{"id":2306606,"date":"2026-03-01T15:25:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T15:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2306606"},"modified":"2026-03-01T15:25:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T15:25:36","slug":"self-taught-artists-jazz-photos-shine-at-new-ogden-exhibits-entertainment-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/self-taught-artists-jazz-photos-shine-at-new-ogden-exhibits-entertainment-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-taught artists, jazz photos shine at new Ogden exhibits | Entertainment\/Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Decades ago, before moving to New Orleans, Michael Burke was furnishing a Catskills house with \u201cthe country eclectic look” by hunting for trinkets and gadgets to display. But what started as a home project is now a new exhibit at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.<\/p>\n

\u201cBurke\u2019s Delight\u201d\u00a0celebrates its namesake\u2019s recent donation to the Ogden of more than 80 works from the American South by more than 50 artists, and represents a quest of 45 years (eventually joined by wife Stacey) of \u201csnooping around\u201d that brought the collectors to flea markets, galleries, auctions and into artists\u2019 personal spaces. The exhibit contains works by such notables of the genre as Bill Traylor, Sam Doyle and Nellie Mae Rowe as well as lesser-known artists.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

He was first inspired by a 2016 exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art called \u201cUnfiltered Visions: 20th Century Self-Taught American Art.”<\/a> It \u201ctriggered in my brain, like wow, these guys, these people, don’t have any monetary interest in this,\u201d said Burke, by trade a lighting technician for film and television, including many seasons of the “Law & Order” suite of shows.<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \n <\/div><\/div>
\n

<\/p>\n

Visitors view\u00a0spring exhibitions at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


\n Provided by Ogden Museum of Southern Art<\/span>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThey felt the urge to create out of simple materials with no education in the process. They just made things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result, over many years, was a stellar personal collection of \u201cself-taught\u201d or \u201coutsider\u201d art. \u201c\u2018Vernacular\u2019 seems to be the educational term, but if I tell some friends of mine that I have some \u2018vernacular\u2019 art,<\/a> they\u2019re going to think it\u2019s like something from the biology lab,\u201d Burke said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

\u00a0\u201cBurke\u2019s Delight: The Stacey and Michael Burke Collection\u201d is on view through Jan. 10, 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The collecting quest<\/h3>\n

As important as the collecting quest was how the Burkes collected personal experiences with some of the artists, said Bradley Sumrall, Ogden\u2019s curator of the collection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael Burke’s delight was not only buying the objects, acquiring the objects, but it was living with the objects,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cIt was getting to know the makers of those objects. And now it’s getting to see the world enjoy and engage with these objects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burke said it’s very different than just going to a gallery. “When you go on a trip and you wind up meeting somebody, either by surprise or by appointment, you make a connection,” he said. “And it becomes a little bit more real to me and not necessarily buying pieces for investment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \"burkes.jpg\"\n <\/div><\/div>
\n

<\/p>\n

Michael and Stacey Burkes pose in front of their new exhibit at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, \u201cBurke\u2019s Delight: The Stacey and Michael Burke Collection.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


\n Provided by Ogden Museum of Southern Art<\/span>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A sub-exhibit collects a selection of \u201cface jugs,\u201d ceramic vessels rooted in centuries of history, that the Burkes have also donated to the Ogden.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor an institution that’s known for its collection of vernacular art, Michael’s collection filled out some holes that we had in it,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cYou know, some missing artists and some missing elements of artists\u2019 practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The jazz giants<\/h3>\n

Another Burke-enabled exhibit, \u201cHerman Leonard: Images of Jazz,\u201d is on view through July 12, 2026. Leonard, who called New Orleans home in the 1990s and early 2000s, captured smoky, heroic photographic portraits of jazz greats made primarily in the middle years of the last century.<\/p>\n

His portraits of Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and others, come from a portfolio the photographer produced during his New Orleans years. Earlier and later, he spent other years in Ottawa, New York City, Paris, Ibiza and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \"Herman\n <\/div><\/div>
\n

<\/p>\n

“Ella Fitzgerald, Downbeat, New York, 1949” by Herman Leonard<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


\n Provided by Ogden Museum of Southern Art<\/span>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Burke came to know Leonard then and acquired a copy of the portfolio, which holds 30 prints and is one of only 30 produced.<\/p>\n

It was while visiting Burke\u2019s home to collaborate on the \u201cBurke\u2019s Delight\u201d exhibit that Sumrall, who\u2019d had a poster of Leonard\u2019s Dexter Gordon portrait<\/a> in his first post-collegiate apartment, spied the portfolio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sitting in his living room, and we were going over some notes of what we had looked at that day and what might be available for donation,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cAnd I glanced over on the floor, and against the wall there was Herman Leonard’s portfolio. (Burke) was like, \u2018Yeah, you want it?\u2019”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

\u201cNow they’re all going to be framed,\u201d Burke said. \u201cThey’ll all be up, and everybody can see them and enjoy them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Museum calendar\u00a0<\/h3>\n