A Guide to Art Museums in Acadiana
Built upon the foundations of the region's deep cultural roots, Acadiana's fine arts institutions are some of the best in the South
The Hilliard Art Museum
Since its establishment as The Art Center for Southwest Louisiana in 1968, the Hilliard has merged education with the arts to provide access and opportunities for the community to engage with the global arts world, while also spotlighting the best of Louisiana’s own artistic talent. Within its 11,000 square feet of exhibition space, the Hilliard displays a rotating selection from its permanent collections—which include treasuries of Japanese woodblock prints, American and European sculptures, 150 artworks by Henry Botkin, and an extensive collection of work by Louisiana artists, including John McCrady, Hunt Slonem, Margaret Evangeline, Cora Kelly Ward, and more.
[Read more about artist Hunt Slonem, and his home, in this story from September 2013 and artist Cora Kelly Ward in this story from May 2015.]
In addition, the museum’s galleries are always host to a slate of traveling exhibitions. In recent years, these have included showcases of works by Salvador Dalí and Sir Winston Churchill; artistic explorations by national and international artists, and regular exhibits featuring bodies of work by Louisiana artists, including Fred Packard, Philip Gould, Dickie Landry, and L. Kasimu Harris—plus annual showcases of artwork by students in the Lafayette Parish School System Talented Visual Arts Program.
[You can find features on many of these artists in the Country Roads archives, including: Philip Gould, Dickie Landry, and L. Kasimu Harris.]
The museum invites the public to come and engage with the artwork it holds through seasonal opening receptions, gallery tours, yoga in the galleries, opportunities for children to make art with professional artists, and its “Creative Conversations” lecture series.
Currently on exhibit at the Hilliard Art Museum:
Sitting with George Rodrigue
Celebrating the impact of Lafayette's University of Louisiana-Lafayette on one of our region's most beloved artists—the Hilliard Art Museum presents the retrospective exhibition Sitting with George Rodrigue. The show will feature many of the celebrated artist's iconic images from his "Cajun" and "Blue Dog" series, including "Aioli Dinner"—which will be displayed for the very first time in Lafayette.
Every / Where: Beili Liu
Composed of three installation works of art by international artist Beili Liu, Every / Where is a meditation on water as an elemental force and symbolic tool—raising questions about art and the human experience.
Fundamento de Palo Monte: Ana Mendieta
This exhibition of Ana Mendieta's ephemeral silhouette works, created between 1973 and 1981 and captured on film, is a reflection on the body, on earth, and on time.
Bending Lines: Robert Wiggs
Robert Wiggs was an important figure in the Visual Arts program at ULL, known for his unique approach to sculpture, geometry, and mathematics—particularly his discovery of the “Twist Octahedron," the same year he retired from teaching in 1987. The title of the exhibition comes from Peter and Allison DeHart's documentary about Wiggs of the same title.
Learn more about the museum’s offerings at hilliardmuseum.org.
"The quality and number of visual arts venues in Acadiana is staggering."
—Ben Hickey, Interim Director at the Hilliard Art Museum
The Acadiana Center for the Arts
Opened in 2004 by the Acadiana Arts Council, the ACA fosters the arts in Acadiana through education—by supporting artistic integration in local school curriculums, facilitating arts experiences for local public school students, and training "Teaching Artists" to bring creative workshops to local classrooms; through community development—by supporting local creatives through grant opportunities and providing professional development workshops; and by bringing high caliber performing arts experiences to the stage.
In its galleries, the ACA exhibits a rotating schedule of highly curated art in its 6,000 square feet of exhibition space—which is divided into a Main Gallery devoted to often-local mid-career and veteran artists and group exhibitions; a first floor side gallery often used for installation work, the Coca-Cola Studio, which is curated with the help of the Louisiana Crafts Guild, and the ACA Café space for smaller exhibits, which can be seen through the glass windows by passerby on the sidewalk. In recent years, the Center’s galleries have featured exhibits honoring the work of legends like Tina Girouard, group shows exploring concepts such as the global experience of Créolité, and surveys of contemporary artists’ work—the likes of Stephanie Patton and Brandon Ballengée.
[You can find features on many of these artists in the Country Roads archives, including: Stephanie Patton and Brandon Ballengée.]
Currently on exhibit at the Acadiana Center for the Arts:
IN MEDIAS RES: How One Story Becomes Another
This exhibition in the Main Gallery of the Acadiana Center for the Arts places local artwork in dialogue with former Louisiana Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque's poetry. Besides Bourque's poems, artworks by artists Megan Barra, Karen Bourque, Leroy Evans, Gloria Fiero, Meghan Fleming, Lynda Frese, John Geldersma, Bill Gingles, Danny Girouard, Terry Clay Girouard, Philip Gould, Kelly Guidry, John Hathorn, James Hebert, William Lewis, Elemore Morgan Jr., Nicole Bourque-Reiss, Gabrielle Savoy, Tanya Nehrbass Schultze, Will Turley, Russell Whiting, and Dennis Paul Williams will be presented.
Learn more about the museum’s offerings at acadianacenterforthearts.org.