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Lori K. Gordon (born January 20, 1958) is an artist, founder and co-owner of Marrakech Henna Art Cafe in Marrakech, Morocco. She is known for The Katrina Collection, her series of mixed media assemblages that incorporates debris from the massive hurricane that ravaged the Mississippi Gulf Coast in August 2005; for The Labat Project, which has been acquired by the Smithsonian Institution, and for Six Degrees: West to East which addresses the gulf between the western and Islamic worlds.[1]
Gordon settled near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi in 1991. She introduced her first mixed media series in 2001. One of her major works from this period is the 8' by 10' biographical art quilt "Labat: A Creole Legacy," which has been acquired by the Smithsonian Institution for inclusion into their permanent collection.[2] In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina obliterated her home and studio in the small community of Clermont Harbor, Mississippi. With her tools and supplies destroyed by 140-mile-per-hour winds and a 43-foot storm surge, Gordon transformed it into mixed media assemblages.[3] Her Katrina Collection has been exhibited in dozens of venues around the nation.
Gordon has been awarded grants from the New York-based Pollock-Krasner Foundation (2005), Gottlieb Foundation (2006), and Andy Warhol Foundation (2006), as well as from the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans (2006). She was selected to receive the 2007 Artist Fellowship from the Mississippi Arts Commission as well as several grants. Other honors include commissions from the Mississippi Humanities Council (2005 and 2006); a commission from the State of Mississippi (2006); the annual "Spotlight on Success" event by the March of Dimes (2007); commissions from the national organization Architects, Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility (2007); commission from the American Red Cross (2008), a fellowship from the Mississippi Arts Commission; commission from Habitat for Humanity (2008) and from the Greater Jackson Arts Council (2011). In 2006, she was selected to participate in Southern Artistry, a joint effort of Southern Arts Federation and the Center for Arts Management & Technology at Carnegie Mellon. She may be found on the Mississippi Arts Commission Artist Roster and regularly teaches workshops in paper collage.
Humanitarian activity
Gordon has been an active contributor to many charitable organizations and has given free presentations to groups around the nation, including Elderhostel, Job Core, Augsberg College, Northwestern State University's Creole Heritage Center, New Hope Learning Center, several groups of schoolchildren, Katrina relief organizations, and various art organizations. In 2004, she was invited to address the Mississippi House of Representatives on The Labat Project. She teaches workshops for both children and adults in her collage/assemblage techniques and has acted as co-organizer in shows across the country, including those in Moss Beach, California; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Richmond, Virginia and several locations in Mississippi. She is a founding member of The Artists of 220 Main, an award-winning gallery in Bay St Louis which opened its doors just five weeks after Hurricane Katrina; and also of The Arts Hancock County, where she served as Publicity Chair and Board Member from 2004-2008. Memberships include Del Ray Artisans, South Arkansas Arts Center, South Arts Federation, The Arts Hancock County, Ocean Springs Art Association, and the Museum of the Southwest. Gordon has also written on the arts for several publications, including Art Gulf Coast and South Mississippi Living. In 2014, Gordon and her partner Rachid Karkouch opened the Marrakech Henna Art Cafe in Marrakech, Morocco. The cafe hosts exhibitions of work by artists from many countries and also serves as a home for El Fenn Maroc, an NGO founded by Gordon and whose mission is to support artists in Morocco.
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