Saturday, September 7, 2019

Enriching Education: Life & Legacy Tour (George Rodrigue)

The nationally-acclaimed Life & Legacy Tour featuring the art and life of George Rodrigue returns this fall with stops at schools across California, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Led by award-winning speaker Wendy Rodrigue, widow of the Louisiana-born “Blue Dog” artist, the public storytelling tour has reached more than 35,000 students and teachers in over 70 schools throughout the United States.

This fall, the Life & Legacy Tour will continue to reach classrooms, museums and community groups featuring original, rarely-seen artwork from the Rodrigue collection as Wendy shares personal stories of her late husband’s life-long discovery of the arts.

The Life & Legacy Tour began in 2017 with a highly successful tour of 18 schools across Louisiana within the Louisiana A+ network. In 2019, Wendy founded the nonprofit, Life & Legacy, Inc., to accommodate the ever-growing success and scope of the tour. Life & Legacy, Inc. projects now include museum exhibitions, education initiatives, written and online publications, as well as the continued expansion of the Life & Legacy Tour.

“Spanning two decades, George and I conducted painting demonstrations at schools and other venues worldwide,” said Wendy. Initially approached as children’s programming during art festivals, we soon developed educational, museum-quality presentations for all ages, during which George painted, while I told stories from his life. As he introduced me, George often laughed, ‘I can’t paint and talk at the same time.’ With Life & Legacy I expand on this original vision, inspiring the artist within each of us by sharing George’s history and philosophy, while accompanied by unique Rodrigue artworks from our private collection.”

Upcoming tour dates include:

Life & Legacy Tour Fall 2019 Schedule
September 20 – Livingston Parish Chamber of Commerce (Livingston, LA)
September 23 – Courtney Christian School (Hammond, LA)
September 25 – Ursuline Academy (New Orleans, LA)
September 26 – Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Belle Chasse, LA)
September 27 – Lusher High School (New Orleans, LA)
September 30 – Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans, LA)
October 7-8 – Wilkerson Middle School (The Woodlands, TX)
November 4-8 – The Greene School (West Palm Beach, FL)

For more information on the George Rodrigue Life & Legacy Tour, visit www.wendyrodrigue.com or follow the tour on Facebook and Instagram. For more information and photos, visit here.

ABOUT GEORGE RODRIGUE
Born and raised in Cajun Country, Louisiana, U.S.A., George Rodrigue portrayed on his canvas what he feared was his dying heritage—including its land, people, traditions and mythology. In the early 1990s his Blue Dog series, based on the French-Cajun loup-garou legend, catapulted him to worldwide fame, while his dark Renaissance-like landscapes developed into robust modern masterpieces. Learn more about George Rodrigue on Wendy’s blog www.wendyrodrigue.com and the book, The Other Side of the Painting (2013, UL Press).

ABOUT LIFE & LEGACY, INC.
Life & Legacy, Inc. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring audiences of all ages and diverse backgrounds with the life and art of George Rodrigue (1944-2013), expanding his vision by showing how one person can overcome obstacles to achieve their dreams, while also making a positive difference in the world—in this case, through the transformative potential of art. Projects include museum exhibitions, education initiatives, an ongoing public lecture series, and written and online publications.

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