Friday Nights at NOMA opens the museum’s doors for many interesting activities throughout the year: live music, movies, children’s activities, and more. Regular admission prices apply—NOMA members are FREE—but there is no extra charge for programs or films. All galleries and Café NOMA remain open till 9 pm.

• 5 – 8 pm: Art on the Spot family activity table
• 5:30 – 8:30 pm: Music by Shawn Williams
• 6 – 7 pm: Gallery Talk with Curator Mel Buchanan for Personalities in Clay: American Studio Ceramics from the E. John Bullard Collection
• 7 – 8:30 pm: Drawings in Clay: Sgraffito Technique Workshop with Rachael DePauw

ABOUT SHAWN WILLIAMS

New Orleans’ pioneering voice in “alt-rock countrybilly serial-killer blues,” Shawn Williams describes her sound as that “of a dirtier-minded Elvis deciding to get it on in the back of some roadhouse saloon with one of those sad-eyed cowboy types that would rather be drinking alone.”

An accomplished career in radio has taken her from Atlanta to New York City and back to her hometown of New Orleans, where she marked success as the former programming director for two of the city’s largest radio stations (NASH FM 92.3 and 106.1 The Underground), all the while managing to maintain the schedule required of a young bandleader in a vibrant night town.

Her debut album Shadow (2017) is a skillfully-mastered collection of originals that moves seamlessly from old-school R&B-inflected rockers to softer, wistful numbers. On recording as in live performance, she conveys a sense of rawness, a depth of feeling, and a lack of pretension that set her apart from the rest of the city’s pool of talented up-and-coming musicians. Aside from her own music, she is also the founder of the all-female Elvis tribute band, Pelvis Breastlies.

ABOUT CURATOR MEL BUCHANAN AND PERSONALITIES IN CLAY

Mel Buchanan is the RosaMary Curator for Decorative Arts and Design. She will lead visitors on an insightful walkthrough of an exhibition of more than seventy ceramics created between 1940 and the end of the twentieth century on loan from NOMA’s Director Emeritus E. John Bullard.

ABOUT RACHAEL DEPAUW AND THE DRAWINGS IN CLAY WORKSHOP

Join artist Rachael DePauw in a hands-on workshop exploring the sgraffito technique. DePauw will walk participants through the history of sgraffito and how she applies the technique in her own pottery practice. Under DePauw’s guidance, participants will then use the technique in creating their own works on tablets that will be fired at an off-site studio. Finished tablets will be available for pickup at a later date. THIS WORKSHOP IS SOLD OUT

This program is presented in conjunction with Personalities in Clay: American Studio Ceramics from the E. John Bullard Collection.

Friday Nights at NOMA is supported in part by grant funds from the Azby Fund; Ruby K. Worner Charitable Trust; New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation; and the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council as administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans.