November 2023
Recap! Rodrigue Louisiana Lecture Tour, Fall 2023
November 4
Louisiana Art Education Association Fall Conference, Baton Rouge
It was my immense honor to share with teachers this weekend at the Louisiana Art Education Association’s Fall Conference. Truly. I admire teachers greatly, especially art teachers. They work creative, inspirational miracles with our children, and they hung in there with me, with enthusiasm!, for an extra long session, and I am most grateful.
I look forward to seeing you all again!
Wendy Rodrigue
November 1
Covington, Louisiana, St. Peter Catholic School
Thank you to the children and teachers of St. Peter’s School in Covington, Louisiana, for the warm and enthusiastic reception!
October 25
Outreach, Centre for the Arts, New Roads, Louisiana
Grateful for a gracious, engaged audience of all ages while sharing George Rodrigue in the charming town of New Roads, Louisiana.
October 23
Friends of the Louisiana State Archives present The Life & Legacy Tour with Wendy Rodrigue, Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge
Thank you to everyone at the Louisiana State Archives and Friends of the Louisiana State Archives. It was an amazing evening!
October 23 – 27
Education Outreach in partnership with West Baton Rouge Museum, Port Allen, LA.
Thank you to the West Baton Rouge Museum for organizing this week of outreach with schools and community groups, for an art filled week with Wendy Rodrigue, touring The River is the Road: Paintings by George Rodrigue.
The tour continues in 2024 with a blockbuster exhibition, George Rodrigue: Painting for Myself, at the Bayou Teche Museum in Rodrigue’s hometown of New Iberia, including outreach with area schools and a gala celebration on his 80th birthday, March 13, 2024.
George Rodrigue: Painting for Myself
September 12, 2023 – January 2, 2024
Curated by Dana Holland-Beickert, and organzied by the Life & Legacy Foundation, the collection unveiled in this exhibition features an extraordinary assortment of paintings, sculptures, works on metal, and neon pieces, representing the true essence of George Rodrigue’s artistic journey. Rodrigue crafted these artworks without any external influence, whether agents, galleries, or collectors. Many of these pieces remained exclusively within the personal collection of George and Wendy Rodrigue, adorning their homes in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Carmel, California.
This installation of 50 artworks from George and Wendy’s private collection continues at MONA Portsmouth through Jan. 2, 2024. Sponsored by Avery Insurance.
In 2024, George Rodrigue: Painting for Myself moves to the Bayou Teche Museum in Rodrigue’s hometown of New Iberia, Louisiana. Join Wendy for exhibition tours mid-March, including a gala celebration on George’s 80th birthday, March 13th.
Click HERE to see highlights of events surrounding this unprecedented exhibition, including education outreach in area schools.
Louisiana Public Broadcasting Presents
a George Rodrigue Museum Tour with Wendy Rodrigue
This compelling news story, part of “Louisiana: The State We’re In,” includes original LPB footage of George Rodrigue, plus an update on the Life & Legacy Foundation, including Fall 2023 Baton Rouge area programming associated with the WBRM exhibition.
The River is the Road: Paintings by George Rodrigue
Carnegie Visual Arts Center
February 27 – April 26, 2024
Featuring 35 original Rodrigue paintings!
Recently closed at the West Baton Rouge Museum, this first of its kind exhibition traces 45 years of the river in Rodrigue’s paintings, exploring the unique ways Rodrigue used the river as a reference to his Cajun heritage, and ultimately as a metaphor for the journey of life. LEARN MORE
This unprecedented exhibition of rarely seen George Rodrigue paintings tours for 2 1/2 years to four additional museums, including the Carnegie Visual Arts Center in Decatur, Alabama; the Masur Museum in Monroe, Louisiana; the Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center in Hendersonville, Tennessee; and the Alexandria Museum of Art in Alexandria, Louisiana.
George and Wendy Rodrigue
George and Wendy Rodrigue were married from 1997 until his death in 2013. For nearly 30 years, Wendy’s life’s work has been to share Rodrigue’s Life and Art in as broad and quality a manner as possible. Together, the couple partnered on the development of all aspects of Rodrigue’s career and life, including his galleries, museum exhibitions, a dozen books published both nationally and internationally on his art, and extensive education outreach.
In 2017 Wendy Rodrigue established the Life & Legacy Tour, now a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation, continuing and expanding her late husband’s artistic and philanthropic vision while honoring one of America’s most illustrious artists, George Rodrigue. As of June 2023, she has visited, personally, 137 schools and more than 600 classes in 8 states, engaging nearly 60,000 students in this rare art experience. Through Life & Legacy, Wendy has facilitated numerous museum and community partnerships, including the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, the LSU Museum of Art, the West Baton Rouge Museum, the Museum of New Art, Associations of Broadcasters, Chambers of Commerce, Womens Leadership Conferences, Literary Clubs, Continuing Education, and many more.
during the OKA+ Schools Teacher Conference at the University of Central Oklahoma in June 2021.
Enjoy this raw clip from her opening remarks.
Learn more in this blog post for “Musings of an Artist’s Wife”