SHREVEPORT, LA. — Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin invites the public to attend the opening of “Andrés Sánchez Flores: Gems of an Artistic Genius,” an outstanding memorial exhibit of historic murals, Caddo and Aztec drawings, watercolors and Mexican genre paintings at the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum. The exhibit will be on display from May 4 to May 26 in the West Wing Gallery. The LSEM will host an opening reception on Thursday, May 4 from 4:30 – 7 p.m., with light refreshments provided by Gabriel Banderas, owner of Zuzul Coastal Cuisine, and Friends of the LSEM. The reception will also feature music and dance performed in traditional costume by the Folklorico group Orgullo de Mexico. “Gems of an Artistic Genius” can be viewed during regular museum hours, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Andrés Sánchez Flores was born in San Andrés, Jalisco, in western Mexico. He was a master artist who worked in the mediums that defined the Mexican Art Movement, the renaissance of mural painting, and taught classes on these techniques in Mexico, United States, and Australia. His work was a major component in the painting and restoring of a large body of murals and frescoes created between 1920 and 1953.

Admission is free and tours are available by appointment. For more information about the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum, please visit www.laexhibitmuseum.org, or call 318.632.2020. For the Secretary of State’s Museums Program, visit www.sos.la.gov/museums.