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Exhibits
Visitors to the New Orleans Jazz Museum have access to a series of five rotating exhibits on themes relating to jazz history and culture. Current exhibits include: Drumsville: Evolution of the New Orleans Beat; The Wildest! Louis Prima Comes Home; New Orleans Music Observed: The Art of Noel Rockmore & Emilie Rhys; and Rick Olivier: Great-ish Hits. With listening stations, films, instruments, a recording studio, and dance floor, each exhibit is intentionally designed to personally engage each visitor. All exhibits listed are open to the public.
FROM THE FAT MAN TO MAHALIA: JAMES MICHALOPOULOS’ MUSIC PAINTINGS
James Michalopoulos, New Orleans’ most recognized living artist, conjures the moods and syncopation of jazz in an exhibition at the New Orleans Jazz Museum. This retrospective will span the artist’s most recent paintings of street musicians to rarely seen works, loaned from private collections across the United States–including the original painting for the Jazz Fest poster of Louis Armstrong, which hasn’t been in Louisiana in over 20 years. The exhibition pairs his music-themed paintings with instruments and other objects from our collections, exploring connections between the visual arts and music and illuminating the vibrant music scene in the lower French Quarter, a vibrancy that will return in time. The exhibit will run through Labor Day 2022.
RICK OLIVIER: GREAT-ISH HITS
On September 17, 2020, the New Orleans Jazz Museum celebrated the debut of an exhibit of Rick Olivier’s music photographs entitled Great-ish Hits. The exhibition features iconic photographs of local legends including, Aaron and Art Neville, Champion Jack Depree, Irma Thomas, and many others, plus a selection of more obscure documentary images seldom seen outside of Olivier’s Mid-City studio. Olivier has photographed musicians and music culture since 1975 for hundreds of local and national clients. The exhibit’s soundtrack, organized by the Jazz Museum’s Music Curator David Kunian, contains examples of the artists pictured.
Photograph courtesy of Polo Silk
NOLA HIP HOP & BOUNCE PARTY: THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF POLO SILK
On April 7, 2022, the New Orleans Jazz Museum celebrated the opening of NOLA Hip Hop & Bounce Party in the Museum’s Education Center. Sthaddeus “Polo Silk” Terrell photographs display diversity in the culture of hip hop, and bounce. His portraits of various artists range from Souljah Slim to 5th Ward Weebie, Big Freedia to Cheeky Black, DJ Irv to Josephine Johnny. The photos reflect an enthusiasm and passion about his craft that jumps out of the portraits. Polo’s work is the visual experience of three decades of literally street-level, grassroots artistry. The exhibit will run through the Spring of 2022.