A Big Weekend at the Ogden

One of the many shining spots in the rebirth of the city has been the reopening of the Ogden Museum. Their Thursday Ogden After Hours series has been the place to be, and this weekend the museum has a number of exhibition openings, a book release party, a filmmaking lecture, and a live performance by New Orleans Blues master Chris Thomas King!

Check it out, and sign up for a membership or renew your existing one.

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17
OGDEN AFTER HOURS, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Chris Thomas King
New Orleans blues artist Chris Thomas King is a triple threat-- musician, actor and business entrepreneur-- but if you look at all his talents, he is really much more than that. As a musician he plays electric guitar, acoustic guitar, steel guitar, bass guitar, dobro, piano, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B-3 organ, drums and he sings! In the studio he is a producer, an arranger and an engineer. As an actor he has made his mark in films and TV. And as business entrepreneur he has spearheaded a record label, based in his home town of New Orleans, reflecting his own artistic sensibilities as well as signing artists with a compatible point of view. One of most recognized and successful blues artists of his generation, the Ogden Museum is happy to have him live in the Museum atrium this Thursday night.

Also Thursday evening ... the Museum welcomes the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, as the organization celebrates the release of a special issue of Cultural Vistas.
The magazine, produced in the immediate aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, will feature related essays by Anne Rice, Richard Ford and Wynton Marsalis, with photographs by David Rae Morris, Cheryl Gerber and Louis Sahuc. The new issue will also feature of history of Louisiana's Tabasco industry, the New Orleans coffee trade, and "No Man's Land," the lawless territory in western Louisiana.

Ogden After Hours is open to the public on Thursday evenings from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., and is free to Ogden Museum members and $5 for UNO students, faculty and staff. Regular admission applies to the general public.

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19
MISSING, MIGRATIONS .. COMING BACK
Book Release and Signing of Phillip Collier's Missing New Orleans and the Unveiling of Four New Exhibitions
6:00 - 9:00 p.m., complimentary admission

The Museum celebrates the release of Phillip Collier's Missing New Orleans, created in collaboration with Collier, and with the support of the Goldring Family Foundation. Originally slated for publication on Wednesday, August 31, 2005, the original book remains intact as a pictorial history of the city, offering images and stories of places, entities and events that were once a vital part of the fabric of this city, but because of natural disaster or man's decisions are no longer in existence. Nothing in the original book has been changed. What has been added, however, is an epilogue that hopes to record in words and photographs what has been rendered missing since Monday, August 29, and the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. The photographs were taken by David Rae Morris, a photographer in the Ogden Museum Collection, in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

Join us for the official release of this very special publication, with text by J. Richard Gruber, the Museum's Director, and local writers Jim Rapier and Mary Beth Romig, and a foreword by Pete Fountain. The publication's team will be signing books throughout the evening.

Special exhibitions unveiled Saturday evening include:

Missing New Orleans
An exhibition of images, artifacts and memorabilia from throughout New Orleans history, in conjunction with the newly-released publication of the same name

The Trail of Tears: Benny Andrews' Migrant Series
The national premiere of the second in the series by Andrews, honoring the migration of Native Americans from their Southern homeland to regions across the country

Do You Know What It Means? ... The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
Featuring the photography of David Rae Morris, taken in the days and weeks following the storm, including the Mississippi Gulf Coast

Coming Back: Artists Respond
Showcasing specially commissioned works by more than 40 artists from the Museum Collection, originally created for the Museum's gala O WHAT A NIGHT's auction, the works celebrate the Museum's trademark "O" logo or a relief from the historic H.H. Richardson-designed Taylor Library

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
A Conversation with filmmaker Harold Sylvestre and composer Jay Weigel
Sylvestre has created the film "NOLA," based on the threat to the city of New Orleans by Hurricane Ivan in September, 2004. Sylvestre joins Weigel, director of the Contemporary Arts Center, and composer of the film's score, to discuss the process of film-making, and the ever present topic of New Orleans and hurricanes as they relate to the film. Excerpts from "NOLA" will be shown.