SU Museum of Art celebrates seven year anniversary

Saturday, Mar. 8 marked the seventh year anniversary for the Southern University Museum of Art (SUMA) and celebrated with a reception and unveiling of several pieces of visual art by local female artists.
The event was funded by the Links Inc., Baton Rouge Chapter and began at 4 p.m. and lasted until 7 p.m. The event focused on the theme “Expanding Our Vision through Creativity and Self Expression Exhibit.”
Dr. Leon R. Tarver II, the museum’s founder, was among the guests who shared some of his original vision and intentions for the museum.
“It’s a place to start finding your roots, right here, in the museum,” said Tarver.
The nine local artists with work on display were Irene M. Tucker, Cheryl Dixon, Earnisteen Spencer, Dr. Brenda Binkett, Jessie Coates, Carolyn Wells, Rev. Darlene Moore, Helen Hedgemon and Kimberly Lewis.
Darlene Moore, a Dillard graduate from Mandville, was invited by the Baton Rouge chapter of the Links to show her work.
Moore, who visits SUMA once a month to debrief from the stresses of life shared that as a college student, she would come to the museum often because of a free pass given to Dillard University students.
“Art is an expression of the viewer as well as the artist. It challenges you to look at things one way and hopefully come back and look at things another way. SUMA is a treasure and it’s a wonderful place to showcase our local African American woman artists. It’s good for students and the community to come together,” replied Moore when asked for a definition of the museum’s purpose.
SUMA’s mission as stated in Saturday’s program is to “assure that the art, artifacts, and other treasured works of Africans and African Americans and their descendants are accessible to the community in an organized and cherished collection, in a place of historic significance on the Southern University System campuses.”
The museum houses artifacts and information on Southern’s rich history as well as the history of the museum itself.
While he was a faculty member of Harvard University, Tarver began collecting African artifacts during his travels to Africa. He developed a collection so vast, that on March 9, 2001, he decided to convert Martin L. Harvey Hall to a museum where students could go and absorb culture.
SUMA, which overlooks the bluff, has four galleries and houses a collection of over 2,000 works from black artists as well as a collection of African art and artifacts from the major art producing regions of Africa.
According to one of the museum’s previous brochures, its employees encourage tours and invite guests to visit and partake of the “ambience that reminds one of the comfort of home.”
Some of its permanent collection includes over 144 pieces of the Congo given by William Bertrand. The oldest piece in the museum is a priceless statue carved by the Djenne people of Mali in 600 A.D.
Also it proudly displays two murals by Elliott Guillery, a former student and art professor at Southern who has works in various areas around Baton Rouge and Southern University, including a mural of Martin Luther King Jr. in the student Catholic center.
The museum is also home to several Frank Hayden pieces that include a piece referred to as Moses and the Burning Bush Two; a piece that glows early in the morning when the sun reflects off of the many shards of stained glass embedded within it.
Vivian L. Kerr, the director of the Southern University System Museums said that Harvey Hall had multiple uses before its conversion into SUMA.
Part of the building’s history includes being previously used as a vespers where Southern students of the past would come for a place of worship and later it was briefly used for registration.
The museum frequently changes it’s displays at least four times a year so that when students return from the summer and winter breaks, there will be new items to view.
Kerr shared some of the future plans for the museum: expansion, a cultural center, workshops, educational opportunities and an in-depth Underground Railroad Education and Cultural Program section from Project Director Leona Burrell.
“If students dare to come through the doors, we will make sure they come back and bring others,” Kerr said.
Those who are interested in booking a tour should contact Chrystal Hills the manager of visitor services at 225.771.4513.