Artist Bio & Statement
Artist Bio
Wayne Amèdée is a New Orleans based artist originally from White Castle, Louisiana, with a career spanning more than six decades. In 1969 Amèdée received a Bachelors in Fine Art from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now called University of Louisiana at Lafayette. There, he learned to be a multi-disciplinary artists which is now evident in his practice, working accross sculpture, painting, and collage. Amèdée has many large-scale public sculptures on view across the New Orleans area.
His work has been acquired by several permanent and private collections, most notably he is represented in the New Orleans Museum of Art’s permanent collection and in 2023 his piece, Future Steps, was acquired by the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Amèdée helped to establish Loyola University’s permanent sculpture garden and is continuing his 25 year effort through the Frere Joseph Cornet Archive to establish a chair in African Art. He has served on several of the arts visiting committees art Loyola over the years. He currently serves as an advisor to 826 New Orleans, the only youth writing program in the city.
In 1978, he was an artist in residence at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem where he developed a piece in collaboration with local school children. In 2014, he was selected by the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development to receive the Artist of the Year Award at the 2014 Louisiana Culture Awards. He is one of the founders of the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center and was involved with the New Orleans Museum of Art for many years. Amèdée was a trustee of Longue Vue House and Gardens for many years and served as a board member of Antenna, a not for profit artists’ collective in the St. Claude Arts District from 2013-2021.
In addition to his fine art practice, Amèdée is a vocalist with several published albums.
Artist Statement
Engaging with material is the primary way I begin my works; concept derives itself from the process, during which an emotional bond between myself and the piece grows. As a multimedia artist, I utilize a variety of materials to convey emotions felt in my youth as well as during everyday encounters with my surroundings. Abstraction allows me to imbue work with my own emotions while allowing the viewer to respond for themselves, and therefore connecting me to them as in a dialogue. This form of expression also allows me to confront my own materiality and offers a moment of dynamic interaction and fluid movement outside of ideological boundaries.
As a young boy I spent much of my time along the banks of the Mississippi river in my small town of White Castle, Louisiana. The vast expanse of the river mesmerized me and I felt a spiritual connection to the mystical and powerful body of water. In a way, I make work in search of that same connection. I was encouraged as a young age to paint by an elderly relative who had taught herself to paint, and painting became the first material that allowed me to engage with this spiritual and introspective part of myself. I began painting the river and have since moved to echoing the environment around me wherever I go. As my life moves forward and my influences fluctuate, the environment and materiality remain steady and reliable sources of inspiration.
