Mikey Walsh

This 64 piece ceramic art installation celebrates the workers and industries of Louisiana. It is on permanent display in the main entry foyer of the LWCC corporate headquarters in Baton Rouge, LA.

Artist Statement:

Everyday work is what the world depends on. The teacher, technician or nurse rising early or staying late to care for our collective needs; the many laborers tending to instruments, gauges, monitors, people and production lines. This ceramic art installation titled “Extraordinary Ordinary” was created in collaboration with the many workers of LWCC to offer joy, delight, pride and recognition of their collective labors.

Over the past year, with thought and care, I remade ordinary objects workers use every day. These objects offer points of reflection on the often invisible, commonplace work we all do. My aim is to celebrate and honor the extraordinary workforce of the 21,000 businesses LWCC represents.

I hope every worker finds some part of their daily lives reflected in one of the objects- and I hope they feel seen, valued, and appreciated for what they contribute.

Replication is an act of devotion. Each object was discussed with various members of LWCC and was then replicated, or sculpted, by hand from a lump of wet, earthenware clay- some of which was dug locally on my friend Heather Beaud’s farm in Port Allen, LA.

Art brings presence where there is absence. Through re-creating objects that reflect the day-to-day lives of LWCC’s many businesses, “Extraordinary Ordinary” reminds us of the valuable role we each play in keeping Louisiana working.

Michaelene “Mikey” Walsh

December 2023

I am excited to share my latest public work, The Cary Saurage Community Arts Center Donor Wall. Thank you to the many individuals and organizations that gave so generously to fund this spectacular building for the people of Baton Rouge. I am honored to have the opportunity to honor YOU. Many thanks to Renee Chatelain and Brian Morfitt at the Baton Rouge Arts Council for commissioning this project.

I’d also like to thank artist Nellie Lyons for her help in planning for installation. A big thanks also to artist Mike Cerv for creating plaster molds for a number of slip cast forms. And, to artist Heather Beaud- thank you and your family for taking me out to dig local clay on your property in Port Allen, and for your installation assistance. Each of your time and willingness to work with me was so appreciated!

OLOL Children’s Hospital

In October 2019, Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital opened in Baton Rouge, LA. I was thrilled to be included in The Ann Connelly Gallery's curated group of included artists. I feel honored to be a part of this healing environment; OLOL Children's is an immensely thoughtful place; it is a beautifully designed child-and family-friendly space that will provide Baton Rouge the highest quality hospital care for decades to come.

Many thanks to LSU graduate Alumni Jessi Maddocks for making molds for the pencils and and ice creams. Her assistance made this project achievable.

Also, thanks to Kevin Duffy, my photographer for meeting on site and taking beautiful images.

“A cup is roughly the size of your heart.” – Artist Adero Willard

A cup is the quintessential vessel, it feels to me the very heart of ceramics. A cup is intimate, it touches lips and hands. Cups also comprise a body- a foot, a lip, a belly. Cups straddle material, physical and spiritual boundaries. They hold. They comfort. They connect the maker and user across many thresholds.

To be firmly determined, resolved, to intend to go or to move by leaping.

Something secured in place.

To be tied to; as in duty- bound.

Very likely, certain, expected to….as in, it’s bound to happen.

A point or line beyond which a person or thing cannot go.

To be both going somewhere as well as tied to one place….

Words are often the first threshold I cross when considering a new body of work. Starting from where I found myself; grateful to be in mid-life (mostly), joyful, with 2 kids, a great job- but also wrestling, too with commonplace, mid-life fears, responsibilities and obligations; the word “bound” in all its permutations, spoke to me. Colored ribbons serve as symbols within our culture, visual reminders of what people support, value or believe in. This project embraces that idea, my hope is to create a veritable constellation around our community- one suggesting the many ways in which we all are, or can be – bound together.

I spend a good deal of my time trying to make meaningful objects with my hands. It is what I have dedicated my adulthood to. Much like a plumber fixes a sink or my daughter’s teacher explains fractions, creating is one facet of how I contribute to this community. “Bound” stemmed from a simple desire to give of what I know and value, as much acknowledgment and appreciation for what others do and bring to Baton Rouge.

Over several months I made small ceramic bows. Kathryn Hunter, the owner of Blackbird Letterpress donated the colorful tags. On a small group of tags I wrote a concise message to a variety of people (some I know, some I don’t) whose contributions to Baton Rouge I have admired, valued and appreciated. In turn, I provided each recipient additional tag’s to pass on to others in the same spirit. All tagged recipients get to choose one bow as a gift, for free. All other untagged bows were available for a donation, 100% of which went to support Baton Rouge Gallery, a place I cherish for our community.

Mikey Walsh- “Kin and Kind”, June 2012

I conceived of the work American Dream as an attempt to pose an optimistic, connected vision of our shared humanity. The popsicles are riffs on Disney World’s Mickey Mouse Ice Cream Pops. Having wondered why these ice cream treats couldn’t be more reflective of the overall American population (celebrating our similarities and differences) I created my rendition of the dream, in the shape of the 50 stars of the American Flag. Each popsice is both an individual as well as a collective expression of simple, human joy.

Last Fall while visiting the Baton Rouge Zoo I came upon a small primate nursing her baby. A new mother myself, I was immediately struck by the familiar gesture and tenderness expressed. In that moment, I felt both part of a specific lineage- as well as aware of my relationship to a more diverse array of creatures and things.

Pieces such as Kind, the Primate works and Silverback were created around the themes begun at my zoo visit; themes of Kinship, ideas about what we literally and metaphorically exist “in relation to” on some very basic, universal levels. However, my approach with these works plays with both real and very unreal images of primates, as Silverback is a direct, scale copy of my daughters favorite stuffed toy monkey. I am trying to delve into the more poetic aspects of Kinship by questioning the ways we encounter it in our daily lives.

I am aware while I create that the literalness or obviousness of my imagery may be viewed as too simple, or as too literal a device for drawing the viewer in. However, I also attempt to shift expectations or assumptions a viewer might have when faced with such literalness. For instance, with my piece KIND I play with tones meant to reference precious objects like bronze statues or commemorative baby shoes. In doing so, I intend to speak about lineage, preservation of species and the long-term legacies we are part of, whether we consider ourselves a party to them or not.

We exist in relationship. A certain empathy arises in me when I contemplate being “in relation to”. Often, within Art, relationships between objects shift and coalesce in such a way that something fresh or exciting is felt; what once felt common suddenly feels uncommon, what initially appeared ordinary strangely moves us. It is that small moment of insight that can, perhaps, be held onto as memorable my work has achieved its aim.

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Images provided by Ákos Major (http://akosmajor.com). All rights reserved.

This is a work entitled KIND which I donated to the permanent collection of Chimp Haven in Shreveport, Louisiana. “Chimp Haven, the National Chimpanzee Sanctuary, is a non-profit facility in the U.S. providing a home for chimpanzees retired from laboratory research, formerly kept as pets, and used in entertainment.”

Early in my time at LSU, John Byrd was an artist-in-residence. We collaborated on these drawings and I still find them charming and compelling. Collaborating is a great exercise in letting go.