Education

Artist and Sense of Place
Artist-in-Residency Program, Ogden Museum of Southern Art - UNO

During the pilot year of Artists and Sense of Place three nationally recognized artists represented in The Ogden Museum of Southern Art were selected to conduct a four-week residency at their neighborhood schools. By responding to their own surroundings, artists often incorporate a sense of place in their work. This is particularly true of Southern artists such as those featured in the collections of The Ogden Museum of Southern Art. In preparation for the museum opening, The Ogden Museum designed this project to introduce community audiences to the Museum and its collections by celebrating the communities reflected in the art.

The artists, who worked and lived in three historic neighborhoods, collaborated with students in their neighborhood public schools to create artwork, which reflected the sense of place in their neighborhood. The artwork was exhibited and the final pieces became a part of the Education Collection at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Each school also received a site-specific work of art made by students and artist.

The pilot year was so successful that three schools were selected for the residency for the second year. One school continued the residency with the same artist. Another artist continued his residency at a different school, his alma mater.

The residencies were made possible through finding by the New Orleans Tourism and Economic Development funds and State Representative Karen Carter.

Year One: Pilot

Jose Torres Tama
McDonogh #15 City-wide access (French Quarter)
Free People of Color — Download PDF  |  help
Jose Torres Tama and the students at McDonogh 15 explored the history of the French Quarter through visual arts, poetry and performance. They researched historic free people of color such as Marie Laveau and Edmund Dede who lived in the French Quarter and incorporated their stories into the collaborations with the artist.Younger artists produced artwork that reflected the sense of place of the neighborhood by looking at what made the French Quarter unique.

Elizabeth Shannon
Craig Elementary (Treme)
Sign of the Times — Download PDF  |  help
The focus of the residency with Elizabeth Shannon at Joseph E. Craig Elementary was on the history of Treme, exploring street names and signs. Students researched, photographed, and created works of art based on neighborhood signs and area history. Using historical renderings of houses dating back to the early 1800s from the Historic New Orleans Collection, the students recreated their surroundings as they appeared in the 19th century.

Jeffrey Cook
Guste Elementary (Central City)
Magic in Our Neighborhood — Download PDF  |  help
During the four-week residency, each student worked directly with the artist. Asmaller, in-depth group further collaborated with the artist to create site-specific works for the school and the museum's study collection. Students from Kindergarten to 6th grade participated in a collaborative project with the artist. By adding layers of multiple media to line drawings of actual buildings in the neighborhood, students worked with Jeffrey Cook to make a seriesof collages touched by every student in the school. Mr. Cook also worked with students on Saturdays through the KIDsmART Program to create site-specific works of art.

Year Two

Jeffrey Cook
Mahalia Jackson Elementary (Central City)
Broken Window Silhouettes — Download PDF  |  help
This relationship between artist and school was significant in the development of the design for the program at Mahalia Jackson. The artist's own sense of place at the school and in the neighborhood is reflected in the artwork he does with the students. He shares his keen eye for design and beauty with the students as they discover the magic of their neighborhood beyond the broken windows and abandoned buildings. Through a transformation of color and pattern, dark photocopies of broken windows become majestic silhouettes of animals, figures, shapes and objects. A selection of the students' artwork was incorporated into two larger pieces on a window frame foundation designed and producedby Mr. Cook. One "window" will remain at Mahalia Jackson and one will be part of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art education study collection.

Gina Phillips
Andrew Jackson Elementary (Lower Garden)
Neighborhood Fabrication — Download PDF  |  help
The artist-in-residence at Andrew Jackson Elementary School was Gina Phillips, an artist who works with fabric. The students created neighborhoods by using paper and fabric to make houses, warehouses, churches, and storefronts. The artist works with the students and adds her own personal touch to the neighborhoods. The students also learned about house types and Lower Garden District history from the Preservation Resource Center where the "neighborhoods" were exhibited at the end of the residency. Artwork will be chosen from the completed neighborhoods to be given to the school and for the Ogden Museum of Southern Art for display in the education collection.

Elizabeth Shannon
Craig Elementary (Treme)
Catch the Colors of Our Neighborhood — Download PDF  |  help
The artist-in-residence at Joseph A. Craig Elementary School was Elizabeth Shannon who brought her talents as artist, art educator and art activist to the school. Ms. Shannon provided developmentally appropriate art experiences for each class in pre-kindergarten through second grade and special education classes.The activities focused on the basic elements of art -color, line, shape and form. Influenced by the strong Mardi Gras traditions in the Treme neighborhood, Ms. Shannon created a carnival parade from the students' work. She also documented the process through a photographic journal. The "parade" was exhibited at the Uphill Gallery in the Treme Neighborhood.

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