About

Victor F. “Trey” Trahan III, FAIA, is the Founder and President of Fondation Trahan and Founder and CEO of Trahan Architects. Internationally recognized for work that pairs technological innovation with quiet, material beauty, he has long taken a rooted approach to architecture, beginning every project by studying the soil, ecology, history, and culture of place. Over time, this practice led him to a simple conviction: if our buildings are to be truly humane, we must care for the lands, stories, and objects that surround them with the same rigor and humility that we bring to design. Fondation Trahan emerges directly from this belief.

A devoted collector, particularly of Japanese ceramics, metalwork, lacquer, and textiles, Trey is drawn to objects shaped by the hand, by chance, and by time – tea bowls and bronze vessels whose patina records centuries of touch, whose apparent simplicity conceals great depth. Fondation Trahan was created, in part, to honor and share these objects responsibly: lending them to museums, supporting research, and presenting them in contexts where their quiet presence can invite reflection on the cultures, beliefs, and ecologies from which they emerge.

Equally central is Trey’s commitment to land, history, and ecological repair. As steward of conservation properties in St. Francisville, Louisiana, and southern Chile, he convenes historians, ecologists, Indigenous knowledge holders, descendants, and other experts to study how human occupation and ecologies are intertwined and how damaged landscapes can begin to heal. At Live Oak, a former plantation, this has meant engaging directly with the legacies of enslavement while restoring native prairies, woodlands, and waterways. Through Fondation Trahan, Trey seeks to ensure that such places and the artworks in his care become living laboratories for reconciliation: spaces where soil, art, and story come together to help people imagine more compassionate, ecologically attuned futures and to accept their shared responsibility to the lands they inhabit.

Dawn Searcy serves as Chair of the Board of Fondation Trahan, where she leads the foundation’s strategic direction and long-term vision through institutional partnerships, organizational development, and governance. Her work reflects a commitment to stewardship and to fostering meaningful connections between art, architecture, cultural landscapes, and public life.

Prior to her work with Fondation Trahan, Dawn held senior leadership roles in the automotive finance sector, where she led regional growth strategy and national partnerships. She brings experience in organizational development, relationship management, and strategic planning to the foundation’s evolving mission.

Dr. Frank Feltens is the Susan Brotman Chief Curator at the Seattle Art Museum. Previously, he served as Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Japanese Art at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art. He received his PhD in Japanese art history from Columbia University.

Feltens specializes in Japanese painting and has written extensively on artworks and artists from East Asia, Europe, and the United States. He has authored or co-authored seven books and held research positions at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, and the Nezu Museum in Tokyo.

He has taught Japanese art at Gakushuin University and Rikkyo University in Tokyo, as well as American University in Washington, D.C. Feltens has organized and advised on a range of acclaimed exhibitions in the United States, Japan, Europe, and South America.

He is a longtime practitioner of the Japanese tea ceremony in the Urasenke tradition and holds the honorary tea name Sōchoku.