NEW ORLEANS PORTRAIT

NEW ORLEANS  IS  A PLACE TO BE IN LOVE WITH.  IT IS RICH WITH HISTORY AND CULTURE THAT SEEPS INTO YOUR SOUL AND TAKES HOLD LIKE A LONGING THAT YOU CAN'T LET GO OF.  

YOU CAN GO A MILLION PLACES, BUT IT WILL NEVER BE NEW ORLEANS.  THERE IS NO PLACE TO COMPARE IT TO.  THIS PHOTO WAS ONE I TOOK IN THE QUARTER. I CAN REMEMBER AS CLEARLY AS THE MOMENT I SNAPPED THE SHUTTER.  I REMEMBER THE CONVERSATION THAT DREW MY ATTENTION, A FATHER BRAGGING ABOUT HIS DAUGHTERS SUCCESS IN PARIS FASHION.  SO DAPPER, SO UNIQUE, SO FRENCH QUARTER, THIS MAN WHO PERSONIFIED EVERYTHING EVERY WRITER WOULD EVER PUT TO PEN ABOUT A CITY ALL TO ITS OWN.

photo and all rights by Elizabeth Gordon  

The Dutch Alley New Orleans Art Co-operative

THE DUTCH ALLEY ART CO-OPERATIVE

Sean Dixson Maker of Voodoobots

 Click on the highlighted title above for the link and more information on individual artist.

While walking through the French Quarter in New Orleans we happened upon this really great artist co-operative. There are 6 artists that represent a variety of media and skills. From painting, jewelry, fabrics, folk art, found object art, ceramics and more.

Artist James Jensen selling Ann a piece of local art.

 James does unique jewelry with old records and discs.  His jewelry is bright, eye popping colors and design with a found art feel.  He has been designing earrings for over 20 years.  He loves the Quarter and all the people he meets there.  
There are 6 artist in this co-operative which we will list and give you a link to for more information.

Earrings made out of records 

James Record Earrings

Earrings made of old records

Stewart South Painting

Stewart South Painting 

Raku salt and pepper shakers        

Photo by Elizabeth Gordon with permission of gallery

 Stewart South is another artist that is a part of the co-operative.  He is a painter and a printmaker.  He studied a Tulane majoring in print making, but he also does photography and conceptual art. There is a style of art that I love in New Orleans, one can call it found art or recycled art, but it almost involves wood and tin and painting and words.  I am not sure of the origin, but it seems to be a style that is very prominent in New Orleans, if not originating here.

Steward South Painting                permission of artist to show

These are hand stitched handmade pot holders of the famous man hole covers in New Orleans.  Of course we had to have one.

photo by Elizabeth Gordon with permission of gallery

I fell in love with these wonderful little people that seem sculpted and drawn and mixed media at the same time.  They are funky and fun and they seem to have such great character.

Photo by Elizabeth Gordon with permission of Gallery

photo with permission of gallery by Elizabeth Gordon

I have a friend named Mark who will go crazy over these.  He loves robots and collects all kinds.  He has a large bookcase with all his collections.  Sorry Mark you will have to come to New Orleans to get your own!!!

Voodoobots by Sean Dixson

Voodoobot 

Wonderful fun, colorful and flexible hats

Fantastic mixed media…All New Orleans!!!

Gold leaf paintings

mixed media fun!

After hurricane Katrina there was so much debris, so much distraction everywhere.  The artists found they could recycle the wood into art.  

Aren't these great, fierce and cuddle at the same time.

The Dog and the Accordion Player

I was captured by this street musician and his dog.  Walking down in the quarter always promises interesting people and events, no one knows what they will see on any given day.  It was a chilly day and the wind was whipping up.  Most of the performers, or musicians had taken cover somewhere.  This man had backed into an old store front entry way to play his accordion for a bit of change.  His dog had crawled in to his instrument case and was accepting tips as well.  I love the sequencing of the pictures and peoples reactions, like time lapse photography.  My favorite is the last one, with the little girl so enraptured by the dog and the musician.

French Quarter, New Orleans    photos by Elizabeth Gordon  

You Go Girl Scribbled on the Wall, a Monkey backpack and the musicians expression are all so wonderful in the photo.  

CELEBRATION IS ON ITS WAY!

49,066!  Wow we are getting close!  It is so exciting. Soon we will be celebrating big time!

 Soon we will be on site in New Orleans with updates on the arts, music and culture of one of our great cities in the world.  There is no place quite like it.  As Paris or New York, it has its own personality.  It marches to its own sassy bluesy beat and people can party for any reason any time!  I look forward to taking you on a virtual road trip.  I know so many of you are from other parts of the world and I am happy to let you take a peak at place you may have been and remember or a place you can only travel to on line.  We will definitely have cafe au lait and beignets at the Morning Call and roasted oysters at Drago's.  We will walk the French Quarter and post pictures for you and listen to the blues and Dixie land jazz..and maybe a little zydeco.  And we just may meet up with Sean Starwars one of our featured artists.  At any rate we intend to share a New Orleans Christmas with you!

NEW ORLEANS FOOD IS AS DELICIOUS AS THE LESSER FORMS OF SIN

Mark Twain  

Stanley's Interior on Jackson Square photo by elizabeth gordon

Marble table with bent wood chairs in Stanley's
photo by elizabeth gordon

I am a lover of history, old worn thing,  polished old wood, antique marble and stained floors.  I love the thought of other worlds existing before me and imaging what they may have been like.  As I look a these two photos my mind goes back to an earlier New Orleans bustling with cotton day commerce and paddle boats chugging down the great Mississippi River.  I think of ladies in fine lace and petticoats, and the clop of horse hooves on cobblestone streets and the calls of street vendors......a cacophony of sound, lively, exciting, like an energetic buzz humming throughout the Quarter.  I think of days of the French Quarter, the American Quarter, the Spanish named streets, and Italian immigrants...I think of the days of slaves and human bondage for profit, the time of duels and honor, the days of 6 different flags that flew over this impossible city that lived on and on. New Orleans is a story of survival against impossible odds and still is. And it is well feed for its effort, food is the ties that binds, no bad food is tolerated here...the people of New Orleans expect the best and get it. 

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

Cat on a wrought iron balcony   photo by elizabeth gordon

Tennessee Williams loved New Orleans.  He lived and wrote here.  A city with a cast of characters that could keep a writers busy for a hundred years.  He loved this lush wild city that is as quirky as it is elegant.  Though Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was set in the Delta Plantation life of Mississippi, Tennessee's play "A Street Car Named Desire" was set in New Orleans in the French Quarter.

Retro Ride in the Quarter

Royal Street Ride                                                photo by Elizabeth Gordon       

Bicycling seems to be a popular way to get around the busy narrow French Quarter streets, where parking is just about nonexistent and tourists jam every street. I was having a cup of cafe au lait in one of my favorite places on Jackson Square named Stanley's when I saw this bike chained outside.  I loved its colors and retro look.  It looks like a good ride.

Stanley's(click)

Minimalist in look, maximalist in food!

There is this place off of Jackson Square in the French Quarter called Stanley's.  You can stop in for cafe au lait, or a scrumptious breakfast or lunch.  I had gone with my friends down to the Quarter (as the locals call it), it was hotter than hot...sweat rolling down my back in rivers...I had looked at the various art hung by different artist on the wrought iron fencing, watched the entertainers who paint themselves silver and gold and pretend to be statues, and I had watched the tarot card readers real in their clients for a promise of a glimpse of the future.  So I was tried and ready to sit while my friends kept walking and looking.  I sat down at the counter, order a cafe au lait and watched the waiter take care of other tourist.  It struck me as I looked at the minimalist diner and bare whiter that white tile walls that it looked like Edward Hopper's(click) painting...Night Hawks...people in a diner at night.  See what you think?  But if you go to New Orleans, by all means go and eat at Stanley's...it is well worth the visit!

Stanley's  French Quarter  photo Elizabeth Gordon

Night Hawks by Edward Hopper  from google image

Stanley's  French Quarter New Orleans  photo Elizabeth Gordon