JR Welch

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Writer + Artist | New Orleans

American South • Mississippi River
Fiction • Poetry • Nonfiction • Visual Art I am J. R. My journey carries both wounds and wisdom.

Welch, writer, photographer, and cultural storyteller. My life’s work is built around art, words, and leadership, each rooted in resilience and shaped by three cities along the Mississippi: Hayti (roots & survival), Memphis (gateway to culture), and New Orleans (belonging & voice). Through art, I draw out beauty from overlooked places. Through words, I tell stories that hold both grit and grace. Through leadership, I walk with others; coaching, guiding, and creating spaces where healing, imagination, and courage can grow. I’ve known rupture, and I’ve chosen to root deeper; I’ve wrestled with vision, and I’ve learned to rein it toward purpose. What I offer is not perfection but presence; an open house where people can breathe, belong, and be inspired to rise. Rooted in survival. Reined in by vision. Living as a son of the Mississippi River.

10/25/2026

“Just a couple of jokers” - Amy Renee Welch

10/10/2026

Happy Birthday Amy.

I have captured many photos of Amy Renee Welch over the years. This is a top 5 favorite of mine.

10/04/2026

Recently I traveled to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to help install a wonderful show, “Origins,” at the Sella-Granata Art Gallery on the campus of the University of Alabama. I’m happy to have two pieces in the show, which runs October 1 through October 23.

While I was in Tuscaloosa, I drove across the river to Northport and had a good old Southern breakfast at City Cafe. Biscuits and gravy, fried bologna, it took me right back to my Mom’s kitchen when I was growing up. Funny how food can do that, one bite and you’re transported to the past.

lsUNO Professor Tony Campbell curated “Origins,” and he did a beautiful job with the exhibition. It really looks wonderful in the gallery.

If you’re anywhere near Tuscaloosa this month, I hope you’ll stop in, spend a little time with the work, and soak it all in.

09/19/2026

I’m honored to share that my sculpture “Resurrection: Lord God Bird” received First Place in the Northshore Trashformation exhibition at the George Dunbar Gallery in Slidell City Hall.

The exhibition challenged artists to transform discarded and overlooked materials into works of art, giving new purpose and meaning to what might otherwise have been thrown away. I’m especially grateful to Dr. Bob, renowned New Orleans artist and juror for the exhibition, and to everyone who helped make this show possible.

Thank you to the City of Slidell, Leadership Northshore’s 2026 Team Trashformation, the Olde Towne Arts Commission, the City’s Commission on the Arts, and all of the organizers, volunteers, and supporters who brought the exhibition together.

Seeing “Resurrection” displayed with the blue ribbon was a very special moment.

The exhibition remains on view at the George Dunbar Gallery at Slidell City Hall through October 22.

From discarded pieces to something renewed. “Resurrection” is about transformation, survival, myth, and the possibility of seeing a new life.

09/17/2026

Family Tradition: Ci******es, hands in the dirt, white beans, polk salad, cold b**r, BBQ pork and chicken, greens, fresh tomatoes, and gravel roads.

08/31/2026

This is a intimate space, designed to collaborate and create. It is my home studio and a place I love.

Do you have a space you create in? A space that feels flexible and safe? A place you pour words on a page? Paint on a canvas?

I would love to know about your creative practice and space/spaces. Drop it in the comments.

08/28/2026

1943. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker was hanging on, flying, making music, moving through the old growth trees in the American South. Activists working to preserve it for future generations. Then in 1944 it was seen, for the last time, Northern Lousiana its final home.

This Contemporary Assemblage Sculpture is about what remains when a living thing, beautiful and majestic, becomes memory.

What do you think we owe the things that disappear?

08/25/2026

This is a work in progress about erasure. About what happens when people in power decide something is gone, or determine it should be.

The mannequin, the feminine figure, the ivory-billed woodpecker. 1944. Missing. Last seen in Louisiana. Arkansas claiming it saw a ghost.

These elements keep showing up in my work.

And above them, this plastic watering aide.

Watering the woman? The bird? Trying to give growth to things culture neglects?

I don’t know yet, as the work isn’t finished, and is still evolving.

It doesn’t have a title either.

What would you call it?

08/24/2026

Amy Renee Welch and I had a wonderful time in Ruston for The Ruston Art Ramble. We had the chance to reconnect with wonderful friends, experience outstanding art installations, and engage with the community.

I was also grateful for the opportunity to share The Authorized Version, a collaborative work created with my residency collaborator, Lo Patt. The work explores erasure and excavation; what is removed, what remains, and what can be uncovered through the act of looking again. People in power often control the narrative. What does it look like to give agency back?

Thank you to everyone who spent time with the work, asked questions, shared thoughts, and helped make the experience so meaningful.

Address

New Orleans, LA

Website

https://thejrwelch.com/

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