When Jim Hausey and his younger brother Bobby were children, Bobby once got more attention from a kind stranger in a waiting room, prompting Jim to jealously exclaim, “There are two of we!” “I just always thought there would be two of us,” Jim Hausey said. “I’m still in shock.”Bobby Hausey, renowned local artist and professor at the University for 32 years, died Oct. 16 because of complications with diabetes. He was 59. The LSU School of Art held a memorial gathering Friday in the sculpture garden, where about 100 of Hausey’s friends, students, family, fans and colleagues listened to and shared stories about the painter who inspired them and made them laugh. “He was well-loved everywhere he went,” said Ruth Price O’Connor, who grew up just two houses down from Hausey in Central, La. Hausey studied painting and drawing at LSU before receiving a Master’s of Fine Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He started teaching at LSU in 1977. Melody Guichet, close friend and former LSU painting and drawing professor, spoke at the gathering. She studied with Hausey and lovingly recalled their “fierce but friendly rivalry” during their undergraduate careers. When Guichet’s painting won first place at their senior art show, she called Hausey to make sure he heard the news. That’s when Hausey happily told her he won “Best in Show.”Hausey’s specialty was painting the human form. Several of his realist pieces were at the memorial gathering, lined up like an exhibit for people to see, discuss and remember. Hausey’s work has been displayed at many famous venues throughout the country, including the Alternative Museum and the Artist’s Choice Museum in New York, the Mint Museum and Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in North Carolina, the Birmingham Museum, the Alexandria Museum and the New Orleans Museum of Art, according to the LSU School of Art’s Web site. His grants and fellowships include a visiting artist position at the American Academy in Rome, National Endowment for the Arts/SECCA and the Louisiana Division of the Arts. Guichet also talked about her many trips to The Chimes and Chelsea’s Cafe with Hausey. She said he got to know the people who worked there and truly cared about them, as he did everybody he loved. “He knew their dreams, and he hoped they’d make it,” Guichet said. “I knew these weren’t just words — it was his prayer for them.”Rick Ortner, long-time friend and fellow painting professor, reminisced about Christmas dinners spent with Hausey every year. And while Hausey joked often, Ortner said he was “deeply self-aware and deeply sensitive,” as evidenced by his paintings. “The one person I’ve always been able to count on was Bobby,” Ortner said. Hausey was teaching two courses this semester. Ortner will teach the remainder of Hausey’s advanced painting class, while long-time friend and fellow artist Laurie Williamson will teach the rest of his foundations course, said Rod Parker, director of the LSU School of Art. O’Connor said she loved the memorial gathering Friday.”It was beautiful,” she said. “You could tell people thought so much of him.”A formal memorial service was held Saturday at the Blackwater United Methodist Church. A Facebook fan page was also created for students, friends and colleagues to post stories, pictures and thoughts about Hausey. Hausey is survived by his 22-year-old son Neil Gopalan-Hausey, brother Jim, paternal aunt Olive and nephews Ryan and Eric.——Contact Kyle Bove at [email protected]
Memorial gathering held for professor
October 24, 2009