ArtNELA - Northeast La. Arts and Culture

The Ouachita River Art Gallery, West Monroe, La. An open space where you won't get lost in a white-walled maze, and can get a nice, artistic gift for someone without having to sell your car first.

WEST MONROE, La. 8/19/09

Some quick notes: there are Twitter and Facebook pages with a modest updated listing of events for downtown Monroe. They aren’t focused on art, but the Facebook group has over 600 members, so you might make a friend, if nothing else.

Now, onward. Since I missed a stop at the Ouachita River Art Gallery during the last Artcrawl, I headed out there last week to see what they had to offer.

The gallery is located on Trenton Street in the Cottonport Historic District of West Monroe, along with the shops of Antique Alley. The street got its start as an art and antiques hub in the 1970’s and is currently operated through the Antique Alley Association which has five board members.

"The Hungry Heron" by Cindy Blanchard - quadtone print, 14" x18". I really like this print. At $35 bucks, one can hardly go wrong. I'm going to go back there and get it, just as soon as my next photo assignment rolls in ... anyone?

There’s an untitled, metal, 10-foot, floral sculpture at the foot of the street, and just across from Corner Cottage Antiques, which when I arrived had a large selection of old doors propped up against its wall. I had to grab a shot of that. A walk towards the gallery brought me past Mojo’s clothing store, The Costume Shop and Something Special II antiques.

At the gallery, I met artist and guild member Don Hudnall. His specialty is “earth guided pottery,” and his mantra is “Making Dirt Look Good.” He’s been working in ceramics for the last seven years, though he originally started in metals.

Don Hudnall of Dirt Dauber Pottery shows some of his work on display at the gallery.

“I switched over after an accident at one of the studios I shared with some other artists,” he said. “I was working on a piece and spraying sparks everywhere, and unfortunately the sparks shot across some unfinished pottery sitting on a nearby table. The other artists weren’t too happy with that at first, but as it turned out, after the pottery came out of the kiln, there were these beautiful spattered designs. So they relented, but I still ended up switching over to clay.”

“There are about 30 members in the guild right now,” Hudnall said. “We participated in the last three Artcrawls.  The nice thing about this gallery is that it offers every medium — sculpture, photography, painting, jewelry, you name it. We aren’t limited to having work from two or three artists, so instead we have 20 or 30 artists displayed. We switch up the work every two months or so, totally clear everything off the walls and start fresh.”

Guild members share duties at the gallery, with a minimum one eight-hour shift per month.

A close-up of some of Don Hudnall's work.

“We typically have one to four works displayed per artist,” Hudnall added.

I spent some time wandering around the gallery and checking out the work. Hudnall is right about the variety. It’s typical of art guilds and artist co-ops like this to have a lot more diversity, and this place is no exception. I enjoyed moving from a painting to a photo to a selection of jewelry. Anywhere you turn, you’re confronted with a different form of art.

Logistically, too, I like being able to see the whole gallery without having to wander around in a maze of white walls, wondering if actually I’ve seen everything or not. I accidentally entered a bathroom during a modern art show recently and found myself seriously thinking for a moment that it was part of the exhibit. Thank God no one was in there, or I might have gone up close to look at the details.

"Foggy Morning" by Brenda McDaniel. $1,000. Okay, I take it back about not selling the car. I bought a Honda Civic once for $300. It ran for three months. This artwork is a lot prettier and will last longer.

Anyway, nothing like that happened here. This is the perfect place to pick up a work of art as a gift. The items are priced to sell, ranging from a few dollars to a few hundred, generally.

"Foggy" by Marlene Gremillion - pastel, 22" x 18"

“Also,” he grinned, “we been told that we have the best food on the Artcrawl.”

For starving artists like myself, that’s a good enough incentive to make my way to the gallery at the next month’s event.

For info, call the gallery at 318.322.2380. They are located at 308 Trenton Street in West Monroe, and are open Tues. - Sat., 10 AM - 5 PM.

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The first stop brings me to the Mystic Art Gallery.

MONROE, La. 08/06/09

Soon after I moved from N’awlins last year, one of the first artistic events I heard about here was the monthly Artcrawl in Monroe/West-Monroe. New Orleans, of course, has its share of art walks and white-linen nights and everything else. I’ve attended a few of those, either on my own time or as an intrepid reporter-on-the-street. Those events are always well-attended, through pouring rain or blazing heat, or sometimes both.

We were lucky to have some great weather for the August 6th Artwalk here, though. I was looking forward to this as a first taste of what Monroe/West-Monroe has to offer in the way of art. Now, I had snuck down to 2nd Street earlier that week just to see what might lay ahead, and I wasn’t too enthused with what I saw. It didn’t seem like there was much going on that afternoon. All the studios were closed. I peeked in a few windows, and it looked like they were in the process of moving.

Well, I mused, maybe that’s just the way it is. You can’t expect some sort of booming art scene like what you see in a cultural melting pot like New Orleans.

So, I attended the Artwalk a few days later with my hopes somewhat toned down … and I was pretty quickly handed my hoity-toityness on a platter.

The main parking areas had been filled up. I found a spot down the street from the Coda bar, which as it turns out is a pretty popular hangout during the Artwalk. I headed straight for the farthest gallery on the map: the Mystic Art Gallery, owned by Andrea May. The place was fairly packed with over 40 people in the main room, and more spilling into the adjoining galleries. Her centerpiece for the evening was a large sun-like image that already had a red sticker on the bottom corner. I didn’t get the name of the piece but the photo of it speaks pretty well, I think. She made a good choice, and so did whoever purchased it. To the left of this work and centered in the gallery was cellist and West Monroe College graduate Hannah Underwood, intently playing various classical selections from a music book. Hannah, by the way, says she’s going to LSU in the Fall, where I assume she’ll continue playing the cello.

Summer Bennett, Kate McClelland, artisit Leah Reitzell and her husband Mac, at the Artcrawl in Monroe, April 6.

I was taken by Andrea May’s work, which covered one wall of the studio. I don’t know if this is just a phase of painting or if the work I saw was representative of everything she’s doing currently, but it was the kind of textured, stark work that I would probably put in my own home, if I had one, right there in that big room … right. Anyway, I’m not a painter, so rather than make feeble attempts at describing the work, I’ll just post the photos and let you decide.

Other sections of the gallery had paintings by Lou Kavanaugh, Leah Reitzell, a group of young artists, and sculpture by Renee Parnell.

I wanted to take sculpture when I was in college and still regret not being able to do it. The class only accepted nine students a year, and only in my last year did I luck into a schedule that allowed me to take it, and that year, the instructor broke up with the other art instructor he had been dating at the college, and moved to California to shack up with some svelte actress who played a Romulan on the Star Trek Enterprise TV series.

"Hi-Boy" by Lou Kavanaugh, at the Mystic Art Gallery.

Needless to say, I never took sculpture, which was possibly why I stopped longingly around the piece by Parnell a little longer than I might have otherwise. I stood out with a fat camera around my neck, and so visitor Beverly Comeaux introduced herself to me along with her 92-year-old mother, Ruby Albritton, and Albritton’s niece and the artist Lou Kavanaugh. They made a nice triplet, and gained a photo.

I went from there to talk with artist Leah Reitzell, who was with her two friends, Summer Bennett and Kate McClelland, and her husband, Mac.

This piece by Renee Parnell reminded me of my sculpture instructor from college who ran off with a sexy Romulan ... that was my connection, anyway.

“I’ve had some shows in Ruston, but this is my first time for the Artcrawl,” she told me. “I’m very excited.” She did seem happy about it, so I took advantage of her contagious smile and grabbed a shot of her with the assembly. She introduced me to photographer Christi Jones, who mentioned the “Heart Gallery” of photos of orphaned children set up at the Banquet Room in the Ouachita National Bank Building. I put it on my do-to list and moved on to the Arender Gallery next door, where I met photographers Brad Arender and Kate Hilburn.

Hilburn was the focus of Brad’s gallery, with her exhibit, “Pentimento: The Champs Elysees-Clemenceau.” Her photographs of graffiti-covered walls in a Paris underground tunnel looked to me at first as though they were paintings or color pencil drawings. The big clue was Hilburn casually meandering around with a pro camera in her hand, talking to visitors. That’s usually a dead giveaway that someone’s a photographer, ya know.

"Pentimento: The Champs Elysees-Clemenceau, metro wall #3" by Kate Hilburn. It's not a painting, okay? It's a photo of a Paris underground tunnel. I knew that.

Hilburn, who frequents Paris each year, said she made a point of printing the work on a unique, textured paper that mimicked the texture of the environment where she shot the photos, and to that purpose, she also framed a few images on brushed iron. She has been working as an artist full-time since the 90’s, with much of her time dedicated to the “Beating Hearts” exhibit with friend Terrie Autrey. That exhibit highlights the plight of victims of domestic violence and has received worldwide recognition.

Photographers Brad Arender and Kate Hilburn.

Visitors ponder works by Emory Nolan at the Becton Gallery, during the Artcrawl in Monroe, Aug. 6.

At the Becton Gallery across the street, musicians Vince Chow, James Simpson and Allison Huff played folk tunes, while visitors enjoyed paintings by Emory Nolan and gallery owner Margaret Becton. This gallery, like the others, was comfortably full with about 40 or more people, and had a few snack trays and drinks available.

Coming from New Orleans, I found Nolan’s subdued work familiar, with southern negro and music themes. Becton’s work, displayed near the wall of windows near the street, was a nice balance with its bright colors. I didn’t realize until I went in for a closer look that Becton’s texture was literally the texture from extra material, since it appears that she creates collages and then paints over that.

Visitors enjoy wine and art at the Becton Gallery during the Artcrawl in Monroe, Aug. 6.

The Heart Gallery around the corner consisted of sixteen portraits of children awaiting adoption. This is a volunteer project including local photographers such as Christi Jones and Joli Livaudais, among others, sponsored by the Center for Children and Families, Inc.

I headed over to Joli Livaudais Studio a block away. I had wanted to meet Joli for some time—she seems to be very successful at what she does, and being in the business myself, sort of, I’m always curious to meet photographers who actually make a living at it. Her studio is possibly the nicest photo studio I’ve ever been in, not that I’ve been in that many of them, but I enjoyed the wood floors and ceiling fans, and overall bronze-colored light that seemed to mimic that “golden hour” we photographers talk about.

Livaudais Studio might be the nicest photo studio I've ever been in. *sigh* Maybe someday I'll have one like this.

The right-side wall here featured a set of panoramic, spliced photographs by Jenny Burnham, while on the other side of the studio was a somewhat interactive set of photos titled “Introspective Mystery,” by Lauren Ward.

"Introspective Mystery," an set of photographs by Lauren Ward, at Livaudais Studio, had curious visitors enthralled with turning pages. It looks like a good way to read a book, anyway. No more of that sitting-up-in-bed stuff, just nail it to the wall.

Livaudais mentioned that she and some friends are discussing starting a monthly coffeeshop meet-and-greet for photographers around the area. I think this would be spectacular; in fact, I think something like this for media reps, artists, and musicians would be in order.

Now, if I just had that big house …

The next Artcrawl is scheduled for Oct. 1. For more info, check out the website, or shoot them an email: info@dowtowngallerycrawl.com.

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