The Historic New Orleans Collection hosts author Katie Bowler Young for an online talk and book launch for Enrique Alférez: Sculptor at 7 p.m. EDT on the artist’s birthday, Tuesday, May 4, 2021. The event is co-hosted by the New Orleans Botanical Garden at City Park and the Helis Foundation. The event will be delivered in English and Spanish. Young will be online live from the Consulado General de México en Raleigh, North Carolina. The event is free, though pre-registration is required here.
Young will discuss her biography of Alférez which examines his life and art, including the 70 years he worked in New Orleans. Alférez’s lasting imprint is seen among figurative sculptures, monuments, fountains, and architectural details in prominent locations from the Central Business District to the shore of Lake Pontchartrain and beyond. Young has gained unprecedented access to Alférez’s personal and family holdings and has crafted a poetic evocation of the life and work of this preeminent artist.
The event will also feature remarks by Jack Davis, a distinguished publisher, preservationist, and journalist, who will introduce Young. Davis was a friend and confidante of Alférez’s and conducted important interviews with the artist. Paul Soniat, Executive Director of the Botanical Gardens at City Park, will share a video with images of Alférez’s works in the Gardens.
Young’s work also examines connections between Alférez’s art and his homeland, international outlook, and Indigenous Nahua heritage, and features more than one hundred images of his work in New Orleans and beyond. Enrique Alférez: Sculptor is the latest entry in the well-received Louisiana Artists Biography series. Young’s talk will be followed by a Q&A.
Katie Bowler Young is the author of two books of poetry, Through Water with Ease and State Street. She is interim senior director of global partnership and programs in the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and adjunct professor of poetry in the undergraduate creative writing program at Warren Wilson College. Online at www.KatieBowlerYoung.com and via Twitter at @kbywrites.
