At the Museum
Beginning on Tuesday, April 15th, LRMA Library will again host its video series featuring a new addition to the collection, “Craft in America”. The series is divided into three categories: “Memory”, “Landscape” and “Community”, and together they explore the variety and history of American craftsmanship through the work of artists working in a variety of media across the country.
One video from the series will be offered each week on Tuesdays, April 15, 22, and 29 at 2:00 p.m. in the Museum Reading Room. Each video lasts approximately 60 minutes. The Library will replay each week’s video by request for those unable to attend the Tuesday 2:00 p.m. sessions.
Additionally, books from the Library’s collection of Japanese print books will be on display in glass cases during the Museum’s exhibit, The Floating World: Ukiyo-e Prints from the Wallace B. Rogers Collection. The two cases will be located in the Museum Reading Room, and will run for the duration of the print exhibition.
For more information, please contact Librarian Donnelle Conklin at 601-649-6374 or dconklin@lrma.org.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
not the usual
This is a little out of the ordinary for us here at Live from LRMA, but Cole Pratt was a good friend of the museum and an essential member of the arts community in New Orleans and the Gulf South. He was a Mississippi native, too.
Cole Pratt, 53, art gallery owner
Monday, April 21, 2008
By Doug MacCash
Staff writer
Cole Pratt, the affable owner of Cole Pratt contemporary art gallery on Magazine Street, died Saturday at Touro Infirmary as a result of a heart attack April 13. He was 53.
Born in Greenwood, Miss., Mr. Pratt was a lifelong art lover. His mother, Rita Pratt, recalled that "when he first picked up a pencil, he started to draw." Though Mr. Pratt studied studio arts at Delta State University, he never considered himself talented. He once jokingly told his longtime companion, Roy Malone, that after five years the university agreed to "give him a degree if he promised not to paint."
Instead of creating art, Mr. Pratt's talent lay in selling it. After working at Bryant Galleries in Jackson, Miss., and New Orleans in the 1980s, and Wyndy Morehead Fine Arts in New Orleans in the early 1990s, Mr. Pratt struck out on his own, opening a gallery in a corner storefront at 3800 Magazine St. in December 1993.
The space was small, but sunny, with a welcoming, neighborhood feel -- a contrast with the cooler tone of many Julia Street galleries.
"Cole consciously chose not to be on Julia," said Erika Olinger, the director of Cole Pratt Gallery for 14 years. "He believed Magazine was a great shopping street. He wanted the gallery to be amidst other stores. He didn't want art buying to be intimidating. He wanted an environment where the average customer could be walking by the store and be enticed to come in."
Mr. Pratt dedicated his space exclusively to Southern artists, but he did not restrict the style of art he showed. Everything from the traditional plein air paintings of Phil Sandusky to the illusionistic abstractions of Richard Johnson was welcome.
Artist Randy Asprodites said that Mr. Pratt was unusual among art dealers in that he made himself an authority on each artist he represented.
"The first day he wanted to know everything about me," Asprodites said. "It was rare. He asked real questions about my work and me as an artist."
Collector and friend Jim Lestelle said that Mr. Pratt's interest in his individual artists was matched by his interest in individual clients.
"He was good at recognizing what your interests were," Lestelle said. "He would show you art that you'd like and would be meaningful to you."
Cole Pratt was one of the first art galleries to reopen after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Mr. Pratt sold a painting to a collector on Oct. 8, while there were still National Guard patrols in the streets. He was among the first to recognize the unexpected art-buying boom that followed the storm, making 2006 his best-selling year.
Mr. Pratt is survived by his mother, Rita Pratt. Memorial arrangements are pending. Contact Cole Pratt Gallery at (504) 891-6789 for information.
. . . . . . .
Click here for the original link to Doug MacCash's obituary.
Cole Pratt, 53, art gallery owner
Monday, April 21, 2008
By Doug MacCash
Staff writer
Cole Pratt, the affable owner of Cole Pratt contemporary art gallery on Magazine Street, died Saturday at Touro Infirmary as a result of a heart attack April 13. He was 53.
Born in Greenwood, Miss., Mr. Pratt was a lifelong art lover. His mother, Rita Pratt, recalled that "when he first picked up a pencil, he started to draw." Though Mr. Pratt studied studio arts at Delta State University, he never considered himself talented. He once jokingly told his longtime companion, Roy Malone, that after five years the university agreed to "give him a degree if he promised not to paint."
Instead of creating art, Mr. Pratt's talent lay in selling it. After working at Bryant Galleries in Jackson, Miss., and New Orleans in the 1980s, and Wyndy Morehead Fine Arts in New Orleans in the early 1990s, Mr. Pratt struck out on his own, opening a gallery in a corner storefront at 3800 Magazine St. in December 1993.
The space was small, but sunny, with a welcoming, neighborhood feel -- a contrast with the cooler tone of many Julia Street galleries.
"Cole consciously chose not to be on Julia," said Erika Olinger, the director of Cole Pratt Gallery for 14 years. "He believed Magazine was a great shopping street. He wanted the gallery to be amidst other stores. He didn't want art buying to be intimidating. He wanted an environment where the average customer could be walking by the store and be enticed to come in."
Mr. Pratt dedicated his space exclusively to Southern artists, but he did not restrict the style of art he showed. Everything from the traditional plein air paintings of Phil Sandusky to the illusionistic abstractions of Richard Johnson was welcome.
Artist Randy Asprodites said that Mr. Pratt was unusual among art dealers in that he made himself an authority on each artist he represented.
"The first day he wanted to know everything about me," Asprodites said. "It was rare. He asked real questions about my work and me as an artist."
Collector and friend Jim Lestelle said that Mr. Pratt's interest in his individual artists was matched by his interest in individual clients.
"He was good at recognizing what your interests were," Lestelle said. "He would show you art that you'd like and would be meaningful to you."
Cole Pratt was one of the first art galleries to reopen after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Mr. Pratt sold a painting to a collector on Oct. 8, while there were still National Guard patrols in the streets. He was among the first to recognize the unexpected art-buying boom that followed the storm, making 2006 his best-selling year.
Mr. Pratt is survived by his mother, Rita Pratt. Memorial arrangements are pending. Contact Cole Pratt Gallery at (504) 891-6789 for information.
. . . . . . .
Click here for the original link to Doug MacCash's obituary.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Emerging Artists: High School Clothesline Show
These images are from our Emerging Artists: High School Clothesline Show which took place on Thursday afternoon, April 17. This show allows area high school students to showcase their work on the front lawn of the museum. Local students played their music during the show, adding to the festive atmosphere. This show is held every spring near the end of school, and it is a great opportunity for people from the community to see what talented local students are doing.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
A few installation photos of The Floating World
For the opening reception, we have borrowed a lovely 45-year-old juniper bonsai for the night, which you see in the photos. The reception is from 7-9, and the galleries are looking gorgeous.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
The Floating World
Our latest exhibition, The Floating World: Ukiyo-e Prints from the Wallace B. Rogers Collection opens tomorrow, April 10! We are going to have some great educational activities in the gallery for kids and adults, including origami. The exhibition will be open until July13, and we have a beautiful exhibition catalogue that is hot off the press. Be sure to stop by on Friday, April 11 for our Symposium from 10-12 in the American Gallery.
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