Gail Hood Exhibit at Christwood Atrium

 A "Gail Hood Retrospective" art exhibit opened at the Atrium Gallery in Christwood Retirement Community Saturday evening, with close to 100 people turning out for the special occasion. 

Exhibit Curator Ann Loomis introduced Gail at the podium, and the crowd in attendance was treated to stories of her background, her accomplishments in the field of art, and a detailed explanation, painting by painting, of the artwork hanging on the walls.

Gail Hood and Ann Loomis
Click on the photographs to make them larger. 

Hood attended Folsom Grammar School, St. Scholastica and Covington High School. She studied art at Beaux-Arts in Rouen, France, Carleton College in Minnesota, and received an MBA in painting from Columbia University. In addition, she attended summer schools at Pratt, The School of the Art Institute in Chicago and Tulane University in New Orleans. When her paintings of cows were rejected in New York, she noted that the streets there were bulging with Abstract Expressionism and emerging Pop Art. "So I moved right on to Abstract Expressionism. They loved it," she said. 

Gail Hood details her career as an artist and art educator

Her first job was teaching art at Florida State University. She returned to Louisiana in 1962. She married Henry Hood and got a job at the mental hospital in Mandeville. She then got teaching opportunities at St. Scholastica and Mandeville High School and was later hired by Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, to teach drawing, color design, and painting (at all levels), as well as the history of  modern art. A university grant allowed her to take many photographs of Pine Island, followed by extensive photography at the Joyce Wildlife Preserve (accompanied by Barbara Tardo) and at the Tickfaw State Park. In 2002 she received a sabbatical to paint in France. Much of her work was based on photographs taken at those locations. 

Her paintings at the Atrium Exhibit were on loan from a wide variety of private collections and deal mostly with St. Tammany scenes, with a few from Louisiana coastal waters and France. She said they are arranged in chronological order around the room. 

"My final real project was of Louisiana's barrier islands," she said, noting that two of those are in the current exhibit.  

Hood was the first exhibit shown at the Christwood Atrium when Ann Loomis began serving as curator for the gallery 15 years ago, and Loomis said that since this would be the her last exhibit as curator, she felt it was only fitting that a "retrospective" of Gail's work would be the way to go. Loomis was quoted in the local newspaper as saying, "Gail is truly a northshore treasure, admired and loved by so many. Her work resonates deeply within the community and has been collected throughout the region, a testament both to her artistic vision and the genuine connection she creates through her art."

The exhibit will be on display through May 30. 

In the 1960's Gail Hood was active with the St. Tammany Art Association and Playmakers Inc., both on stage and backstage designing sets on numerous productions. She taught several classes at the art association and took part in the annual Juried Art Show at the Primate Center. She also participated in a number of art events at St. Scholastica Academy, where she was an instructor. Hood also served as a judge in several area art contests.

Here are some newspaper clippings from some of her community involvements. Click on the articles to make them larger and more readable. 

Above is a photograph taken in the 1970's showing Gail Hood in the upper left. Henry Hood is at the upper right. The event was a gathering behind Henry Hood's office on Columbia Street. 

A photo from 1968

In 1976, some 50 years ago, she was to serve as a judge for the
Mandeville Bicentennial Art Exhibit.

Gail's mother was Arlene Johnson, who served as director of the St. Tammany Dept. of Public Welfare for many years. 

Newspaper clippings from earlier in her life.

In 1941 Gail took part  in the Louisiana Tung Festival as a "crown bearer" for the Festival Queen, and during her grammar school years was active in the 4-H Club. In 1950 she was a piano student of Jonette Dunning.