Monuments and Memorials to Queer History
2024-06-26 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago)
In honor of Pride Month, join us for a conversation about how artists might create monuments to queer community and history. In a discussion moderated by Charlie Tatum, Director of Marketing and Communications, historian Robert Fieseler and artists Ryan Leitner and Ryan “phlegm” Gilbert will share their own practices and reflect upon how they consider celebration, remembrance, and the past in their work.
The program will also consider other works, including Jim Hodges’s Craig’s closet, first created for the New York City AIDS Memorial Park and installed in front of NOMA in June 2024, and Skylar Fein’s Remember the UpStairs Lounge, which commemorates the arson of a popular gay bar in New Orleans on June 24, 1973.
This program is free and open to the public. Louisiana residents receive free admission every Wednesday courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative.

About the Panelists

Ryan “phlegm” Gilbert
Ryan “phlegm” Gilbert, a New Orleans-born and -based multidisciplinary artist, uses mixed-media self-portraiture in works called “ritual dramas” that serve as affirmations of their personal Black universe. phlegm says, “My work aims to more firmly connect my Black spiritual concept of time, connecting the past to the present and the present to the future. It’s communally sacred, personally precious. It attempts to tie all the loose ends of Black ethos, Black influence, and Black inspiration into one braid. It is at its core, an affirmation of life: my life, the life of my ancestors, and the life of my community. My work (and by extension my life) makes a production about the necessity and value of Black spiritual presence.” They also penned the mantra “Everything You Love About New Orleans Is Because of Black People.”

Ryan Leitner
Ryan Leitner (b. 1986, South Carolina) is an artist and writer who lives and works in New Orleans. He received his M.F.A. From The Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in 2016, holds a B.F.A. From Regents College of London, and was a participant at the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture in 2023. He is currently a resident at Joan Mitchell Foundation and a collective member at Antenna Gallery.

Robert W. Fieseler
Robert W. Fieseler is a National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association “Journalist of the Year” and the author of Tinderbox—winner of the Edgar Award and the Louisiana Literary Award, shortlisted for the Saroyan International Prize for Writing. As a Tulane PhD History candidate and Mellon Fellow, Fieseler is currently working on his second queer history book, a finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award. He lives with his husband and kittens in New Orleans.

Taylor Family and Educators Appreciation Day
2024-06-29 10:00 - 17:00
In partnership with the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation, NOMA presents an annual family day for Taylor Scholars. The museum will also host an educators appreciation day as a special thank you to teachers for their dedication to students. Students in the Taylor Scholars program and educators across Louisiana are invited to explore the museum and participate in art-making activities throughout the day.
On Saturday, June 29, Taylor Scholars and up to four guests receive free admission to the museum. Scholars will also receive a free beverage from Café NOMA and 10% off in the NOMA Museum Shop.
Educators will receive complimentary admission to the museum plus one adult guest and 10% off in the NOMA Museum Shop.
Register Now
To reserve tickets in advance, please select “Taylor Scholar” or “Louisiana Resident Educator” and the number of tickets you’d like to reserve. Please note that students should bring their Taylor Scholars Award Certificates or their third-quarter report card with a photo ID.
About the Taylor Scholars Awards Program
The Taylor Scholars Awards Program is a statewide program that rewards students in grades 6 through 12 with a GPA of 2.5 or higher with free access to Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, Audubon Zoo, and the New Orleans Museum of Art.
More Information

Gallery Talk on Afropolitan: Contemporary African Arts at NOMA
2024-07-03 12:30, 2024-07-03 18:00 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Join us in the galleries each Wednesday for weekly talks with artists, curators, and other special guests. During these casual conversations, we’ll take a close look at different works currently on view at NOMA.
This week, join Amanda Maples, NOMA’s Françoise Billion Richardson Curator of African Art, to discuss the special exhibition Afropolitan: Contemporary African Arts at NOMA. This talk will be offered at 12:30 pm and 6:00 pm.
Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission on Wednesdays courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative.

Summer Camp Session 3: Texture (Ages 6–12)
2024-07-08 09:00 - 15:00
Each week, take a deep dive into the elements of art and principles of design at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Campers explore the museum’s permanent collection and special exhibitions, including the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, with teaching artists. Experience a new adventure every day filled with object lessons, art-making, storytelling, and movement to inspire creative thinking. Campers will practice close looking, develop conversation and critical thinking skills, and connect with others. Week-long camps conclude with a family-friendly event to showcase our learning.
We emphasize an interdisciplinary approach to creative thinking and art-making. Your young artist will explore various art-making mediums and processes including drawing, writing, movement, sculpture, painting, and more—all guided by professional teaching artists. Register now for one or multiple weeks to build a meaningful summer experience.
Learn More and Register
If you need assistance registering for summer camp, please contact programs@noma.org.

All Summer Camp Sessions
Session 1: June 10–14 | Shape
Session 2: June 24–28 | Color
Session 3: July 8–12 | Texture
Session 4: July 15–19 | Space and Movement

Art Thrives: Mutu & Collage (Ages 55 and Up)
2024-07-09 16:00 - 18:00
NOMA’s Art Thrives program creates opportunities exclusively for adults ages 55 and up to learn new skills while building community and having fun. Reflect on and create art inspired by the themes explored in Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined with a special guided tour of the exhibition and collage-making session led by teaching artist LaVonna Varnado Brown. In this workshop, participants will learn about the range and depth of Mutu’s practice across her influential career, and trace the thematic through-lines and progressions in the artist’s work from the mid-1990s to today. Attendees will consider process and aging, archiving and legacies, naming yourself, and the language of life.
This program is free with advance registration.
This program is sold out.

About LaVonna Varnado Brown
LaVonna Varnado Brown is a multidisciplinary artist and community worker. Varnado Brown earned a Bachelor of Arts from Southeastern University Louisiana with a focus on Theatre and Liberal Arts. After studying abroad in London and Paris in the summer of 2009, Varnado Brown works as an installation artist, artist advocate, teaching artist, and tutor in and around New Orleans. LaVonna creates mixed media visual art that is Afrofutiristic in aesthetic with odes to history, the divine feminine, and floral daydreams abounding. Afrofuturistic is a cultural aesthetic that explores the intersection of art and history with the intention to inspire action in the now by healing beyond trauma. In addition to creating multimedia works, Varnado Browncurates intentional workshops and expos with a focus on healing and raising spatial awareness. Through her work, she hopes to uplift the narrative of rest, joy, resistance, and abundance.

Gallery Talk on Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined
2024-07-10 12:30, 2024-07-10 18:00
Expand your experience of Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined with monthly gallery talks inside the museum or in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden on select Wednesdays: January 31, February 7, March 6, April 3, May 1, June 5, and July 10.
Join Amanda Maples, NOMA’s Françoise Billion Richardson Curator of African Art, for a conversation on Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined. This talk will be at 12:30 pm and 6 pm in the exhibition.
Gallery talks are free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission on Wednesdays courtesy of The Helis Foundation.
Register in Advance
About the Exhibition
This major solo exhibition of work by Wangechi Mutu brings together nearly one hundred sculptures, paintings, collages, drawings, and films to present the breadth of the Kenyan-American artists’ multidisciplinary practice from the mid-1990s to today. On view January 31–July 14, 2024, Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined traces connections between recent developments in Mutu’s sculptures and her decades-long exploration of the legacies of colonialism, globalization, and African and diasporic cultural traditions. The exhibition travels to NOMA from the New Museum, New York.
Learn More

Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined is organized by the New Museum, New York. Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Generous support for this exhibition is provided by the Ed Bradley Family Foundation, Agnes Gund, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by The Robert Lehman Foundation. Support for the accompanying publication has been provided by the A4 Arts Foundation.
The presentation in New Orleans is sponsored by the Ford Foundation. Additional support is provided by Delta Airlines, Gladstone Gallery, Walda Besthoff, Victoria Miro Gallery, The Windsor Court, Keith Fox and Tom Keyes, Aimée Farnet Siegel and Mike Siegel, Robin Rankin, Elizabeth Boh, Pat Mitchell and Scott Seydel, Harvey and Marie Orth, and Jeff Childers and Onay Gutierrez

Move Ya Brass in the AC
2024-07-11 09:00 - 10:00 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Incorporating sound baths and breathwork, Move Ya Brass presents a summer series of wellness classes at NOMA throughout July and August! Led by instructor Kathleen Barry, these low-intensity classes invite participants to move inward and restore themselves this summer. Enjoy the AC and the creative energy throughout the museum.
SCHEDULE
July 11 | “Breathe, Move, and Rest ” in NOMA’s Second-Floor Contemporary Art Galleries
July 18 | Breath & Brass: Breathwork
July 25 | Breathe, Move, and Rest
August 1 | Breath & Brass: Breathwork
August 8 | Breathe, Move, and Rest
August 15 | Breath & Brass: Breathwork
August 22 |Breathe, Move, and Rest
Please bring your own mat and towel.
The class is free with advanced registration. Please register before 3 pm the day prior to the session you would like to attend. Registration is required and space is limited.
REGISTER NOW
Please email programs@noma.org if you have to cancel your reservation. Registrants will be notified of how to enter the museum.

About Brass and Breath: Breathwork
This breathwork class for beginners is a gentle and accessible introduction to the practice of controlled breathing techniques. In a welcoming and supportive environment, participants are guided through various breathing exercises to promote relaxation, reduce stress, and enhance mindfulness. These classes often focus on teaching foundational breath patterns and incorporating them into easy-to-follow routines. Participants can expect a calm and nurturing atmosphere, making it an ideal starting point for those new to breathwork and looking to improve their overall well-being.
About Breathe, Move, and Rest
This relaxing hybrid class will reset your nervous system. These classes will combine breathwork, slow-flow yoga, and sound bowls to promote deep relaxation and breath. The exercise will begin with using safe and accessible breathing techniques to warm the lungs and body up, leading to gentle stretching and a light yoga flow. The exercise will conclude with a sound bowl demonstration that will create vibrations stimulating a theta wave brain state, leading to deep and conscious rest.

About Move Ya Brass
Move Ya Brass Krewe is a fun and funky fitness program from New Orleans started by local jazz vocalist Robin Barnes. Offering free fitness classes around the city, you come to Move Ya Brass fitness classes as a stranger, but leave as family. The MYB mission is to promote a happy, positive, and healthy lifestyle, and to encourage celebrating our daily lives by taking you off the sidelines and into a New Orleans second line!
About the Instructor
Kathleen Barry has been teaching since 2018.In the words of Barry: “Yoga teaches me daily to be present with my breath and body and to find reverence for the little things. To explore discipline and freedom as co-existing necessities of living, and to always start from right now, this moment.”Barry does her best to honor yoga’s roots and lineage— the incredibly precise and relevant tools yoga offers to ameliorate our modern predicaments.
Barry’s certifications include: Registered Yyoga teacher (RYT) 200-hour program, E-RYT 200, RYT; Living Your Yoga Immersion with Judith Hanson Lasate; Laughing Lotus Advanced Bhakti Teacher Training 50 hour program in Rishikesh, India; Trauma Recovery Yoga (T.R.Y.) 20-hour program.

NOMA at Night: Closing Celebration for Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined
2024-07-12 18:00 - 21:00
Join us for the closing celebration of the exhibition Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined, an evening of creativity across the museum and Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Immerse yourself in Mutu’s world through the exhibition in the Ella West Freeman Galleries on the first floor, NOMA’s African art galleries on the third floor, an installation in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden pavilion, and three sculptures installed outside in the garden.
Café NOMA will be open throughout the evening, offering food and specialty cocktails for purchase.
General Admission $30 | Members $15 | Ages 19 and under are free
Register Now

NOMA AT NIGHT LINE-UP
Live Drumming Performance by Kumbuka African Drum & Dance Collective
in the Great Hall at 7 pm
DJ Set by phlegm
in the Great Hall, 6–7 pm and 8–9 pm
Gallery Dance Performance by Creative Assembly Cohort Member Lauren Messina
inside the Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined exhibition at 8:30 pm
Gallery Talk on Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined with Curator Amanda Maples
inside Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined at 6:30 pm
Natural Materials Art-Making Activity
on the 1st-floor elevator lobby from 6 pm to 8:30 pm

About the Exhibition
This major solo exhibition of work by Wangechi Mutu brings together nearly one hundred sculptures, paintings, collages, drawings, and films to present the breadth of the Kenyan–American artist’s multidisciplinary practice from the mid-1990s to today. On view January 31–July 14, 2024, Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined traces connections between recent developments in Mutu’s sculptures and her decades-long exploration of the legacies of colonialism, globalization, and African and diasporic cultural traditions. The exhibition travels to NOMA from the New Museum, New York.
Learn More

Summer Camp Session 4: Space and Movement (Ages 6–12)
2024-07-15 09:00 - 15:00

Gallery Talk on Show & Tell: A Brief History of Photography and Text
2024-07-17 12:30, 2024-07-17 18:00, 2024-08-07 12:30, 2024-08-07 18:00
Join us in the galleries each Wednesday for weekly talks with artists, curators, and other special guests. During these casual conversations, we’ll take a close look at different works currently on view at NOMA.
This week, join Brian Piper, NOMA’s Freeman Family Curator of Photographs, Prints, and Drawings, for a discussion on the special exhibition Show & Tell: A Brief History of Photography and Text. This talk will be offered at 12:30 pm and 6:00 pm.
Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission on Wednesdays courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative.

Move Ya Brass in the AC
2024-07-18 09:00 - 10:00, 2024-07-25 09:00 - 10:00, 2024-08-01 09:00 - 10:00, 2024-08-08 09:00 - 10:00 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Incorporating sound baths and breathwork, Move Ya Brass presents a summer series of wellness classes at NOMA throughout July and August! Led by instructor Kathleen Barry, these low-intensity classes invite participants to move inward and restore themselves this summer. Enjoy the AC and the creative energy throughout the museum.
SCHEDULE
July 11 | “Breathe, Move, and Rest” in NOMA’s Second-Floor Contemporary Art Galleries
July 18 | Breath & Brass: Breathwork
July 25 | Breathe, Move, and Rest
August 1 | Breath & Brass: Breathwork
August 8 | Breathe, Move, and Rest
August 15 | Breath & Brass: Breathwork
August 22 | Breathe, Move, and Rest
Please bring your own mat and towel.
The class is free with advanced registration. Please register before 3 pm the day prior to the session you would like to attend. Registration is required and space is limited.
REGISTER NOW
Please email programs@noma.org if you have to cancel your reservation. Registrants will be notified of how to enter the museum.

About Brass and Breath: Breathwork
This breathwork class for beginners is a gentle and accessible introduction to the practice of controlled breathing techniques. In a welcoming and supportive environment, participants are guided through various breathing exercises to promote relaxation, reduce stress, and enhance mindfulness. These classes often focus on teaching foundational breath patterns and incorporating them into easy-to-follow routines. Participants can expect a calm and nurturing atmosphere, making it an ideal starting point for those new to breathwork and looking to improve their overall well-being.
About Breathe, Move, and Rest
This relaxing hybrid class will reset your nervous system. These classes will combine breathwork, slow-flow yoga, and sound bowls to promote deep relaxation and breath. The exercise will begin with using safe and accessible breathing techniques to warm the lungs and body up, leading to gentle stretching and a light yoga flow. The exercise will conclude with a sound bowl demonstration that will create vibrations stimulating a theta wave brain state, leading to deep and conscious rest.

About Move Ya Brass
Move Ya Brass Krewe is a fun and funky fitness program from New Orleans started by local jazz vocalist Robin Barnes. Offering free fitness classes around the city, you come to Move Ya Brass fitness classes as a stranger, but leave as family. The MYB mission is to promote a happy, positive, and healthy lifestyle, and to encourage celebrating our daily lives by taking you off the sidelines and into a New Orleans second line!
About the Instructor
Kathleen Barry has been teaching since 2018.In the words of Barry: “Yoga teaches me daily to be present with my breath and body and to find reverence for the little things. To explore discipline and freedom as co-existing necessities of living, and to always start from right now, this moment.”Barry does her best to honor yoga’s roots and lineage— the incredibly precise and relevant tools yoga offers to ameliorate our modern predicaments.
Barry’s certifications include: Registered Yyoga teacher (RYT) 200-hour program, E-RYT 200, RYT; Living Your Yoga Immersion with Judith Hanson Lasate; Laughing Lotus Advanced Bhakti Teacher Training 50 hour program in Rishikesh, India; Trauma Recovery Yoga (T.R.Y.) 20-hour program.

Book Club Discussion | Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South
2024-07-18 12:00 - 13:00 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
The NOMA Book Club meets monthly to discuss fiction and non-fiction books related to art in NOMA’s collection and exhibitions. It is an informal group open to anyone on a month-to-month basis. In addition to monthly book discussions, the book club meets periodically for curatorial programs related to the book selections. You do not have to attend every meeting or read every book to join.
Book selections are inspired by the museum’s exhibition schedule. Participants are expected to procure their own copies. Selections are also available at the NOMA Museum Shop, where museum members receive a 10% discount.
Meetings are held in person or via Zoom. All meetings begin at 12 pm.
For information or questions about the NOMA Book Club, please email kmccurdy@noma.org.
Register Now

July 2024
Book Club Discussion | Thursday, July 18, 12 pm

Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South by Winfred Rembert

Winfred Rembert grew up in a family of Georgia field laborers and joined the Civil Rights Movement as a teenager. He was arrested after fleeing a demonstration, survived a near-lynching at the hands of law enforcement, and spent seven years on chain gangs. During that time he met the undaunted Patsy, who would become his wife. Years later, at the age of fifty-one and with Patsy’s encouragement, he started drawing and painting scenes from his youth using leather tooling skills he learned in prison.
Chasing Me to My Grave presents Rembert’s breathtaking body of work alongside his story, as told to Tufts philosopher Erin I. Kelly. Rembert calls forth vibrant scenes of Black life on Cuthbert, Georgia’s Hamilton Avenue, where he first glimpsed the possibility of a life outside the cotton field. As he pays tribute, exuberant and heartfelt, to Cuthbert’s Black community and the people, including Patsy, who helped him to find the courage to revisit a traumatic past, Rembert brings to life the promise and the danger of Civil Rights protest, the brutalities of incarceration, his search for his mother’s love, and the epic bond he found with Patsy.

Education and outreach initiatives at NOMA are supported in part by the Zemurray Foundation; the Lois and Lloyd Hawkins Jr. Foundation; The Helis Foundation; The Gayle and Tom Benson Foundation; The City of New Orleans; IBERIABANK; The Wagner Foundation; Janice Parmelee and Bill Hammack; the Diversifying Art Museum Leadership Initiative, funded by the Walton Family Foundation and the Ford Foundation; Sara and David Kelso; Patrick F. Taylor Foundation; Dr. Scott S. Cowen; The RosaMary Foundation; The Azby Fund; the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency; The Collins C. Diboll Private Foundation; Burkenroad Foundation; Marian Dreux Van Horn Education Endowment; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Ruby K. Worner Trust through the PNC Charitable Trusts Grant Review Committee; The Harry T. Howard III Foundation; New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc.; Harvey and Marie Orth; The Bruce J. Heim Foundation; and Mrs. Bennett A. Molter, Jr. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Gallery Talk on Craig's closet by Jim Hodges
2024-07-24 12:30
Join us in the galleries each Wednesday for weekly talks with artists, curators, and other special guests. During these casual conversations, we’ll take a close look at different works currently on view at NOMA.
This week, join Charlie Tatum, Director of Marketing and Communications, as he discusses Craig’s closet by Jim Hodges, a newly installed sculpture near the front steps of NOMA. This talk will be offered at 12:30 pm.
Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission on Wednesdays courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative.

Black People Be: An Evening with Creative Assembly Cohort Artist Jourdan Barnes
2024-07-24 15:00 - 19:00
For this program, Creative Assembly Cohort member Jourdan Barnes will share a selection of photography from his Black People Be series, which aims to portray the vibrancy of Black existence.
The evening will end with a panel discussion with thought leaders exploring how artists define and celebrate Blackness through their work. The program will include topics such as the concept of celebration in Black communities, the role of art in representation, and personal experiences of joy and resilience.
In the words of Barnes, “This program is an opportunity to reflect, appreciate, and engage in meaningful conversations about Black identity and culture.”
Schedule
3–5 pm | Art Presentation with Jourdan Barnes and Mixer
5–6:30 pm | Panel Discussion
This program is free and open to the public.

About the Speakers

Shana M. griffin is a feminist activist, researcher, sociologist, abolitionist, artist, mother, and geographer whose work engages history and memory as sites of resistance, rupture, and protest. griffin’s work attends to the lived experiences of the Black diaspora, centering the particular experiences of Black women most vulnerable to the violence of poverty, incarceration, polluted environments, reproductive legislation, economic exploitation, housing discrimination, and climate change.
griffin is the founder of PUNCTUATE, a feminist initiative integrating critical research methods with activism and art to address the intersecting forms of everyday violence and subjectivity Black women, their families, and communities experience; and the creator of DISPLACED, a multimedia feminist and public history project tracing the geographies of Black displacement, dislocation, and containment through racial slavery and the violent formation of New Orleans and the surrounding region as a carceral landscape and colonial enterprise. griffin has an adjunct position in sociology at the University of New Orleans.

Dr. David J. Wallace is a dedicated culture influencer and the creator of Dream House Lounge, a haven for mental and spiritual wellness nestled in the heart of New Orleans’s Central Business District. Dr. Wallace’s commitment to amplifying culture and fostering community drives his relentless pursuit of wellness advocacy.
As an initiated priest of the IFA tradition, specializing in Lucumi practice, Dr. Wallace serves as a conduit for intuitive healing and a channeler of the Orishas and ancestral wisdom. Additionally, he is the luminary behind Awakening Minds Consulting, where his passion for justice manifests in transformative endeavors reshaping dialogues on racial and social equity.
Dr. Wallace has a bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College, a Master’s in the Art of Teaching from Relay GSE, and an Educational Doctorate from St. Thomas University. Currently, Dr. Wallace is spearheading the development of an innovative EdTech platform called Teacharmony, bridging cultural heritage with educational institutions to enrich students’ learning experiences.

About Jourdan Barnes
Born and raised in New Orleans, Jourdan Barnes has always been influenced by art. Completing his education in art and psychology at Xavier University, Barnes is a freelance artist and also works with those affected by STIs and HIV through his work with the Louisiana Department of Health. Barnes creates art that highlights Black communities by amplifying their voices and truths. Barnes has exhibited works in well-respected museums throughout the country, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York. He has also been a part of art initiatives in New Orleans like Prospect New Orleans and White Linen Night. He mentors youth artists with YAYA, a program of which he is an alumnus. Barnes aspires to become a pediatric art therapist, where he would utilize his talents to serve his community and children who are in need of artistic expression for therapeutic purposes.
LEARN MORE ABOUT CREATIVE ASSEMBLY

Soul-Sip at NOMA
2024-07-24 18:00 - 20:00, 2024-08-07 18:00 - 20:00, 2024-08-14 18:00 - 20:00
NOMA is committed to offering innovative experiences for learning and interpretation and uniting, inspiring, and engaging diverse communities and cultures. Throughout the year, the museum provides an after-hours inclusive programmatic mix of unique experiences in response to art from across time and place. This summer, NOMA presents Soul-Sip, an art and wine series blending the sacred and social elements of guided meditation and wine appreciation to relax the mind, elevate the seven senses, and savor delicious sips of wine.
Perceptions about the cultural practices in museums are ever-changing. However, one thing consistent within the culture of museums is receptions that include wine. Wine is among humankind’s oldest beverages, regularly appearing in museums and pictured in paintings authenticated by ancient distilling pottery. It is the beverage of choice to mark exhibition openings, closings, receptions, and other special occasions.
The evening includes guided meditation, wine-tasting instruction, a curated wine flight, small bites from Cafe NOMA, a discussion of select wine-related artwork from NOMA’s permanent collection, and a little lagniappe!
General Admission $95 | NOMA Members $75
Register Now

About Soul-Sip®
The soul is the immaterial part of a human being, the actuating cause of an individual life. A sip is the act of drinking by taking small mouthfuls. Soul-Sip blends the sacred and social elements of guided meditation and wine appreciation in a 60-minute class designed to relax the mind, elevate the seven senses, and savor delicious sips of wine.
Sense of Place Mat
When you sit for meditation, you use a mat, cushion, or chair to help create a calm, sacred space for your practice. Soul-Sip classes use a placemat as your practice space; doodle, decorate, take notes, roll it up at the end of class, and take it with you!
Wine Flights
Aligning what is in a wine glass with who is holding the glass opens a direct path to mindfulness. Soul-Sip wine selections represent an appreciation for the people, places, and vineyards who share the journey of sipping. The Vine Life Group curates wine flights for Soul-Sip.
About the Instructor
Dr. Redell Hearn, Ph.D., is Chief Educator at NOMA and the creator and instructor of Soul-Sip. Hearn is a museologist and Certified Chopra Health instructor with four decades of formal and informal study, experimentation, meditation, yoga practice, workshops, courses, seminars, and retreats in the healing arts.

Gallery Talk on Light and Museum Preservation Principles with Conservator of Objects Ingrid Seyb
2024-07-31 12:30, 2024-07-31 18:00
Join us in the galleries each Wednesday for weekly talks with artists, curators, and other special guests. During these casual conversations, we’ll take a close look at different works currently on view at NOMA.
This week, join Ingrid Seyb, NOMA’s Conservator of Objects, for a discussion on light and museum preservation principles. The talk will take place in the third-floor Kurt A. Gitter, M.D. and Alice Yelen Gitter Japanese gallery. This talk will be offered at 12:30 pm and 6:00 pm.
Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission on Wednesdays courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative.

Collaborating Across Continents: Developing a Contemporary Masquerade Exhibition for North American and African Audiences
2024-08-02 17:00 - 20:00
Join the New Orleans Museum of Art for a presentation on contemporary West African masquerade, in advance of the upcoming exhibition New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations, opening at the museum in April 2025.
The program will include a panel presentation and discussion with the exhibition’s curators; a first look at immersive documentary film clips from Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Cameroon; a signature West African-inspired cocktail; drumming performances; an opportunity to meet Dr. Aimé Kantoussan, Research Director of the Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar; and a virtual presentation from Cameroonian artist Hervé Youmbi.
Additional members of the New African Masquerades research team will present their developing scholarship and discuss the project’s ethical methodologies and foundational artistic, community, and institutional collaborations.
This program is free with advanced registration.
Register Now

About New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations
In New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations, an international team of scholars and artists present the stories of four individual masquerade artists, their motivations, artistic choices, and the patronage and economic networks with which they engage in order to make clear that masquerade is fundamentally contemporary. The show offers fresh research models for contemporary masquerade, bringing to the fore issues relating to restitution, ownership, and research ethics. This is the first major exhibition on contemporary West African masquerade artists to focus on individual creators rather than the typical presentation of masquerades as products of entire cultures, which undermines the nuanced and layered stories that individual artists and masquerades tell.
The exhibition team is led by Amanda M. Maples, Françoise Billion Richardson Curator of African Art at NOMA. Co-curators include Jordan A. Fenton, Associate Professor of Art History at Miami University Ohio, and Lisa Homann, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Aimé Kantoussan, Research Director at the Musée des Civilisations Noires/Museum of Black Civilizations (MCN) and Hervé Youmbi, a leading contemporary artist in Cameroon, are research collaborators and contributing authors.

Gallery Talk on John Scott: Blues Poem for the Urban Landscape
2024-08-14 12:30, 2024-08-14 18:00
Join us in the galleries each Wednesday for weekly talks with artists, curators, and other special guests. During these casual conversations, we’ll take a close look at different works currently on view at NOMA.
This week, join Brian Piper, Freeman Family Curator of Photographs, Prints, and Drawings at NOMA, as he discusses the newly installed John Scott: Blues Poem for the Urban Landscape. This talk will be offered at 12:30 & 6:00 pm in the Great Hall.
Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission on Wednesdays courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative.
