New Orleans, LA — In collaboration with The New Orleans Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, Ogden Museum of Southern Art is pleased to present the eighth annual HBCU Art Showcase, a curated show of works by 23 students attending Dillard University, Southern University at New Orleans and Xavier University of Louisiana. The exhibition opened Saturday, June 5 and is on view through October 10, 2021.
The 2021 HBCU Art Showcase marks the eighth year of collaboration between Ogden Museum and The New Orleans Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. The showcase is held annually in the Museum’s Education Gallery, a designated space, which highlights and exhibits student artwork. Historically Black Colleges and Universities have been an integral part in the work towards racial equity. This collaboration continues to support this goal. To date, over 100 HBCU artists from Louisiana’s five HBCU have participated in the annual showcase
The 2021 artists are: Kennedi Andrus, Aaliyah Arnold, Kadeshia Bellard, Loren Carter, Quinsi Dominguez, Tyrone Hall, Esaba Hebert, Lindsey Hines, Flor Martinez, Kaitlyn Nquyen, Cierra Pritchett, Asia Rachal, Teddie Reid, Jermaine Robinson, Kyle Salandy, Micah Smoot, Chante Stevens, Jody Trevigne, Irvin Washington, Mekada Wells, Erica Williams, Hannah Williams and Henya Williams
Ellen Balkin, Director of Education, and Michelle Pontiff, Education Coordinator, along with Dillard University, Southern University at New Orleans and Xavier University of Louisiana professors of art, collaborated to select the works included in this year’s show.
“A fundamental objective of Ogden Museum is to create programs that explore the diversity of backgrounds, experiences and ideas that artists and viewers bring to the museum experience,” says Ellen Balkin, Director of Education at Ogden Museum. “To this end, the Education Department seeks to present a variety of perspectives and points of view to broaden and enrich our understanding of the world. Especially during these unprecedented times, Ogden Museum is proud to provide a platform for young students of color to share their voice and offer commentary on the impactful times in which we all live.”
“’Linking Arts Through Transformative Programming’ is a premier goal of the Arts Facet,” states Arts Facet co-chair Kathleen Turner. “The ongoing partnership of the New Orleans Chapter of the Links, Incorporated Arts Facet with the Ogden Museum, in conjunction with the HBCUs and student artists, is now an 8 year program of success affording exemplary student artists opportunities of recognition and support for their educational and career pursuits. Links chapters partner with organizations of shared goals; museums, symphonies, arts councils, educational institutes and corporations. The exhibit continues to serve as an opportunity to reach and educate a broad and inclusive audience.”
About Ogden Museum of Southern Art
Located in the vibrant Warehouse Arts District of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana since 1999, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art welcomes visitors to experience and learn about the artists and art movements of the American South. It is home to a collection of more than four thousand works, making it the largest and most comprehensive repository dedicated to Southern art in the nation, with particular strength in the genres of Self-Taught art, Regionalism, photography and contemporary art. The Museum is further recognized for its original exhibitions, public events and educational programs, which examine the development of visual art alongside Southern traditions of music, literature and local craft. Museum admission is free on Thursdays for Louisiana residents, courtesy of The Helis Foundation. The Museum is located at 925 Camp Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130. For more information, visit www.ogdenmuseum.org.
About The Links, Incorporated
The Links, Incorporated has celebrated more than 67 years as a women’s volunteer service organization committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the cultural and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry. The premier international service organization consists of nearly 14,000 members in 280 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The Links, Incorporated has attracted many distinguished women who are individual achievers and who have made a difference in their communities and the world. They are business and civic leaders, role models, mentors, activists and volunteers who work towards a common vision by engaging like-minded organizations and individuals for partnership. With more than 2 million service hours recorded in the past three years, members regularly contribute more than 500,000 documented service hours in their respective communities annually. For more information, visit www.linksinc.org.
Since it was chartered on November 20, 1957, the New Orleans Chapter of The Links, Incorporated has engaged in implementing program services through the five National Program Facets: Services to Youth; International Trends and Services; National Trends and Services; Health and Human Services; and the Arts. The chapter’s major initiatives include co-sponsoring the local competition for the Scripps National Spelling Bee and Law Day, in which students are trained in legal proceedings and participate in a mock trial. The main focus areas are: education and youth activities to assist youth in fulfilling their intellectual potential; addressing issues affecting the African-American community through health and wellness projects; fostering cultural appreciation through the arts; and collaborating with other Link chapters to provide services and assistance to global friends.
About Dillard University
Dillard University’s mission is to produce graduates who excel, become world leaders, are broadly educated, culturally aware, and concerned with improving the human condition. Since its inception, the Dillard curriculum has provided students with expansive knowledge and opportunities such as graduate school pipeline programs and skills for future employment. Dillard has produced a Pulitzer Prize winner, alumnus who have received full scholarships to law school and professionals at ABC Network and Goldman Sachs.
Dillard University, located in New Orleans at 2601 Gentilly Blvd., is a private four-year liberal arts historically black institution with a history dating back to 1869. For more information, please visit www.dillard.edu. Also, follow us on Twitter, Facebook @DU1869 and Instagram, Dillard University.
About Southern University at New Orleans
Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO), founded in 1956, is a four-year public institution categorized as an SREB Four-Year 5 institution, a Carnegie Master’s College and University I, and as a SACSCOC Level III institution. As an accredited liberal arts teaching institution and a member of the Southern University System, SUNO is known for its highly engaged faculty and personal academic support. The University offers a wide range of baccalaureate programs and is committed to graduate education through the master’s degree, offering graduate programs to meet regional and statewide needs. For information, please visit the University’s Web site at www.SUNO.edu.
About Xavier University of Louisiana
Xavier University of Louisiana is America’s only Historically Black and Catholic University. Xavier is a nationally recognized leader in the STEM and health sciences fields, producing more African American students who graduate from medical school each year than any other university in the United States. Its College of Pharmacy is also among the top producers of African American pharmacists.
Xavier’s liberal arts based programs in areas such as art, business, education, psychology and political science – as well as recent additions of bioinformatics, data science, neuroscience, crime and social justice and jazz studies – offer students an unbeatable combination of traditional classroom study, hands-on research, service-learning opportunities and life experiences.
Today, Xavier remains committed to its founding mission of serving the underrepresented Black population and the “the promotion of a more just and humane society.” Its doors have, and still are, open to all races and creeds. The current student population is 71.6 percent black and 19 percent Catholic.