PROGRAMS

NEIGHBORHOOD ARTS PROJECT “

Engaging young people through the arts during the summer is truly fulfilling. It is the desire of the LSU Museum of Art's Education Department that every Neighborhood Arts Project participant returns to school with a better understanding and appreciation of the arts.

Brandon V. Lewis LSU MOA Educator & Manger of Public Programs

ART EDUCATION OUTREACH The LSU MOA Education Department spent the summer of 2022 engaging youth through art exploration during the Neighborhood Arts Project (NAP). NAP strives to open doors of imagination and inspiration in areas of the Greater Baton Rouge community that do not have accessible arts education avenues for children. The museum's Educator, Brandon V. Lewis, along with two LSU student workers, visited six East Baton Rouge Parish libraries, four community centers, and partnered with Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome's Summer of Hope Initiative led by Safe Hopeful Healthy Baton Rouge at sites across the city. The children explored quilting techniques and created mural paintings, drawings, and clay works.

714 PARTICIPANTS JUNE–AUGUST 2022

NAP SITES: ⊲ East Baton Rouge Parish Libraries ⊲ Gardere Initiative ⊲ Village Resource Center at Eden Park ⊲ BREC Gus Young Park ⊲ Mt. Bethel Missionary Baptist Church ⊲ Shaw Center Plaza ⊲ Summer of Hope sites

OVER 2,000 ARTWORKS CREATED

LESSONS: Painting, Weaving, Murals, Clay Projects, and Drawing

SPRING 2022: BRANDON V. LEWIS APPOINTED LSU MOA EDUCATOR

Neighborhood Arts Project is made possible with the support of the following community partners: Office of Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, Bank of America, Art Bridges, Louisiana CAT, BREC, and the Summer of Hope Initiative.

CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS

The Boneyard: The Ceramics Teaching Collection Studio Space

The museum worked closely with the LSU School of Art Ceramics department, not only to curate the selection and to carefully receive works from their bisque collection, but to also feature students and faculty during tours, visiting artists workshops, and student-led demonstrations. Having the in-gallery studio space in The Boneyard uniquely allowed students to watch and learn from visiting artists and demonstrating students in the museum, and provided the general public an opportunity to participate. A series of ceramic demos were held by the following artists: Lisa Orr, Wes Brown (pictured above top left), Jessica Brandl (pictured above bottom left), Kyra Jackson (pictured above bottom right), Joe Nivens, Peter Smith, Matt Jones (pictured above top right), Amanda Proctor, Matthew Barton, and Denise Greenwood-Loveless. Making a studio space within the exhibition had a significant impact; it opened opportunities for visitors to see artists at work creating in a studio.

Working with Candice Lin while learning about her personal work and process was an amazing experience. During our workshop, we approached clay in a way that allowed the material to be more of an expressive medium with the weight of our collective thoughts and world views. I enjoyed seeing the result of my first time collaborating within a group with Candice and other artists.

Nickeyia Johnson BFA Sculpture & Ceramics, LSU 2022 Candice Lin Workshop with LSU Art Students

Candice Lin worked with art students at LSU to create the porcelain sculpture that was deteriorated by the distillation system of La Charada China (Tobacco Version). During this collaboration, students were challenged to recall an object broken in childhood that they had certain attachments to and an object that represented a time or moment of transformation. They discussed items that reflected things happening within themselves and in society over the past few years. This exercise led to the creation of a sculpture featuring elements such as pandemic masks and the products of pollution, all which were eroded and intentionally transformed over time by the distillation system. The porcelain sculpture was created on site at LSU MOA with LSU School of Art students Kyra Jackson, Matt Jones, Nickeyia Johnson, Cecelia Moseley, Gillian Harper, Lu Colby, Paul Acevedo Gomez, Thras Kalaitzidis, and Ali Saunders during Candice Lin’s visiting artist workshop (some, not all students pictured below).

VISITING ARTISTS & ZINE PROJECT

Kellie Romany

State of the Art: Record artist Kellie Romany finds order by investigating the concepts of chromatic scales of skin color by staining ceramic discs that visitors can handle. At LSU MOA, visitors watched an opening reception performance of Can I Get a Witness? by Romany, during which she placed dripping discs as she read poetry. Romany also visited LSU MFA studios on campus and led a workshop for a LSU creative writing class, gave an artist talk at the museum, and facilitated a clay disc workshop at LSU MOA. Paul Stephen Benjamin

State of the Art: Record artist Paul Stephen Benjamin presented a live stream performance of Daily Meditations. LSU MOA collaborated with the LSU Main Library to live stream his performance on campus, where viewers could respond live to the piece's question: "If the color black had a sound, what would it sound like?" Benjamin also created charcoal rubbings of the Daily Meditations vinyl installation in the LSU MOA lobby, producing a record of his work.

Jenelle Esparza

State of the Art: Record artist Jenelle Esparza's handwoven tapestries Dancer In An Unconscious Rhythm I & II preserve the history of labor and the resilience of the human body to heal itself. During her time at LSU MOA, Esparza demonstrated weaving techniques to children at Gardere Initiative, a Neighborhood Arts Project site, led a gallery discussion about her works with LSU History Professor Stephen Andes, and presented a free educator workshop on weaving traditions, which was well attended by local educators. During the State of the Art: Record exhibition, LSU MOA held an open call for artwork submissions to be compiled into a zine publication. Participants were asked to submit their interpretation of 'record' in any media. A total of 121 submissions were gathered from the local community, Therese Knowles' ceramics high school class at the LSU-University Laboratory School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, LSU MOA Advisory Board members, and beyond. The museum also partnered with the East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library and the LSU College of Art + Design to set up a collage art-making table, encouraging participation and facilitating accessibility to this open call. The museum's in-kind sponsor Baton Rouge Printing printed copies for participants. Scan QR code to read digital version online.

STATE OF THE ART: RECORD ZINE PROJECT

H. PARROTT BACOT LECTURE SERIES

To honor the legacy of H. Parrott “Pat” Bacot, longtime curator of the LSU Museum of Art, LSU MOA created a Distinguished Visiting Scholar Series in 2021 which focuses on Decorative Arts held in LSU MOA’s permanent collection–a collection greatly indebted to the efforts of Pat Bacot.

The H. Parrott Bacot Distinguished Visiting Scholar Series invites experts and artists from the decorative arts field annually to the LSU Museum of Art to view, research, and respond to LSU Museum of Art’s decorative arts collections. PROGRAM SPONSORS:

Janet and Sanford Arst Beth and Butler Fuller Carol Steinmuller Barbara Bacot Susan and Carl Blyskal Ann Wilkinson Nedra and John Hains Janie and Chet Coles Linda and Robert Bowsher Catherine and Daniel Stetson LSU College of Art + Design LSU School of Art

LSU COLLEGE OF ART + DESIGN LSU SCHOOL OF ART COLLABORATION:

Marsha Cuddeback, MArch Darius A. Spieth, PhD LSU Ceramics Department: Matt Jones (LSU Ceramics MFA 2024), Michaelene Walsh, and Andy Shaw LSU Honors College LSU Department of History LSU Center for Collaborative Knowledge

Darius A. Spieth, PhD

INAUGURAL GLASS LECTURE

LSU Art History Professor Darius A. Spieth, PhD (pictured above) discussed the “golden age” of Murano glass design from the 1920s to the 1960s, the Studio Glass Movement, as well as the colorful Memphis design movement from the 1980s during this lecture. Vincent Darré

COLLECTION RESPONSE WORKS

French designer Vincent Darré (pictured below with Matt Jones (LSU Ceramics MFA 2024) is known for creating timeless spaces and whimsical works filled with extravagant creativity. As part of the Bacot Series, Darré studied selected decorative art works from the LSU Museum of Art permanent collection to create three response pieces. Darré added his unique vision to the ceramic pieces, crafting them at the LSU School of Art. The vessels were added to the permanent collection.

ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

FREE FIRST SUNDAYS AND FREE FRIDAY NIGHTS

The museum offers free museum admission with exhibition-specific activities for children and adults once a month, along with free Friday nights. Programming in 2021–2022 was well attended and included exhibition tours for both the public and classes, hands-on artmaking activities, ceramic demos, and more. We thank the following sponsors of Free Friday Nights and Free First Sundays: Louisiana Lottery Corporation and IBERIABANK, a division of First Horizon, for sponsoring free admission, and Louisiana CAT for sponsoring programming.

ART EDUCATION OUTREACH AND VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING

The LSU MOA along with visiting artists went to local schools and libraries to lead ceramic demos and educational activities. The museum also continued to hold virtual programs throughout the year including a Celebrate Clay Series. This provided opportunities for the public to learn from artists featured in LSU MOA exhibitions and museum professionals.

FOCUS ON VISITOR EXPERIENCE

COVES (Collaboration for Ongoing Visitor Experience Studies) is a program by Art Bridges designed to unite museums in systematically collecting audience-level data, with a focus on institutional and field-wide improvement. LSU MOA began the program in the spring of 2022 gathering feedback on visitor experiences in the galleries using tablets loaded with an on-site survey. The data collected will tell LSU MOA staff who visits, why they visit, what they see or do in the galleries, and how they feel about their overall experience at the museum. Better understanding of the visitor’s experience allows us to make improvements using this feedback to engage our community and the public more effectively.

LSU MOA JOINED MUSEUMS FOR ALL

To create accessibility to visitors, LSU MOA joined Museums for ALL. With this program, visitors can show their EBT card and photo ID at the admissions desk and receive unlimited free admission for up to 4 individuals. Museums for All is a national, branded access program that encourages individuals of all backgrounds to visit museums regularly and build lifelong museum habits. Museums for All is an initiative of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal agency based in Washington, DC. The initiative is administered by the Association of Children’s Museums through a cooperative agreement with IMLS.