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A Pretty Picture?
The state of art in New Orleans
by Bob Goldberg
New Orleans magazine
December 2003The crowded sidewalks and teeming traffic in the French Quarter, Warehouse District (now dubbed the Art and Museum District) and Magazine Street on the first Saturday of October heralded the celebration of Art for Arts Sake. This annual event, sponsored by the Contemporary Arts Center, offers the art-loving public a chance to peruse are of all stripes without feeling self-conscious, while being plied with wine and munchies by gallery impresarios, happy to see their shining faces in their establishments. For the art galleries, it's an opportunity to titillate customers with fresh offerings from their corps of artists and make some sales to replenish coffers diminished during the slow summer months, Everything seems to be sweet and light. But beneath the surface runs conflicting riptides of turmoil and optimism.
The Economic Strain
For many New Orleans art galleries that flourished in the 1990s, the past summer was a continuation of several difficult years. A sinking stock market and the slow economy coupled with the shock of the events of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks created a sense of insecurity in the trade and malaise among customers. With their faith in the future shaken, art buyers held on to their cash. In most households, art takes a back seat to groceries, house notes, school tuition and Saints tickets on the shopping list of life's necessities. But art dealers are a resilient lot. The seasoned veterans are well aware that theirs is a tough cyclical business, subject to the whims of taste, the local and national economies and even the unpredictable New Orleans climate.Despite enduring the ups and downs of the past three years, Denise Berthiaume, owner of LeMieux Galleries on Julia Street and a 20-year veteran of the art trade, is optimistic enough to open her second location in Old Metairie in the face of a number of local art gallery closings. Berthiaume credits her gallery's ability to weather the economic storms to carefully choosing talented artists, developing long-term relationships with them and working tirelessly to promote their work. In contrast, Wyndy Morehead Fine Arts, which relocated from Julia Street to a smashing gallery in the 3900 block of Magazine Street in 1999, was among the casualties of the economy. Morehead, who had developed a devoted following of artists and clients over 18 years, began her career working from her home. Her love affair with the art game sadly came to an end with a double whammy when her longtime assistant left due to illness, and business activity slowed to a trickle.
New Orleans' two powerhouse auction galleries have not escaped the downturn that affected the contemporary arts arena. Greg Easterly, a fine arts expert with the New Orleans Auction Galleries, said antique paintings in the lower and middle price ranges have been very soft for a while. Even the paintings of Clementine Hunter, Louisiana's best-known and most prolific folk artist, have been selling in the lower ranges of auction house estimates. On a brighter note, Easterly said important New Orleans and Louisiana related works by luminaries like Richard Clague, William Henry Buck, William Woodward and Marshall Smith will always find moneyed buyers who appreciate their rarity and beauty. These sentiments are echoed by Katherine Hovas, vice president of the Neal Auction Company, who cited the recent sale of a Woodward for $125,000 and a Clague that found a buyer for $170,000. Another positive sign for the art and antiques markets was the prices realized and the huge crowds at Neal's blockbuster auction in May of the contents of Houmas House plantation in Burnside. The event proved that buyers will surface if the circumstances are right.
Creative Spaces
When the local art scene has economic problems, the art community suffers. New Orleans' pool of artistic talent is probably greater and more diverse than it has ever been. But most artists working in New Orleans do not have art galleries representing them. Left to their own devices, artists must handle the business as well as the creative side of their crafts, along with promoting themselves at art shows, festivals and other events. But for artists living exclusively off their sales, it can be a trial paying ordinary expenses and maintaining equipping a proper studio. The artist's plight has not gone unnoticed. Last May marked the opening of the Bywater Art Market, which offers artists a venue to display their work on the third Saturday of each month. Beginning with 11 exhibitors, and now showing more than 70, the market has moved to larger premises in Mickey Markey Park at Piety and Royal Streets. Sponsored and promoted by the New Orleans Conservation Guild, the cooperative usually attracts and eager crowd of 500 to 700 visitors.Shirley Trusty Corey, president and chief operating officer of the Arts Council, waxes enthusiastic about the future of the arts in New Orleans. "New Orleans has always had assets that have not been recognized," she said. Now some of these cultural and artistic assets have recently been highlighted in a collaborative marketing campaign spearheaded by the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp. and aimed at the well-heeled cultural tourists who stay longer and spend more. (Check the NOTMC Web site, www.neworleansonline.com.) Corey is equally enthusiastic over the 90,000-square-foot project know as the Louisiana ArtWorks, which will open in early 2004 in the yellow brick Bradford Building on the corner of Howard Avenue and Baronne Street. This unique concept will provide Louisiana artists access to permanent facilities with equipment few could afford, including a foundry, a glass studio, a printmaking studio and a ceramics studio. Corey said all this will be available for nominal fees. Another feature of the project will be the highly regarded attached store, where Louisiana artists will have the opportunity to display their works. Corey opines that the Artworks will become an immediate tourist destination attracting visitors to the Art & Museum District, with the opportunity to observe and meet artists in the midst of the creative process. The grand opening will likely be a gala media event.
If, as Shirley Trusty Corey believes, all the arts in this city are connected, better days are on the way for everyone. Denise Berthiaume says they may have already arrived. During the recent gallery openings Berthiaume received what might have been a sign—one of her artists sold 12 paintings.