The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center is putting Louisiana artists on permanent display, installing a new collection this month that pulls together large-scale sculptures, fine art, vinyl graphics and murals from more than 70 artists with ties to the state. The rollout began in September and will spread the work throughout the 1.1-million-square-foot facility, which draws more than 800,000 visitors a year.
The collection mixes purchased, donated and commissioned pieces, and it already includes a new mural by Lillian Aguinaga, Monica Rose Kelly and Sasha “Swan” Kopfler, according to New Orleans CityBusiness. Among the featured names are muralist Brandan “BMike” Odums, photographer Frank Relle, abstract painter George Dunbar, sculptor John T. Scott and artist Carl Joe Williams, the outlet reports. Other represented artists include Hunt Slonem, Jacqueline Bishop, Lesley Dill and Francis Pavy, and Dill's work is also held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art, per the same account.
Artists Featured in the Collection
John T. Scott is among the collection's featured artists.
Odums established Studio BE in 2016, a 36,000-square-foot arts space, per Studio BE.
George Dunbar, who died in 2024, is also part of the lineup. He was a pioneer of Southern abstract art who co-founded the Orleans Gallery in the 1950s, the city's first artist-owned collective gallery, and was known for blending Abstract Expressionist technique with Louisiana clay and metallic leaf, according to the New Orleans Museum of Art. Frank Relle is among the artists in the collection.
Nearly 1,000 Artists Applied for a Spot on the Walls
The artists were chosen through a public call run in partnership with architecture firm NANO LLC and Dumez Development Group, according to CityBusiness. That call drew nearly 1,000 applications and more than 4,000 individual works and proposals, the outlet reports, a volume that speaks to how much interest the project generated among Louisiana's creative community.
Jim Cook said the Convention Center is where New Orleans introduces itself to the world and that the collection gives artists a chance to be part of that introduction, per the same CityBusiness report. Terri Dreyer added that the partnership brings local art and culture to a global audience, the outlet notes.
Part of a Larger Push to Modernize the Facility
The art program is one piece of a much larger $557 million Capital Improvement Plan approved in 2018 to modernize 140 meeting rooms, public lobbies and exterior frontage across the facility, according to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. NANO LLC, a local, female-led design firm, was awarded a $7 million contract in 2021 as Architect of Record for the interior upgrades — the largest contract ever awarded to a Small and Emerging Business by the facility's governing authority — and partnered with Dumez Development Group on the public artist call.
The Exhibition Hall Authority set a 30% goal for Small and Emerging Businesses and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises on its capital improvement construction projects, with more than $50 million in projected SEB/DBE contract opportunities through 2026. CityBusiness separately reports the convention center has awarded more than $54 million in contracts to small businesses and disadvantaged business enterprises since 2019, and that events held there have generated $93.2 billion in economic impact since 1985.
Interior Art Joins Riverfront Investments
The indoor collection builds on public art commitments the facility already made outside its walls. A $65 million, 7.5-acre pedestrian park and transportation center along Convention Center Boulevard features permanent installations like Patrick Marold's Alluvial Mirror, according to the Public Art Archive. Hoodline has previously reported on the riverfront's 40th year alongside the same capital plan and pedestrian park.
The Ernest N. Morial New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority is overseen by a 13-member board of commissioners, ten appointed by the Governor of Louisiana and three by the Mayor of New Orleans, according to the Ernest N. Morial New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority. The facility opened in 1985, per 64 Parishes.
