Support Tom McNease

TOM MCNEASE, FLOW THROUGH WHAT SPATIAL UNKNOWN OF DIMENSION (DETAIL), 1977, GELATIN SILVER PRINT, 10 X 8 INCHES, GIFT OF JAN KATZ, 2022.7.1

In the Eyes and Mind of the Feral Child: The Art of Tom McNease

SEPTEMBER 12, 2026 – MARCH 14, 2027

TOM MCNEASE, UNTITLED (DETAIL), ND., ACRYLIC PAINT ON GLASS, 10 X 16 INCHES, COURTESY OF THE TOM MCNEASE ESTATE COLLECTION

About Tom McNease: Tom McNease is a true enigma of Southern Art. Known as an eccentric recluse, McNease avoided the social trappings of the art world, choosing instead to live an isolated existence among the swamps, bayous and rivers of Southeast Louisiana. The full depth and importance of McNease’s art practice was not known until after his death in 2014.

Tom McNease was born in Meridian, Mississippi. He studied Zoology at Southeastern Louisiana University in the late 1960s and briefly worked as a science teacher within the public school system. In 1970, McNease became fascinated with photography and taught himself camera operation and darkroom printing. His early photographic influences included Minor White, Wynn Bullock and Clarence John Laughlin. Later, he would introduce painting into his studio practice.

By 1975, McNease was earning recognition for his photography with exhibitions in Dallas, Santa Fe and New York City. That same year his photographs were published in the Swiss magazine “Camera.” In 1979, McNease began to retreat from the local and national art community to a studio cabin he built in the Louisiana marshlands. It was at a series of cabins in the swamps and bayous outside of New Orleans that McNease would continue to live and make art for over 30 years.

McNease’s art was directly inspired by nature and his surroundings in the marshlands of Louisiana and Mississippi. Nature and the natural world were depicted in his photographs and paintings through the lens of abstraction. He used abstraction as a way to deconstruct the natural world into an intuitive form of artistic expression, void of the formal constraints found in figurative painting and photography.

Abstraction within photography is sometimes considered paradoxical, for a process that is almost exclusively applied for the exact reproduction of reality or the real world. For McNease, working outside of society and outside influences, abstraction was the vehicle most capable of capturing the flowing rhythms of the natural world he inhabited. Surrounded by nature, the subjectivity within abstraction seemed most aligned to the state of consciousness within the artist’s mind. The heightened awareness to the cycles of life from molecular structure to the flora and fauna of the forests and marshes resonates within the abstraction of his art.

McNease’s photographs can be divided into three distinct categories of abstraction: lens-formed, chemigrams and photo-collages. The lens-formed abstractions are usually high contrast close-up photographs of water.

These photos capture amorphic shapes, patterns in nature created when light bounces off water. Chemigrams are camera-less images made in the darkroom by applying photo-chemistry onto light sensitive paper. When exposed to light, amoeba-like shapes of grey and black form against a background of white paper. Photocollages involve meticulously cutting photographic prints into smaller sections or strips then collaging the many sections back together to form a larger unique print predicated on chance.

In 1983, McNease began to focus less on photography, and instead turned his attention towards painting. This seems like a logical progression for a photographer who worked almost exclusively in abstraction and probably had exhausted his exploration of abstraction within the photographic process. From 1983 onward, McNease created thousands of paintings. Just as he had done with photography, experimentation and pushing the boundaries of material and technique defined the artist’s painting practice. McNease painted on glass, wood and paper - glass seemed to be his favorite. He painted on top of glass, made reverse glass paintings and used the smooth glass surface to produce his signature paint “skins.” McNease’s paint skins were made by peeling dried acrylic paint off glass, then reassembling the skins onto another surface to create a collage.

In another body of work, McNease took 2-dimensional paintings into the realms of 3-dimensional sculptures by creating large sheets of paint skins that would then be folded and hung from the ceiling. These 3-dimensional works have been compared to the draped paintings by Sam Gilliam.

Overall, In the Eyes and Mind of the Feral Child: The Art of Tom McNease shines a light on this misunderstood and underappreciated artist whose contribution and innovative use of photography and painting has been overlooked due in part by his refusal to participate in the commercial art gallery and museum system.

Exhibition Programming:

Ogden Museum is pleased to present a series of public programs in conjunction with In the Eyes and Mind of the Feral Child: The Art of Tom McNease. Through your support, the Museum will implement community-focused initiatives that engage audiences in New Orleans and beyond, advancing our mission to share and celebrate the art and culture of the American South. Programming will include a several Art Studio Classes, a Curator Walkthrough, Culture & Cocktails and a College Creatives program. Final list of exhibition-related programming to be announced closer to opening date. Programs and dates are subject to change.

TOM MCNEASE, ABSOLVED BY THE REASON OF TRUTH, 1990, GELATIN SILVER PRINT COLLAGE, 9.5 X 15.25 INCHES, COURTESY OF THE TOM MCNEASE ESTATE COLLECTION

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

TOM MCNEASE, SUBTLE THE RESONANT GREY MANIFESTATION (DETAIL), 1977, GELATIN SILVER PRINT, 8 X 10 INCHES, GIFT OF JAN KATZ, 2022.7.57

PRESENTING SPONSOR

EXCLUSIVE EXHIBITION NAMING RIGHTS - $25,000 In addition to all Major Sponsor Benefits: Logo and Credit Line Placement •

• • •

Presenting sponsorship credit line immediately below the exhibition title, on a line by itself, in all print and digital communications related to the exhibition, including, but not limited to, publications, invitations, paid and non-paid promotional and educational materials, exterior and interior signage, exhibition title wall (and exiting panel if applicable), website and press releases.

Wherever possible, a larger font treatment than that of subsequent sponsorship levels will be used.

All exhibition-related digital or printed materials will include the Presenting Sponsor logo, where appropriate, and where applicable, it will be linked to the Presenting Sponsor’s website.

Additional information about the Presenting Sponsor will be shared, when appropriate.

Additional Benefits •

20 additional invitations to Preview Reception on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026 (total 50 guests)

•

Private tour of the exhibition led by a member of Ogden Museum’s Curatorial Department (up to 25 guests). Please contact us at development@ogdenmuseum.org or 504.539.9616 for more information, or to schedule the exhibition tour.

*While we credit the Presenting Sponsor adjacent to the exhibition title, we cannot guarantee that all mentions of the exhibition title in press and publicity will include the Presenting Sponsor in this format.

TOM MCNEASE, IT AROSE EPHEMERALLY AS IF SHALL RETURN ETERNALLY (DETAIL), 1977, GELATIN SILVER PRINT, 8 X 10 INCHES, GIFT OF JAN KATZ, 2022.7.42

MAJOR SPONSOR - $10,000 • • • • •

Premier name recognition on Ogden Museum website and in exhibition wall text 50 complimentary admission tickets to In the Eyes and Mind of the Feral Child: The Art of Tom McNease Invitations to Preview Reception on Friday, Sept.

11, 2026 (up to 30 guests) Four complimentary one-year Ogden Museum family memberships (transferable) Listing on Ogden Museum’s donor wall for one year

SUPPORTING SPONSOR - $2,500 • • • •

Name recognition on Ogden Museum website and in exhibition wall text 10 complimentary admission tickets to In the Eyes and Mind of the Feral Child: The Art of Tom McNease Invitations to Preview Reception Reception on Sept. 11, 2026 (up to 10 guests) One complimentary one-year Ogden Museum family membership (transferable)

CONTRIBUTING SPONSOR - $5,000 • • • • •

Name recognition on Ogden Museum website and in exhibition wall text 20 complimentary admission tickets to In the Eyes and Mind of the Feral Child: The Art of Tom McNease Invitations to Preview Reception on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026 (up to 20 guests) Two complimentary one-year Ogden Museum family memberships (transferable) Listing on Ogden Museum’s donor wall for one year

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SUPPORT TOM MCNEASE

IN THE EYES AND MIND OF THE FERAL CHILD: THE ART OF TOM MCNEASE To support In the Eyes and Mind of the Feral Child: The Art of Tom McNease please click here to make an online donation or contact Ogden Museum’s Development Department at development@ogdenmuseum.org

*Gifts or pledges must be received by Sept. 1, 2026 to be recognized in opening reception wall-text.

TOM MCNEASE, INDETERMINATE IN CHAOTIC ELEMENT OF RECTILINEAR DETERMINABILITY (DETAIL), 1976, GELATIN SILVER PRINT, 10 X 8 INCHES, GIFT OF JAN KATZ, 2022.7.60

T HA NK Y O U FO R S UP P O RT I N G O GD E N MU SEU M OF SOU THER N A RT! Ogden Museum is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (Tax ID #72-1479496). You will receive an acknowledgment of your donation for your tax records. This donation is 100% tax deductible as allowed by law.

Please contact our Development Department at development@ogdenmuseum.org or 504.539.9616 for more information.

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