Letitia Huckaby: This Same Dusty Road
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:
Letitia Huckaby: This Same Dusty Road features quilted photographic works based on Huckaby’s faith, family, and cultural heritage in Louisiana. Much of the work in this exhibition grows out of memories of visiting family who lived along Louisiana Highway 19. Through heirloom fabrics, traditional hand-quilting techniques, and photography, Huckaby mines the legacy of her family—particularly the matriarchs—connecting and confronting past and present inequities. She composes her family portraits to evoke old masterworks and altar pieces. Another portrait series features nuns at the Sisters of the Holy Family Mother House, which was founded in 1842 by African American women. Support for this exhibition and all LSU MOA exhibitions is provided by the Annual Exhibition Fund donors.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Letitia Huckaby holds an MFA in Photography from the University of North Texas, a BFA in Photography from the University of Boston at Lesley, and a BA in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma at Norman, Oklahoma. Her work is part of the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, Art Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont, the Samella Lewis Contemporary Art Collection at Scripps College in Claremont, California, the Brandywine Workshop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, among others. She has had residencies with the Gee’s Bend Quilters and Brandywine.
SOUTHBOUND GUEST CURATOR:
Letitia Huckaby also served as guest curator to place selected photographs from Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South (also on view at the same time as This Same Dusty Road at LSU MOA and organized by the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art ) in LSU MOA’s Art in Louisiana permanent galleries to add a new lens through which to view the collection. Southbound artists featured among LSU MOA's permanent collection include Will Jacks, Kathleen Robbins, Titus Brooks Heagins, Keith Calhoun and Chandra McCormick, Stacy Kranitz, and Jeanine Michna-Bales.
ON VIEW: September 17, 2020 – March 14, 2021
(Opening day / Thursday, September 17: visit this exhibition from 5 – 8 p.m.)
Curated by Courtney Taylor
LSU MOA Installation
Exhibition Sponsors
Exhibition support is provided by generous donors to the Annual Exhibition Fund: The Imo N. Brown Memorial Fund in memory of Heidel Brown and Mary Ann Brown; Louisiana CAT; Charles Schwing; The Alma Lee, H. N., and Cary Saurage Fund; The Newton B. Thomas Family/Newtron Group Fund; LSU College of Art & Design; Elizabeth M. Thomas; Mr. and Mrs. Sanford A. Arst. Programming sponsored by Louisiana CAT.
LSU MOA Community Quilt Project
Before a quilt becomes a quilt, it’s a disconnected jumble of fabric scraps—squares and triangles of different colors and textures.
Piecing is the act of unifying many individual fabric scraps into a larger, intricately patterned work that often carries deep meaning.
Inspired by artist Letitia Huckaby, LSU MOA launched a project focused on representing and building community through quilting. Huckaby’s work connects her family, faith, and heritage through quilting and portraiture. Our community quilt project seeks to highlight diversity in our community and celebrate how individual contributions join together in a community quilt.
Hundreds of students and community members submitted photographs of portraits or artwork to be included in the project. Over one hundred Louisiana Key Academy students used LSU MOA online resources learn about Huckaby’s quilting practice before making work. Students from LSU, Baton Rouge Magnet High School, Woodlawn High School, and Baton Rouge Center for Visual and Performing Arts Elementary submitted artwork, and Baton Rouge Modern Quilter’s Guild submitted pieced-together portions. The resulting community quilts represent over two hundred individual makers from our local community. This project was supported by Louisiana CAT.
What is a Quilt? Educational Resources
Engage virtually in your classroom with these educational resources for grades 2–5 titled What is a Quilt? Download is free and includes an interactive PowerPoint, activity worksheets, and more fun opportunities to learn about LSU MOA’s exhibition Letitia Huckaby: This Same Dusty Road. For more info on how to use these virtual resources in your classroom, contact LSU MOA educator Grant Benoit at gbenoit1@lsu.edu
Virtual Programs
Click on the videos below to watch LSU MOA Virtual Programs including an artist talk and poetry reading by This Same Dusty Road artist Letitia Huckaby. Click here to visit the LSU MOA YouTube Channel for more virtual programs.
Watch this LSU MOA virtual artist talk with Letitia Huckaby to hear about This Same Dusty Road
Letitia Huckaby on LPB Art Rocks! Click here to watch program.
Lectures and Programs
Press
Burnaway interviews artist Letitia Huckaby about LSU MOA’s exhibition, Letitia Huckaby: This Same Dusty Road in this article. Click here to read.