NOLA Notes

A friend came in town this weekend.  She’s a NOLA ex pat and so the pressure to be her tour guide was not there.  Instead, we just took things as they came.

We got a babysitter Friday night and ate at Patois.  It was divine.  No highchairs in the place.  And things on the menu like charcuterie and cheese plates, fois gras and confits.  We had an octopus appetizer and hanger steaks and shrimp entrees.  We used to dine out in such places all the time.  Now? Le Madelaine is our top restaurant.  It was decadent to be without Sun.  To have no other children within sight. After dinner, we went to a bar.  A bar!  I get giddy remembering it.  We gossiped about the couple near us–a woman joined them saying, “Nice to meet you.”  Then the female of the couple disappeared leaving the new woman with the man.  Oh, it was juicy.

Then yesterday.  I will be remembering yesterday for a long time.  We dined in NOLA joints that are like so many NOLA joints–good eats, good atmosphere, good company.

The rest of the day was spent looking for art.  I was on a streetcar hunt, and that lead us to stumble across this:

This is Marcus Brown‘s “Human Universal Musical sculpture,” or HUMs, and is part of the Arts Counsel of New Orleans’ Art in Public Places project.   You put your palm to the mouthpiece and it plays your own tune!

Then my friend wanted to go to Studio Inferno in the Bywater.  To say I love this place is an understatement.  I have so many pieces of their work, I could think about opening my own store!  So I was all in for this outing.

On the way, we passed so much public art, it was staggering.  None of these things are part of any exhibit.  These are just a part of the landscape of life in New Orleans.  I give you in no particular order our Bywater sites.

Instead of painting over that telltale mark of Katrina, this business owner celebrated it.  Stunning, isn’t it?

This mosaic mural is even more phenomenal in person.  There’s glass and tile and mirrors.  The detail was breathtaking.

This is inside Studio Inferno.  Presumably a Dr. Bob piece.  Too bad it’s tucked away because its whimsy is worth a good look.  This was upstairs in the work area of Studio Inferno:

Then there was this sort of mirrored house:

This was in the yard of a company.  Again, private property.

Then we left and went to seek out some of the public art being displayed on Airline Highway, the American Beauty, South project.  We liked this best, at the Aloha Hotel:

For every piece we saw of an official public art display, we saw just as many of equal quality that was just NOLA folks doing their thang.

I say it a lot here, but, Gawd, I love New Orleans.

Thanks to all the artists that inspired me yesterday.  Your work is truly appreciated.