On Monday, the gallery was packed with fans of the renowned New Orleans artist. So many of Osborne’s admirers had shown up, that a line stretched down Magazine Street and around the corner.
The reason for the crush was a free poster, featuring a dinner plate-sized enlargement of that Osborne designed for the state.
At roughly 1 p.m., a gallery attendant announced that the 300 posters allotted for that day were gone, and the giveaway came to a halt.
Osborne, who’d graciously posed for selfies with his flock of admirers, said he hadn’t expected such a turnout. “Oh my God,” he said, “it’s incredible.”
But his plan to reward voting fans had hit a legal snag.
Back in July, Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry announced Osborne was the designer of Louisiana’s 2026 “I Voted” sticker. The eye-catching, New Orleans-centric composition featured magnolia blossoms and Mardi Gras beads gushing from the bell of a trumpet.
Artist-designed stickers started a decade earlier, in 2016, when the late George Rodrigue lent his Blue Dog to the get-out-the-vote cause. Now every Bayou State voter in the midterm election will receive Osborne's "I Voted" sticker to demonstrate their participation in democracy.
Fans of artist Terrance Osborne line up on Magazine Street waiting for a free poster featuring his 'I Voted' sticker design
(Photo by Doug MacCash,NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Before voting began, Osborne had announced that voters who brought their stickers to his gallery would receive a small, signed poster for free.
As a very successful artist, Osborne has created in 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2022, as well as other high-profile commissions. On his website, original paintings are priced at between $20,000 and $200,000. A small, signed poster by Osborne is inarguably valuable.
But when the artist publicized his giveaway plan, the Secretary of State’s office informed him that offering rewards for voting is against federal law. Osborne said he was told, “that’s more like a bribery type of thing.”
Trey Williams, deputy secretary of state for policy and communications, said the situation isn’t terribly unusual. “We run into this when a business might say, ‘Show us that you voted and you get a free ice cream cone, or 10% off of something.’”
Thus warned, Osborne revised his offer. On Monday, the artist gave away unsigned posters to everyone, sticker or not — “no strings attached,” as he said on his Instagram feed. Signed posters were available for $50.
Erica Mitchell, an elementary school teacher, didn’t view the free poster as an incentive to vote. “I’m already a firm voter,” she said. She’d admired Osborne’s artwork for some time, she said, and saw his poster giveaway “as an opportunity to meet him.” Though, she said, she did not anticipate the size of the crowd. “I love it,” she said, of the hubbub.
Fans wait patiently at Terrance Osborne Gallery, where the artist gave away 300 free posters poster featuring his 'I Voted' sticker design
(Photo by Doug MacCash,NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Mitchell said that when she voted early, she immediately recognized the sticker as an Osborne design. And according to another early voter, election workers at one polling place were reluctant to distribute extra stickers for fear of running out.
But Deputy Secretary of State Williams said there’s little fear of a shortfall. “We’ve been excited about the response” to the artistic stickers, he said. “People love to get that sticker and show that pride.” But rest assured, he said, there will be enough.
Osborne is a New Orleans native and attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts high school and Xavier University. After Hurricane Katrina forced relocation to Georgia, he started painting to reconnect with home.
Osborne’s next poster giveaway is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, at 3029 Magazine Street. Posters will be given to anyone over 18 years of age.