I currently sit high atop the New Orleans Sheraton hotel -- on the 41st floor -- looking south along night-lit Canal Street toward the Mississippi River and Algiers. I have spent more time in this big American city than any other and have come to love it like no other town I’ve ever visited. If you have spent much time here, perhaps you know what I mean.
To be frank, New Orleans is a pretty tough town. The murder rate here is traditionally high and even before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the streets were in horrible shape and it wasn’t ever hard to find a lot of litter. The place has been lived in and partied in hard for centuries and, I suppose, that’s part of its charm. The oldest section of the city, the French Quarter, dates back to 1718. The place absolutely drips with character and age.
I have come to know this city primarily because of family: Cindy’s sister Anita has lived here for close to thirty years. We make it down to visit at least every couple of years. More than that, though, it was two post-Katrina work trips that have deepened my love for the place. The first time down, I joined a dozen or so volunteer folks from my Dayton church to gut as many houses as we could in five days. Some of those houses have been fixed up by now. And I’m also pretty sure one of them was bulldozed after we left. The front wall had shifted well off center and, oddly enough, it had to be gutted before it could be condemned. Go figure. The second trip was spent stapling in insulation, hanging drywall, spackling, and sanding. Being in service to others has a tendency to make connections. So it was with me.
Other ample reasons to love this place is the food and the music. No other American city can match either. My favorite food story dates back a dozen years or so. Cindy and I had joined Anita and her husband, Amasa, for a lunch of po’ boys (think sub sandwiches) at a particularly famous and common looking place whose name escapes me. It was a little corner dive with simple tables and chairs. But, oh, after waiting in line for thirty minutes, were those sandwiches amazing! Afterward, Cindy and I peeled off to do some window shopping. We were looking at some jewelry someplace, alone with the proprietor in his store. He asked us if we had just eaten lunch. We said, yes, and then he proceeded to tell us exactly where we ate. He was spot on. He could tell where we ate lunch by how our clothes smelled! Wow.
Music has been pretty special for us here, too. We have tried to time trips around Jazz Fest in the spring. And while that hasn’t always been possible with our calendar during teaching days, whenever we come we try to make it to Snug Harbor on Monday nights when Amasa plays keyboards with Charmaine Neville. Very cool. Charmaine, Amasa, and friends, articulate some of that special blend of sounds that are uniquely American -- and uniquely N’awlins.
Our visit this weekend, though, centered exclusively on art and music. Anita is an artist and last night her newest exhibition opened at the prestigious Jonathan Ferrara Gallery. And then today, fourteen-year old daughter Ayla had a ‘coming out’ party celebrating her first CD of original music. She composed all fifteen songs with the help of her dad. A fun time was had by all, including a handful of her Ben Franklin High School classmates.
I’d like to lay an appropriate number superlatives on you about Anita’s show, but I would fail terribly. Her work is busy and bold and symmetrical -- and unique from anything else we saw in a half dozen other galleries along Julia Street. This is her first exhibition since Katrina, which has wrenched her life around in ways few can imagine. The browns and blues in her pieces are subdued and muted in remembrance of flood waters and the mud it left behind. Still, her work is intricate with minute details and very much hopeful.
After this amazing family weekend, I’m even more in love with NOLA. Such a place.
*****
Anita’s exhibition, Dimensional Patterning: Sewn Constructions, runs through 28 November 2009. See the Current Exhibition link at: http://www.jonathanferraragallery.com/
Ayla’s CD, Some Super Silly Snappy Songs and a Few Works of Genius, is published by Raspberry Punch Music. See: http://raspberrypunch.com/
Google Amasa Miller and you’ll hit the jackpot. For the Charmaine Neville Band, see: http://www.charmainenevilleband.com/
Today’s elder idea: In the post-Katrina world of New Orleans, we have experienced first-hand ... disassembly and reassembly into a new order that usually occurs over long stretches of time. The works in this exhibition are a direct visual reflection of the way I experience New Orleans and its rhythms, patterns, and textures. There is structure here in our physical and visual reality, our pace, and our culture. While there are rough edges and grittiness, there is also delicacy and an asymmetrical balance. Often there is a window into which one can glimpse something different, surprising, and valuable.
Anita Cooke
from the artist’s statement for Dimensional Patterning: Sewn Constructions
No comments:
Post a Comment