George Rodrigue, born and raised in New Iberia, LA, is best known for his Blue Dog paintings, which catapulted him to worldwide fame in the early 1990s. His art studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette followed by the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA gave him a foundation that spawned one of the greatest success stories in southern art. Rodrigue and his art have been the subject of 12 books, published nationally and internationally, as well as numerous museum exhibitions, including forty-year career retrospectives at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens Museum in Memphis, TN (2007) and the New Orleans Museum of Art (2008), both of which broke all museum records at those locations for living artists or contemporary shows. The author of books for young people including Are You Blue Dog’s Friend? and Why is Blue Dog Blue?, the artist will appear on Thursday, November 18 in a discussion with Ken Wells and Patty Friedmann on the joys and problems of creating literature for young people. His new gallery is located at the corner of Pere Antoine Alley and Royal Street.