University Art Musem, Lafayette

Already well-known for its strip of art-bars, galleries, boutiques, and Second Saturday Downtown Artwalks, Lafayette has upped it cultural ante with the construction of the $8.5 million, Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum. The 33,000 square foot crown jewel of the Lafayette art scene has been thirty-three years in the making, but was well worth the wait.

The University Art Museum was initially conceived in the mid-1960s by Maurice Heymann, a local businessman, creator of the Lafayette Oil Center, and patron of the arts, who donated three acres of land for the establishment of a University Art Museum; however, it was not until 2001 that the funding would be available to realize his vision. Heymann's dream was made possible by a lead gift of $3 million from Lafayette philanthropists Lulu and Paul Hilliard, and an additional $5.5 million was raised through a capital campaign co-chaired by Nedra and Dwight Andrus, Jr.

Through the generosity of a community dedicated to furthering the arts and the hard work of museum director and chief curator Herman Mhire and his staff, Lafayette now has a world-class museum that is as much a work of art as it is a place for art to be displayed. The architecture gained national recognition, when the American Institute of Architects awarded the University Art Museum three major prizes: the Louisiana Honor Award, the South-East Honor Award, and recently the National Honor Award.

Walking across the 7,000 square foot, Italian limestone plaza, visitors will be struck by how the two buildings, the Hermitage, built in 1968, and the University Art Museum, completed in 2004, compliment each other. "While we wanted a dynamic juxtaposition of the old and the new, we did not think the new building should fight with the old building," Mhire said of the philosophy behind the design and construction of the new building. In order to strike this balance, it was decided that while the older building is replete with architectural detail, the new building should have a more minimalist design.

As we stepped into the lobby, I could not help but linger a moment, looking back through the glass wall, across the plaza to the 225-square-foot water wall, designed by Jim Garland. Herman allowed me a moment of appreciation before explaining that in January this plaza and sculpture garden will be filled with the works of Lee Littlefield, whose painted sculptures resemble exotic, somewhat abstracted, flowers.

An instillation piece by Sally Heller will also be arriving on the 15th of January, and will creep and twist its way from the lobby, up to the second floor. "We feel an obligation to introduce the patrons to significant artists," Herman said, as we moved from the honed cordosa limestone of the lobby onto the blond maple floors of the exhibition galleries. There are three exhibition galleries which will be displaying some very exciting works this January, including: the equestrian sculptures of Deborah Butterfeild; The Edward Weston Collection of Picasso's ceramic works, featuring sixty-five plates, bowls, pitchers, vases, and plaques; and evoking both the ancient and modern, the modeled horses and human figures of Arthur Kern. While the Lee Littlefield sculpture garden will be on display from January 15th to April 30th, the four new interior exhibits will only be displayed until March 20th. This vast museum may take more than one day to survey, so leave ample time for a return visit.

The sun had set by the time I had finished exploring the numerous visiting exhibitions currently housed in the University Art Museum. In addition to its visiting collections, the University Art Museum is a permanent home to more than 1,500 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints; the permanent collection represents artwork from Louisiana, the U.S., Europe, and Japan from the eighteenth century to present day.

As I stepped back out onto the plaza, bathed in the blue light emanating from behind the glass wall, I caught a glimpse of myself reflected in the water wall; I was reminded of what my old college professor Dr. Castellitto once told me: "Art is that which reflects what we know of ourselves, and illuminates that which we do not." The Lulu and Paul Hilliard University Art Museum has succeeded in doing just that.

The illumination cast by Lafayette's new art museum is not limited to the grounds of ULL. When I headed down to one of Lafayette's most famous art-bars, 307, I did not have to look far to find some people interested in talking about art in Lafayette. The first person I speak to in any bar, the bartender, Luke Dupont, turned out to be a fourth year art student at ULL. Luke had already been to the new University art museum six times and thinks it is exactly what Lafayette needed "an art museum, on campus, that is free to the students."

Luke is a strong proponent of the art-bar scene because "people who wouldn't normally be exposed [to art] are. They might find a new interest." The walls of 307 are currently covered with the paintings of a Louisiana artist named Frenchy, who paints bands as they play and finishes each work by the time the band's set is done.

I found a few folks, sitting at a corner table at 307, who attribute their interest in art to the bar scene of Lafayette. After experiencing both sports-bars and art-bars, Clarisse Granger said she 'Would rather see art in a bar than five big screen TVs."

Herman Mhire, the University Museum's curator, is dedicated to bringing Lafayette important new works of art "to ignite the imagination, stimulate thought, and nourish the soul;" thanks to the generosity of Paul and Lulu Hilliard and other patrons of the arts, Ms. Granger won't be running out of art in Lafayette any time soon.

For Further Exploration:

• ULL University Art Museum
www.louisiana.edu/UAM

• 307 Jazz and Blues Club
www.307jazzclub.com

• Lafayette city guide
www.onlinecityguide.com/la/lafayette