November « 2013 « Long Road Beautiful

My stay in New Orleans was 3 weeks long and so I divided it into 3 basic parts. This is part 2 and is mostly my time with some artist friends met elsewhere and now living in or visiting NOLA. After leaving Clint and Lee Kyle I stayed with Bryan near the Fair Grounds, this was during Jazz Fest and from his porch we could hear music being played from at least 2 stages. Bryan is a painter of oddities, side show ephemera, voodoo, and other strange and wonderful imagery. I am so grateful to him for letting me crash at his home and studio for as long as I did. While staying with Bryan I met and made friends with his neighbor Paul and his (now) wife Nicole while they were in the beginning stages their courtship and the rekindling of their friendship. Paul and Nicole grew up in New Orleans and they insisted I join them for some fast sight seeing, stories, and delicious burgers as only insiders can do.

I also spent quite a bit of time at the Antieau Gallery (927 Royal Street) where the owner, Chris Roberts Antieau, was having a solo show with tons of her new work. It was extraordinary. I have known Chris for some time having visited her home in Michigan and being enamored with her distinctive brand of textile art for years, I was amazed at the turn her work had taken. Something had changed, this was a a deeply felt and stunningly made new group of work, there was a new quietness, it was more heartfelt, and ethereal than any of her previous work. There were also elements of her dark humor and some new sculptures, I was mesmerized. I was spending so much time there that they paid me for a few days to stand around and gush and connect with fellow admirers. I was honored to do so. Besides enjoying the company of Bryan, Chris and my new pal Heidi (the gallery manager) I was reunited with a slew of other artists I’ve known, that were all in town showing at Jazz Fest either the first or second weekend. All around great art and great people. New Orleans, the city that keeps on giving.