Awareness, Advocacy, Activism: ART.
 

Always awakening awareness and artistically articulating advocacy and activism through acts of artistic expression.Mine is family living with various aspects of special needs which directly influences my every act of self-expression.

I identify strongly with the life and arts of the sideshow and my work reflects this as well. I have always been the proverbial “Red headed stepchild in the family full of freaks” even with- in my theater family dynamic that nurtured me from an early age. There, I discovered that death truly is my art.

I specialize in performance art and all aspects of its creation including costume design, set design, prop creation and theatrical writing, currently using Gas Light Players Haunted Attraction, Gentleman Death’s Shocktale Show, as a venue for my creations.

As a Mother to 14yr old triplets living with special needs & a sailor, I also take great delight in sharing my family adventures, personal experiences, anecdotes and observations with the others through my award winning writings in my blog and online community Macaroni Kid Shreveport-Bossier Moms in the Know.

I am a professional artist, working within the community theater and haunt industry which has allowed me to express myself creatively using a wide range of techniques whether it be scripting for the stage, costuming haunt-icon characters created especially for Gas Light Players annual Shocktale Show, or even creating props and scenery out of up-cycled materials.

I have been an active part of the local community theater Gas Light Players since 1989, performing in various aspects and roles within the theater and currently serving as Artistic Director and President of the Board as well as Writer, Director and Co-Designer of the theater’s signature haunted attraction.

Festival performance art is also one of my favorite venues. I have performed with Four Winds Renaissance Festival as well as served as its Casting Director from spring of 1997-2000, moving on to performances with Scarborough Faire and later as a paid performer with Texas Renaissance Festival Performance Company from 2000-2005.

More recently, I could be found at the State Fair of Louisiana as “The Artist” who creates Gentleman Death’s Shocktale Show, performing as one of 2 icon characters out in front of Gas Light Players Box Office during the Fair. Behind the scenes, I served as this show’s Director, script-writer, co-designer and provided original sound recording used through-out the show.

My family and I recently dove head first into the world of creative place-making with the formation of “Terra-plex” which was a partnership between Gas Light Players and local farmers which brought the arts to an area that was previously void of any.

I have been involved within the Haunt Industry since 1989, beginning as a cast member with Gas Light Player’s Terror Show. Also, I have worked nationally with the Chateau du Macabre and The Dungeon haunted attractions in Texas.

As of 2007, I chose to focus on Gas Light Players unique terror show, immersing myself into all aspects of it where I currently script, direct and create costumes, props, custom sound and scenery each year.

Death truly has become my art as I enjoy not only writing in the unique style of the Dr. Blood shows culturally indicative to Gas Light Players in Shreveport, but also creating the various unique characters and visual art to display within the haunted attraction itself.

Photographing my scene designs and the creation of bone sculpture pieces has also become a passion of mine as I document each year of the show both in design as well as capturing the characters created for the show.

From 2007-2011, I also have had the pleasure of writing anecdotes of my children’s antics as well as exploring their eventual autism spectrum diagnosis and journeys and shared Mommie advice for RedRiverMomsLikeMe.com website and advice forum.

As Mother to 14 year old triplets and a 25yr old Sailor, I have had several of my pieces published locally in the sister magazine Red River Moms, LaParenting and also printed in our local as well as national Gannett paper, The Shreveport Times.

My work there has transformed into the current “Shreveport-Bossier Moms in the Know” Facebook group where I currently house my award winning blog, voted 2017 Best Blogger in Shreveport/Bossier and its sister website Macaroni Kid Shreveport-Bossier Moms In the Know.

My work with Gas Light Players Gentleman Death’s Shocktale Show is featured in the new book by Bonnye Stuart, “Louisiana Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities and Other Offbeat Stuff” which made its debut in November, 2012.

I have had the honor of working with Drew Edward Hunter in the Artspace exhibition, “Doctor Blood’s Library Macabre: A Vision of Literary Fright” with my contribution to the installation immersing the patron in the world of the character “Claudia” from the Anne Rice novel “Interview With the Vampire” and the “Phantom of the Opera” installation collaboration.

My later projects involve creative place-making and bringing arts out to Taylor Town with haunted attraction consulting with the Taylortown Dark Arena Haunted House located in Elm Grove, Louisiana which has evolved into a larger multiple haunted attraction complex now known as “Terra-plex” where I enjoyed the opportunity of teaching not only special needs but also rural at risk & troubled youth my craft along with fellow area artists in collaboration in the project.

Nearly 6 years ago, I began collaborating with several other local artists to launch the #RedRocks! #318Rocks! painted rock project locally which is a community-wide initiative designed to engage residents both young and old from the surrounding Shreveport/Bossier area in an ongoing painted rock art project that includes a photographic internet based scavenger hunt and leads participants around the community in search of these one of a kind collectible pieces of Rock-Art both created by and hidden for the community.

So far, the #RedRocks! project has managed to engage people not typically reached by Arts organizations both in the creation of the Rocks as artwork and through connecting everyone together as a community through searching for, finding and re-hiding these one of a kind Art-Rocks! Since its tiny inception, the project has grown by leaps & bounds with the formation of many rock groups across Northwest Louisiana and exceeds 10,000 participants and growing.

My project also has a workshop component where we as artists go out into the community and host rock painting gatherings and perform outreach in as many under-served areas as will allow us to host in libraries, parks and even during parade time!

Over the past few year, I’ve engaged various aspects of our area special needs communities, participated in rural and inner city area workshops, as well as taken this project into our area schools with various service organization groups such as honor society and other service oriented clubs for children.

During my time as a NWLA Juried Roster Artist, I have served on the Shreveport Common Management Team as Roster representative as well as currently serving as NWLA Roster Artists Chairman (for the past 5+ years) which is a role that allows me to grow the Roster itself as well as reach out to and include as many of our area artists as I can bring together to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity while encouraging collaborative efforts and outside the box engagement among artists out in our communities.

As an Artist and Advocate, I hope to bring our community together through hands on engagement of the arts and foster a more inclusive relationship throughout our area by reaching out in a variety of multi-disciplinary forms that will inspire and engage those who wouldn’t typically have access to the arts.

http://tweenmoms.blogspot.com/2013/09/phantom-fixations.html

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mimi-rankin-webb-60ab4a12

https://www.facebook.com/groups/RedRocksProject/

https://www.facebook.com/318Rocks/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ShreveportBossierMomsIntheKnow/

https://www.facebook.com/GentlemanDeathsShocktaleatFaithFarmsTerraplex