Margaret Stones's Flora of Louisiana
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THE WATCHFUL EYE 4 OF MARGARET STONES 6 UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS Art DR. KATIE PFOHL APPOINTED CURATOR Talk 8 SUMMER 2014 Fi! h Floor | www.lsumoa.org on view through Margaretaugust 3 Stones's Flora of Louisiana THE BATON ROUGE CONNECTION "How can an exhibition be both weighty and upli! ing?" OUR COMMUNITY'S ROLE IN HISTORY & ART Dear Members and Friends, We are in high gear this summer at the LSU arena of equality. How can an exhibition be Museum of Art with three very di! erent and both weighty and upli" ing? Ward beckons the exciting exhibitions on view: The Visual Blues, viewer to take a close look at nuances, expressed Rooted Communities: The Art of Nari Ward, through media: for instance, gilded mango pits and Margaret Stones’s Flora of Louisiana: The frame the detritus of the city street. We are le" Baton Rouge Connection. What do these three to interpret the artist’s motivations in making a shows share in common? They all underscore work of such beauty and roughness. Sometimes the importance of communities in shaping our he spells it out for us, as when he embroiders history and art. the words of civil freedoms into a powerful wall hanging. The golden era of art production known as the Harlem Renaissance heralded a new, more The botanical painter Margaret Stones comes inclusive art milieu, in which African American from a di! erent place both geographically and in artists, musicians, and writers worked in tandem her fi eld of art history, but she built a dedicated with civic and political leaders. This pre–civil community of supporters over the course of rights era laid the ground for a reconsideration her visits to LSU in the 1970s. Her community of what it meant to be an American citizen. comprised botanists, artists, and patrons, as Through the lens of the most archetypal of well as LSU faculty and administrators who American music—blues and jazz—the works appreciated in Stones an unparalleled talent exhibited in The Visual Blues pose questions for observing and portraying the native fl ora about the importance of roots and cultural of this region. A botanical superstar, Margaret progressiveness. The South gave birth to art Stones used a microscope and paint to reveal a forms and artists who hammered out careers in spectacular Louisiana under our very noses and a far more tolerant climate up North. The Visual feet. Blues features myriad voices, media, and creative I look forward to seeing you in our galleries! approaches to the shi" ing search for identity. Bring your friends down to the Museum for an While some artists proclaimed their African evening of art and a meal at one of our partner heritage through the use of symbols and a non- restaurants. We have something for everyone this Western aesthetic, others used the language of spring and summer at the LSU Museum of Art. southern music to guide them. Sincerely, A century a" er W. E. B. Du Bois founded the NAACP, Nari Ward creates powerful works of art Dr. Jordana Pomeroy made from scavenged materials that encourage Executive Director viewers to ask how far we have evolved in the LSU Museum of Art ON THE COVER: Margaret Stones, Iris brevicaulis Raf. Iridaceae (Iris Family) Zigzag Stemmed Iris. Native Flora of Louisiana. Watercolor Drawings. E.A. McIlhenny Natural History Collection. On loan from LSU Libraries’ Special Collections. 2 | ArtTalk SUMMER 2014 | LSU MUSEUM OF ART CORPORATE MEMBERS THANK YOU Stroubes Seafood & Steaks ABMB Engineers, Inc. Thank you to the following for their Downtown Duplicating generously Ann Connelly Fine Art, LLC generous support of the museum’s sponsored the printing of our Taylor Clark Gallery exhibitions: bookmark / information card for The Visual Blues catalogue and sponsored ACCALIA AND THE SWAMP RIGHT HERE, NOW the Alfred C. Glassell Boardroom for MONSTER: WORKS BY Showcase the Space. This provided us KELLI SCOTT KELLEY with another venue to acknowledge Supported by a grant from the THE FRIENDS OF KELLI SCOTT KELLEY and thank our many partners. A special thanks to the many folks Louisiana Division of the Arts, O# ce who have shown their support of Cultural Development, Department for Kelli, her new book, and her of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in cooperation with the Louisiana State upcoming exhibition at the LSU DAVID & NAN SKIER Museum of Art by making a Arts Council as administered by the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge The LSU Museum of Art friends o! er fi nancial contribution to support the special thanks to our gracious hosts exhibition. Louisiana Machinery Co. Nadine Carter Russell in Birmingham: the Birmingham John Turner & Jerry Fisher Museum of Art and collectors David Michael Robinson & Don Boutte Mr. & Mrs. Robert Galantucci Alumni of the LSU College of Art + & Nan Skier. MARGARET STONES’S FLORA OF Design and friends of the LSU Museum LOUISIANA: THE BATON ROUGE of Art CONNECTION Josef Sternberg Memorial Fund We are beyond grateful to the The Murrill Family Fund Louisiana Division of the Arts for the Deborah Lamb SPECIAL THANKS TO: recent award of Stabilization Grant Nadine Carter Russell to support the LSU Museum of Art Susan & Richard Lipsey for FY 2014 and FY 2015. This grant Susan Munson in memory of Clint made possible by the Louisiana State Harelson Arts Council through the Division of Gresdna Doty & James Traynham the Arts, National Endowment for the Roberta Phillabaum in memory of Arts and Arts Council of Greater Baton Leslie Phillabaum Neighborhood Arts Project: We are Rouge. The many friends of Margaret Stones thrilled to announce that Mayor- LSU Libraries Special Collections, Hill President Kip Holden has supported 2014 ANNUAL APPEAL DONORS Memorial Library the expansion of this summer’s LSU We would like to o! er a heartfelt Museum of Art - Neighborhood thank-you to all of our friends who ROOTED COMMUNITIES: Arts Project. This funding allows the have made their commitment to our THE ART OF NARI WARD program to run for 8 weeks in June Annual Appeal so far! Please stay Winifred & Kevin Reilly & July, in three community sites tuned for a list of those individuals Lehmann Maupin Gallery (Scotlandville, Gardere and Old South and businesses in our next issue. Friends of the LSU Museum of Art Baton Rouge). The program employs 12 Would you like to make your tax- talented teen youth mentors who gain deductible contribution? Simply new skills working in a community THE VISUAL BLUES mail your check (made payable to arts capacity – Thank you to Mayor the LSU Foundation) to the Museum Holden and Kia Bickman and the many with annual giving in the memo line partners who value the Neighborhood or visit lsumoa.org, Join & Support, Arts Project! National Endowment for the Arts, Annual Giving to give securely online. Washington, D.C. A grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, O# ce of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism, in The LSU Museum of Art is beyond Heirloom Cuisine; Doug Olinde, LLC; cooperation with the Louisiana State grateful for our fi rst grant award from and Ginger’s Party Rental Arts Council, and as administered by the National Endowment for the Thanks to the generosity of these Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, Arts “Art Works” program to support sponsors who made Showcase the funded also in part by the National The Visual Blues. We are thankful to Space possible. We could not have Endowment for the Arts have the recognition of this national done it without your support. Louisiana Machinery Co. program, which works to support Louisiana Department of Culture, programs in communities that inspire THE JENNIFER & SEAN REILLY Recreation, and Tourism creation, engagement, learning, and FAMILY FUND Art Dealers Association of America livability. Many thanks for generously Dee Dee Reilly underwriting the 2014 and 2015 The Imo N. Brown Memorial Fund programming for our collaboration LUBA Workers Comp with White Hills Elementary School, E. John Bullard III ArtWorks, which gears up again this Liz Mangham fall. Rodney Braxton The Museum received a grant to Kevin Cunningham promote The Visual Blues and the Nadine Carter Russell Baton Rouge Blues Fest through “Hear George & Melanie Clark the Blues, See the Blues”—a radio The Imo N. Brown Memorial Fund and online advertising e! ort in New Our Thursday Date Night Partners! Fran & Leroy Harvey Orleans, Jackson, and Lafayette. Thanks, Remember, the Museum o! ers Gail & Bill O'Quinn LOT! extended hours every Thursday night Katherine & Paul Spaht until 8 p.m. Show your admission sticker at either Stroubes or Capital City Grill and receive extended happy hour drink prices all night. The LSU Museum of Art relies on businesses, individuals, and foundations to bring you the quality exhibitions and programming that enhance our community. To explore ways in which you can support your Museum, please contact Fairleigh Cook Jackson, Director of Museum Advancement, at [email protected] or 225.389.7212. LSU MUSEUM OF ART | ArtTalk SUMMER 2014 | 3 THE STORY OF BATON ROUGE'S COMMITMENT TO ONE WOMAN'S ARTISTIC VISION The Watchful Eye of Margaret Stones ! ! !! on view through august 3rd In her quest to “paint the peculiar closely connected with the historical gardens. vegetation” of other lands, self-taught British With her work for the journal, as well as for artist Marianne North (1830–1890) resembled multiple private commissions in Australia, many women artists of the day who traveled Tasmania, and Louisiana, Stones earned her to the outer reaches of the British Empire and rightful place in the highly specialized world of beyond. North undertook journeys from the botanical artists. lush hills of Indonesia to the dry Arizona desert Margaret Stones’s Flora of Louisiana: The Baton to continue her study of plants and bring her Rouge Connection, on view from April through extensive botanical knowledge back to England.