Cheryl Dixon

Cheryl McKay Dixon, artist, educator and curator, quietly passed away on Tuesday, September 30, 2014, 5:15 am at Passages Hospice and Sanctuary in New Orleans, LA. Born December 16, 1944 to James Frank and Annie Ruth McKay, she was a native of Baton Rouge, LA. Cheryl attended the Southern University Laboratory School and entered Dillard University in the fall of 1962. She distinguished herself as an outstanding student in Art, Drama, Psychology, Religion and Politics and reigned as Queen of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. She was initiated into the Beta Gamma Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Cheryl McKay married John P. Dixon, II on December 22, 1971 and to this union were two sons, John P. Dixon, III and James Frank McKay Dixon. Cheryl earned the Bachelor of Arts degree at Dillard University and a Masters of Art at Louisiana State University. She began her career as a museum technician at the prestigious National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. A former director for the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles, she curated over 35 exhibitions of African American artists and published monographs on southern folk culture. She also served as the Chair of Collections and Acquisitions of the LSU Museum of Art Advisory Board. Ms. Dixon retired after 20 years as an administrator and faculty member of Dillard University, where she served as chair of the Art Department and Director of the Art Gallery. She was a Curatorial Consultant for the New Orleans Treme Villa African American Museum and served on the Advisory Board for the Master of Arts in Museum Studies Program at Southern University in New Orleans. An accomplished artist, she produced outstanding works in watercolors and mixed media paintings and has exhibited in many museums and galleries. Her art will be exhibited at LSU in a showing in February, 2015. Cheryl Dixon was an avid supporter of the American Cancer Society and M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston Texas. She is survived by her sister, Joycelyn McKay (Eric) Crumpton, (Oakland, CA); sons, John (LaShon) Dixon and James Dixon, Esq., (New Orleans); grandchildren, McKayla, John Patrick, McKenzie, Allison Dixon and Sydnie McClinton; niece, Beryl (James) Potter; nephew, Howard Eric Crumpton and a host of loving relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, James Frank and Annie Ruth Wilson McKay; grandparents, James Frank and Edna McKay, John and Annie Wilson. Relatives and friends of the family are invited to attend the Memorial Service at DW Rhodes Funeral Home, 3933 Washington Ave. on Thursday, October 9, 2014 at 10:00 am; Visitation will begin at 9:00 am; Arrangements by DW Rhodes Funeral Home, New Orleans, LA; Please visit www.rhodesfuneral.com to sign the guest book.