Keith Sonnier: Fort Crevecoeur December 30, 2010

Keith Sonnier, a globally recognized artist best known for large-scale installations and sculptures that include neon, has never forgotten the allure of his Acadian birthplace. After completing his studies at the University of Southwestern Louisiana and, later, Rutgers University, he moved to New York City, where his career quickly took off. This exhibition, his first major one-person museum show in Louisiana, features a dozen large sculptural works created in direct response to his origins. Sympathetic to Louisiana's crisis as a result of the recent oil spill in the gulf, Sonnier has named this exhibition 'Fort Crevecoeur,' or "fort broken heart." The name references the Illinois fort where the French explorer LaSalle took refuge before his famous expedition down the Mississippi River in 1682.