NEW ORLEANS — In collaboration with the New Orleans, Louisiana Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art is pleased to present the seventh annual HBCU Art Showcase, a curated show of works by 12 students attending Xavier University of Louisiana, one of the state’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The exhibition will be on view at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art this fall, but is visible now online at ogdenmuseum.org.
The 2020 artists are Kennedi Andrus, Allana Barefield, KaLya Ellis, Barriane Franks, Lauren Gray, Ashley A. Miller, Reid Hobson-Powell, La’Shance Perry, Michael Riley, Makeda Wells, Bryce Williams and Maliya Vaughan.
“We are so excited to partner with the New Orleans, Louisiana Chapter of The Links, Incorporated again this year to present the HBCU Art Showcase,” says Ellen Balkin, Ogden Museum Director of Education. “I am continually impressed by the talented work created by these students and the Ogden Museum is proud to host this exhibition each year.”
The 2020 HBCU Art Showcase marks the seventh year of collaboration between the Ogden Museum and the New Orleans (LA) 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.
Ellen Balkin, Director of Education, and Michelle Pontiff, Education Coordinator, along with Xavier University professors of art, collaborated to select the works included in this year’s show.
Penny Francis, Chairman of The Arts Facet for the Links chapter, added “ The goal of The Arts Facet is to produce and support programs to enrich the quality of life of our youth and communities through educational and engaging art experiences while Transforming Communities, Fulfilling Our Purpose. Throughout the country, Links chapters partner with museums, symphonies, arts councils, educational institutes and corporations in order to support art programs, especially where there is a focus on artists of color. We are proud of our partnership with the Ogden Museum. We are duly impressed by the caliber of talent the students at Xavier and look forward to their continued contributions to the arts.”
If you have questions regarding the HBCU Art Showcase please contact Melissa Kenyon, Ogden Museum Director of Marketing and Experience, at mkenyon@ogdenmuseum.org.
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 consists of more than 16,000 professional women of color in 288 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and the United Kingdom. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry. For more information, visit www.linksinc.org.
Since it was chartered on November 20, 1957, the New Orleans (LA) 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 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.