Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Summer 2008 - (Page 74)

Looking back at the last six months Mardi Gras’ last parade had rolled only a few days before, but on Feb. 8, 2008, a crowd of photographers, collectors and photography aficionados eagerly shook off their post-party blues and crowded into the fifth floor gallery at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art to attend an artists discussion featuring photographers Jerry Uelsmann and Maggie Taylor. This husband and wife’s photographs — surrealistic and edgy — also celebrate and starkly illustrate their different techniques: Uelsmann produces black and white images using traditional darkroom techniques, while Taylor uses digital images, scanning and Adobe Photoshop to build her images on the computer. The event, moderated by Ogden’s Chief Curator David Houston, was just one of the many events the Ogden has organized to support its exhibitions that are part of its Year of Photography, which started in January 2008 with an exhibition of Robert Polidori’s photographs of post-storm New Orleans. Elliott Erwitt Returns Photographer Elliott Erwitt proved to be another big draw at an Ogden artist discussion on April 19, 2008. The event was in support of Elliott Erwitt’s South, featuring photographs from the 1950s to early 1990s. The exhibition, organized by Ogden’s Chief Curator David Houston in conjunction with the Elliott Erwitt Studio, includes images as diverse as the iconic shot of a black man at a segregated water fountain in North Carolina to a cheerleader in Mississippi. Some of these photographs had not been previously printed or exhibited before. Erwitt, a French-born photographer, immigrated to the United States with his family at a young age. He became interested in photography while growing up in Los Angeles, and furthered his career when he moved as an adult to New York City in 1950. His introduction New Orleans came via his father who eventually moved to the city. For the artist discussion, Erwitt showed a compilation of his work — not just of the South — and answered the audience’s questions (to which one he answered, “I’m a commercial photographer … this is my hobby.”). The event also marked the exhibition’s debut of two of Erwitt’s short films, Red, White and Bluegrass, and Beauty Knows No Pain, both shot in the 1970s, and are currently running at select hours at the Ogden. Erwitt, now in his 80s, is still taking photographs, and used his late April visit to explore New Orleans, as well as southwest Louisiana. Looking Ahead: Stuart Klipper, Sally Mann and Lisa Silvestri The second half of 2008 will showcase three photographers who are noted for their very personal visions. Opening on Aug. 2, 2008 is Stuart Klipper: Louisiana Purchase. Klipper, a Minnesota-based photographer, is best known for his panoramic color photographs of Antarctica. But Klipper has also spent the past 25 years taking photographs of Louisiana — his love of Cajun dancing was, and still is, a lure to visit. Nothing escapes his lens, and this exhibition is a haunting look at the state’s landscapes and people. Images of the now-closed St. Roch Market in New Orleans, shot before Hurricane Katrina; bayous that seem to stretch STUART KLIPPER into infinity; and lonely country homes are just a few of the panoramic color photographs museum-goers will view. Photographers Sally Mann and Lisa Silvestri will welcome in the fall season at the Ogden. Opening Oct. 4, 2008 will be selected images from Mann’s most recent book What Remains, and Silvestri will be exhibiting photographs from her New Orleans Project, which are black-and-white portraits of students at the John McDonogh Senior High School. The exhibition of Mann’s photographs is of particular note, as Mann is a world-renowned photographer whose work challenges notions of love, death and memory. The photographs in What Remains include images of the Antietam battlefield, close-up portraits of her children, and the process of decomposition rendered in a 19th-century photographic process. Mann is expected to be at the exhibition opening, as is Silvestri. Of course, while the Ogden is showcasing photographers in 2008, it will continue to have exhibitions in 2008 for such diverse Southern artists such as Roger Brown, William Moreland, Robert Tannen and Ersy, as well as participate in Prospect.1 Biennial. —Sue Strachan Public Relations Director 74 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES\Summer 2008 STUART KLIPPER http://www.ogdenmuseum.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Summer 2008

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Summer 2008 Contents Friends Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities George Rodrigue’s Louisiana: Cajuns, Blue Dogs & Beyond Katrina The Historic New Orleans Collection After The Flood Faubourg Marigny: The Creole “Suburb” Preserving New Orleans Jazz, One Generation at a Time: Conversation & Music with Tom Sancton Louisiana Foodways Louisiana Architecture Baton Rouge Photographs, 1863-1910 Jazz Notes The Ogden Museum of Southern Art Louisiana Association of Museums Nature of the “Beast” Louisiana State Museum Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Summer 2008

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