Joan Mitchell in New Orleans

Joan Mitchell in New Orleans is a three-part exhibition bringing together the major bodies of the artist’s work: works on paper at the Newcomb Art Gallery, paintings at the New Orleans Museum of Art, and prints at the Contemporary Arts Center. The shows give local audiences an opportunity to see three different techniques employed by Joan Mitchell over the course of her career and share with the community the work that has allowed the Joan Mitchell Foundation to realize its mission of providing support to contemporary painters and sculptors.

The Newcomb Art Gallery show is a comprehensive survey of Joan Mitchell’s works on paper created over a 30-year period and focuses on the artist’s bold work in pastel. The show also includes examples of other media, such as watercolor and oil paint, and offers a rare chance to view the artist’s archival sketchbooks containing unframed pastel studies from the late sixties and late eighties.

Concurrently, the New Orleans Museum of Art will host an exhibition of Joan Mitchell’s paintings, including a major twenty-foot, four panel work. Prints spanning nearly 40 years, representing her individual work as well as her collaborations with poets, and two paintings that relate to her print work, will comprise the Contemporary Arts Center show.

Borne out of Mitchell’s own commitment to assisting artists, such activities have included the New Orleans Career-Opportunity Grant program, which was established following Hurricane Katrina. The program has given Gulf Coast area artists assistance toward taking advantage of locally based opportunities that could have a significant impact on their artistic careers. Foundation director Carolyn Somers notes that through the Joan Mitchell in New Orleans exhibitions, “The Foundation has been able to reconnect with many of the local artists that we’ve worked with during the last three years.”

Remembering Joan Mitchell, a symposium on the artist’s life and work takes place in New Orleans, April 9 – 11. Co-organized by Tulane University’s Newcomb Art Gallery and the Joan Mitchell Foundation, this three-day gathering features artists, art historians, and screenings of select films on Mitchell and culminates with a discussion among those who knew her personally.