Hilliard University Art Museum’s fall season will feature two exhibitions devoted to the West: “Imprinting the West: Manifest Destiny, Real and Imagined” and “Art Under the Big Sky.”
An opening reception will be held Friday, Sept. 4, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the museum, 710 East St. Mary Blvd. The public is invited to attend.
The new exhibits will accompany an ongoing display of works by faculty members in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s College of the Arts.
“Imprinting the West: Manifest Destiny, Real and Imagined” features 48 hand-colored engravings and lithographs that explore artists’ depictions of westward expansion in the 19th century and how it influenced notions of the West and the Native American experience. It was curated by Dr. Randall Griffey, associate curator of modern American art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
“Imprinting the West” is a program of ExhibitsUSA, a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance and the National Endowment for the Arts.
“Art Under the Big Sky” offers selections from the Yellowstone Art Museum’s permanent collection of contemporary and historic works of art from the Northern Plains and Rocky Mountain regions. From 19th-century photographs to contemporary works by artists such as Peter Voulkos and Deborah Butterfield, it captures the isolation, fruitfulness, spirit, and passage of time as it is associated with the western landscape.
Both exhibits will be featured until Jan. 2, 2016.
“Selections from the UL Lafayette College of the Arts Faculty” showcases faculty in visual arts, performing arts, architecture and design. The college is the center for all the arts, including performing, visual arts, and design, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary work. The exhibition highlights some of the faculty who are helping to shape the next generation of artists, designers, musicians and performers. It will remain on display until Dec. 12.
The museum will present the following exhibitions in partnership with local and regional organizations.
“Portraits from the Flora Levy Lecture Series: Works by George Rodrigue” will highlight paintings of some of the guests who have presented at UL Lafayette’s annual Flora Levy Lecture. The lecture series was conceived by Dr. Maurice DuQuesnay, an associate professor of English, and funded by Flora Levy, a Lafayette heiress and philanthropist who left her fortune to the University. The exhibition is presented with the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts. Rodrigue was born and raised in Acadiana, and studied art at the University in the 1960s. It will open Sept. 4 and remain until Jan. 2.
“Festivals Acadiens et Créoles/Works by Robert Dafford” is presented in partnership with Festivals Acadiens et Créoles in the A. Hays Town building. It showcases a selection of paintings by one of the most prolific and successful American muralists working today. The exhibition brings a series of works together for the first time, providing an artistic and informed look into the Acadian/Cajun experience. It will be featured until Dec. 6.
For more information, go to hilliardmuseum.org or call (337) 482-2278.
Image: F.O.C. Darley (1822-1888), Emigrants Crossing the Plains, 1869, color engraving