Since establishing the George Rodrigue Life & Legacy Foundation, now eight years ago, we have reached more than 80,000 children nationwide with this uplifting, transformative programming inspired by my late husband, George Rodrigue. In 2024, I spent four months on the road sharing original Rodrigue paintings, combined with storytelling, transmitting a personal and inspiring message of ART. I hope that ultimately these efforts make a positive and lasting impact, encouraging curiosity, kindness, and the pursuit of meaningful ideas, all propelled by the creative spirits harbored within each of us.
Please visit our Feedback page for reactions from the road. 💙
2024 Totals, Life & Legacy Foundation
• Nearly 11,000 driving miles
• 49 schools in 6 states
• 110 school presentations reaching 6300 children
• 20 adult lectures
• 6 museum exhibitions in 5 states
2024 Museum Exhibitions Organized by the Life & Legacy Foundation:
The River is the Road: Paintings by George Rodrigue
• Carnegie Visual Arts Center, Decatur, AL
• Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA
• Monthaven Arts & Cultural Center, Hendersonville, TN. (Continues thru January 19, 2025)
George Rodrigue: Painting for Myself
• Bayou Teche Museum, New Iberia, LA
• Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, TX. (Continues thru May 2025)
Dream BIG! The Art of George Rodrigue
• Santa Fe Community College Visual Arts Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Other Exhibitions:
• Hilliard Art Museum, Lafayette, LA
• Cabildo Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans, LA. (Continues thru September 2025)
Our twenty Life & Legacy adult events in 2024 included museum openings, community lectures, docent trainings, and fundraisers in New Mexico, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas and Tennessee. Perhaps most effective were the docent trainings surrounding our six Rodrigue museum exhibitions. Staff and volunteers immersed themselves in George Rodrigue’s art and life, and continue to share their knowledge and insights with thousands of students and visitors during each exhibition. Learn more.
Additionally, we enjoyed premiere screenings of the new documentary, BLUE: The Life & Art of George Rodrigue. This illuminating film continues to win awards and accolades worldwide and was a tremendous success during premieres throughout Louisiana. A highlight was the New Orleans Film Festival, where BLUE screened to a packed house at the Orpheum Theatre, followed by a special showing at the Contemporary Arts Center for area high school students, hosted by the COOL Cooperative. In all cases, engaging panels of family and filmmakers revealed details from behind the scenes during the nearly two years of production. Learn more about additional premieres in 2025, plus broadcasting and streaming nationwide, coming soon. Visit here.
Other 2024 highlights include…
A gala celebration of George’s 80th birthday at the Bayou Teche Museum in his hometown of New Iberia, Louisiana, as part of the Life & Legacy Foundation’s exhibition, George Rodrigue: Painting for Myself. See photos.
In Santa Fe, New Mexico, we installed Rodrigue’s large scale sculpture Colors of My Mind on longterm loan for public view at the Santa Fe Community College. Watch here.
In New Orleans, the annual Founders Ball, hosted by the Louisiana Museum Foundation, opened the Louisiana State Museum’s exhibition, Rodrigue: Before the Blue Dog, on view through September 2025 at the Cabildo on Jackson Square. Learn more.
In November, I celebrated my 200th school on the Life & Legacy Tour at George’s alma mater, Catholic High in New Iberia. See photos.
Neal Auction Company in New Orleans graciously invited me to share the back stories of George Rodrigue’s paintings, sculptures, and drawings related to their outstanding 2024 offerings. See these short films here.
And throughout, Douglas and I continued our Rodrigue Video Narratives, filming the history of George Rodrigue’s paintings on site at the Hilliard Art Museum, Santa Fe Community College, and the Cabildo Louisiana State Museum. See the full library, now with 45 films, here.
Coming in 2025…
The Kennedy Center and Any Given Child!
January includes exciting student outreach in Mississippi in partnership with the Meridian Public School District and artist Adam Trest, followed in February by our joint presentation in Washington, D.C. for the Any Given Child Conference, hosted by The Kennedy Center. This is a big one, ya’ll. Stay tuned!
March 2, 2025
Four Seasons Resort; Santa Fe, New Mexico
Announcing the New Mexico premiere of the new documentary film, BLUE: The Life & Art of George Rodrigue, followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers. Also available is an elegant dinner by Terra Restaurant at the Four Seasons! I hope you will join me for this special evening benefitting Santa Fe Community College Continuing Education and the George Rodrigue Life & Legacy Foundation. Learn more and register.
March 7 – June 21, 2025
The Alexandria Museum of Art; Alexandria, Louisiana
The River is the Road: Paintings by George Rodrigue
For its fifth and final venue, this traveling exhibition is expanded significantly at the Alexandria Museum of Art to feature sixty original Rodrigue paintings ranging in date from 1968-2013, including large scale historical works such as Louisiana Cowboys (1987), the early classic Boudreaux in a Barrel (1972), and a selection of Rodrigue’s abstract Hurricanes.
Join me on March 7, 2025, for an opening reception and gallery talk at the Alexandria Museum of Art. Contact the museum for more information, including docent training and school tours.
Ongoing, Thru May 2025
Longview Museum of Fine Arts; Longview, Texas
George Rodrigue: Painting for Myself
Multiple events surround this blockbuster exhibition, including an ArtWalk, a Family Day, Student Outreach, and the Texas film premiere of BLUE: The Life & Art of George Rodrigue! Join me March 31 – April 5. Learn more.
Summer 2025
I’m excited to share that Santa Fe Community College has asked me to present summer classes again this year for SFCC Continuing Education! It all takes place at the beautiful Four Seasons Resort in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Details and registration posting soon. See excerpts from last summer’s classes, filmed by Douglas Magnus at the Four Seasons Rancho Encantado Resort… “Blue Dog and the Healing Art of Storytelling” and “George Rodrigue’s Reflections of New Mexico.”
Also in 2025
In Florida, plans are underway for a film premiere and student outreach with the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation, now in our 16th year of partnership, sharing the arts in schools throughout Okaloosa and Walton Counties. See highlights from our 2024 collaboration at West Defuniak Elementary School; also South Walton Academy and Walton High School; and the hugely successful fundraising event, Blue Dogs and Bourbon on the Bayou.
Plus, look for all-new Rodrigue exhibitions opening late 2025 in Alabama and Louisiana, combined with student outreach and other events. As always, join our mailing list for the latest.
Thank you to my outstanding Life & Legacy team, Outreach Coordinator Heather Parker and Curator of Exhibitions Dana Holland-Beickert. Thank you to our many volunteers, but especially to my husband Douglas Magnus, who contributes throughout the year of his time, resources, and enthusiasm. And thank you to everyone who has helped finance these efforts! Although I am still the largest donor to the Life & Legacy Foundation’s programming, I couldn’t do it without your additional contributions, exhibition and speaker fees, class registrations and fundraisers. Every bit is appreciated, tremendously. If you feel the calling, please learn more and donate here. May you be just as blessed in your own lives with people who support and believe in you!
It’s taken me a while to compose this letter, as I think about the many people who are suffering and who have lost their lives because of recent events, especially in New Orleans. I send my love to you, and my hope is that in each of your lives, joy and peace ultimately prevail. 💙
Happy New Year, and I will see you soon.
Enjoy life!
Wendy