"Festival International logo for 2015 revealed," The Vermilion

Photo by Sophie Berard/The Vermilion

Festival International de Louisiane is five months away, but the people behind the scenes already have big plans for the ever-changing logo that appears on the festival’s poster each year.

The revealing of the artwork for the logo was on display during November’s Artwalk in downtown Lafayette at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. People crowded around the displayed piece to take photographs of its artist next to the logo for next year’s festival.

Local artist Troy Dugas said he was contacted by the director of FIL in July to create an original artwork for the 2015 festival poster.

“We worked out a contract, and I met the team at the FIL office for a meeting,” Dugas said. “I presented several directions I could take when creating the artwork, and there was a unanimous response to a particular kind of piece.”

Dugas’ “Radial Forms Four #4,” the face of FIL 2015, was born.

The pin is small, so an element from the artwork will probably be taken from “Radial Forms Four #4” to create it. A simplification of a shape from the original may also be made, Dugas said.

“(The pin) really is a separate thing,” he said. “The poster, however, will be a reproduction of the entire artwork, which will include typography by the graphic designer to complete the overall poster.”

The intricate piece is only one of a series of four Dugas has made over the course of four years: “Radial Forms Four #1” (2010), “Radial Forms Four #2” (2011) and “Radial Forms Four #3” (2012).

Dugas stated his collages are made up of vintage product labels, which he shreds and arranges onto paper, canvas or wood, giving a woven look.

His piece has captured the culture and spirit of the largest, and free, Francophone festival in the U.S.

Labels from vegetables found here in Acadiana — okra, corn and French-style green beans — can be found on Dugas’ piece, with the word “international” written in tiny letters along many of the labels. Other labels come from things that tie in with Lafayette’s Cajun culture. When viewed from afar, one cannot see the words, and the collage appears to be a smooth, flowing artwork.

“The essential elements of color, shape and line are utilized in a new way, and the altered context of the source material provides new meaning. The immediacy of the graphic label is substituted with aesthetic sensation and contemplation,” his artist statement reads.

He said he used repetition, pattern, precision and scale to distract from the original advertising purposes of the labels.

“There is a certain mischievous pleasure in the process of this transformation and, at the same time, a kind of meditation. The images take on a spiritual quality but has no defined religious affiliation — only the wandering spirit of a scavenger creating his own myths,” reads the statement.

Dugas has been an artist for 20 years; his favorite media is mixed media collage, product labels and acrylic. Dugas is currently teaching in the Lafayette Parish School System’s Talented Program, but he does commissions, as well.

Two of his other works can be found at the Acadiana Center for the Arts until January in the “Trivial Pursuits” exhibits, along with his “Radial Forms Four #4.”

Festival International de Louisiane is set for April 22 to 26. The festival music lineup has not yet been announced.

The festival remains free through pin sales and continued donations. Support Lafayette and festival; buy a pin. Keep your festival free!