Adjunct sculpture professor Natalie McLaurin is among a select group of 20 artists from around the country chosen by the New York-based Joan Mitchell Foundation for its 2018 Artist-in-Residence program. McLaurin, who currently teaches two upper level sculpture courses in Loyola's Department of Art, will assume her residency in the fall at the Joan Mitchell Center, located in New Orleans' Seventh Ward. In addition to receiving studio space and a stipend, McLaurin and her fellow artists-in-residence will benefit from the social interactions and networking opportunities between themselves, members of the local arts community, and the Center's numerous out-of-town guests and speakers, who come for programmed events such as lectures, open studios, and artist talks. Created to increase recognition of the work and life of pioneering abstract painter Joan Mitchell (d. 1992), the Foundation opened the Joan Mitchell Center in 2010 as part of its efforts to support the visual arts in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It launched its Artist-in-Residence program in 2013 to provide artists with time and space to create new work in a contemplative environment and to build their networks of of fellow artists and arts professionals.