NEWS RELEASE

JEFFERSON PARISH, LOUISIANA

September 12, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART CURATOR TO SPEAK ABOUT FASHION AT FRIENDS OF THE JEFFERSON PUBLIC LIBRARY QUARTERLY MEETING

JEFFERSON, LA – Mel Buchanan, the RosaMary Curator of Decorative Arts at the New Orleans Museum of Arts, will present “Fashioning America: Grit to Glamour,” at the quarterly meeting of the Friends of the Jefferson Public Library, at 10 a.m., Wednesday, October 4, 2023 at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave., Metairie.

This presentation is free of charge and open to the public.

The exhibition, “Fashioning America: Grit to Glamour,” on view at NOMA through Nov. 26, takes a broad look at fashion history with an emphasis on the spirit of innovation and the diversity of the United States' fashion heritage. The exhibition spotlights more than 100 American designers and brands with garments from the 19th century to the present day.

Three copies of the exhibition catalog, valued at $65 each, as well as a docent-led tour for four people, will be awarded as door prizes. Winners must be present when tickets are pulled at the end of the meeting.

In her role at NOMA, Buchanan leads exhibitions, interpretation, and collection growth for the museum’s wide-ranging decorative art and design collection. In 2018, she completed a reinstallation of the department’s galleries, including the launch of a series of commissioned artworks where contemporary designers—including Joyce Lin and Roberto Lugo—respond to the museum’s traditional collection.

Recent exhibitions include Katherine Choy: Radical Potter in 1950s New Orleans, Atomic Number 13: Aluminum in 20th-Century Design, Bror Anders Wikstrom: Bringing Fantasy to Carnival, and Personalities in Clay: American Studio Ceramics from the E. John Bullard Collection. 

Buchanan is currently working on a major 2024 exhibition and catalogue drawing from the NOMA’s renowned collection of historic glass through themes including craft, exchange, technology, and foodways. 

In April 2023, President Joseph R. Biden announced Buchanan’s appointment to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House. 

Also at the meeting, volunteers will have an opportunity to sign up to help at the next Big Book Sale, to be held October 20-22, at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner. Hours for the book sale are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday, Oct.  20-21, and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 22. 

For more information on either of these events, contact the Friends of the Jefferson Public Library at 504 455-2665 or friendsjpl@Yahoo.com.

The Jefferson Parish Library system consists of 16 locations that stretch from the Lakeshore Branch on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain to the Grand Isle Branch just steps away from the Gulf of Mexico. The library system consists of two large regional libraries and seven branches on each side of the Mississippi River. The East Bank Regional Library (4747 West Napoleon Avenue, Metairie) serves as library headquarters. The Jefferson Parish Library is the second largest system in the state of Louisiana. More than 200 employees work for the Jefferson Parish Library including librarians, administration and support staff. For more information, contact the library at (504) 838-1100 or www.jefferson.lib.la.us.

For more information about Jefferson Parish, visit www.JeffParish.net. Residents can also receive regular updates by following the Parish on social media (@JeffParishGov) or by texting JPALERT or JPNOTICIAS to 888-777.

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Jefferson Parish Public Information Office 1221 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Suite 1002 Jefferson, LA 70123

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Gretchen Hirt Gendron, PIO