With so much to do in New Orleans, many forget that the city’s art scene is just as vibrant as the food and music. August is a special month for art lovers, with Museum Month offering access to a dozen plus museums for the price of one membership. Check out the highlighted exhibits below and search our calendar to find even more art in New Orleans.

Museum Month

Purchase one membership and get access to all participating museums for the month of August. Museum Month 2022 includes The Historic New Orleans Collection, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Contemporary Arts Center, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, plus more. Find the details for museum month here and enjoy staying cool this summer in NOLA. 

Art & A/C

Art & A/C from The Helis Foundation is back. Every Saturday during the month of August, Louisiana residents receive free admission to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, and the Contemporary Arts Center. Beat the heat while checking out some new exhibits this month.

9^th Annual HBCU Showcase

Featuring artwork from students at Xavier University, Dillard University, and Southern University of New Orleans, the HBCU Art Showcase has been presented annually in the Ogden Museum of Southern Art’s Education Gallery, a space designated to honor the teaching of art and works created by students in the Southern region of the United States. To date, over one hundred HBCU artists from Louisiana’s five HBCUs have participated in the annual showcase. Currently on view, the exhibition will close on October 2.

Picture Man: Portraits by Polo Silk 

Local photography legend Polo Silk brings his decades of work to the New Orleans Museum of Art in a new exhibit. For more than three decades, Selwhyn Sthaddeus “Polo Silk” Terrell (American, born 1964) has been photographing Black New Orleans, creating a unique body of work that blends elements of portraiture, fashion, performance, and street photography. This exhibition explores how Polo Silk successfully blends all those elements while illustrating his role as an important part of photographic history. The exhibit is on view from July 16, 2022 until January 8, 2023. 

Louisiana Contemporary

“Louisiana Contemporary,” presented by The Helis Foundation, is the Ogden Museum’s annual juried exhibition featuring work by contemporary artists from across the state. This year’s juror, Valerie Cassel Oliver, Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, has selected 51 works by 49 artists from a total of 1,036 submissions. Louisiana Contemporary will be on view at Ogden Museum August 6, 2022 through January 8, 2023. 

Remember Earth?

The Contemporary Arts Center's 9th Annual Gulf South Open Call exhibition “Remember Earth?” presents works by 54 artists that explore the complexities of living in an environment already experiencing the ravages of an out-of-balance world. The exhibit opens on August 6.