The mission of the art

Stephanie Yu Lusk is Marlene Yu’s

business instead, with the idea of first making money and then being able to fund other daughter and the director of the Marlene Yu Museum and the Rainforest Art Foundation.

pursuits, like boating, fishing and saving the world.”

“To be building Shreveport’s first “My mother studied art education in contemporary art museum,” Stephanie high school, and then fine art at college in enthused, “to be a part of a global environmental arts movement that my mom pioneered, to increase interest and value to our city through this long-term community investment as an international destination, … I am passionate about the Rainforest Art Foundation and the Marlene Yu Museum on so many levels. How did we transform a building in 10 years of decline in only 10 Taiwan,” Stephanie said. “My parents met at the University of Colorado at Boulder where my father earned his bachelor’s degrees in business and architecture, and my mother earned her master’s degree in fine art. Marlene had three jobs during grad school – seamstress, babysitter and waitress at IHOP.”

Stephanie credits her parents’ magnanimity, months? Together, we did it for love. Love of nature, family, art and Shreveport.”

Visual artist Marlene has been featured in over 70 solo shows worldwide.

“Marlene is a pioneer in the environmental green movement in the arts and has a passion for the beauty and awe of mother nature,” Stephanie said. “Since she was a little girl in Taiwan, she has always enjoyed being outside and draws inspiration from her natural surroundings. She started RAF to bring together like-minded artists in all different artistic disciplines

Stephanie Lusk, Marlene and James Yu stand in front of the Marlene Yu Museum and Rainforest Art Foundation, located at 710 Travis St.

so that they may work together to show their art with themes in nature.”

“Marlene has a grand desire to save the planet,” Stephanie said, “and hopes that creating awareness through art will aid in the preservation of our planet. Her dream to grow Rainforest Art Foundation into a global movement is coming to fruition, with its founding in [New York City], its expansion to Zurich and Frankfurt, and headquarters to open soon in Shreveport.”

creativity and resourcefulness for laying the groundwork for not only the Shreveport space, but early development efforts of SoHo in New York.

“We lived in an open layout loft in SoHo, originally a factory district that changed into artists’ live-work spaces and a neighborhood of galleries, and has now transformed into a popular fashion district with a mix of highend boutiques and offices,” she said. “After living in SoHo for 40 years, my parents left their 8,000-square-foot loft in Manhattan to

More about the Yus

“You can’t talk about Marlene without talking about my father James,” Stephanie said. “They are free-spirited and forwardthinking, and yet business-minded and practical. They are very much do-it-yourselfers, and love giving parties. At the opening receptions in New York, they typically cook food for 100-200 people every few months.”

“Both of my parents are immigrants,” Stephanie said. “My father is Shanghainese, but was born in the Philippines. My mother is Taiwanese and her father was a doctor. Both of my parents were born during war times. My father was ambitious and told his father that he wanted to feed the hungry people in the world. My grandfather took him to visit an agricultural college and somehow the lack of glamour there and his persuasion led my father to take up move to Queens. There, they established the Rainforest Art Foundation in Long Island City, now New York City’s most dense art population, where they transformed a 15,000-square-foot former rug warehouse into a gallery and studio space. These pioneers in environmental arts and artists’ districts are at it again in downtown Shreveport with approximately 41,000 square feet in the former YWCA building.”

Stephanie’s first perspective of Marlene was her role as mother rather than artist, even though she was surrounded by Marlene’s work from a very early age. In fact, her kindergarten class did an interpretive dance performance based on Marlene’s “Black Hole Series.” “My mother picked me up from Montessori school and Little Red Schoolhouse, and she would have me paint abstractions next to her,” Stephanie said. “My