ARTSomerville and the Somerville Arts Council present a month-long exhibit and series of events that celebrate the culture of New Orleans—from jazz funerals and creole cooking to Mardi Gras Indians and voodoo. The visual art exhibit will feature photography, painting and multi-media work by both established and emerging artists. There will also be a community shrine to New Orleans, which the public is invited to embellish over the course of the month.

Susanne Bartz
“Saint Hope"
Mixed media in shoe
3.5" x 11.5"
full image — web

artist statements

Karen Aqua: email
This piece is inspired by a holiday card I received from a New Orleans friend who was dislocated for many months. (Her return address said simply “At Large, U.S.A.”) Across the front of the card was one word: HOPE. The letters were made from tiny flowers. I was touched and moved by the power and simplicity of this message. This particular friend had lost so much and was mourning her beloved city (to which she had moved from New Zealand), yet she expressed this positive attitude, typical of so many of my New Orleans friends. A few weeks ago, I was happy to receive a message from this friend saying she had just moved back to New Orleans to restart her life there.

Susanne Bartz: email
I’m fascinated with found objects, rusted tools and fixtures, keys, tin-types and incorporate objects such as these with Polaroid transfers, drawings, written text and collage to create antiquated pieces that tell a story through color and texture. Reoccurring symbolism is found in a number of my pieces such as keys, hearts and wings to convey messages of strength, knowledge, wisdom and spiritual journey.
It seemed appropriate to work in mixed media for Rise Up – the parallel between artwork that is taking old and creating new and the devastation due to hurricane Katrina and the rebuilding necessary to transform the city into the vibrant, culturally rich city it once was – if only different. Good things can come from terrible events – it is encouraging so many care about the people and heritage of New Orleans and are willing to be a part of something to help build them a brighter future.  Three of my five pieces convey messages of inspiration: Happiness, Saint Hope and Home Again.

Scott Getchell
Lately, I've been trying to re-live my first impressions of the place. The lush and fragrant gardens, the dense canopy of live oaks, the incredible food. There is a unique, New Orleans sense of humor that permeates almost everything, the history, the culture, the music. I bought a trumpet I still use from the back room of the long gone "uptown Music", on Magazine. The way the salesman acted made me think it was probably stolen. There was Sister Alberta's, the Saturn bar, Domilise's, Galatoir's. The mother in law lounge, and the Maple Leaf, where I emptied the room by telling a joke too rude for the crowd. There's Tipitina's, of course, and Turbo Dog, and humidity so thick you can shoot it with a gun. some of the most intense experiences of my life have happend in New Orleans, both good (see "Amazing Grace") and bad, (see "Flight of Ichorous") and I'm only scratching the surface in these narratives. This is the city of half my extended family, the city of Parain, Aunt T, Wagner and Vincent. My daughter's second home and very likely one of my favorite places on the planet.

Alice Grossman: email
This is the first time I have printed these photographs, which were taken in 1987, when I took a road trip to New Orleans to attend the incredible Jazz and Heritage Festival. One late afternoon I took my primitive Kodak “tourist” camera to the St. Louis Cemetery in the French Quarter, an above ground “city of the dead” as they call it. Like the rest of New Orleans, it was a mystical place, the spirits there, rising up, welcoming.

Bill Kouwenhoven: email
New Orleans has always been more than its reality. New Orleans for me was primarily a city of the imagination, of the images and sounds and tastes, and stories we had read about or seen somewhere earlier. It was for me a mix of tourist images and hard stories—Voodoo and Mardi Gras, Dixieland jazz and hip hop, food, all kinds of food, tales of decadence, and newspaper stories of violence and poverty. It was difficult to be there and not be overwhelmed when imagination met reality in a manic swirl. I photographed the city during a major storm in early 1998 during a photography convention and the warm-up marches for Mardi Gras. Ferry service was suspended, and the doors blew off of my hotel in Gretna. I wanted to show something of the incredible wet, dark, startling nature of the city. That storm was a drop in the bucket. There was no flooding. There was some damage. Nobody died. I hope that the City will rise up out of the present mud and debris and that everybody can pull together to make the future New Orleans all it once was and all it wasn’t.

Joseph Pesce: email
“Worlds End” is a portrait of a woman wading through waters that was inspired by a walk in the park of the same name in Hingham, MA. Between the ocean, the pebbles she walked on and the massive sky, it struck me that such an angelic and gentle sight could appear among such awesome power – a metaphor for human existence.

A.E. Ryan
I’ve always felt deeply connected to New Orleans As an artist, jazz aficionado, and food junky, I’ve been drawn there at least a dozen times in the last 20 years and it has perpetually felt like a joyful homecoming. Like my favorite adopted city, I am subversively compelled to mix up religious iconography, fun and mischief in an insouciant pastiche of colors and textures. The works are grounded in imagery both medieval and modern. They bridge the gap between painting and sculpture, narrative and abstract, surreal and real. They present a wry view on timeless themes and places. While they are not specifically about New Orleans, (except for Blues for X), they all could have been conceived and born there. A tribute to an amazing city.

Hilary Scott
Chicken Feet Statement: What can I say? Sometimes a material just sits around the studio for months. So it was with the chicken feet. I had obtained them and preserved them, with no particular project in mind. I liked their primordial talons, and rakish gestures. However, after several months of sitting on the shelf they began to lurk. The bag containing them would draw my eyes whenever I entered the studio. “What are the chicken feet for?” I would ask myself. Then Greg Jenkins and Rachel Strut mentioned New Orleans and inspiration in the same sentence and everything was clear.

Sandra Salamony
For this show, I am exhibiting works from my Icon series. The Icons are images of a statue of the Virgin Mary (which I photographed at the St. Louis #3 Cemetery in New Orleans), coupled with found Chinese fortune cookie fortunes that diners have discarded -- lost fortunes. The pairings emphasize the similarities between religion and superstition, but also express mankind's resilience and tendency towards irrational hope and optimism against all odds. For this show, I’ve chosen Icons that have relevance to the disaster victims: Icons that express wishes to be granted in the manner of Mexican retablos, as well as oracle-like pronouncements in Haiku form on three panels. The defining statement of the whole series is found on Icon #21: "Some men dream of fortunes, others dream of cookies."

V Van Sant
Inspired by Haitian Vodou, I have been creating my own versions of offertory bottles that play a part in this religion. Shrines are built and offerings are made to the spirit gods. These bottles also are believed to possess powers to the maker depending on what they wish for, and what they put inside. Keeping faith in the times of total deprivation is the hardest test of all. The city of New Orleans seems to be able to "keep the faith" as they continue to rebuild in the face of total loss. What a monumental task. What an inspiration to all of us.

Wayne Viens
my connection to new orleans began as a child. my grandmother who adopted me and became my mother was born in new orleans. i was brought up being told that i was a direct descendent of the infamous john lafyeete. was this true? i do not know but as child what could be cooler than beleiving that you were related to not only a pirate but a famous pirate. so began my interest in new orleans-i was recently in new orleans last april for the jazz fest and the 2 day music marathon called the ponderosa stomp at rock and bowl-i was one of the stage managers at this event and got to meet and hang with some of my all time musical heros such as scotty moore-earl palmer-archie bell etc. i feel blessed to have had this time. i have many deep connections to new orleans that always inspire my art work.my main piece in this show -mid city misery expresses my sorrow thru a classic sad clown on top of a totem of lost souls enveloped in aluminum- he has elements of mardi gras-mardi gras indians-sex and glitter- sorrow and pain.

Donn Young
Donn Young, a lauded, veteran photojournalist whose photos have appeared in Time, Newsweek and the New York Times, will give a presentation on how Hurricane Katrina has affected the city’s artists, its arts scene and its cultural heritage. Young, a UMASS Amherst graduate who has worked as a freelance photographer for the Boston Globe and the Boston Phoenix, speaks from first-hand experience as the hurricane ravaged his studio. For nearly four weeks the libraray of photography he built over 35 years—over a million images— lay beneath ten feet of water. The Archive Records Management Association of America and Louisiana State University has deemed his work “historically significant” and has launched an ambitious project to salvage and restore the collection. Young is now visually documenting the ravaged spaces of many New Orleans artists and musicians. He will present this work, past work, speak of his own experience during and after Hurricane Katrina, discuss the LSU restoration project, and share perceptions on the future of New Orleans’ arts landscape. Some of the images in the presentation may be graphic.

A dozen of Young’s photographs will be on display in the “Rise Up!” exhibit, including “Madonna of Desire” (above), images of Mardi Gras Indians, and a series of portraits of New Orleans jazz greats. These black and white photographs are reproductions of original prints. Because many of Young’s images were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, there are some scratches and watermarks on some works. Instead of maring the photographs, however, these imperfections imbue the images with a rich, new layer of meaning. These photographs, like so many of New Orleans’ artists, have weathered the storm. They allude to tragedy, but also convey hope, determination and beauty.