NEW ORLEANS – On Saturday, June 12, Ogden Museum of Southern Art will host the eighth annual Magnolia Ball, celebrating Outside In, Improvisations of Space: The Ceramic Work of MaPó Kinnord, an exhibition bringing together works from throughout Kinnord’s career to illustrate her practice in clay. Chairing the 2021 Magnolia Ball are co-chairs, Shannon Moon, Matthew Moreland, Meghan Parson, Patrick Welsh, Sharonda Williams and Justin Woods.
This year, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of guests and allow for social distancing, Ogden Museum has implemented timed ticketing and reduced capacity. The evening will feature art, live music, DJs, entertainers, an online silent auction, food vouchers from local restaurants, cocktails and more. Masks are required.
Entertainment for the evening includes live painting by Becky Fos and live painting by Ellen Langford. Musical entertainment includes DJ Heelturn, DJ Jess, DJ RQ Away and the People Museum Band.
The online silent auction features over 80 regional artists and businesses, including Artemis Antippas, French Truck Coffee, Richard McCabe, Whitson Ramsey, Saint Claude Social Club, The Sazerac House and Katie Dumestre Yaquinto. Bidding opens June 5, and the silent auction will be on view at Ogden Museum May 29 – June 13. In a collaborative effort to support both the museum and the community, silent auction artists and businesses receive a portion of final sales.
Each guest will receive a meal voucher to one of the following partner restaurants to be redeemed after the event on June 12: The Franklin Restaurant, Galaxie Tacos, Manolito, Palate New Orleans, Restaurant R’evolution, Taceaux Loceaux and Treps.
The Kickoff Party for Magnolia Ball is Saturday, May 15, 4 – 6 p.m at the studio of New Orleans artist, William Monaghan (1019 Erato Street), and features live music and drinks. Discounted patron tickets will be available for purchase at the Kickoff Party and online on May 15 for $100, a 50% discount available for one day only. R.S.V.P required to development@ogdenmuseum.org.
VIP level tickets are available, providing access to a VIP lounge, private seating, swag bags and a premium bar.
Magnolia Ball is supported by The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, New Orleans Magazine, Eclectic Home, The Helis Foundation, Holly & Geoffrey Snodgrass, and Charles D. Urstadt & David Bernard.
“I am honored to co-chair one of Ogden Museum’s signature events, particularly this year,” says co-chair Sharonda Williams. “ I am excited about engaging with all of our supporters in-person! You don’t want to miss this event, which really kicks off the summer social season. Join me to safely celebrate the art of the American South on June 12!”
“We are thrilled to celebrate the museum and an artist in our community while prioritizing the health and safety of our members and patrons,” says William Pittman Andrews, Executive Director of Ogden Museum. “Our spacious galleries, timed ticketing and reduced capacity have made it possible to hold this popular summer event, and we look forward to a safe return to a festive evening of music, art and entertainment.”
Tickets are available at ogdenmuseum.org/magnoliaball. The attire is summer cocktail.
For more information, contact Melissa Kenyon, Director of Marketing & Experience at mkenyon@ogdenmuseum.org.
About Outside In, Improvisations of Space: The Ceramic Work of MaPó Kinnord
The ceramic work of New Orleans artist MaPó Kinnord is firmly rooted in the act of improvisation and explores space and form – both internally and externally – literally and symbolically. Through technical mastery and irreverent experimentation, Kinnord’s work in clay expands the traditional boundaries of the medium. Her studio practice pushes the potential of clay, as well as her own imagination, testing the limits of clay’s malleability and strength with her large-scale sculptures. By incorporating assemblage, collage, light, drawing and painting into her practice, she challenges the very definition of ceramic art.
Outside In, Improvisations of Space brings together works from throughout Kinnord’s career to illustrate her practice in clay. Allowing herself to be led by the material, she finds her greatest joy in the physical act of creation “I work with clay because I love the physical interaction with the material,” she explains. “My current work embodies the technical challenges and creative dynamic of improvisation.” Her organic clay improvisations can be considered three-dimensional drawings in space, and the resulting forms represent the physical evidence of that act of creation.
Through the building of architectural forms, Kinnord creates empty spaces within her sculptures. Dark internal spaces become a platform for further improvisation and creation, a place where she builds internal worlds through collage, painting, drawing, assemblage and light. It is through bringing light to the darkness of inner-space that Kinnord deepens the narrative elements of her work, creating intimate landscapes to comment on history, culture, identity, spirituality and social issues.
MaPó Kinnord grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She received her first training in ceramics through Cleveland’s Quaker-founded alternative high school, the School on Magnolia. She apprenticed with several production potters before receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1984. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Ohio State University in 1994. Arriving in New Orleans in 1995, she now serves as an Associate Professor of Art at Xavier University. A well-respected educator, Kinnord has taught workshops in Matsue, Japan, as well as the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine and the Penland School of Craft in North Carolina. Her Contemplative Clay Project explores clay-working as a meditative practice. A lifelong scholar, she has researched the traditional and contemporary art of Ghana extensively, and has produced video documentation of the traditional pottery, kiln building and ceramic architecture of West Africa.
About the Ogden Museum of Southern Art
Located in the vibrant Warehouse Arts District of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana since 2003, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art 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.