Frank Hayden

Born June 10, 1934, and raised by his mother amid the poverty of a Memphis, TN, housing project, Frank Hayden overcame a speech impediment to pursue secondary education at St. Augustine High School in Memphis. He received a scholarship to Xavier University in New Orleans, earned a B.A. in fine arts, with a minor in German, and won ten scholarships to different graduate schools. Hayden chose Notre Dame University in South Bend, IN, to study under Ivan Mestrovic's tutelage and earned an M.F.A. in sculpture. In 1959, he received a Fulbright Scholarship - and later, additional fellowships - for art study with renowned twentieth-century European instructors and masters.

Hayden returned to Louisiana from Europe with his wife and four children, and from September 1961 until his death in 1988, taught drawing, sculpture, aesthetics, and art appreciation at Southern University. In 1985, Southern University named Hayden its first Distinguished Professor, and in 1987, he received an honorary doctorate from Madonna College in Livonia, MI. Hayden died in January 1988, the result of a tragic incident in which Hayden's son shot the sleeping sculptor.

Designed to teach and inspire, Hayden's works reflect strong religious and philosophical beliefs and involve viewers in aesthetically soothing, fluidly simplistic interpretations of history and humanity. Hayden's major public works are displayed throughout Baton Rouge in churches, on the campuses of Louisiana State University and Southern University, and at Galvez and Riverfront downtown plazas. Hayden presented one of his most prestigious commissions, a small bronze entitled "St. Martin de Porres," to Pope John Paul II on behalf of United States African-American Roman Catholics to commemorate the pontiff's 1987 visit to New Orleans and the 25th anniversary of the saint's canonization. One of Hayden's last works was a white alabaster sculpture, "The Prodigal Son."

John T. Scott	Frank Hayden	Steve A. Prince	Sister Mary Lurana Neely S.B.S.