Prospect.1 is over. Thankfully I managed to see a few exhibits, but not nearly as many as I would have liked. I had a friend visiting from LA and a friend of hers had sent her passes and a map. Kinda of strange since it's free but I think things like that may have made the numbers seem low. I never bothered to go "check in" and get counted. We had a map but it was hard to follow, I think they were really pushing for people to take the shuttle.


The big ark was all it was touted to be. There was something pleasing about it's simplicity. It's on the corner of Caffin and N. Miro in the Lower 9th Ward. I wonder how long it will stay?



This was a neat building, an old hardware store that still had a bunch of old stuff around. The artists kept the items and arranged them. These two pictures are the lower floor. The building space was neat - the "art" was slices from a concrete slab, flipped around so you could see the underside where the cement flowed to fill the voids. It was interesting but didn't hold my attention all that long.

The upstairs was really cool. An artist painted swamp mural in all the rooms.





Here you can see some of the items from the hardware store I mentioned. Here the artist arranged some on the mantle.

The date on this calendar is February 1924! 85 years old.

The spot for an exhibit is marked on the map but it isn't labeled as to what exhibit it is. The above I'm not sure where this was, maybe the Tekrema Center for the arts. One other site we visited, but didn't take photos, is the 19 center for the arts, a lovely little gallery in a shotgun double. One side was photographs, the other had a collage on the walls, like stuff being blown around in the wind. Both exhibits were worth the stop.

I knew "This Old House" was renovating a house in the Lower 9th Ward, I just didn't know they started showing the episodes yet. So all of you fans of New Orleans architecture and house renovation, make sure you catch "This Old House" as they renovate and put an addition to the house, plus all the slices of life and historical stuff they like to show as well. They are showing several episodes back to back tonight and I have to snicker as the host act surprised to find under the dry wall, 2-by-4s and insulation, under that wall paper (only one layer?), under that burlap and finally the barge board. Ask anyone who has renovated an old house... we found wood floor under layers of plywood, linoleum and carpet... Cheap paneling over 4 layers of wall paper over paint on the original plaster... it just goes on. It's cute how they gawk at the 12 foot ceilings and all the original details on the house. Those brackets and shutters, yah, they're original.They've seen old houses before, I guess they just ham it up for the viewers? The TV reporter for the T-P gave his review along the lines of his review of K-ville.

The plants can freeze. Too cold to go outside. Not too cold the clean the house and blog!

When my friend Dorie can to visit earlier this month, I took her on the disaster tour and we ended in the Lower 9th Ward. Brad Pitt's Pink Project houses were still up. I think the coolest part for me was the observation deck. Nice idea Brad. (click to see my photos) Dorie was sort of a wreck after the tour and the pink houses were a nice diversion. Dinner at Ignatius with beers served "camp street style" were the perfect remedy to lift our spirits after the tour.

My last tour was last year around Jazz Fest. It's mind blowing how many houses have been torn down. That's the current sign of progress here. Everyday it seems I'm driving down a street and there's an empty lot where once a house stood.