Jeanerette Museum hosts Clementine Hunter exhibit

The Jeanerette Museum is hosting the traveling exhibit, “The Art and Social Commentary of Clementine Hunter” from Nov. 10 through Jan. 15, 2016.
The exhibit from the Louisiana State Museum focuses on the importance of Hunter’s work as a chronicler of rural life and serves as an example of her innate artistic talent.
With more than 20 images of works by Hunter, the exhibit captures the spirit of Hunter’s life and work. As with most folk artists, Hunter’s art reflects the tragedies and triumphs of a simple and unadorned lifestyle.
Her work depicts exactly what she knew, the agrarian existence of life on Melrose Plantation and the small traditions and ceremonies that mark a person’s progression from birth to death. What critics say is truly remarkable about Hunter’s art was not only her prolific creativity but also her unwitting role as social commentator. Hunter’s art unknowingly recorded for posterity a lifestyle that is almost unrecognizable today.
Hunter was a self-taught folk artist and is the first African-American artist to have a solo exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art. In her early years she worked as a farm laborer who never learned to read or write. Later in life she began painting using brushes and paints left by an artist who visited Melrose plantation.
For more information on this exhibit contact the museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at 337-276-4408, visit its webpage at www.jeanerettemuseum.com; or email the museum at jeanerettemuseum@gmail.com.