mkinnordart.com | @nolamapo

Chair of the Department of Fine Arts at Xavier University of Louisiana, Kinnord has shared her love of clay as an artist and teacher for over 40 years. She grew up in Cleveland and worked as a production potter and sculptor in Massachusetts and California before moving to New Orleans in 1994. She relocated to the city because it offered everything she was looking for. “I wanted a place that was warm, a place near water, a culturally rich city with a large Black population that had a major airport. I wanted a place where I could afford to live. New Orleans checked all of those boxes and then some,” Kinnord says. “Art is a little bit different in New Orleans than it is in New York. In New Orleans, it’s a way of life. It’s so much a part of the culture. It’s because we have an art community, not an art world. In fact, we don’t care what the art world thinks. New Orleans is probably the second most provincial city in the country, after New York. As far as we are concerned, we are the center of the universe. Some of the celebrities like to come to New Orleans. They don’t get treated like celebrities. You almost have to prove yourself to the community.”