Space invader

Sculptor and fiber artist Rachel Hayes spent part of last month in Baton Rouge working with LSU students on a unique installation piece for LSU MOA’s downtown Glassell Gallery, and the results are something to see and experience. Hayes’ work relies heavily on rendering both visual and psychological effects, she says.

After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University, Hayes earned her B.F.A. from Kansas City Art Institute in 1999. She has become a renowned young innovator in public art. Her multi-colored sheer and opaque fabric “sculptures” transform common spaces with the innocent vibrancy of a child’s coloring book and the taste of a master’s palette.

“They can have a different effect than painting, because I am creating space, or responding to architecture, and providing an experience, but still using the language of painting,” she says. “The sheer vibrancy of a bolt of fabric can call to mind paint straight out of the tube.”

Now based in Brooklyn, Hayes will be on hand for the opening reception March 7 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Glassell Gallery at the Shaw Center for the Arts. rachelbhayes.com