NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Leah Jackson (jacksonl@nsula.edu)
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
8/27/2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES - The Northwestern State University Creole Heritage Center is partnering with the Cane River Heritage Area Commission to present an exhibit by artists Gilbert D. Fletcher and John Allen LeBlanc Sept. 6-Oct. 25 and the Old Courthouse Museum in Natchitoches. An opening reception will be held from 6-8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6.
“Cane River Creole Legacy” will feature paintings by Fletcher that were commissioned by the Creole Heritage Center to document the historic structures, culture and community of Cane River. The paintings will be featured alongside scale LeBlanc’s handcrafted replicas of Cane River’s Historic structures, St. Augustine Church, Clementine Hunter’s house, the African House and St. Charles Chapel.
A New Orleans native, Fletcher received his BA from Dillard University and MA in art and design from Pratt Institute. His Cane River series depicts the people, wildlife, and culture of the Creole community with its church as the center of the community. As with other series, his mission is to preserve a piece of history that is slowly disappearing.
The Cane River Creole exhibit opened at McKenna Museum of African American Art in New Orleans on Aug. 13, 2005, with plans for it to travel to several other venues around Louisiana. However, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the status and location of the artwork was unknown for months until Creole Heritage Center personnel were able to maintain contact with McKenna directors and discovered the paintings had been saved and were being stored in the home of a McKenna employee in Gretna.
This opening of this exhibit will coincide with the St. Anthony Church Fair in Natchitoches, and will run through the upcoming National Creole Heritage Celebration and St. Augustine Church Fair Oct. 9-10.
The Old Courthouse Museum, a branch of the Louisiana State Museum, is located at 600 Second St. and is open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. For more information on the exhibit or the Creole Heritage Center, call (318) 357-6685 or visit www.nsula.edu/creole.
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