Artist and architect Mac Ball finds inspiration in riverine environments and coastal southern landscapes. Raised along the waterways and marshes of Charleston, South Carolina, he now resides in New Orleans where he has been witnessing an ever-increasing crisis of land loss and environmental devastation. Since Hurricane Katrina, his architectural firm has been rebuilding the City and has focused on sustainable water management. Waggonner & Ball has teamed with experts from the Netherlands to weave stormwater management concepts into urban design initiatives and coastal stormwater projects in Connecticut, Norfolk, Charleston and Houston. Mac’s love of Louisiana’s coastal landscape and a fascination with the way water alters one’s perception of the environment has fundamentally changed his artistic direction in this time of sea level rise. Counterpoised with coastal imagery, a fascination with the source and movement of water that flows to the sea has also born a body of work that is focused on movement and the refraction of light and color that plays upon highland streams. ARTIST STATEMENT"Though I have made paintings most of my life, I recently retired from a long career in architecture to paint full time only to find myself, like all of us, a bit trapped and caught in the conundrum of the seemingly endless Covid pandemic," says Ball. "My focus in painting has been primarily on landscapes and waterscapes: our marshlands and riverine environments that are beautiful, timeless, and now, frighteningly fragile in this time of sea level rise and climate change. "This pandemic, however, has made me aware of slowness, stillness and a different kind of space, one that is more intimate and personal. While this exhibit is still concerned with environmental compositions in the form of coastal landscapes and littoral zones, I decided to focus on interior spaces as well, in the form of traditional still life and floral compositions, to explore a softer geometry and a richer palette of colors and tones." Born 1953, Charleston, SCCurrently lives and works in New Orleans Education1975B.A. Studio Art / English; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill1978M. Arch; Yale School of Architecture, New Haven; William Wirt Winchester Traveling Fellowship Select Solo Exhibitions2024New Works, Cole Pratt Gallery 2023Solo Exhibition, Meyer Vogl Gallery 2021Stillness, Cole Pratt Gallery 2021Riversongs, Page Bond Gallery 2019Islands / Bitterroot Suite, Page Bond Gallery2018Topological Narratives, Cole Pratt Gallery 2016Wish You Were Here, Cole Pratt Gallery 2013Modern Life, Cole Pratt Gallery 2012Recent Paintings, Cole Pratt Gallery Select Group Exhibitions2023Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans / 20th Anniversary Exhibition 2022Looking Out / Looking In, StudioWaveland Gallery 2021Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans / Louisiana Contemporary Exhibit 2019Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans / Louisiana Contemporary Exhibit 2010James Stirling at Yale/Student Work. Yale School of Architecture 2009Make it Right/From Concept to Community, Contemporary Art Center 2008Group Show: Mac Ball/Recent Paintings, Uptown Gallery 1999Art by Architects, Contemporary Art Center 1995Ten Years Out, Yale School of Architecture 1993-98Birdhouses By Architects, New Orleans Museum of Art Select CollectionsIberia BankThe Historic New Orleans CollectionBayou District Foundation / Columbia ParcCapital One BankPlauche Maselli Parkerson, LLCLambeth House Senior Living Related Experience2011Elected to College of Fellows (FAIA), American Institute of Architects 1989-PresentPrincipal and Founder, Waggonner & Ball Architects, LLC 1985-1989Associate, Eskew, Vogt Salvato & Filson Architects 1979-1985Design Team Leader, Cesar Pelli & Associates, New Haven 1978-1979Roth and Moore Architects, New Haven