Expressing Yourself Is Living
MKAF ArtsReach Brings Wendy Rodrigue Magnus’ Life & Legacy Tour to Fort Walton Beach High School
By Zandra Wolfgram
“I came 1,600 miles across eight states to see you,” Wendy Rodrigue Magnus said to more than 100 art students at Fort Walton Beach High School.
Standing before a half dozen works of art resting on easels wearing a youthful red dress and black combat boots, the founder of the Life & Legacy Tour got personal.
“You are my 127th stop on my tour. And I am especially glad to be here because this is my home. I grew up in Fort Walton Beach, and 40 years ago, I was one of you. I graduated from here,” she said smiling as fellow Vikings smiled back.
As she has explained to nearly 60,000 students since launching her Tour dedicated to celebrating the life and legacy of her late husband, American artist George Rodrigue — famous for his Blue Dog Series, based on the French-Cajun loup-garou legend.
“I am showing you paintings no one gets to see. I brought you paintings because I couldn’t bring you George.”
She is the perfect person to give a “tour” of Rodrigue’s life and art. Besides being married “blue dog” artist George Rodrigue from 1997 until his death in 2013, Wendy studied art and art history earning her graduate degree at Tulane University in New Orleans. Her first solo book, The Other Side of Painting (2013) shares personal history and musings behind the art and life of the artist.
As a published author, speaker, and storyteller, Wendy can share rare insight into George Rodrigue’s art and bring it alive to students who may have never heard his name … yet.
During her “unplugged” 45-minute presentation, students learn more than just about art. They learn that George grew up in New Iberia, Louisiana as the cherished only son to older parents. They learn he had polio and art supplies gave him a creative escape. That his first trip away from home was to art school in Los Angeles, California. That he memorialized his home by painting Southern oak trees. That even a little light in paintings symbolizes hope.
“He discovered art. He discovered expression. He discovered what gave life meaning,” Wendy explained. “Because expressing yourself is living no matter how you do it — the way you dress, the way you present yourself, how you connect to others.”
This speaker certainly was connecting. Without multi-media or high tech, she was reaching them using only her voice — her personal story of George Rodrigue. She let the six “blue dog” paintings do a lot of the talking.
Better acquainted, the audience learned still more. That George got lung cancer, most likely from spraying varnish on his paintings in rooms without enough ventilation (“be sure you don’t do this,” Wendy cautions. That he painted “all the things he loved most” a portrait of Wendy, the famous blue dog, and a majestic oak tree. That he considered his death a “great adventure.”
The last painting Wendy shows is a self-portrait based on a photo of the artist — it was the last one she took of him. This painting is different. The blue dog is red and wearing a tie and the entire painting is on a reflective background. “I’ll let you decide what it means to you,” she says. “But I will say that George loved children and painted blue dog portraits with reflective backgrounds so when children looked at his art, they could see themselves reflected in it.
And with dozens of students lingering to thank Wendy, hug her, take a “selfie,” and get her autograph on the art notecard she gifted to them, it was clear they were already reflecting on the life and legacy of George Rodrigue — an artist they now knew and could clearly picture.
Wendy Rodrigue Magnus’ Life & Legacy Tour appearance (along with visits to eight other Okaloosa and Walton County elementary, middle and high schools) was presented as a part of Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation’s ArtsReach program — an array of impactful performing & visual arts outreach initiatives inspiring K-12 students, children and adults with special needs, the military in our local community. To learn more, visit mkaf.org.