09/01/2026
🎥 Orleans Gallery presents the Studio Story of Tony Bernard’s The Journey, (Tony Bernard), the story of an artist whose unmistakable images of Louisiana five decades in the making.
Tony’s first painting happened exactly 50 years ago in 1976, when, at just 13 years old, he saw the cover of Boston’s debut album and decided to paint it as a mural on the bedroom wall he shared with two brothers in Lafayette. 👨🎨
He didn’t know it then, but it unlocked a passion and a drive to paint that burns as brightly today as it did 50 years ago.
What followed was a journey through billboard painting, commercial art, illustration, and eventually fine art. Along the way he worked as the studio assistant of the legendary artist George Rodrigue for more than 20 years, which shaped his art and his life. 💙🐶
The Journey brings those 50 years together in the Gallery.
The collection moves through the influences, subjects, and styles that have defined Tony’s career, filled with the iconic Louisiana imagery for which he has become known, from Cajun and southern culture and landscapes to one of his most recognizable creations, the beloved King George, a crowned pelican that is all at once self portrait, icon, and storytelling device.
But this show isn’t simply a retrospective.It is the story of how one image on a 13-year-old boy’s bedroom wall became a lifetime of making the images that have both reflected and informed our culture. From the more than 75 Festival Posters and the well-earned moniker of “Festival Poster King,” bestowed by none other than Rodrigue himself, to how every job, influence, and friendship along the way helped Tony Bernard become the artist he is today.
Fifty years after that first painting, The Journey continues.
The Journey opens alongside Stephanie Gaffney’s Summer Flew By at Orleans Gallery.
📆 September 5
⏰ 5–8 PM
📍 603 Julia Street, New Orleans
