A New Orleans artist’s perspective on the Hurricane Katrina disaster – lunchtime talk and exhibition of textile collages Sept. 22 at Berea College

At noon, Mooney will be the featured speaker at the Black Cultural Center’s “Tukule, Tusome,” (To Eat, To Learn) lunchtime series, where her talk will be “On the Edge of Water:  Reflections of a Changing River,” a woman’s perspective of Katrina.  The program in the Woods-Penniman Building Commons includes a light lunch beginning at 11:45.  Admission is free.

At 6 p.m., there will be reception for Mooney and an exhibition of her textile works titled “My Soul Up Over the Moon,” in the Black Cultural Center/Student Organizations Lounge in the Alumni Building.

Both events, which are free and open to the public, are sponsored by Berea’s African and African American Studies Department and the Black Cultural Center.

Jacquelyn Hughes Mooney is a nationally recognized textile artist who is currently Artist in Residence at Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C.  Since the Katrina disaster in 2005, Mooney has worked on documenting the stories and the art of her beloved home. She launched the Changed Waters Project focusing on the reinvention, repurposing & the remarkable transformation of the citizens of the Gulf Coast.  The exhibition has traveled across the country and she has lectured and performed on the subject as well.

From 2004-07, Ms Mooney donated over 150 original pieces of art to the Greensboro’s Habitat for Humanity homeowners. Her poem “Sing a Song for NAwlinss” was released in the poetry CD “My Soul is anchored: Poems Mourning Katrina” sponsored by the James Madison Universitywww.jmu.edu

Mooney’s contemporary art quilts are in the collections of actors Danny Glover, Phylesha Rashad, former U.S Presidents Bill Clinton and George H. Bush, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin as well as Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Johnetta B.Cole, Bill Gates, Sr, Al Roker, and Faith Ringgold, as well as the corporate collections of Exxon Mobile, Johnson Baby Products, and many others.

Her words and visual art have been featured in numerous periodicals and publications including the Kansas City Star, More, Essence, and Business Weekly magazines and the books “A Communion of the Spirit,” “The Spirit in the Cloth,” “Black Threads,” “Seven Soulful Secrets for Finding your Purpose & Minding your Mission,” and others.  On radio and television, her works have appeared on NBC’s Today Show, Minority Business Report, the syndicated Bev Smith Show and others. She has been nominated twice for the Louisiana Governor’s Arts Awards.