Barry Kaiser photos opens in Marigny gallery on Sat., Jan. 7

A retrospective exhibit of the work of New Orleans photographer Barry Kaiser of New Orleans will be held at the Scott Edwards Photography Studio & Gallery in the Marigny district, opening on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012 and running through Feb. 4.

The Edwards gallery, located at 2109 Decatur St. (at the intersection with Frenchmen St.) will host a reception for the exhibit on Jan. 7, from 7 to 10 p.m.

Image: Professor Longhair, by Barry Kaiser.

Tulane faculty's photos in NYC exhibit: 'Hotel California'

Photographs taken by Tulane art professor and NOPA member Stephen Hilger's series of color photographs of the famed and now-demolished Ambassador Hotel of Los Angeles will be on exhibit in January 2012 at the MUSE Center of Photography and The Moving Image in New York.

In the "Hotel California" exhibit, large-scale color photos from Hilger will be shown alongside photos and ephemera from the files of the Ambassador Archive, an online project of Hilger and collaborator Annie Shaw.

The exhibit opens on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012 and will run through Saturday, Jan. 28. A vernissage will be held in connection with the exhibit on Wednesday, Jan. 11, from 7 to 9 p.m.

For those unaware of the hotel's historical significance: It was the site of several Academy Awards ceremonies in the 1930s and 1940s. It later became perhaps better known, nationally, as the site of Robert Kennedy's assassination of June 1968. The Ambassador was demolished in 2006.

Hilger directs the photography program with the Newcomb Art Department at Tulane's Uptown campus in the Crescent City.

For more information on the MUSE Center's exhibit, you may visit its website.

Image: "Carnival," by Stephen Hilger, from "Hotel California."

Volunteer photographers sought for NOLA JazzFest 2012

As it has for many years, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Archive is accepting applications for  volunteer photographers, this time for the 2012 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

The deadline for application is Saturday, Dec. 31. However, the number of applications that can be considered by the volunteer program's jury is 150, so earlier application is advisable, for those interested in participating.

According to the Foundation, the purpose of the volunteer initiative is to document the 2012 JazzFest, which will be held at the Fair Grounds Race Course over two spring weekends, April 27-29 and May 3-6.

Volunteers will be selected in three categories, including student, amateur and professional. Participants must be at least 18 years old. All applications will be reviewed by a four-person jury consisting of one member of the Foundation's board of directors and three volunteer photographer/curators.

The Foundation notes that selected photographers will be asked to use their own gear, if selected. They are also told to understand that their volunteer work will be physically demanding, given that photographers walk many miles a day around the Fair Grounds, whether in rain (an at-least semi-regular festival feature, along with ensuing mud), blaring sun and heat and humidity.

Selected volunteer photographers will be responsible for providing the Archive with a CD or DVD of the images taken at the festival, along with a complete index of images on the disc. The photographers selected will ultimately own all images taken, but with the understanding that they may be used by the Foundation to promote its programs, including the JazzFest.

For more information, please contact the Jazz & Heritage Foundation Archive by calling (504) 558-6138, or visit the Archive's website.

Ogden Museum of Southern Art names new director for 2012

William Pittman Andrews, now serving as the director of the University of Mississippi Museum and Historic Houses in Oxford, Miss., will begin a new role in January 2. 2012, as director of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans.

Andrews, 41, has been at Ole Miss since 2009. While director, Andrews oversaw a 35 percent increase in attendance at the museum. He produced such high-profile exhibitions as a survey of Gee's Bend quilts, while strengthening the presence of the museum's permanent collections in classical antiquities, American art and folk art from the American South.

"We are thrilled to have found someone with William's enormous energy and vision, as well as his deep knowledge of Southern art," said Julia Reed, chair of the Ogden Museum's board of trustees. "We are looking forward to his leading the Museum into the next phase by expanding the museum's already excellent programming, as well as its resources."

According to the Ogden, Andrews' guiding principle has been to place the museum at the center of a participatory public culture, and offer "the museum as a place where people come to do things and to interact with each other, not just to look at things."

Andrews says that he is looking forward to leading the institution into its second decade. The Ogden, he suggests, should be mentioned in the same conversations with such museums as Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which have displayed an interest in how Southern art fits into the broad category of American art. He specifically mentioned a Whitney Museum exhibit of William Eggleston works, "Democratic Camera - Photographs and Video, 1961-2008," an an example of this.

Meanwhile, the upcoming director has plans to originate traveling exhibitions from the Ogden, ones that confront the nature of Southern art, while promoting its presence in contemporary discussions about art in America.

Prior to joining the University of Mississippi Museums, Andrews was at Mississippi State University, where he was the project manager of its Visual Arts Center. He was a founding member, board of directors at the Starkville (Miss.) Area Arts Council, the gallery director for and adjunct instructor with the university's College of Art, Architecture, Art and Design, founder of the post-Katrina Mississippi Museum Fund and Mississippi Gulf Coast Art Rescue, and owner of Starkville's Main Street Gallery.

He is a native of Starkville, Miss., the home of Mississippi State.

He graduated from Mississippi State a bachelor's degree in painting and sculpture in 1993, and received his Master of Fine Arts there as well, in electronic visualization.

Oak Alley photo contest deadline is New Year's Eve 2011

Vacherie, La.'s Oak Alley Plantation, the "Grand Dame of the Great River Road," is seeking entrants for its 2011 photo contest. It is a contest that is open to virtually any and all, on the condition that all submitted photos must have been taken at Oak Alley in 2011.

Photos from four categories will be judged separately, including: age 15 and under, amateurs 16 and over, semi-professional photographers, and professional photographers. The contest is thus open to all ages. It is open to people of all nationalities as well. Even previous Oak Alley photo contest winners may enter.

The deadline for entry is Saturday, Dec. 31.

Otherwise, the Louisiana institution seeks photos that are original and imaginative, as well as technically well executed.

 The prizes in each category are:

• First Place: Two photos books, "Capturing Oak Alley" and "Oak Alley Plantation Cooking," as well as a copy of a 2012 e-book of Oak Alley photographs. 
• Second Place: "Capturing Oak Alley," along with the 2012 e-book. 
• Honorable Mentions: A free copy of the 2012 e-book. 

All proceeds will benefit the non-profit Oak Alley Foundation, and educational trust which manages and maintains the Vacherie mansion and its famously lush, sprawling grounds.

More details about the contest are available at the Oak Alley website. Contest entry and photo submissions may be handled at the site.

Image: Photo of Oak Alley Plantation, by anonymous NOPA member, not from 2011.