Performance by Artist Wangechi Mutu
2024-04-03 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans , LA, 70124
As part of NOMA’s programming alongside the exhibition Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined, the museum is hosting a performance on Wednesday, April 3, by the internationally celebrated artist.
In the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, Mutu will discuss her artistic practice and works permanently and temporarily installed in the garden. Mutu will engage with visitors outside the sculpture garden’s pavilion, which features a gallery of works by the artist.
This program is free, but capacity and seating are limited. Advanced registration is required.
Sold Out

About the Exhibition
The most complete survey of the artist’s work to date, Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined is a rare opportunity to see the range and depth of the artist’s practice across her influential career and to trace the thematic throughlines and progressions in her work. The exhibition spans the museum’s campus in spaces indoors and outdoors, building on the artist’s long relationship with New Orleans and the museum.
Two of Mutu’s sculptures are permanently installed in NOMA’s Besthoff Sculpture Garden. The program kicks off a series of talks by artists in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the garden.

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, The Azby Fund, 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.

NOMA at Night feat. Special Musical Guests and DJ HEELTURN
2024-04-05 18:00 - 21:00 | New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans, LA, 70119
Join us at NOMA for an evening of creativity inspired by the special exhibition Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined. The night will spotlight a showcase of music organized by Sari Jordan & Mahmoud Chouki, featuring both local and visiting musicians in a women- and queer-dominated band. Songs during the set are inspired by the exhibition and meditate on themes of transmutation, healing, and the feminine figures who anchor Mutu’s vast practice.
In addition to the museum, the Besthoff Sculpture Garden pavilion will be open for guests to view works from Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined installed there.
$30 General Admission | $15 for Members
PURCHASE TICKETS
Please note that food and drinks are not included in the ticket price. They are available for purchase directly from our partner vendors.

NOMA AT NIGHT LINE-UP

DJ Set by HEELTURN
In the Great Hall
With a strong urge to help build community and a wide taste in music, New Orleans native HEELTURN started out honing his DJ skills on WTUL with a show he likes to call “Accepted Eclectic.” From there he has bounced all over the city bringing a unique mix of soul, disco, hip-hop, R&B, bounce, baile funk, house, and club music to a wide variety of audiences. He has opened Washed Out, guest DJ-ed Set De Flo at the Hi-Ho Lounge (spotlighted by Boiler Room and Resident Advisor), performed with Katey Red, and played music festivals including BUKU and Bonnaroo. His love of the local music scene has led him to contribute writing to Antigravity and to co-book for the POC-focused punk music festival Deep Cuts.
Art-Making Activity: Assemblage
6:00–9:30 pm in the museum’s first-floor galleries

Featured Exhibition | Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined
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.

Additional Credits
Mahmoud Chouki
NOMA is pleased to work with internationally renowned multi-instrumentalist and composer Mahmoud Chouki, who is organizing musical performances for each NOMA at Night program in collaboration with museum staff.
Mahmoud Chouki is a master guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer living and working in New Orleans. His art draws together music from many different international contexts to consider how music can speak across cultural divides. His own compositions incorporate musical influences from across the globe, ranging from European classical, Andalusian from Southern Spain, Levantine music from the Middle East, Maghrebian music from North Africa, Latin American music, and jazz from the Southern United States. Integrating sounds and rhythms from many different cultures, Chouki combines classical guitar with instruments such as the loutar, a traditional instrument of the Middle Atlas region of Morocco; the sintir, a Sub-Saharan instrument from the Sahel region (Mali); the oud, an oriental lute; the Algerian mandole, a steel-string fretted instrument resembling an elongated mandolin; the Bağlama saz, a Turkish long necked bowl-lute; the banjo, and a variety of percussion instruments. As artistic director of Rencontre Orient-Occident at Chateau Mercier in Sierre, Switzerland, Chouki has brought together a wide range of international musicians to envision new forms of dialogue between East and West, with music often the only common language between performers.
Thank You to Our Supporters
NOMA at Night is supported in part by grant funds from the Azby Fund; Ruby K. Worner Charitable Trust through the PNC Charitable Trusts Grant Review Committee; New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation; and the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council. Funding has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Music in the Garden Feat. Asher Danziger and George Brown Trio
2024-04-07 14:00 - 16:00 | Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans , LA, 70124
NOMA is excited to present Music in the Garden, a seasonal outdoor music series. Encounter the sounds of local New Orleans musicians while strolling through the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden on select Sunday afternoons beginning at 2 pm. Performances will take place alongside Wangechi Mutu sculptures as an extension of the Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined special exhibition.
No registration is required. The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden is free and open to the public seven days a week.
Plan Your Visit

Music in the Garden Performers
April 7

2–3 pm | Asher Danziger
3–4 pm | George Brown Trio
April 14
2–3 pm | Marina Albero
3–4 pm | Mollie Pate and the LPO Horn Sound

Music in the Garden Feat. Marina Albero, Mollie Pate and the LPO Horn Sound
2024-04-14 14:00 - 16:00 | Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans , LA, 70124

Gallery Talk on Rebellious Spirits: Prohibition and Resistance in the South
2024-04-17 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 Laura Ochoa Rincon, Decorative Arts Trust Curatorial Fellow, for a conversation about the exhibition Rebellious Spirits: Prohibition and Resistance in the South. This talk will be offered at 12:30 pm and 6:00 pm.
This gallery talk is in connection with the NOMA book club’s April reading pick Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent. Join us on Thursday, April 18, at 12 pm to discuss the book and its connection to the exhibition Rebellious Spirits: Prohibition and Resistance in the South. The NOMA book club is hosted monthly, free and open to the public.
Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission to NOMA on Wednesdays courtesy of The Helis Foundation. When you arrive at NOMA, check in at the front desk for directions to the appropriate gallery.

Gallery Talk on Rebellious Spirits: Prohibition and Resistance in the South
2024-04-17 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 Laura Ochoa Rincon, Decorative Arts Trust Curatorial Fellow, for a conversation about the exhibition Rebellious Spirits: Prohibition and Resistance in the South. This talk will be offered at 12:30 pm and 6:00 pm.

This gallery talk is in connection with the NOMA book club’s April reading pick Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent. Join us on Thursday, April 18, at 12 pm to discuss the book and its connection to the exhibition Rebellious Spirits: Prohibition and Resistance in the South. The NOMA book club is hosted monthly, free and open to the public.

Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission to NOMA on Wednesdays courtesy of The Helis Foundation. When you arrive at NOMA, check in at the front desk for directions to the appropriate gallery.
GET TICKETS
To book your ticket in advance, click the link above and select the day for the gallery talk you’d like to attend.

Book Club Discussion | Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition
2024-04-18 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

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

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent

A brilliant, authoritative, and fascinating history of America’s most puzzling era, the years 1920 to 1933, when the US Constitution was amended to restrict one of America’s favorite pastimes: drinking alcoholic beverages.
From its start, America has been awash in drink. The sailing vessel that brought John Winthrop to the shores of the New World in 1630 carried more beer than water. By the 1820s, liquor flowed so plentifully it was cheaper than tea. That Americans would ever agree to relinquish their booze was as improbable as it was astonishing.
Yet we did, and Last Call is Daniel Okrent’s dazzling explanation of why we did it, what life under Prohibition was like, and how such an unprecedented degree of government interference in the private lives of Americans changed the country forever.

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.

odAOMO Presents Symphony of the Sown
2024-04-18 17:00 - 20:00 | Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, New Orleans , LA, 70124
Celebrate 20 years of the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden in collaboration with odAOMO during Symphony of the Sown, an enchanting event blending art, fashion, and music.
Set in the amphitheater in NOMA’s Besthoff Sculpture Garden, the runway will come to life with thirty avant-garde fashion pieces from odAOMO inspired by the blessings that bloom with spring’s favor. Immerse yourself in this stunning display of creativity and experience a mesmerizing live vocal performance by Quentin Alexander.
Free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first serve. Seating begins at 6 pm.

Program Schedule
5–6 pm | Cocktail Hour
6–6:15 pm | Call to Seating
6:15–7 pm | Performance and Runway Presentation
7–8 pm | Mix & Mingle

About odAOMO
odAOMO is a luxury boutique led by Dr. Sophia Aomo Omoro. Located in New Orleans’s famous French Quarter, odAOMO’s pieces are all designed locally in house and handcrafted in Kenya and Ghana.

Family Day | Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined
2024-04-20 10:00 - 14:00
Kids and their grown-ups are invited for a day of free family fun at the New Orleans Museum of Art!
Explore the exhibition Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined with a gallery talk, storytime, and art-making activities. Join an Afrobeats dance and drumming lesson by Andrea Peoples, and then put your new moves to work at a dance party featuring a musical performance by DJ Ojay and Kreative Arts Collective drummers.
For this family day, we’re taking inspiration from Wangechi Mutu’s bold vision of the future, which brings together nearly one hundred sculptures, paintings, collages, drawings, and films. Mutu’s work explores the legacies of colonialism, globalization, and African diasporic cultural traditions.
Admission and programming are free for families.
Advanced registration is encouraged.
Register Now
This program is supported by The Howard Foundation.

FAMILY DAY HIGHLIGHTS
Storytime and Crafting with Author Shannon Kelley-Atwater
10:30 am and 11:00 am | Alligators Don’t Like Flowers Storytime and Crafting in the Great Hall
11:30 am | Book Signing in the NOMA Museum Shop
Join us for a story inspired by real alligators at the Audubon Zoo and the Aquarium of the Americas. Read by the author Shannon Kelley-Atwater, Alligators Don’t Like Flowers introduces us to a special alligator named Angelo. The story is followed by a floral crown crafting activity. Before heading home, visit Crocodylus by Wangechi Mutu in NOMA’s Besthoff Sculpture Garden.
Gallery Talk: Wangechi Mutu’s Crocodylus and In Two Canoe
12:00–12:30 pm
Besthoff Sculpture Garden
Explore the connections between Wangechi Mutu’s Afrofuturist artwork and environmental advocacy. Meet in NOMA’s Great Hall at 12 pm. This Gallery talk will be 20–30 minutes.
Afrobeats Dance Party – Lesson, Drums, DJ, and Dancing
12:30 pm–2:00 pm
Great Hall
Get pumped up during Andrea Peoples’s Afrobeats-inspired dance and drumming lesson. Then, use your new moves in an Afrobeats dance party featuring DJ Ojay and Kreative Arts Collective drummers.
Art-Making Activity: Assemblage Art Station and Temporary Tattoo Collages
10 am–2 pm
McDermott International, Inc. Elevator Lobby
Join us at the art-making table for crafts inspired by Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined. Put your imagination to work and get hands-on by collaging your own unique artwork with found objects, or make your own temporary tattoo arrangement from a selection of flowers, butterflies, and geometric elements, while supplies last. Adults must be present for temporary tattoo applications.
Play Area and Book Nook on the Portico
10 am–2 pm
Portico
Families are taking over NOMA’s front entrance for family day! Read books and play in the sunshine in front of the museum. The play area includes bubbles, hula hoops, and jump ropes.

Food from Tanjariné Kitchen Food Truck and Café NOMA
10 am–2 pm
NOMA’s Circle Drive
Tanjariné Kitchen, home of the Mandela Burger, is a vegan restaurant offering mouth-watering cuisines inspired by the culinary traditions of Africa; from the Horn of Africa to the Cape of the continent. Tanjariné Kitchen’s signature hand-crafted vegan burger is a soy-free, gluten-free, and nut-free delicious vegan burger made with a proprietary blend of legumes and spices. This flavor-packed burger will leave your mouth watering and in awe of its texture. Tanjariné Kitchen makes vegan delicious!
Café NOMA by Ralph Brennan features a delicious array of artisanal flatbreads, sandwiches, salads, and veggie bowls alongside an artful assortment of freshly baked breads and sweets inside a show-stopping pastry case.

ABOUT OUR PARTNERS

Shannon Kelley-Atwater
Shannon Kelly-Atwater was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She moved to Louisiana in 2005 to attend Loyola University New Orleans, where she graduated with a degree in Visual Arts. She fell in love with the city and her husband, and they planted their roots and never left. Kelly-Atwater first picture book was Alligators Don’t Like Flowers. She is also the author-illustrator of Goodnight Pothole, Five Little Termites, and illustrator of Rainbow Rodney. Kelly-Atwater has been a featured author at the Louisiana Book Festival and the New Orleans Book Festival. When she’s not writing, drawing, and painting, Kelly-Atwater is raising her three kids and playing dress up as a larger-than-life flower with her Mardi Gras Krewe, Krewe des Fleurs.

Andrea Peoples, DJ Ojay, and Kreative Arts Collective
Andrea Peoples is an experienced African, Afro Cuban, and Dunham Technique dancer and choreographer who has studied with some of the world’s greatest master dancers and musicians. Her African dance studies were under the tutelage of Djeneba Sako, Moustapha Bangoura, and multiple others. She studied the Dunham Technique under Keith Williams and Theodore Jamison and Afro Cuban dance under multiple teachers in Matanzas, Cuba, and the United States. Peoples is a well-respected cultural arts organizer and arts consultant who has worked with Kreative Arts Collective as CEO, Cuba Nola as event consultant and instructor, Three Keys at the Ace Hotel as a resident performer, Black Dance USA as co-coordinator, University of Missouri St. Louis theater department as head choreographer, Washington University as adjunct professor of dance, Tulane University as guest dance instructor, Young Audiences of Louisiana as teaching artist, Institute of Ashe Movement as dance director, and Dillard University as dance instructor.

Education and outreach initiatives at NOMA are supported in part by The Gayle and Tom Benson Foundation; the Lois and Lloyd Hawkins Jr. Foundation; The Helis Foundation; The City of New Orleans; First Horizon; Janice Parmelee and Bill Hammack; Sara and David Kelso; Patrick F. Taylor Foundation; 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 Howard Foundation; Karen and Henry Coaxum; The Bruce J. Heim Foundation; and Laitram.

Cross-Cultural Conversations: Creative Assembly and ARCAthens
2024-04-23 15:00 - 17:00 | NOMA’s Lapis Center for the Arts
Join us in NOMA’s Lapis Center for the Arts for an enlightening evening of cross-cultural dialogue with ARCAthens resident artists Mare Spanoudaki and Nikolas Ventourakis and two of NOMA’s Creative Assembly Cohort members, Dianne Honoré and Kr3wcial. These artists with diverse backgrounds will share their experiences, perspectives, and creative processes.
Through an open exchange, attendees will gain insight into how art serves as a universal language, transcending geographical boundaries, and fostering connections among people from varied cultural backgrounds. In conversation with NOMA’s Creative Assembly Cohort members, the visiting artists will explore themes of identity, representation, and the power of artistic expression.
This program is free with museum admission.
Plan Your Visit

ABOUT ARCATHENS
Based in New York City, ARCAthens was created in 2017 to provide opportunities and support to visual artists, curators, and scholars through its artist residency programs. The inaugural NOLA/NYC Research Fellowship gives Greek artists and curators the opportunity to focus on cultural exchange and community engagement in two American cities: New Orleans and New York City. Visit ARCAthens to learn more about the organization and their programs.
Learn More

About the Speakers
Mare Spanoudaki
Mare Spanoudaki is a researcher, cultural manager, and curator who works in broad arenas that relate to social movements, identity politics, folk and popular culture, institutional critique, communality, intimacy, archives, and exhibition histories. Her education includes a BA in Communication, Media and Culture from Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, an MA in Cultural Policy and Management from City (University of London), and an MRes in Exhibition Studies from Central Saint Martins (University of the Arts London). She has worked for various cultural and art institutions in Europe, is actively involved with the production, communication, and organization of cultural events, and has curated community projects, art publications, and contemporary art exhibitions in Greece, the UK, and Germany, both online and offline. She has contributed to exhibition catalogues, contemporary art journals, and art books. Since 2017, she is one half of the two-person female artistic/curatorial synergy, This is not a feminist project, whose work has been presented at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall (Thessaloniki), at the Eleusis European Capital of Culture (Elefsina), at the A-DASH space and at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) in Athens. She is also a founding member of the Union of Workers in Contemporary Art (GR), an amateur photographer and dj, and a collector of archival material and vinyls.
Nikolas Ventourakis
Nikolas Ventourakis is a visual artist living and working between Athens and London. His practice situates in the threshold between art and document, in the attempt to interrogate the status of the photographic image.
Ventourakis completed an MA in Fine Art (Photography) with Merit at Central Saint Martins School of Arts (2013) and is the recipient of the Deutsche Bank Award in Photography (2013). He was selected for Future Map (2013), Catlin Guide (2014), and Fresh Faced Wild Eyed (2014) in the Photographers Gallery as one of the top graduating artists in the UK. In 2015 he was a visiting artist at CalArts with a FULBRIGHT Artist Fellowship and is a fellow in New Museum’s IDEAS CITY. He was shortlisted for the MAC International and the Bar-Tur Award. Recently he has exhibited in the FORMAT Festival, Derby; the NRW Forum, Düsseldorf, the Mediterranean Biennale of Young Artists 18, the parallel program of the Istanbul Biennale, Hors Pistes 14 at Centre Pompidou, and The Same River Twice, at the Benaki Museum. Since 2017 he is the artistic director of the Lucy Art Residency in Kavala, and is co-curator of the project “A Hollow Place” in Athens. He is a 2020 Stavros Niarchos Artworks Fellow and a 2021 and 2023 Onassis AIR resident artist.
Dianne Honoré
Growing up in her family’s Creole restaurant in Tremé laid the foundation for Dianne “Gumbo Marie” Honoré’s work as a historic interpreter, Creole culture activist, teaching artist, and event producer. She founded the Black Storyville Baby Dolls, the Amazons Benevolent Society, and Unheard Voices of Louisiana. She masks as Big Queen of the Yellow Pocahontas Hunters Tribe for which she creates one-of-a-kind suits from thousands of beads and feathers. She has organized numerous history-related music and food events, tours, and exhibits over several decades including the Roots of Creole Cooking tour for Culinary Backstreets, the Golden Crown exhibit and symposium at the New Orleans Jazz Museum celebrating the legacy of Big Chief Darryl Montana, and descendant heritage tours. In addition to appearances on the Harry Connick Jr. Show, Flip My Food, BET, and Good Morning America, she hosted a show focused on New Orleans history and current events. She owned an exhibit store called “Gumbo Marie” curating exhibits on Louisiana history. Annually, she produces Baking for Breast Cancer with her cancer focus group the Amazons Benevolent Society, raising funds for local cancer fighters.
Kr3wcial
In the vibrant tapestry of New Orleans’ rich musical heritage, Kr3wcial emerges as a dynamic figure, transcending the boundaries of traditional hip-hop. Born and raised in the heart of the Crescent City, Kr3wcial’s music is a sonic journey through the soul of New Orleans itself. With lyrics that delve deep into the city’s intricate layers—from the gritty streets to the transcendent spirit of its people—he weaves a narrative that is both raw and poetic, reminiscent of the city’s jazz and blues roots. Kr3wcial’s tracks, often enlivened with the pulse of brass and the rhythm of New Orleans, serve as a compelling commentary on the city’s multifaceted nature. Through his verses, he explores themes of resilience, identity, and social consciousness. Beyond the studio, Kr3wcial is a community advocate, using his platform to inspire positive change. Collaborating with local nonprofits, he harnesses the unifying power of music to uplift the very city that fuels his creativity.

Gallery Talk with Rory O’Neill Schmitt and Rosary O’Neill
2024-04-24 12:30, 2024-04-24 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, Rory O’Neill Schmitt, Ph.D., and Rosary O’Neill, Ph.D., authors of Edgar Degas in New Orleans and Kate Chopin in New Orleans, give gallery talks and book signings in the second-floor Impressionist galleries.

Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission to NOMA on Wednesdays courtesy of The Helis Foundation. When you arrive at NOMA, check in at the front desk for directions to the appropriate gallery.

Intimate Moments of Louisiana Artists: Edgar Degas and Kate Chopin
Afternoon Gallery Talk at 12:30 pm
In this talk, meet Edgar Degas and Kate Chopin, whose enormous talents blossomed in Louisiana. One was the son of a Louisiana woman, and one the wife of a Louisiana man. This talk explores the mysterious time Degas and Chopin spent in Louisiana that catapulted their dazzling careers.
Bewitched by Beauty: Edgar Degas and Kate Chopin
Evening Gallery Talk at 6:00 pm
Learn how New Orleans bewitched two monumental artists: Edgar Degas and Kate Chopin. Who was Edgar Degas and why was he painting masterpieces in the darkened rooms of New Orleans? Why did Kate Chopin write folk tales of volcanic Louisiana heroes? Why did these extraordinary people come to Louisiana in a time of peril, and why did they leave?

About the Authors
Rory O’Neill Schmitt, Ph.D, and Rosary O’Neill, Ph.D.
Rory O’Neill Schmitt, Ph.D., is the Manager of Faculty Development at the University of Southern California’s Bovard College. A filmmaker, she produced the Duplass Brothers Productions television series with Barret O’Brien, A Long Long Night, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023. She trained as an art therapist at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and attained her board certification in California. Dr. Schmitt specializes in visual art, education, and curriculum; her doctoral studies focused on teaching art interpretation in museums. An exhibiting fine art photographer, she has exhibited her artwork in New York City, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Paris. Dr. Schmitt has penned three additional books about the creative process with Arcadia Publishing and The History Press: Navajo and Hopi Art in Arizona (2016), New Orleans Voodoo: A Cultural History (with O’Neill, 2019), and Edgar Degas in New Orleans (with O’Neill, 2023).
Rosary O’Neill, Ph.D., is a Senior Fulbright Drama Specialist, and winner of nine Fulbright awards, including five to Paris to study Edgar Degas. She has published 19 plays with Concord Publishers (Samuel French Publishers), including Degas in New Orleans, and Marilyn/God, and has published three play anthologies and six books. She is a member of the Playwrights Division of the Actors’ Studio in New York City. A professor emerita at Loyola University New Orleans, Dr. O’Neill founded the first repertory theater in New Orleans: Southern Rep. She has been celebrated world-wide with residencies at Harvard University, Tyrone Guthrie Theatre Center, American Academy in Rose, and Irish Cultural Center in Paris.

Film Screening and Discussion: The Nita & Zita Project
2024-04-24 17:00 - 20:00
The documentary The Nita & Zita Project tells the story of two legendary New Orleans dancers. The film shows their rise to stardom in the 1920s, their eventual retirement in New Orleans, and the thousands of costumes they created.
Following a screening in NOMA’s Lapis Center for the Arts, Marci Darling (writer, director, and producer) and Sharon Gillen (producer) will speak about the film. Guests are also invited to view the costumes of Nita & Zita from 5–5:30 pm.
This event is free and open to the public.

About the Film
The Nita & Zita Project tells the story of legendary 1920s New Orleans dancers Nita and Zita, two Jewish Hungarian sisters who immigrated to the United States to blaze their own trail as contortionist acrobatic performers. They rose to international stardom and danced around the world as glittering globetrotters, through multiple wars, before retiring to New Orleans, where they became recluses and painted their Creole cottage top-to-bottom with flowers, dots, and vibrant patterns.
After their passing, their neighbor found thousands of costumes in their home, which she then sold in a yard sale that lasted five years. Their story of resilience and ecstatic creativity as artists has inspired countless artists, who have created award-winning plays, dance tributes, paintings, and poetry based on the extraordinary story of these sisters.

About the Speakers

Marci Darling
Marci Darling has been a storyteller for decades. Darling has written five bestselling books and her writing has appeared in such esteemed publications as the Boston Globe, the New York Times, and Louisiana Homes and Gardens. She worked as a professional belly dancer, circus acrobat, contortionist–illusionist, and burlesque dancer for ten years, dancing on tour with The Go-Go’s, the B-52’s, Paul McCartney, and many others. She is Adjunct Faculty at Endicott College, where she instructs educators on integrating the arts into teaching strategies. Darling also holds a Master’s of Education from Harvard University, a bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a certificate in writing from Stanford Univerisity. The Nita & Zita Project is her first film and serves as a tribute to her dance partner and soulmate Kim Murphy, who passed away in 2018.

Sharon Gillen
Dr. Sharon Gillen is a self-described “perfectly imperfect human who finds great joy in approaching life as an opportunity for learning.” Gillen is a medical doctor and was drawn to the profession as a way to help heal people. More recently, she has realized the power of healing through storytelling and feels called to honor her ancestors by connecting more deeply to the divine feminine and her Jewish heritage. She is a descendant of persecuted Jews from the Baia Mare area in Romania, the same area as Nita & Zita. She is a lover of all things film and has served on the board of the New Orleans Film Society.

Trixie Minx
Burlesque performer, producer, and educator Trixie Minx is a leader in the preservation and innovation of the Art of Tease. Known for her classic yet playful style of dance, she is also recognized as a premiere burlesque producer with multiple New Orleans-based shows in addition to several custom-created productions for special events through her company Trixie Minx Productions. Recently Minx opened Trixie’s Burlesque Boutique & Studio, which offers custom products by performing artists and dance classes to the public. Beyond the stage, Minx also volunteers her time as an advocate for affordable performer healthcare with the New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

Intergenerational Beading Workshop Showcase
2024-05-01 - 2024-05-15
See a special showcase highlighting the work of participants in an intergenerational beading workshop at the museum.
Under the guidance of Creative Assembly Cohort member Dianne Honoré, participants of all ages gathered throughout the month of April to dive into the rich heritage of Black Masking Indian beading techniques. Immersed in the culture of New Orleans, participants crafted beadwork but also learned the rhythms of the city’s drumming tradition and Black Masking Indian suits.
The showcase will be on view near the museum’s second-floor classroom from Wednesday, May 1, to Wednesday, May 15, during regular museum hours.

About Dianne Honoré
Growing up in her family’s Creole restaurant in Tremé laid the foundation for Dianne “Gumbo Marie” Honoré’s work as a historic interpreter, Creole culture activist, teaching artist, and event producer. She founded the Black Storyville Baby Dolls, the Amazons Benevolent Society, and Unheard Voices of Louisiana. She masks as Big Queen of the Yellow Pocahontas Hunters Tribe for which she creates one-of-a-kind suits from thousands of beads and feathers. She has organized numerous history-related music and food events, tours, and exhibits over several decades including the Roots of Creole Cooking tour for Culinary Backstreets, the Golden Crown exhibit and symposium at the New Orleans Jazz Museum celebrating the legacy of Big Chief Darryl Montana, and descendant heritage tours. In addition to appearances on the Harry Connick Jr. Show, Flip My Food, BET, and Good Morning America, she hosted a show focused on New Orleans history and current events. She owned an exhibit store called “Gumbo Marie” curating exhibits on Louisiana history. Annually, she produces Baking for Breast Cancer with her cancer focus group the Amazons Benevolent Society, raising funds for local cancer fighters.
Learn More About Creative Assembly

Gallery Talk | Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined—Canceled
2024-05-01 12:30
This event has been canceled.

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.
Gallery talks are free with museum admission, no registration is required. 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

Gallery Talk | Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined
2024-05-01 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.
Gallery talks are free with museum admission, no registration is required. 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

Perspectives: A Neighborhood Photography Workshop with Paige DeVries (Off-Site)
2024-05-04 13:00 - 14:30 | UNO St. Claude Gallery, 2429 St. Claude Avenue, New Orleans, LA, 70117, United States
Explore the ways that photography with your phone can be used as an easily accessible, generative art-making tool.
In this off-site workshop with 2023–24 Creative Assembly Cohort artist Paige DeVries, participants will view the artist’s solo show on view at UNO St. Claude Gallery (2429 St. Claude Avenue) and discuss how the artist uses photography from her phone to inform her work as a painter. After the gallery tour and conversation, DeVries leads a photography exercise in the neighborhood surrounding the gallery. Participants will share images they take during the workshop at the end of the program.
Free with advanced registration. Please note that this workshop takes place off-site at UNO St. Claude Gallery (2429 St. Claude Avenue). Participants are asked to bring a phone they can use to take photographs.
Register Now

About Paige DeVries

Paige DeVries is a New Orleans–based painter whose work examines the interface between people, plants, and the suburban environment of her neighborhood and city. DeVries grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, where she developed an appreciation and reverence for nature that continues to impact her artistic sensibilities and interests. DeVries’s paintings have been shown locally and nationally, most notably at Art Basel in Miami Beach. Her work is published in the 2023 issue of New American Paintings 2023. She is a recipient of the Florence Leif Grant, RISD Trustees’ Scholarship, and the Anderson Ranch Arts Center Brooks Fellowship. DeVries received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2013 and is currently pursuing her MFA at the University of New Orleans, graduating in Spring 2024, where she also teaches undergraduate drawing courses.

GiveNOLA Day
2024-05-07
Mark your calendar to show your support on Tuesday, May 7!
Join New Orleans’s annual community-wide day of giving, hosted by the Greater New Orleans Foundation, and help NOMA inspire a love of art in our city and beyond.
Funds raised on last year’s GiveNOLA Day supported show-stopping special exhibitions like Fashioning America: Grit to Glamour, engaging programming like Art Thrives, community partnerships with local creatives like fashion label odAOMO, and more.
Give Now
For more information call 504.658.4127 or visit www.givenola.org/about.

Open Rehearsals with Lauren Messina
2024-05-07 10:00 - 12:30
Experience an open rehearsal of The Beauty of Things, an upcoming dance performance choreographed by NOMA Creative Assembly Cohort member Lauren Messina. Attendees will be able to watch and participate in the dance performance progress. A complete performance of The Beauty of Things will take place on Sunday, June 9.
Rehearsals will take place every Tuesday and Thursday, 10 am–12:30 pm, throughout May, in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden’s amphitheater.
Free and open to the public. Pictures are welcome but please refrain from filming. In the case of inclement weather, rehearsals will take place in NOMA’s Lapis Center for the Arts.

About Lauren Messina
Lauren Ashlee Messina is a Big Easy Award-winning dance choreographer with a heart for community. Born in Springfield, Illinois, Messina has developed her career in the Greater New Orleans area in collaboration with the Marigny Opera Ballet, KM Dance Project, the New Orleans Opera, ELLEvate Dance Company, Dow-Dance Company’s Binge Dance Festival, and the CAC New Orleans as a 2022 Performing Artist-in-Residence. Her choreography has been performed at the New York Jazz Choreography Project, the 92nd Street Y, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and the Mississippi Museum of Art. Messina received the Ailey School’s Oprah Winfrey Foundation Scholarship and participated in the pilot program Moving Toward Justice Open Workshop at Gibney Dance. She is a 2023 Platforms Fund grant recipient and founder of My Free Dance Class. Messina aims to create meaningful movement experiences that inspire empathy and transformation by collaborating with artists across disciplines in a thriving collective environment.
Learn More About Creative Asssembly

Gallery Talk | Poetry in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden with Daniel Fitzpatrick
2024-05-08 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, NOMA Creative Assembly member Daniel Fitzpatrick takes us on a poetic stroll through the Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Through original poems inspired by the works and their setting, Fitzpatrick will invite listeners to renewed engagement with art, nature, and the challenges both pose to the human heart. Meet at the Besthoff Sculpture Garden’s main entrance on Dueling Oaks Drive to the left of the museum’s front steps. There are wheelchairs available upon request.

No registration is required. The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden is free and open to the public seven days a week. When you arrive, please wait at the Besthoff Sculpture Garden office for directions.

About Daniel Fitzpatrick
Daniel Fitzpatrick is the author of the novel Only the Lover Sings. Born in New Orleans, he studied philosophy at the University of Dallas, and he holds an MA in philosophy from Holy Apostles College and an MPhil in creative writing from Trinity College Dublin. His translation of the Divine Comedy was published in 2021 for the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death. His poetry and essays have appeared in places like Dappled Things, New Oxford Review, and Ocean State Review. He is the editor of Joie de Vivre, a journal of art, culture, and letters for South Louisiana, and he teaches English at Jesuit High School in New Orleans.
Learn More About Creative Assembly

Gallery Talk on Double Space: Women Photographers and Surrealism
2024-05-15 12:30, 2024-05-15 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, Allison Westerfield, curator of Double Space: Women Photographers and Surrealism, will discuss the exhibition. This talk will be offered at 12:30 pm and 6:00 pm.

About Allison Westerfield
Allison Westerfield is a doctoral candidate at the University of Florida studying modern and contemporary art. Westerfield received her Bachelor of Arts in Arts Administration from the University of West Florida and a Master of Arts in Art History from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her current research focuses on the intersection of tarot and occultism in the work of women surrealist artists, such as Leonora Carrington, Leonor Fini, and Remedios Varo. She is the recipient of several awards including the Rothman Doctoral Fellowship in the Humanities, American Association of University Women (AAUW) Gainesville Branch Grant, and the Charles T. Woods Grant. Outside of academia, she works as an independent curator. Recent exhibitions include mini golf of sensual sports photographs by McKinna Anderson at Florida Mining Gallery, Waiting Room at Laundromat Art Space in Miami, Ctrl [Alt] Self at Westobou Gallery in Augusta, GA. Most recently, she curated Double Space: Women Photographers and Surrealism at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Book Club Discussion | Picasso's War: How Modern Art Came to America
2024-05-16 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

May 2024
Book Club Discussion | Thursday, May 16, 12 pm

Picasso’s War: How Modern Art Came to America by Hugh Eakin

In January 1939, Pablo Picasso was renowned in Europe but disdained by many in the United States. One year later, Americans across the country were clamoring to see his art. How did the controversial leader of the Paris avant-garde break through to the heart of American culture?
The answer begins a generation earlier, when a renegade Irish American lawyer named John Quinn set out to build the greatest collection of Picassos in existence. His dream of a museum to house them died with him, until it was rediscovered by Alfred H. Barr, Jr., a cultural visionary who, at the age of twenty-seven, became the director of New York’s new Museum of Modern Art.
Picasso’s War is the never-before-told story about how a single exhibition, a decade in the making, irrevocably changed American taste, and in doing so saved dozens of the twentieth century’s most enduring artworks from the Nazis. Through a deft combination of new scholarship and vivid storytelling, Hugh Eakin shows how two men and their obsession with Picasso changed the art world forever.

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.

Teen Night: Teens Take NOMA | Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined
2024-05-17 18:00 - 21:00
NOMA’s Teen Art Council takes over the museum to celebrate youth, creativity, and connection. Inspired by Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined, the event features opportunities to engage with the exhibition, relax with friends, and connect with creative teens from across the city!
Featuring:
Gallery talks on Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined led by NOMA’s TAC
Art-making & activities
Open mic & dance party
Capture the moment at TAC’s professional photo booth

Plus free food, stickers, and other giveaways while supplies last!
Additional snacks and beverages available for purchase.
Admission and programming are free for teens. Advanced registration is encouraged. Only adults affiliated with a teen attendee are permitted to attend.
Register Now

TEEN TAKEOVER HIGHLIGHTS

DJ Set by DJ Arie Spins
Lounge Set Great Hall 6:00 – 7:30 pm | Dance Party 8:30 – 9 pm
DJ Arie Spins, a New Orleans native and all-around music enthusiast, is setting the tone and making events pop for crowds across Louisiana and throughout the south. Her talents have caught the eye of corporate clients Essence Magazine, NCAA Final Four, and Coca-Cola. She’s had the pleasure of sharing the stage with R&B artists Sevyn Streeter, Kelly Price, and Ledisi, and most recently served as the opening act for P.J. Morton’s 2022 Watch The Sun Tour.
Gallery Talk: Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined
Explore the connections between Wangechi Mutu’s Afrofuturist work, social issues, and the environment. Tours are led by NOMA’s Teen Art Council and are available every half hour from 6:30 – 8 pm.
Art-Making Activity: Collages
First-Floor Galleries
Join us at the art-making table for crafts inspired by Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined. Put your imagination to work and get hands-on by collaging your own unique artwork.

Art-Making Activity: Terrariums by Crazy Plant Bae
Great Hall
Build your own world with a Crazy Plant Bae terrarium!
Crazy Plant Bae is the plant enthusiast in all of us! We are the lovers of all things green & the keepers of all things growing. Expand your passion for plants!
Book Nook & Swap
First Floor, McDermott International Elevator Lobby
Bring a book to swap, make a connection, and grab a giveaway while supplies last.
Food from Café NOMA and La Cocinita Food Truck

6–9 pm
First Floor
Come hungry; La Cocinita Food Truck will be serving tacos, quesadillas, and more! Your first two tacos are free while supplies last. Additional food can be purchased with cash, credit card, or ApplePay.

Teen Night is designed by NOMA’s Teen Art Council—by teens, for teens. Teen programs at NOMA are supported in part by The Bruce J. Heim Foundation. For more information about TAC, visit noma.org/teens or email education@noma.org.

Gallery Talk on Brindaban Pink by Lynda Benglis
2024-05-22 12:30, 2024-05-22 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 Laura Moreno, NOMA Museum Educator for a conversation on Louisiana native Lynda Benglis’ Brindaban Pink from NOMA’s permanent collection. This talk is in connection with March’s NOMA Book Club reading pick Identity Unknown: Rediscovering Seven American Women Artists by Donna Seaman.
Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission to NOMA on Wednesdays courtesy of The Helis Foundation. When you arrive at NOMA, check in at the front desk for directions to the appropriate gallery.

Mutu & Mimosas | Member Magic Hours for Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined
2024-05-25 09:00 - 10:00
Kick off the long weekend with a members-only look at Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined. Grab a mimosa and join a guided tour to learn more about Mutu’s work on view in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden and pavilion. Drinks and pastries are on us!
Not a Member?

NOMA members support our institutional mission to present meaningful arts experiences that inspire communities in New Orleans and beyond. Members receive free admission the museum all year long, invitations to special events, and discounted tickets to programs.
Join Today
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, The Azby Fund, 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.

Social Emotional Learning Workshop (Ages 6 and Up)
2024-05-26 10:00 - 12:00
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is an educational framework to help foster social skills that develop and maintain healthy relationships with self and others. The SEL curriculum focuses on recognizing and managing emotions, setting positive goals, demonstrating caring and concern for self and others, and maintaining positive relationships. SEL at NOMA helps to connect these skills with the artists and artworks in the museum’s permanent collection or featured in special exhibitions. Designed for children ages 6 and up, NOMA’s SEL workshop includes an art-making activity, close looking at an object in the collection, storytime, and a movement-based activity. SEL workshops are led and produced in partnership with NOMA’s Teen Art Council (TAC), a cohort of creative high school students and youth leaders who serve as ambassadors for the museum.
Pre-registration encouraged. Free with museum admission.
Register Now

SEL WORKSHOP: Setting Boundaries and the Fang People’s Standing Reliquary Guardian Figures | Sunday, May 26, 10 AM–12PM | Mental Health Awareness Month
Join us for a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) workshop dedicated to setting boundaries for ourselves and respecting the boundaries of others. Including age-appropriate object lessons for the Fang people’s Standing Reliquary Guardian Figures, art-making activities, storytime, and a Tai Chi movement session with Terry Rappold. Tai Chi includes a series of gentle movements that create harmony between the mind and body.

About NOMA’s Teen Art Council
The Teen Art Council (TAC) is a cohort of creative high school students and youth leaders who serve as ambassadors for the museum. TAC members meet on a weekly basis throughout the school year to plan programming for teen and youth audiences, meet with museum staff, take part in creative experiences with artworks and artists, and more!

Art in the Afternoon (For Families)
2024-05-29 15:00 - 17:00
Families are invited to spend the afternoon at the museum learning about an object from NOMA’s permanent collection or a special exhibition, engaging in art-making activities, and enjoying a story with teaching artists. This program is designed for families with kids of all ages.
Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission to NOMA on Wednesdays courtesy of The Helis Foundation.
Advanced registration is encouraged.
Register Now

ART IN THE AFTERNOON | WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 3–5 PM
Sister of the Eastern Star by William T. Williams
Join us in the museum’s galleries to celebrate the colors and shapes of William T. Williams’s Sister of the Eastern Star. Look and listen to Color by Ruth Heller, a rhyming story about the wonderful world of color, and explore the elements of art by creating your own abstract color wheel.

Why & How We Say What We Say: French Pronunciation Class with Dianne Honoré
2024-06-01 13:00 - 15:00
“Why and how we say what we say.”
Komen yé di en Kréyòl Lalwizyann?
Calling all language-curious locals, tourism professionals, and Louisiana culture bearers!
Ever wonder why we say the things we say here in Louisiana and how we traditionally pronounce those words and phrases?
In collaboration with Alliance Française de la Nouvelle Orléans, Creative Assembly Cohort member Dianne Honoré hosts a Louisiana Creole and French pronunciation workshop. Participants will take part in fun, interactive ways to learn language history, why it’s important to the survival of traditions, and how to pronounce popular words, names, landmarks, and so much more.
This event is free with advanced registration.
Register Now

About the Instructors
Dianne Honoré
Growing up in her family’s Creole restaurant in Tremé laid the foundation for Dianne “Gumbo Marie” Honoré’s work as a historic interpreter, Creole culture activist, teaching artist, and event producer. She founded the Black Storyville Baby Dolls, the Amazons Benevolent Society, and Unheard Voices of Louisiana. She masks as Big Queen of the Yellow Pocahontas Hunters Tribe for which she creates one-of-a-kind suits from thousands of beads and feathers. She has organized numerous history-related music and food events, tours, and exhibits over several decades including the Roots of Creole Cooking tour for Culinary Backstreets, the Golden Crown exhibit and symposium at the New Orleans Jazz Museum celebrating the legacy of Big Chief Darryl Montana, and descendant heritage tours. In addition to appearances on the Harry Connick Jr. Show, Flip My Food, BET, and Good Morning America, she hosted a show focused on New Orleans history and current events. She owned an exhibit store called “Gumbo Marie” curating exhibits on Louisiana history. Annually, she produces Baking for Breast Cancer with her cancer focus group the Amazons Benevolent Society, raising funds for local cancer fighters.
Lawson Ota
Lawson Ota is the founder and owner of Tours by Marguerite, a tour company focused on the Creole culture of New Orleans and the pioneers in the development of this heritage during the 18th and 19th centuries. The company is named after Ota’s grandmother, Margaret “Marguerite” Williams. Margaret was a gifted storyteller and maintained, as many of her generation did, the rich oral tradition of West Africa continued by slaves and their descendants in the New World.
Ota is also a teacher of French as a foreign language. He holds an M.A. in linguistics, French, and German. He has devoted his career to the defense of the heritage languages of Louisiana (that is, Louisiana French and Louisiana Creole).
Joseph Dunn
For more than 25 years, Joseph Dunn’s in-depth knowledge of the varied cultures, languages, and heritages of Louisiana has afforded him work at the highest levels of the state’s cultural and tourism industries. Dunn was most recently appointed Honorary Consul of Canada in New Orleans. Prior to beginning his freelance work in 2014, Joseph was the Executive Director of the Council on the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL) from 2011 to 2014. He had previously worked at the Consulate General of France in Louisiana, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, the Office of Cultural Development of Louisiana, the Louisiana Travel Promotion Association, Laura Plantation, and the Louisiana Office of Tourism. In recognition of his work, Dunn was knighted by the Republic of France as a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite in November of 2021 and was inducted into the Ordre des Francophones d’Amérique by Québec’s Ministry of the French Language in 2022.
