Past Exhibitions - 2008
Ida Kohlmeyer: Standing Among Giants
October 4, 2008 – January 11, 2009
Synthesis 90-A, 1990-1994. Collection of Morris Museum of Art,
Augusta, Georgia.
Ida Kohlmeyer (1912-1997) was one of Louisiana’s few modern art pioneers, and the region’s best-known female artist by the time of her death at age 84. Balancing the roles of wife, mother, and professional artist, Kohlmeyer did not begin her artistic career until she was middle-aged, yet she quickly earned national acclaim at a time when male artists dominated the art world. This exhibition of painting and sculpture demonstrates the influence of leading masters, including Hans Hofmann, Mark Rothko, and Joan Miró, on the development of Kohlmeyer's distinctive style. Organic and geometric forms, dazzlingly bright colors, and a personal vocabulary of signs and symbols characterize her work.. Organized by LASM.
Quilts from the Permanent Collection
October 4, 2008 – January 11, 2009
Double Wedding Ring Quilt (detail), n.d., unknown (American), cotton fabric. Gift of Mrs. William Tait Baynard. 1974.001.003
Cherished and often passed on through generations, quilts are prized as much as for the memories they invoke as for their handiwork. This method of sewing is presumed to have originated Egypt and China before written history.
Early Americans may have pieced together scraps of fabric as a form of recycling, but by the early 19th century, textiles had become more affordable and kits of assorted patches were available. In the 1960s, many women artists began to incorporate the act of sewing into their artwork, bringing quilting into the contemporary art mainstream, and in 1976 America's bicentennial celebration spawned a revival of quilting throughout the country. Today several museums are devoted to quilts and quilting history. The quilts in LASM's collection date from 1875 through the 1970s and exemplify a range of styles, methods, and popular designs.
American Indian Baskets from the Permanent Collection
September 26, 2008 - February 1, 2009
Coiled Pine Needle Basket and Lid. 1973 ca. Rosabel Sylestine,
Coushatta Indian tribe of Louisiana.
From prehistory through the present, American Indian artisans have created baskets in many forms for utilitarian, ceremonial, and commercial purposes. Their baskets have been used for the transportation of food items, for storage, and for burden tasks such as carrying earth to create the ceremonial mounds that dot the Mississippi River Valley. Although traditional basket makers still weave baskets for utilitarian purposes, they also employ techniques and designs that address the growing tourist and collector market.
Across the United STates, indigenous basket makers use a variety of materials and techniques. This exhibition focuses on baskets from the southeastern United States and includes Chitimacha double-weave river cane baskets, Choctaw coiled pine needle baskets, and Coushatta effigy baskets. The exhibition also features examples from the American Southwest, including those of the Apache and Havaspai tribes.
Myth and Magic: Recent Paintings by Michael Crespo
July 5 - September 28, 2008
(left) The Gulf, 2005, oil on linen. Private Collection. (right)
Acteon's Dream, 2008, oil on linen. Courtesy of the artist and
David Lusk Gallery.
Michael Crespo has been exhibiting his dramatic, meticulously rendered oil paintings and watercolors across the country for over 30 years. Inspired by poetry, mythology and literature, Crespo's subjects, a menagerie composed of fauna, fish, and fowl, become powerful, iconic images, offering the viewer a magical retreat from the chaos of the real world. A professor of painting and drawing at LSU since 1971, Crespo has authored four best selling art instruction books, and his work is included in numerous public and private collections across the United States. Organized by LASM.
William Greiner: Fallen Paradise, Photographs of New Orleans, 1995-2005
July 5 - September 28, 2008
(left) Blue Pipe, Sand Pile, and Rebar, Metairie, 2000, Lightjet
type C color photograph. Courtesy of the artist. (right) London Lodge,
Airline Highway, Metairie, 2005, Lightjet type C color photograph.
Courtesy of the artist.
In his photographs, William Greiner tirelessly exposes the small details that we unconsciously fail to acknowledge. This series entitled Fallen Paradise is the first showing of 26 photographs taken in and around New Orleans from 1995 through 2005. Although not intended to be memorials, these suburban landscapes have become just that in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. However, Greiner's eye for color juxtapositions and his wry sense of humor lighten the emotional impact of his subjects. Although New Orleans has served as his chief inspiration, Greiner made Baton Rouge his home two years ago. Greiner's photographs are included in more than 60 national and international museum collections. Organized by LASM.
Jim Henson's Fantastic World
March 29–June 22, 2008
Photo by John E. Barrett, courtesy of The Jim
Henson Company. Kermit the Frog © The
Muppets Studio, LLC.
Jim Henson’s Fantastic World offers a rare peek into the imagination and creative genius of Jim Henson (1936–1990), the inspired creator of Sesame Street, the Muppets, Fraggle Rock, and more. The exhibition documents Henson’s career and features over 100 original works of art, including puppets, sketches, photographs, documents, TV and movie props, and video productions, including excerpts from Henson’s early work and experimental films. What started as a one-man enterprise eventually grew into an internationally acclaimed phenomenon, enjoyed in dozens of languages in more than 100 countries. Henson adapted the ancient art of puppetry to television, and in doing so, transformed both. Over time, the simple hand puppets he created for his first television show, Sam and Friends, evolved into increasingly more sophisticated characters, from the Muppets of Sesame Street to the larger-than-life fantasy creatures of Labyrinth. Above all, Henson helped to promote the qualities of fancifulness, warmth, and consideration that his legacy has sustained. Click to download the podcast for this exhibit.
Organized by The Jim Henson Legacy and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in cooperation with the Henson family, The Jim Henson Company, The Muppets Holding Company, LLC and Sesame Workshop.
Jim Henson’s Fantastic World is made possible by the Biography Channel. Additional support has been provided by The Jane Henson Foundation and Cheryl Henson.
Scrap Metal Sculpture by Richard Swenson
March 4–June 22, 2008
Upon retirement from a career in oceanic acoustics research, sculptor Richard Swenson initially spent his free time restoring John Deere tractors to mint condition. The restorations left him with a significant pile of scrap metal from which he casually began to select pieces that he welded together to make interesting forms. He first experimented with insect shapes, so varied in nature that they provided a wealth of inspiration. As his ideas and sculptures grew in number and size, he began to visit junkyards and repair shops to acquire more machine scraps. Today, his metal menagerie includes what he calls comic work small creatures, both of the easily recognizable and the slightly fantastic sorts and artistic work, or beautifully realized, life-size creatures such as horses and giraffes. He also enjoys making purely abstract sculptures. Swenson prefers to work with the metal components in their original form. Sometimes, he says, the shape of a gear, fender, or piece of chain suggests an image. At other times, the finished image comes to mind first, leading him to seek the metal pieces that fit his vision. Swenson, wholly unmotivated by commercial interests, houses his pristine tractors and sculptures in large buildings on his property in rural Mississippi. Organized by LASM.