The Bradbury Art Museum hosted a public artist talk with an artist from Alexandria, Louisiana, who discussed their journey as an artist and printmaker.  

Artist Zoë Couvillion gave a talk in the Grand Hall at the Fowler Center in a free event that was open to the public. 

Following their talk, the 2025 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition opened with one of their art pieces displayed. Couvillion said the displayed piece is one they are the happiest to have finished out of all of their creations.

“A thousand things went wrong with it, over and over and over again,” Couvillion said. “The idea of a lot of contemporary prints is, when you make an addition, you want to make a lot of them look alike.”

Couvillion said the piece, “Unvarnished: Reapplied,” is a metaphor of returning to self care or to the habit of trying to do something well by using the life cycle of nail polish.

“In existing in my days alone and kind of trying to paint my nails, do a little manicure for myself, but then going through a week with them and having it all kind of chip away and the action of having to remove what I chipped away and painting it back on,” Couvillion said. 

Couvillion attended The University of Louisiana at Lafayette before moving to Illinois and getting her masters from Northern Illinois University. She then moved to Athens, Ohio for work before moving to Denton, Texas.

Students and faculty alike attended the event. 

Stephanie Ramirez, a sophomore studio arts major from Bryant, Arkansas, was one of these students. She said she attended the event because she’s interested in printmaking and wants to be an artist in the future.

“I want to make as many connections and meet as many artists as I can,” Ramirez said, “You learn so many new techniques and new methods, and it’s overall just a good experience.”

Ramirez said originally, she was going to go into architecture because it’s a combination of art and science, technology, engineering and mathematics. However, she soon realized she’d rather go into art.

“Art has always been an emotional outlet for me,” Ramirez said, “It is a core of me. I couldn’t live without it. I don’t think I could do anything without it.”

Ramirez and her friend, Emily Willet, a sophomore global supply chain major from Jonesboro, spoke to Couvillion after the talk about how to create stone lithographs, a process Couvillion uses in many of her pieces. 

“I liked hearing her process and seeing her personality through not only the presentation but the way she was answering our questions afterwards,” Willet said, “It was just interesting because she was just so out there and seemed so passionate about it.”

Couvillion said art programs are typically focused on creating restrictions for each assignment and then asking for a product within those guidelines. Additionally, they said students shouldn’t have to just “take orders” and make art in that way.

“I’d love for students in the arts to remember that their goals should be beyond and above that,” Couvillion said. 

Couvillion said a person’s art should be something that excites them and connects them to other people. 

Couvillion and other artists’ works included in the 2025 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition can be found in the Bradbury Art Museum from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.  

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