Slidell Mayor Greg Cromer is inviting the public to join him at the Slidell premiere of a new documentary about Slidell artist George Dunbar. George Dunbar: Mining the Surfaces will premiere on Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 6 p.m. at the Slidell Municipal Auditorium. Admission is free.

From the award-winning executive producers of the documentaries Fats Domino–Walkin’ Back to New Orleans and A Tribute to Toussaint comes the latest documentary by WLAE-TV and LAE Productions.

For those who know the artist and his work, this name brings a career, a work ethic, a personality, a journey into vivid focus.

Like his art, George Dunbar is a gift to the world of beauty he inhabits. Across the decades he has been in constant motion, and like the landscape he lives and works within, his work, his style, have ever ebbed and flowed in a myriad of directions. His works have been called sumptuous, vigorous, immaculate, and an effort toward perfection.

From the early days of Abstract Expressionism in New York, working with giants like Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning, showing with the former, his body of work has run like a river through the varied series and mediums over time. The sculptural and gilded forms he is known for take on a refined ethos with a sublime weightiness and permanence. The precise, architectural, if not liturgical works of scale, from the “Coin” series, are both modern, and convey a profound history the viewer “knows”.

George Dunbar’s love of New Orleans, his inspiration derived from the landscape here, his place in the rise of modern and contemporary art in the area, and his rare approachability as an artist of voluminous contribution, are the substance of this long overdue documentary on the man and his work.

Collectors cannot get enough of him or his work; some have entire homes filled with only his work, the varied series across the decades. To speak with him, it is immediately clear, “the work is the thing.” For Dunbar the calling to art is about the art, with no regard to the misappropriated and all too common search for fame and recognition. He has indeed received his fair share of renown, among collectors, museums, institutions, and beyond,yet, the everyday pursuit of the art still drives him, now into his 90s. He has outlived so many artists of his time, and no doubt, his art will live on in the future, receiving an ever growing sense of appreciation and passionate pursuit.

The Slidell Municipal Auditorium is located at 2056 Second Street in Olde Towne Slidell Doors open to the public at 5:45 p.m. and seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Slidell Mayor Greg Cromer invites the public to join him on Thursday, February 23, at 6 p.m. for a concert featuring the United States Air Force Band of the West Velocity Jazz Ensemble. The concert will be held at the Slidell Municipal Auditorium and admission is free.

The USAF Band of the West is a musical organization with an outstanding record of achievement. The Airmen assigned to the band are highly-trained professional musicians who have dedicated themselves to serving their country through music.

The USAF Band of the West travels more than 125,000 miles annually and provides hundreds of performances to military and civilian audiences throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Puerto Rico. The organization is made up of the large ensembles Concert Band, Ceremonial Marching Band, Dimensions in Blue, and three popular music groups, Warhawk, Top Flight, and Velocity. Small ensembles within the unit include Freedom Brass, Gateway Brass, Spectrum Winds, Nightwatch, Mission Winds, and protocol combos. This diversity enables the USAF Band of the West to perform practically any style of music from classical and country to marches and mambos.

The USAF Band of the West has performed for presidents, heads of state, and dignitaries from around the world earning an outstanding reputation among America’s military bands.

The USAF Band of the West has a long lineage in the United States Air Force. The band was created on October 1st, 1941 at Moffett Field, California and moved to Enid Army Airfield soon after. With the birth of the United States Air Force in 1947, the band moved to what eventually became Lackland Air Force Base. The band was inactivated in 1955 but reactivated in 1959. The title “Band of the West” was used for years until May 1st, 1997 when it was granted official status.

The Slidell Municipal Auditorium is located at 2056 Second Street in Olde Towne Slidell. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.