Cheri Ben-Iesau is an American painter, muralist, author and retired member of the US Coast Guard based in the New Orleans area.

Biography

Born in 1960's Los Angeles and raised in a nomadic California family, she is related, through her father, to the Atlanta artis
Frederick Flemister
Ben-Iesau's work has been exhibited in the

Ogden Museum of Southern Art The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is a museum dedicated to art by artists from the southern United States in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was established in 1999. The building The Ogden museum is located in the Warehouse Arts District of downtown ...

and numerous gallery shows. The U.S. Coast Guard's Hurricane Katrina Memorial, dedicated in a ceremony by DHS Secretary Chertoff on the 1st anniversary of the storm, features one of her murals. You can find her paintings at th
New Orleans Veteran's Hospital
and in th
New Orleans Arts District
a
Ariodante Contemporary Crafts Gallery
Articles about her art have appeared in Louisiana Homes & Gardens, Professional Mariner, and the

Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

. She is married to Mr. Timothy Thompson of New Orleans. Ben-Iesau joined the Coast Guard in 1986 to get the G.I. Bill and go back home to college. Her nearly 25-year stint included duty stations in San Diego, Louisville, Baton Rouge, Houston, and

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. When

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

hit, she was detailed as the US Coast Guard liaison to city hall. Her self-published book,
The Long September: the social life of a Katrina responder
" describes her experiences leading up to, during, and immediately after the storm. She was Chief of Public and Government Affairs for the Eighth Coast Guard District during the

Deepwater Horizon ''Deepwater Horizon'' was an ultra-deepwater, Dynamic positioning, dynamically positioned, Semi-submersible platform, semi-submersible offshore drilling Oil platform, rig owned by Transocean and operated by the BP company. On 20 April 2010, ...

oil spill disaster in 2010, and retired soon after having achieved the rank of Commander. Her blog and a collection of her paintings may be found at her personal website
ben-iesau.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Iesau, Cheri Living people American artists Year of birth missing (living people) American muralists American painters 20th-century American artists 20th-century American women artists