The hunting coveralls of former Louisiana Governor Mike Foster are now museum pieces, hanging on the third floor of the Cabildo in New Orleans as part of a sweeping new exhibition on the state's outdoor heritage. Sportsman's Paradise: A Louisiana State Museum Exhibition Celebrating Conservation opens November 5 and will remain on view through summer 2028, tracing a line from 19th-century wildlife art to the modern fight to save Louisiana's disappearing wetlands.
The show, announced jointly by the Louisiana State Museum and the Louisiana Museum Foundation, uses artwork, photographs, decoys and other artifacts to examine Louisiana's sporting traditions alongside the evolution of wildlife and wetlands conservation, according to New Orleans CityBusiness. Foster's coveralls join original works by naturalist John James Audubon and New Orleans painter George Louis Viavant, plus early 20th-century photographs and Louisiana-made decoys drawn from both the museum's permanent collection and privately loaned pieces. The exhibition includes Foster's coveralls alongside the other works and artifacts.
Art Rooted in the Marsh Itself
The exhibition includes works by Audubon and George Viavant.
The exhibition situates that artistic tradition within Louisiana's geography: the state sits along the Mississippi Flyway, an important route for migratory waterfowl, per 64 Parishes. The show explores the craftsmanship and cultural traditions around hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities in the Mississippi River Delta, tracing that outdoor heritage from early sporting customs to modern conservation practices, per CityBusiness.
A Slogan Born on License Plates
The exhibition's title uses the phrase “Sportsman's Paradise.”
Officials Frame Show as a Call to Protect Wetlands
Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser said the state's wetlands, wildlife and waterways carry a responsibility to protect them, per CityBusiness, adding that “the Sportsman's Paradise is part of who Louisianians are” and that the exhibition connects the state's outdoor traditions with the need to preserve its natural resources. Those remarks land against a stark backdrop: Louisiana has lost approximately 1,900 square miles of coastal land to open water since 1932, accounting for nearly 80 percent of all coastal wetland loss in the lower 48 states, according to the City of New Orleans NOLA Ready office.
Exhibition materials also address Louisiana's coastal marshes. The pairing of that conservation record with the artifacts on display is meant to ground the exhibition's historical pieces in a present-day environmental reality that remains unresolved for the region's coastline.
Founders Ball Funds Nearly Two-Year Run
Sportsman's Paradise debuts as the centerpiece of the Louisiana Museum Foundation's 2026 Founders Ball, also set for November 5 at the Cabildo. Individual patron tickets for the gala are priced at $350 for the “Decoy” package, while corporate and donor sponsorships range from $1,700 to $50,000 across themed tiers including “Mississippi Flyway” and “Waterfowl Steward,” according to Where Y'at Magazine. Proceeds are earmarked for K-12 school field trips, student resources, public lectures and other educational programming tied to the exhibition's run, per CityBusiness.
Founded in 1981, the nonprofit Louisiana Museum Foundation raises funds and administers support for all 10 state-owned sites within the Louisiana State Museum system, according to the Louisiana Museum Foundation. The foundation's website provides information about its Founders Ball galas.
A Landmark Setting in the French Quarter
The Cabildo is an exhibition venue of the Louisiana State Museum, according to Louisiana State Museums. The venue sits within a state museum system that has drawn scrutiny before — Hoodline previously reported on preservation disputes at Madame John's Legacy, another Louisiana State Museum property in the French Quarter.
