BOISE, ID.- Boise Art Museum announces the opening of Julie Green: The Last Supper at the Boise Art Museum on November 30, 2024. The exhibition features approximately 1,000 plates that depict the final meals requested by persons on death row in the United States — making it the largest showing of Green's artwork.

The Last Supper is a long-running visual art and research project by artist Julie Green (they/them/theirs), illustrating the final meals requested by approximately one thousand people on death row in the United States. Green (1961-2021) began the series in 1999 after reading in a local Oklahoma paper about the final meal requested by a person awaiting execution. By the time of Green's death twenty-two years later, the artist had painted images of final meals on nearly one thousand secondhand ceramic plates with cobalt blue mineral paint and then refired the plates in a kiln. In late 2021, Green placed The Last Supper in a trust to ensure the continued conservation and exhibition of the artwork.

Today, the artwork is part of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art collection and will be touring the country through a partnership with Art Bridges Foundation. Boise Art Museum is the first organization to showcase The Last Supper in its entirety. The work encourages viewers to consider the U.S. prison system and the way society thinks about the people within it. By linking us together through our basic need for food and the rituals associated with it, Green sparks a human connection and opens our hearts and minds to individuals who are often disregarded and forgotten.

“We hope this artwork encourages thoughtful dialogue in our community and provides opportunities to consider the ways artists make visible our societal beliefs and values,” said Melanie Fales, Boise Art Museum’s Executive Director.

Julie Green (b. 1961, Yokosuka, Japan; d. 2021, Corvallis, Oregon, United States) was an American artist, educator, and passionate advocate for human rights. Green began their teaching career at the University of Oklahoma in 1997, after earning a BFA and MFA at the University of Kansas, where they studied under Roger Shimomura. Green was a professor at Oregon State University from 2000 until their death in 2021 and lived with their husband, artist Clay Lohmann. They were the recipient of awards like the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant, a Hallie Ford Fellowship in the Visual Arts from The Ford Family Foundation, and the ArtPrize Juried Award in the 3D category.

Organized by the Boise Art Museum