The title for Southern University’s newly opened art show says it all: “Roots & Wings.”
“The roots are those who came before, and the wings are those who are here and will fly out into the world,” Randell Henry said.
Henry, a professor in Southern University’s Visual Arts Program, has two pieces in the show, which runs through March 6 in the university’s Visual Arts Gallery in Hayden Hall.
Lloyd Wade’s acrylic, mixed media on canvas, ‘The G.O.A.T.,’ is featured in the ‘Southern University Visual Arts Gallery’s exhibit, ‘Roots & Wings.’
The “roots” part of the show points to works by the school’s art alumni, while the “wings” are represented by the program’s current students.
The result is an interesting complement of the two groups’ perspectives of life, beliefs and the world itself.
A mentorship theme
“I feel like, generally, the whole theme of this exhibition is about mentorship,” said Samantha Combs, gallery director and adjunct instructor in the arts program. “We have an art minor at Southern, but we don’t have an art major anymore. We lost it 10 years ago, so it’s been sleeping for a few years.”
But the status of “minor” hasn’t stopped the Visual Arts Program from growing.
Ja’Neice Allen’s oil pastel on canvas, ‘Fire and Passion,’ is featured in the Southern University Visual Arts Gallery’s exhibit, ‘Roots & Wings.’
“Shows like this are like a spark starting to light our current students, and I thought it would be a good idea to pair the alumni and student work,” Combs said. “You get a fusion, and it opens the door for students to meet alumni, make connections and inspire mentorships.”
Combs is happy with the mix of subjects and themes within the artwork.
“We have a good range of things,” she said. “We have a lot of figures, and we have a lot of women in the artwork, and I was really happy to see that.”
Both alumni and students were asked to submit up to five works each. Combs served as curator, liberally choosing a variety of works so she could “stack the walls.”
Craig Ambeau’s color pencil and marker piece, ‘Greatness in My DNA,’ is featured in the Southern University Visual Art Gallery’s exhibit, ‘Roots & Wings.’
“I wanted to hang them in the gallery salon-style,” she said.
The salon-style art method originated at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1670s Paris. Paintings can be displayed in stacked arrangements from the floor to the ceiling.
Reaching for the same dream
Now, all of the paintings in Southern’s show are at eye level, but many are arranged in stacked groupings. Lloyd Wade’s Muhammad Ali-themed “The G.O.A.T.” perfectly meshes with the blooming human heart in Meckenzie Smith’s yarn-dominated, mixed media piece “Blooming Heartstrings.”
One rings more masculine, the other more feminine. Yet both are reaching for the same dream.
Meckenzie Smith’s multi media piece, ‘Blooming Heartstrings,’ is featured in the Southern University Visual Arts Gallery’s exhibit, ‘Roots & Wings.’
The show also features work by some deceased art alumni and artists who may not have attended Southern but have direct connection to the school. The biggest name in this group is Frank Hayden, for whom the art gallery’s building is named.
Hayden’s ‘Unity’
Hayden taught for 27 years at Southern, joining the art faculty in 1962 and working until his death in 1985.
“He didn’t go to school at Southern, but he taught here,” Henry said.
If anyone is an example of what this art show represents, it’s Henry, who not only was a student in Hayden’s classes but was inspired and mentored by the professor.
Hayden’s public sculptures can be found throughout the nation, many in Baton Rouge. Similarly, Henry’s collage paintings have been featured in galleries nationwide.
Ar’Mya Stewart’s color pencil piece, ‘Wonderland,’ is featured in the Southern University Visual Arts Gallery’s show, ‘Roots & Wings.’
When Henry stands in the center of the Visual Arts Gallery, contemplating works in the show, he sees talent and potential in each.
Then he stops to take in Hayden’s wooden sculpture, “Unity,” where one pair of hands reach toward another. Perhaps this sculpture summarizes the show even better than its title.
Hayden’s hands reach out and help the other, encouraging alumni and student artists to do the same.
The Southern University Visual Arts Program’s exhibit, “Roots & Wings,” featuring work by Southern art alumni and students, runs through March 6 in the school’s Visual Arts Gallery in Hayden Hall on campus. Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and by appointment. Admission is free. For more information or to make an appointment, call Randell Henry at (225) 771-4109 or email [email protected].