New Orleans: Arts District
Nick and I chose to go to New Orleans this winter quite randomly. We knew which dates we wanted so we researched and found the cheapest option, which happened to be New Orleans. Even though it wasn’t on our list of travels for the near future, I had mentioned coming here a few times before, and with the low prices, we decided to go for it!
When we arrived in New Orleans at 9am, we couldn’t check into our hotel until 3pm so we had to think of something we could do while bringing our bags with us. Luckily we only brought one backpack each (no carry ons or checked bags!) so it wasn’t hard to bring them around the city. After breakfast, we realized we were close to the Arts District. The Arts District is mainly on Julia Street but the surrounding streets are scattered with galleries as well! Since it was supposed to rain (and we of course, didn’t pick an umbrella), we decided popping in and out of art galleries would be perfect.
Several of the art galleries were closed, presumably because it was the day after Christmas, but there were several that were open. One called Gallery 600 Julia was covered floor to ceiling with Louisiana landscapes, and street scenes depicting New Orleans’ unique culture. There were paintings of a picnic lunch of oysters, Dat Dog (which we ate at later that night), jazz bands, and more!
We particularly enjoyed Arthur Roger Gallery, featuring Dave Bates, and Ariodante Contemporary Crafts, featuring Erin Lee Gafill. I could have stayed and looked at Dave Bates’ paintings forever, but we had never seen a painting that we actually wanted to buy until we saw a small still life canvas by Erin Lee Gafill.
At one of the galleries, we received a pamphlet about the Art District, and in it, they listed five murals that were close to Julia Street. We went on a mission to find them all, which was harder than it sounds because the map wasn’t completely accurate. It was so much fun exploring that part of the city and eventually finding all five.
- Jess
