Join fellow book lovers as we read and discuss fiction and nonfiction books related to art, artists, art museums, NOMA’s collections and exhibitions. Our full 2020 schedule and reading list has been announced.

Organized by NOMA’s Felix J. Dreyfous Library, the Book Club is an informal group. You do not have to attend every meeting and we understand if you have to leave a discussion or program early. The book club offers several types of programs: a book discussion group that meets once a month (no reading in December), curatorial programs, field trips, and Meet the Author receptions. Most book club programs start promptly at noon, but please arrive at 11:30 a.m. if you wish to bring a sack lunch or meet beforehand. NOMA will provide water and soft drinks.

RSVP for the meetings you wish to attend so we can prepare the meeting space.

Please contact NOMA’s Education Department at 504.658.4128 or education@noma.org for information about joining the NOMA Book Club.

March 2020

Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad  by Jacqueline Tobin and Raymond Dobard
Anchor, 2000, ISBN: 0385497679 

In 1993, historian Jacqueline Tobin met African American quilter Ozella Williams amid piles of beautiful handmade quilts in the Old Market Building of Charleston, South Carolina. With the admonition to “write this down,” Williams began to describe how slaves made coded quilts and used them to navigate their escape on the Underground Railroad. During the three years it took for Williams’s narrative to unfold—and as the friendship and trust between the two women grew—Tobin enlisted New Orleans native Raymond Dobard, Ph.D., an art history professor and well-known African American quilter, to help unravel the mystery. 

TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 12 – 1 pm | BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP