On November 10, Ogden Museum of Southern Art will Host Free Family Day: Discovering Photography, Inspired by New Southern Photography Art Activities for All Ages, Music, Performances, Scavenger Hunts and More!

NEW ORLEANS — October 25, 2018

On Saturday, Nov. 10 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., the Ogden Museum of Southern Art will host a Free Family Day for the New Orleans community, inspired by the Museum’s latest photography exhibition, New Southern Photography. The day’s free programming will feature art activities, music, performances, scavenger hunts and other family-friendly activities.

From 10 am. – 2 p.m., guests of all ages are invited to explore the variety of photographic processes on view in New Southern Photography through hands-on activities:

  • Make a moving picture book inspired by Elizabeth Bick’s photographs of pedestrians in public spaces.
  • Explore the geography of New Orleans’ neighborhoods by creating a Sky Map inspired by the work of Celestia Morgan.
  • Learn about sounds waves, radius, symmetry and balance through creating mandalas inspired by Louviere + Vanessa’s photographs of musical notes.

In addition to hands-on art activities, there will also be a Historic Photography Process Demonstration during this free admission day. Using the same chemicals and equipment as 19th century photographers, Bruce Schultz will create tintypes, ambrotypes and glass negatives using wet-plate collodion technology.

Throughout the day, there will be performances by DJ Heel Turn, Lusher Charter School and Gal Holiday & The Honky Tonk Revue. La Cocinita will have food and drink for purchase during this free admission day.

“We’re excited to host this special Free Family Day celebrating New Southern Photography, the Ogden Museum’s largest photography exhibition to date,” says Ellen Balkin, Education Manager at the Ogden Museum. “It’s a great opportunity for the whole family to visit the Museum and discover the breadth of photographic practices being utilized in the South today through fun and engaging activities.”

For more information regarding the Ogden Museum’s Free Family Day, please contact Samantha Scoggins at sscoggins@ogdenmuseum.org or 504.539.9604.

About New Southern Photography

New Southern Photography highlights the exciting and diverse breadth of photography being practiced in the American South today. The largest photography exhibition at the Ogden Museum to date, this exhibition features the work of twenty-five emerging, mid-career and established photographers. Each photographer ia individually showcased with a monographic installation focusing on a single body of work within the context of a group exhibition. All types of lens-formed imagery are included from traditional analogue and digital still photography to video installation and new media. New Southern Photography is available for travel to other institutions through 2021.

New Southern Photography explores the role photography plays in formulating the visual iconography of the modern New South. Regional identity in an interconnected and global world is central to the exhibition’s narrative. Themes and ideas addressed in New Southern Photography include: memory, the experience of place in the American South, cultural mythology and reality, deep familial connections to the land, the tension between the past and present, and the transitory nature of change in the New South.

The goal of New Southern Photography is to create a space for conversation about the region. This exhibition not only highlights recent contributions the American South has made to the world through photography, but serves as a platform to broaden the understanding and appreciation of this complicated, contested and often misunderstood region. New Southern Photography follows in the rich tradition of Southern literature, where storytelling is paramount.

It could be said that photography has been the American South’s greatest contribution to 20th century art. Southern photographers – William Christenberry, Sally Mann and William Eggleston – are international art superstars who pioneered the “Southernization” of the contemporary global photographic aesthetic. Following the trajectory of Christenberry, Eggleston and Mann, New Southern Photography looks at the photographic innovators of today who are influencing the visualization of the American South to a global audience.

Work represented in the exhibition will be from the past ten years. Photographers included in the New Southern Photography exhibition are: David Emitt Adams, Kael Alford, Elizabeth Bick, Christa Blackwood, John Chiara, Scott Dalton, Joshua Gibson, Maury Gortemiller, Alex Grabiec, Aaron Hardin, Courtney Johnson, Tommy Kha, Brittany Lauback, Carl Martin, Jonathan Traviesa & Cristina Molina, Andrew Moore, Celestia Morgan, Nancy Newberry, RaMell Ross, Whitten Sabbatini, Jared Soares, Louviere + Vanessa and Susan Worsham.

New Southern Photography is curated by Richard McCabe, Ogden Museum of Southern Art’s Curator of Photography.

About the Ogden Museum

Located in the vibrant Warehouse Arts District of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art holds the largest and most comprehensive collection of Southern art and is recognized for its original exhibitions, public events and educational programs which examine the development of visual art alongside Southern traditions of music, literature and culinary heritage to provide a comprehensive story of the South. Established in 1999 and in Stephen Goldring Hall since 2003, the Museum welcomes almost 85,000 visitors annually, and attracts diverse audiences through its broad range of programming including exhibitions, lectures, film screenings and concerts which are all part of its mission to broaden the knowledge, understanding, interpretation and appreciation of the visual arts and culture of the American South.

The Ogden Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. with extended hours on Thursdays from 6 – 8 p.m. for Ogden After Hours. Admission is free to Museum Members and $13.50 for adults, $11 for seniors 65 and older, $6.75 for children ages 5-17 and free for children under 5.

The Ogden Museum is free to Louisiana Residents on Thursdays from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. courtesy of The Helis Foundation. The Helis Foundation is a Louisiana private foundation, established by the William Helis Family. The Art Funds of the Helis Foundation advance access to the arts for the community through contributions that sustain operations for, provide free admission to, acquire works of art and underwrite major exhibitions and projects of institutions within the Greater New Orleans area.

The Museum is closed Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Years Day.

The Museum is located at 925 Camp Street, New Orleans Louisiana 70130. For more information visit ogdenmuseum.org or call 504.539.9650.