Famous Art and Artists

The famous Blue Dog from the George Rodrique Studio. It is a fascinating gallery make sure to stop in and look around. This is a model of his own personal dog.  The yellow eyes hold significance with the spirit world. After studying in California, George Rodrigue returned to Louisiana and began to paint cajun subjects. He became famous around the world for his portraits of dogs, which began in 1984 with a commission of “loup-garou”, a legendary Cajun ghost-dog. The artistic achievement of that blue dog with yellow eyes has been honored in major ad campaigns for Xerox and Absolut Vodka, making it instantly recognizable around the world. Rodrigue’s inspiration to paint the image came from a photograph of his own dog, Tiffany. The New Orleans Museum of Art staged a retrospective of his work in 2008.








Top Ten Artists

John James Audubon

John James Audubon was a woodsman who painted and described the birds of North America. Though Audubon claimed to be a native of Louisiana and made more pictures in Louisiana than any other single place, he had actually been born in Haiti. His masterwork, The Birds of America, was printed in eighty-seven parts between 1827 and 1838.
 


Debbie Fleming Caffery

A native of Louisiana who also spends time in Mexico and Portugal, Debbie Fleming Caffery is best known for her series of Hurricane “After the Storms” images, particularly the series detailing the destruction wrought on the entire population of New Orleans when it was hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Every year, Caffery travels to capture the hard work of the Louisiana sugar cane harvest. Her pictures are described as a visual record of the empathetic relationship between photographer and subject, and she says she hopes to portray points of brightness even in her darkest images. She has received the Governor of Louisiana’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.



Top 5 Female Artists

Molly McGuire



Molly McGuire’s riveting circus banners seek to recreate her childhood memories of when a traveling carnival popped up each year on the gravel flat behind her house—only to disappear just as quickly.
“The place would be transformed into this magical epicenter of activity for a week,” she explains. Eventually, the carnies took a liking to McGuire, letting her play the games and take rides for free: “It was the first time I felt like I fit in somewhere.”
The sensations associated with these memories—the lights, smells, and “distant screams”—are transposed into her banners, which explore the seemingly endless cache of Louisiana folklore. “People ask me which circus I work for,” Mcguire says, “and I tell them—‘the circus in my mind!’”