It’s a rarity for the LSU Museum of Art to showcase more than one Louisiana artist at a time. But beginning this month, the temporary galleries will consist entirely of works from three area artists.
Curator Courtney Taylor says while the museum’s permanent collection is weighted more toward historic and Louisiana-focused pieces, the opportunity to have separate collections from three local artists shown simultaneously was serendipitous—but an occasion they couldn’t pass up. “It’s great be able to support the excellence of artists working here,” she says.
We sat down with Taylor to find out what visitors should expect.
‘Swimming to Inishkeel’ by Malcolm McClay
Opening Nov. 1
Irish performance and sculpture artist and LSU School of Art professor Malcolm McClay presents six pieces from this body of work. The new exhibition showcases McClay’s recent performance-based work through immersive 4K video projections, music, photographs, sculpture and a motion-activated installation.
“It is going to feel different from what we’ve had in the space before … there’s more to interact with and feel surrounded by,” Taylor says.
Drawing from the artist’s ancestral connections to Ireland, the multimedia exhibition is more meditative and inward-thinking than McClay’s previous politically charged works.
Specifically, he connected with the Celtic idea of a “thin place,” which McClay defines as “a place where the visible and invisible worlds touch or are at their closest.” For one of the pieces, McClay completed daily 250-meter swims to and from the island of Inishkeel—his own thin place. He found meditation and focus in the repetitive, rhythmic movement.
“We can’t do the motion with [McClay],” Taylor says, “so we have traces of his performances show up in video pieces and images that allow us to … think about our surroundings, how we connect, how we slow down and other ways of reaching transcendence.”
Catch a Q&A session with McClay at this month’s First Thursday reception when the exhibition opens Nov. 1.
‘The Promise of the Rainbow Never Came’ by Katrina Andry
Courtesy LSUMOA
Opening Nov. 15
The museum will host New Orleans native and LSU School of Art alumna Katrina Andry’s first major solo show.
“It’s great when we have the opportunity to support LSU’s rising stars, so I’m really proud to be a part of getting [Andry] back here to her alma mater,” Taylor says.
After poring through documentary sources and statistics on the Middle Passage—the journey of slave ships from Africa to the West Indies—Andry worked to reimagine the lives of the African men, women and children who were thrown overboard, often if they were deemed too sick to continue the journey. In one image (see page 87), Andry transforms the bodies into a swarm of eels once they reach the water.
“[Andry’s work] is related to this idea of reimagining and thinking about these people who were lost, as well as the lingering effects of the slave trade that still exist and affect people’s lives today,” Taylor says.
The exhibition consists of 10 large-scale prints and a new, site-specific mixed media installation, all of which tie into Andry’s alternate mythology.
Andry will be part of a gallery talk during the exhibit’s reception Jan. 17 and return for a printmaking workshop Feb. 9.
‘The Cajun Landscape’ by George Rodrigue
Courtesy LSUMOA
Opening Nov. 1
The museum will show a collection of 28 landscape and Cajun oil paintings from George Rodrigue’s early work. Though Rodrigue was perhaps most famous and beloved for his “Blue Dog” series, the New Iberia native had a passion for the oak trees and Cajun people of his homeland. To bring together such a rare collection, the museum is collaborating with the George Rodrigue Foundation, Paul & Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum in Lafayette, the Haynie Family Collection and Louise Ganucheau.
At this month’s Free First Sunday on Nov. 4, Wendy Rodrigue, the late artist’s wife, will lead a gallery talk and book signing. Also that day, LSU School of Art professor Darius Spieth will give a lecture connecting Rodrigue’s landscapes to the larger genre of landscape art. lsumoa.org
This article was originally published in the November 2018 issue of 225 Magazine.
