Museum marks seventh anniversary during Founders Day events

The Southern University Museum of Art (SUMA) marked its seventh anniversary Saturday, March 8 with a reception that launched week-long Founders' Day activities. During the reception, several pieces of visual art by local female artists were unveiled.

The Baton Rouge chapter of Links Inc., sponsored the event which focused on the theme "Expanding Our Vision through Creativity and Self Expression."

Former System President Leon R. Tarver, the museum's founder, 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," Tarver said.

The artists with work on display were Irene M. Tucker, Cheryl Dixon, Earnisteen Spencer, Brenda Binkett, Jessie Coates, Carolyn Wells, the Rev. Darlene Moore, Helen Hedgemon and Kimberly Lewis.

Moore, a Dillard graduate from Mandaville, was invited by Links to show her work. She recalled starting to visit the museum on a free pass given to Dillard students and continuing to visit monthly now to relax and relieve stress.

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," Moore replied when asked to define the museum's purpose.

SUMA's mission, as stated in exhibit 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 both Southern and the museum itself.