residency experience and then field questions from attendees.
Replenish Residencies provides one to two week restorative visioning retreats to South Louisiana artists and culture bearers. In light of the many racial disparities still present in our society at large and the arts economy specifically, we offer these residencies to provide time to rest and restore, vision and create. The call is open to artists and culture bearers from South Louisiana Parishes including Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Allen, Jefferson Davis, Evangeline, Acadia, Vermillion, St. Landry, Lafayette, St. Martin, St. Mary, Iberia, Pointe Coupee, Iberville, Assumption, Terrebonne, West Feliciana, East Feliciana, West Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge, Ascension, St. James, St. John, St. Charles, Lafourche, St. Helena, Livingston, Tangipahoa, Washington, St. Tammany, Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines who have not attended a residency before.
Details and application here.
Photo of Sunflowa & Son by Taylor Hunter

Replenish Residency Info Session

Self As Universe: Mending Our Collective Ecosystem Residency Application Deadline
2025-02-24 08:00 - 17:00 UTC | LA
Self as Universe: Mending Our Collective Ecosystem Residencies at A Studio in the Woods invite artists to explore the connections within our collective ecosystems and use the power of imagination to heal the wounds in the relationship between our bodies and our communities.
Southeast Louisiana’s land and inhabitants are continually scarred by the effects of environmental degradation. These injuries – the historical to the present – affect our bodies, families, communities, and cultures, as well as the land and its other creatures. We encourage artists to guide our collective response as caretakers and caregivers to our universe while bringing wisdom, integrity, optimism, and even humor to intentional and timely projects seeking transformation for our species and planet.
Details and application here.
Photo of Omar Mendoza Linares by Fernando Lopez

Celebrate Valentine's Day with a Walk in the Woods with David Baker
2025-02-14 10:00 - 12:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Whether you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day, Galentine’s or just giving yourself some self-love join us for a Walk in the Woods with our Ecologist and Environmental Curator, David Baker, Friday, February 14 at 10am to learn about his work and the new trees that have been released from the grips of blackberry vines. We invite you to come witness this lovingly managed forest where over 1,200 trees tagged and mapped at A Studio in The Woods between 2020-2025.
Make sure to bring your lunch and a blanket to enjoy a picnic in our meadow afterward, weather permitting! Light refreshments will be provided. You’ll also have a chance to take a self-guided tour of Self as Universe resident, Hali Dardar‘s working studio! She has been working on her project, Imagining Leveys, which explores how Gulf South communities can maintain sovereignty and security of their futures while collaborating with external partners to create stories.
The event is free but registration is required and can be completed here.
Parking will be on Patterson Rd. outside of A Studio in the Woods campus at visitor’s own risk. Please wear enclosed shoes and dress accordingly. No Pets allowed.
By attending this event, you understand that you may appear in marketing materials and herby consent to the reproduction and use of any image, video or audio recording for any promotional purposes you may appear in.

Self As Universe Residencies Info Session 2025-26
2025-02-05 12:00 - 13:30 UTC | LA
Join us for an online information session about our Self As Universe: Mending Our Collective Ecosystem Residencies.
Staff will give an overview of the application process, residency experience and answer any other artist questions. Register below.
Self as Universe: Mending Our Collective Ecosystem Residencies at A Studio in the Woods invite artists to explore the connections within our collective ecosystems and use the power of imagination to heal the wounds in the relationship between our bodies and our communities. Southeast Louisiana’s land and inhabitants are continually scarred by the effects of environmental degradation. These injuries – the historical to the present – affect our bodies, families, communities, and cultures, as well as the land and its other creatures. We encourage artists to guide our collective response as caretakers and caregivers to our universe while bringing wisdom, integrity, optimism, and even humor to intentional and timely projects seeking transformation for our species and planet. Details and application here.
Register for Self as Universe Info Session

Artist Salon with Hali Dardar
2025-01-16 18:30 - 21:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
We’re kicking off 2025 with an Artist Salon featuring Self as Universe: Mending Our Collective Ecosystem residents, Hali Dardar as she gives us a glimpse into the work she’ll be doing during their residency followed by a light dinner and refreshments on Thursday, January 16 at 6:30pm.
Hali Dardar is an enrolled member of the United Houma Nation, and co-founder of the Houma Language Project and Bvlbancha Public Access. Her works explore interaction design, new media art, and community process. Past interaction design projects include the 2021 and 2023 Indigenous Gulf Streams, Ripple Effect’s Water Glossaries, and both the Unrecognized Stories and Language Keeper interview series.
Dardar’s residency project, Imagining Leveys explores how Gulf South communities can maintain sovereignty and security of their futures while collaborating with external partners to create stories. Dardar’s residency will continue to explore an existing stream of work which designs a conceptual interaction for equitable story exchange by approaching the interview process as a market transaction rather than a relational exchange. Exploring and expanding this conceptual interaction around the rematriation of content provides a space for a larger discussion of ownership as it pertains to the vast intangible corpus of lived experiential knowledge. The project aims to open this larger dialogue through a public event along with small group idea collage sessions with digital and film story tellers, archive professionals, and legal counsel.
Click here to RSVP. Registration is required.

By attending this event, you understand that you may appear in marketing materials and herby consent to the reproduction and use of any image, video or audio recording for any promotional purposes you may appear in.

Artist Salon with Niamh Rita & Justice Singleton and Issy Manley
2024-12-03 18:30 - 21:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Join us to meet and learn more about Self as Universe: Mending Our Collective Ecosystem residents, Niamh Rita & Justice Singleton and Issy Manley as they give us a glimpse into the work they’ll be doing during their residency followed by a light dinner and refreshments on Tuesday, December 3rd, 6:30pm – 9:00-pm.
During their residency at Studio in the Woods, Niamh Rita & Justice Singleton will design and facilitate an experimental writers’ room tailored for a diverse group of transgender storytellers and artists from their local New Orleans community. In this writing room, they have chosen to focus on writing a screenplay because film is one of the most far-reaching mediums for sharing stories in today’s world. Producing a screenplay will lay the foundation for a future film production that will create artistic opportunities in our community. This collaborative writing project will provide a container and platform for participants to create stories that address the wounds in our collective ecosystems, promote healing of those wounds, and imagine the future we want to live in.
Niamh Rita (they/them) is a transmasc interdisciplinary artist and amateur folklorist living in New Orleans. Using the mediums of protest art, comics, collective creative projects and tattoo art, they work to build community and facilitate healing transformation through their art practice. Justice Singleton (he/him) is a black transmasculine educator, screenwriter, director, actor, poet, stand-up comedian and drag burlesque artist who lives in New Orleans. Justice facilitates a writer’s program that enlists creators to build community, inspires radical education and dismantles systemic storytelling.
Issy’s residency project is an illustrated, age-appropriate guide on the climate and ecological seasonal changes of sub-tropical Southeast Louisiana for preschool through early elementary-aged children. The final product might take shape as a 12-page picture book, open-ended field workbook, poster, fold-out/ pop-up zine, or a comic that would be printed and distributed for free to local educators/ programs to share with their students (as well as being offered free digitally to a wider audience). As an educator Issy has found few to no resources on our local climate and seasons for young children, and feels that it is important that children get to learn about the climate, weather and how eco-systems are shaped by both in the places that they live.
Issy Manley (she/her) is a cartoonist and educator living in New Orleans. Issy makes non-fiction comics about labor, climate crisis and capitalism. Her essay comics have been published in The Guardian, The Nib Magazine, The Washington Post and Narratively, among others. Her collection of non-fiction comics about work and unemployment during the pandemic – “No One Wants to Work Anymore” – was published by Antenna Press in 2023. She is the winner of Antenna’s 2021 Open Call, a MICE mini-grant, and was shortlisted for the 2022 Cartoonist Studio Prize. Issy has exhibited at Shortrun, CAKE and MICE comics festivals, and holds an MFA from The Center for Cartoon Studies.
Click here to RSVP. Registration is required.

FORESTival 2024: A Celebration of Art and Nature
2024-11-16 11:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
14th Annual FORESTival: A Celebration of Art & Nature
Join us at A Studio in the Woods on Saturday, November 16, 2024, 11am – 5pm for our 14th annual FORESTival, Buy tickets here!
This year’s FORESTival will feature:

Music performances by Water Seed, Baba Luther and the Congo Square Drummers and former residents Kr3wical & More Love and Kelly Love Jones
Artistic presentations from residents and guest artists including Alina Allen, paris cyan cian, Kristal “M2daE” Jones, John Lacarbiere III, Sweetie Magee, Antoine Prince, Alex Sorapuru and Maaliyah Papillion
Environmental Justice Hub creatively featuring frontline and fence line organizations and efforts such as Rise St. James, Inclusive Louisiana, Refined Community Development, Lincoln Beach/Healthy Gulf activists and the Water Collaborative.
Local eats provided by Crescent City Burgers, Big O’s Pops, Eli’s Kitchen and Saved by the Juice
Art & Science activities for kids and kids-at-heart alike including festival favorite Build a Clay Forest, woodland scavenger hunt with former resident John Lacarbiere III, meeting Weezy the mini Scottish Highlander Cow from Sugar Roots Farm and interactive science activities with STEM NOLA, Glass Half Full, RicRak, Restore the Mississippi River Delta and Pontchartrain Conservancy and more.
Walks in the Woods with Tulane University and local scientists
Photo booth fun and Be Loud youth interviewing
Silent auction of one-of-a-kind art objects and experiences

Want to help sponsor FORESTival? Click here to find out more on becoming one!
Interested in volunteering? Click here to submit your form!

FORESTival was made possible by the sponsors pictured below and the following: 89.9 WWNO, iHEART, Be Loud, STEM NOLA, The Inkwell Press, Tulane University’s ByWater Institute, Lynne Burkart, Tom & Ellen Prewitt, Power Systems Specialists, Walmart, DePaul Community Health Center, Catherine & David Edwards, Jamie Manders & James Riopelle, Regina & Luis Zervigon, Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Canizaro, Renee Peck, Libra LaGrone and Casius Pealer.

Thank you to our 2024 Planning Committee:
Jessica Dandridge, The Water Collaborative
Gigi Dupuy, Board Member
Alexandra Mora, Board Member
Natalie Nguyen, EisnerAmper
Jennifer Nugent, Gulf Coast Bank and Trust

Volunteer Day in the Woods
2024-10-25 09:00 - 12:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Join us to get your hands dirty in support of our lush bottomland forest on Friday, October 25 from 9am-12pm!
Volunteers will assist our Ecologist and Environmental Curator, David Baker, in some early FORESTival plant permitter clean up focusing on thinning overgrown vegetation and vines for the promotion of young Hardwood trees. He’ll also guide volunteers in the discussion of the Forest, how native blackberries have changed the landscape since the Chinese Privet removal and the impact of Hurricane Francine.
Click here to complete the required registration form.
Parking will be on Patterson Rd. outside of A Studio in the Woods campus at visitor’s own risk. Please wear enclosed shoes, pants and gloves (if you have a favorite pair of loopers or garden shears, feel free to bring them). No Pets allowed.
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Artist Salon with Sunni Patterson & Aurora Levins Morales
2024-10-23 18:30 - 21:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Join us to meet and learn more about Self as Universe residents, Sunni Patterson & Aurora Levins Morales. They will give short presentations on their work which will be followed by a light dinner and refreshments on Wednesday, October 23rd, 6:30pm – 9:00-pm.
New Orleans native and visionary Sunni Patterson deliberately uses art, poetry, and praise (Ancestral veneration) to encourage dialogue, connectivity, spiritual awareness, and healing. She is an internationally acclaimed Poet, Performer, Workshop Facilitator, Certified Spiritual Life Coach/Consultant, and an Initiated Priestess and Minister. She will be returning to the Woods as a Self as Universe Resident.
Cuir, feminist, disabled and chronically ill Boricua-Ashkenazi (Puerto Rican Jewish) poet, essayist and visual artist, Aurora Levins Morales, is a movement elder and sixth generation radical. The author of nine books, her writing is widely taught and anthologized. She lives in Maricao, Puerto Rico where she stewards 34 acres of subtropical rainforest, gardens and writes
*Currently, we have implemented a temporary ban of scented products and ask that you please refrain from wearing any personal perfumes and products that are scented. Products that we are temporarily restricting the use of are things that have a chemical or strong scent. If you plan on using bug spray, please consider using the natural sprays we will provide. There will also be NO SMOKING OR VAPING allowed on campus during this time.*
Click here to RSVP. Registration is required.

Walk in the Woods with David Baker
2024-10-11 10:00 - 12:00 UTC | A Studio in the Woods, 13401 Patterson Rd, New Orleans, LA, 70131, United States
Join us for a Walk in the Woods with our Ecologist and Environmental Curator, David Baker, on Friday, October 11 at 10am to learn about his work and the Bottomland Hardwood Forest Ecosystem of Southeast Louisiana first-hand.
Come witness and ponder how our hardwood forest is turning into Swamp and what ecological processes are accelerating the change. In this walk we will also focus on the over 1,200 trees tagged and mapped at A Studio in The Woods and the process of measuring these trees annually along with identifying and learning native plants of the Gulf South.
The event is free but registration is required and can be completed here.
Parking will be on Patterson Rd. outside of A Studio in the Woods campus at visitor’s own risk. Please wear enclosed shoes and dress accordingly. No Pets allowed.
