This program celebrates NOMA’s 2013 acquisition of Robert Rauschenberg’s monumental fabric collage Melic Meeting (Spread) by inviting artist Ebony G. Patterson to speak about Rauschenberg’s continued resonance for contemporary artists such as herself who work with fabric, found objects and collage. In conversation with NOMA’s Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Katie A. Pfohl, Patterson will explore Rauschenberg’s influence on her own practice, and consider the broader global histories of quilt-making and textile production upon which many contemporary artists continue to draw. This program is made possible through the generous support of The Helis Foundation.

Admission to this program, and admission every Wednesday, is free to Louisiana residents, courtesy of The Helis Foundation.

Image: Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925–2008), Melic Meeting (Spread), 1979, Solvent transfer, fabric collage, acrylic, mirrored panel, wood, and comb on wood panels, 96 x 132 x 14 in., New Orleans Museum of Art, Gift of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, partially in honor of Dora Rauschenberg, and Museum purchase with funds provided by The Helis Foundation.

ABOUT EBONY G. PATTERSON

Ebony G. Patterson (Jamaican, b. 1981) received her BFA from Edna Manley College in Kingston, Jamaica (2004) and MFA from Sam Fox College of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri (2006). Patterson has had solo exhibitions and projects at many US institutions including The Studio Museum in Harlem (2016), SCAD Museum of Art (2016), the Museum of Art and Design in New York. Her work was included in the 32nd Sao Paulo Biennial, the 12th Havana Biennial, and Prospect.3 New Orleans. She was a 2017 Artist-in-Residence at the Rauschenberg Foundation, and the recipient of numerous other grants and awards. She will present a solo exhibition of her work at the Perez Art Museum in Miami in 2018.

Ebony G. Patterson (Jamaican, b. 1981), …love… (…when they grow up…), 2016, Mixed media on hand-cut jacquard woven tapestry with beads, appliques, embellishments, brooches, plastic, glitter, fabric, stuffed toys, papier-mache balloons, on wallpaper fabric, 112 x 121 ½ x 12 inches, Courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago

ABOUT KATIE A. PFOHL

Katie A. Pfohl has served as the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the New Orleans Museum of Art since June 2015. She completed her Ph.D. in American Art at Harvard University in 2014, and has a wide range of curatorial experience including positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 2006, she completed the Whitney Independent Study Program in New York. Current and upcoming projects include a solo presentation for the Puerto Rican artist Carlos Rolón entitled Carlos Rolón: Outside/In, which explores the rich cultural and artistic connections between New Orleans, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Changing Course: Reflections on New Orleans Histories, which brings together seven contemporary artists to reflect on forgotten or marginalized histories of New Orleans.