Review: New Orleans artists present a celebration of diversity and place

By |

By Saskia Ozols, guest columnist

The current exhibit by the Renegade Artists Collective, “Off the Beaten Path,” includes an outstanding combination of voices that link symbolism of New Orleans and the Greater Gulf South, through commentary on its history and notes on considerations for the future. 

RAC exhibition curators Erin McNutt and Cheryl Anne Grace, both painters themselves, organized the show to include artists of varied genres and professional backgrounds — all currently working in New Orleans and without traditional gallery representation. The exhibit features work by professional mid-career artists along with the works of select students, art majors chosen by a committee from local universities. 

Exhibiting new talent with established professionals has been a formula in historic art communities to assure longevity. It both preserves and promotes a healthy, thriving art community. The structure fosters growth and provides a pathway for both artists and collectors to persevere through generations despite otherwise challenging conditions. Cities such as Boston, New York and Philadelphia have long histories of this structure in their most venerated institutions.  

This structure is especially important now as visual arts practice, preservation and education are quickly slipping away from public view.

Festivals

Freret Street helps revive festival season on Saturday. Here’s the music lineup.

By |

On Saturday (March 26), the Freret Street Festival will take over the popular restaurant and entertainment corridor. The six-block street party features 18 bands music on three stages (see the lineup below). The headliners include Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Squirrel Queen, Erica Falls and Kermit Ruffins & the BBQ Swingers. Alongside the 46 brick-and-mortar restaurants, bars and shops on Freret, the free festival includes a food court featuring top local chefs and more than 200 arts and crafts vendors. Plus there’s a children’s area with inflatables, a petting zoo, alligator meet and greets, arts and crafts, clowns and stilt walkers.

events

Renegade Artist Collective presenting ‘Off the Beaten Path’ in Central City

By |

The Renegade Artist Collective will hold the opening night of its second exhibition on Friday (March 18) from 5 to 9 p.m., at The Building, 1427 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. in Central City. The exhibit is titled “Off the Beaten Track.” The show in March 2020 attracted about 400 art patrons and was considered a huge success. Then all plans were put on hold until now because of the Covid pandemic.  

The 14 nationally and internationally known artists that make up the Renegade Artist Collective are all based in Louisiana.

Mardi Gras

Yardi Gras stories: University area house floats celebrate ‘Les Bons Temps’

By |

 

When three smaller subkrewes of the Krewe of House Floats —University, Freret and St. Charles Avenue — melded into one, an anything-goes theme evolved, which in turn became “Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler,” said subkrewe captain Jenna Rockett. With no constraints to follow, krewe members improvised their individual whims. The Bergers of State Street decided to lean into their name by turning their house into a burger joint. The family’s “State Street Soda Shoppe” house float serves up a giant balcony burger, fries, a milkshake and an ice cream sundae. It’s a theme that delights the Bergers’ two young daughters, Lillian and Grace.