Arts Council of Livingston Parish names artist of the year during reception

Two artists, Dody Sandifer and Macey Sledge, separated by a generation or two, were honored Saturday by the Arts Council of Livingston Parish at a reception at the council’s gallery on Hummel Street in Denham Springs.

Sandifer was named Artist of the Year by the Arts Council and Sledge, only six years old, was named a recipient of the Sarah Riley Scott Student Artist Award given to two young artists each year by the Arts Council.

Both being honored on the same day is not the only parallel the duo share. Sandifer, a veteran painter, sculptor and one-time art gallery owner said of what drives him to create, “I dream of painting all the time … when an idea of what I want to paint just comes into my head, I have got to start painting. I just have to do it … This is how it has been for me for much of my life.”

Reagan Sarbeck, Macey’s mother, said of the aspiring young artist, “She just loves all forms of art. She is always drawing, painting an doing all kinds of creative activities. Being creative is how she plays. I have to wonder where this drive to be creative comes from.”

The second recipient of a Sarah Riley Scott Student Artist Award is Haiden Latimer, an eighth-grade student at French Settlement High School. Latimer, who could not attend the reception, ironically because he was at an art class, created a hanging sculpture titled, “Lion Up.”

He was honored for creating what is termed “recycled art.” Latimer used old newspaper to create a mane that circles the face of a lion. To create texture on the lion’s face he used tabs from the tops of discarded aluminum cans.

The title Latimer chose for his creation, “Lion Up!,” has become the unofficial rallying cry for fans of athletics at Southeastern Louisiana University where the lion has been the school mascot for more than 70 years.

Sandifer is a versatile artist who said that he just enjoys being creative in many different mediums. “I have created art in every form with the exception of ceramics and that’s because I don’t have a kiln. I just have to be involved with art in its many forms just about all the time. … I can’t help it,” he said.