Artist Megan Barra Finds Her Inspiration in Music and Poetry
Lafayette artist Megan Barra describes herself as an “artist, collector, music enthusiast, dancer, foodie, seamstress, student of the French language and designer.” But her work is much more than that. Through her art, this descendant of Acadians and other 18th-century French settlers venerates the culture and rhythms of Southwest Louisiana, its people, history and landscape. That spiritual connection is present in every fiber of her work.
Barra’s approach to creating art is unlike most artists who use paint and canvas or metal and clay to create their work. Instead, Barra hand-stitches together pieces of colored silk to create colorful “silk compositions” with fractured imagery that at times calls to mind the paintings of Pablo Picasso. Although their visual messages differ radically, both tell stories. Her images dive deep into heartbeat and rhythms of Louisiana music and landscape.
“Music is a passion of mine,” Barra says. “I celebrate the musical artists that I enjoy listening to and who have impacted our culture in Louisiana — artists such as Clifton Chenier, Cléoma Breaux Falcon, Amédé Ardoin and Sonny Landreth. Life revolves around celebration, and my art is a tribute to that. The landscape of South Louisiana is also a source of inspiration. There is a spirit to it. I feel compelled to share the beauty of nature in my way.”
Another passion is the French language. Because of her ancestry and a life immersed in the culture of the Acadiana parishes, Barra is learning to speak French. She has taken classes at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and at the Université Sainte-Anne in Nova Scotia.
“It’s a beautiful language,” she says, “and I would love to have more conversations with older friends whose first language is French.”
Born in Baton Rouge, Barra grew up in Lafayette where she later received a bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Louisiana. There she studied graphic design with Dutch Kepler and drawing with Tom Secrest and famed Louisiana landscape artist Elemore Morgan Jr., who greatly influenced her art.
“As a young artist,” she says, “Elemore taught me to see the beauty in a landscape, to draw with observation and curiosity and to look for inspiration. As a friend, he inspired me with his grace, generosity and gentle spirit.”
She also found encouragement and her voice in the poems of former two-time Louisiana Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque who, as she says, “inspires in me a desire to conjure up a story, a song or a sonnet with my imagery.” Conversely, Barra’s art resonates with Bourque’s sense of visual poetry.
“Megan Barra stitches soulfulness into her subjects,” says Bourque, reflecting upon her imagery. “She approaches art with both loving regard and impeccable technique. Like a master quilter, her vase of roses, her musical instruments, her singers and players and her broad and varied subjects become windows into what we value in our histories, our cultures, our beloved landscapes.”
Bourque selected Barra’s silk composition “Woman with Guitar” for the cover of his book “Megan’s Guitar and Other Poems from Acadie.” One of his poems is titled “Megan’s Guitar,” which reads in part:
“The woman’s placed the instrument close to where she breathes & it rests on a knee perhaps. She takes to the frets for histories we didn’t know were ours to tell, of people we didn’t know we knew: stories of Mi’kmaq & Attakapas, of the old men of Martaizé & Saint Domingue, of Broussards & Trahans, of Castilles & Babineauxs wavering like time inside this curved & trembling world of ours.”
Barra began creating her silk compositions after inheriting a 1910 Singer sewing machine from a great aunt. Her sewing process is similar to making a costume or patchwork quilt, which her compositions are not. First, she sketches a concept on paper that she scans into her computer to refine. Next, she prints out a paper pattern, cuts out elements in that pattern, selects the silk colors, pins the pattern parts to the fabric and then hand-stitches them together. At times, she draws directly on the silk. She finishes the edges with her sewing machine. The completed work is then framed.
“It just feels good to make something and tell a story by putting different pieces together,” Barra says. “There’s a story with every piece of material I get. Like the women in my family before me, I enjoy working with fabric. I love giving new life to heirloom silks. Sewing with your hands is very meditative.”
In addition to her fine art work, Barra has built a successful career as a commercial graphic artist and has done everything from publications for state cultural agencies to business logos and posters, including those for Lafayette’s Festival International de Louisiane. She designs art books and catalogs, and cover art for vinyl albums and compact discs. In 2002, her artwork received a Grammy nomination in the “Best Recording Package” category for the “King of Slydeco” Sonny Landreth’s album “Levee Town.”
Over the years, her work has received considerable recognition. It has appeared in regional and national magazines as well as in galleries and exhibitions in Southwest Louisiana, France and Québec, including Le Musée acadien du Québec.
Whether creating silk compositions or commercial art, Barra says she “feels compelled to share ideas and stories” through her art.
“That a person may enjoy the work that I create,” she says, “brings me joy.”
Illustration by S.E.George
MEET THE ARTIST
Megan Barra
Born 1959, Baton Rouge
Residence Lafayette
Inspiration South Louisiana music, Southwest Louisiana landscape
Medium Silk fabric
Favorite Imagery Louisiana musicians
Web meganbarra.com
