Acadian Cultural Center hosts exhibit by artist Clair Decker

The Acadian Cultural Center of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve presents an art exhibit featuring the work of artist Claire Decker titled “A Peek at Claire Decker’s Art World.”  The exhibit is on display now through Jan. 29.
Admission to the exhibit and to the center is free.
The center is located at 501 Fisher Road in Lafayette. For more information, call 337-232-0789 ext. 201 or visit www.nps.gov/jela.
Deckers’s art combines realism with imagination and reflects her love of animals, nature, and fantasy. She is primarily self- taught, except for high school art classes and pointers from her mother who was an excellent artist in the pointillism style. In the 1970s Decker was the first woman to graduate from Northwestern State University in broadcast journalism. Decker later went to graduate school at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
In the late 1980s, Decker stopped producing artwork due to family and business obligations. A car accident in 1989 left her with a head injury which resulted in memory and language processing issues. A friend urged her to return to her art, which Decker did as she recovered from her injuries. Her dedication was rewarded: in 1992, Decker was one of 12 artists chosen to represent the United States in Athens, Greece, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas. In 1994 she was the first American to have a one-woman art exhibit in Kraznovarsk, Siberia. Decker has exhibited in various locations in Acadiana and is a published author and poet. “Art is an important part of my life” Decker said. “Love what you do and do what you love!”