Monroe La., City Hall
WEST MONROE, La. 07/17/09 | Published in Delta Style Aug. 2009
Here’s something you don’t usually expect to see when walking the hallways of government buildings: original local art. It seems we have just that here in Monroe, however.
I remembered going into City Hall a few months ago to hand over my $10 entry fee to the Northeast La. Arts Council for the Downtown Artfest, and lo and behold on the walls were these lovely works by local artist Don Cincone. I’m a sucker for deep reds and vivid colors, so I’m sort of partial to Cincone’s style. Apparently, I’m not alone, since he’s in some major collections including Leonard Bernstein and Walt Disney, not to mention our own District Attorney, Jerry Jones. Very colorful stuff and a style that is reminiscent of … um, Picasso? … someone help me out here. All I can say is that it makes me feel like I’m in Spain, momentarily. There’s a part of me that expects to see a matador hiding in the scenes behind one of the women.
"A Very Tender Age" by Don Cincone
I spoke with Tommy Usrey, the president and CEO of the Northeast La. Arts Council, about how they ended up with Cincone’s work. The pieces belonged to a collection owned by Anita and Kurt Schon, of Kurt E. Schon’s Limited in New Orleans. Kurt Schon is originally from this part of the state and he and his wife were inspired to give something back to the area after they read a letter about Cincone to the New Orleans Center for Contemporary Art from the Arts Council. The Schons decided to donate the 18 paintings to the city in 2002, on the condition that the collection stay together and always be exhibited.
"So Many So Few" by Don Cincone
“We didn’t want it to be hidden, and neither did the Schon family,” Usrey said. After a talk with West Monroe Mayor Dave Norris, they chose to turn the hallway on the second floor in a permanent Cincone gallery.
Sue Prudhomme, previous curator of the Masur Museum, said in an Spring 2004 article from Art in Action that the works are relevant because they were created during the 1960’s and Cincone’s studies in Paris, when there was a large movement for African-Americans artists there.
“It was a very significant time in art history, and the works donated to the Arts Council reflect this period,” she said. “You can see the Cubist influence.”
Arts Council CEO Tommy Usrey points out the patterns on a Cincone work. "In this one, I remember Mr. Schon telling me, 'you see, these are the strokes of a young man.' I hadn't seen Cincone's earlier work until now, and was thrilled when we received these."
Ah, I was right about the Picasso thing.
“We feel very fortunate to have this caliber of work here,” added Usrey. “A lot of people hear about it and make stops here just to see this. My favorite piece, Gossip on a Sunday Evening, is hanging right outside my office door where I can see it every day.”
He’s lucky in that regard … part of the benefit of being the CEO of the Arts Council, I suppose. There are at least three pieces there that I’d like to have hanging in my little home office. I’ll have to make do with the photos I took and be glad the originals are safe and viewable at City Hall, behind locked doors, since the collection is valued in the six digits.
Cincone earned a BA in Art from Southern University, spent some time in the Army, studied in Europe and returned to San Francisco to prepare for a career in–you’ll never guess–fashion design. I really need to find out more about how he diverted into his current career, so I’m going to see about getting an interview this week, and if he’s open to it, maybe I’ll venture over to his house and get a few shots of him at work.
"Sleep Late Pa Pa" by Don Cincone
The artist’s exhibits have appeared in the Masur Museum, the ULM Library gallery in Monroe, the Schepis Museum in Columbia, the Snyder Museum in Bastrop, plus New York, Los Angeles and Paris. He lives with his wife, Katherine, in Eros, La.
And now for something totally different … well, not really, but just as unexpected as the Cincone exhibit are the hallways facing in other directions that also have original local art hung up. I would have been perfectly happy with just the one hallway–you really just don’t expect this sort of thing to begin with–but the folks at City Hall have gone a step further and covered the walls of the second floor with prints, paintings, antiques, drawings and even a stained glass piece hanging in the lobby window.
After I had spent some time with Cincone’s work, Usrey suggested I talk with the administrative assistant to the mayor, Jayne Norton, about the rest of the art. It turns out that Norton is the current de facto curator for City Hall and has been the person who chose a good deal of the work now hanging elsewhere in the building. I asked her if there were any stories behind any of the works. She processed that for a moment and then said, “Every piece in here has a story. Which one would you like to hear?”
"Bobcat" by Sally Grisell
I asked her about the Bobcat, because I like wildlife. That piece, she explained was one she had seen on an easel in a hotel lobby some time ago. She tracked down the artist an asked her about obtaining it, but because the city was only taking donations, the artist declined. Then a while later–I didn’t get a timeline, but I think Norton was implying a span of years–the artist said she wanted to donate a different piece. Norton accepted. Time passed, then the artist donated another one, and finally one day Norton received a phone call from the artist saying, “Do you remember that Bobcat you wanted? Well, I’d like to give it to you, in honor of a deceased relative.”
“So we went from looking like we would have none of her work, to having three originals,” Norton said. “We’re very happy to have them.”
Norton showed me a few more and then pointed out a sunburst-themed stained glass hanging in the window.
“This was interesting … it’s called the Caution Flower. It was created by Jerry ‘Buddy’ Haines, Jr., who is the son of another artist we have works from, Jerry N. Haynes. A truck was going past the family’s studio one day and knocked down a streetlight. The Haynes’ went and picked up all the glass just to clear the street, and then Buddy decided to do something with it. So he created this, and named it based on the centerpiece, which is actually the complete piece of yellow glass from the streetlight.”
"Caution Flower" by Jerry Haines Jr.
I actually didn’t even notice the circle as a streetlight until Norton said something about it. I guess that’s the sign of a nice piece of art. It disguises its parts in favor of the whole.
The art collection began in 1978, explained Norris, when the current City Hall building was being constructed. West Monroe Mayor Dave Norris wanted to decorate the interior with work from local artist, depicting local scenes. They found out that many artists had tendencies to paint scenes that were specifically non-local, she said, so the building ended up with a combination of scenes. Most of the work, though, is local and original.
Norton seems especially proud of the work on the walls, and takes note of the originals by Jerry Haines, which are displayed on the second as well as the first floor of the building, in the city council chambers.
“Most of the work we have here was donated,” Norton said. “We didn’t have the budget to buy work, so I had to ask artists if they were willing to just give pieces to us, which they weren’t always able to do. But with Haines, we were lucky because local businesses all chipped in to buy the work, then donate it under their names. So, if you notice,” she adds, pointing to the nameplates on the paintings, “the originals in this room all have the names of the business that purchased the work.”
The watercolors are a lovely touch to the chamber, and lead into the walls on each side which feature historical photo montages showing the city in past decades.
“We really just wanted to warm up the place,” Norton said. “That’s why we did this, and we put some antiques upstairs, too, to give people the feeling of a home.”
The artwork is at the City Hall building, 2305 N 7th St. in West Monroe. For more information, call the Arts Council at (318) 396-6837.
