Essence of Black A.R.T. Tour
A guided tour highlighting Black visual artists at historically-significant locations throughout New Orleans' Uptown and Downtown neighborhoods.
Featured artists: Adewale Adenle,Artist Journey Allen, Owolabi Ayodele, Bryan Brown, Dwayne Conrad, Kara Crowley, Frank Hayden, Fred Johnston, Coby Kennedy, Antonique Lang, Byron Lee, Simone Leigh, Lionel Milton, Brandan “BMike” Odums, Nesby Phips, Nik Richard, Jessica Strahan, Hank Willis Thomas, Taylor Warren, and more.
Stop 1
All Power to All People
Artist: Hank Willis
Location: Lafayette Square
All Power to All People is part of a traveling exhibit of outdoor sculptures called the "Monumental Tour," which has had previous stops in Philadelphia, Chicago, Oakland and Black Rock, Nevada. Its arrival in New Orleans was meant to help celebrate the Juneteenth holiday and the upcoming Essence Festival.
"Monumental Tour" director Marsha Reid, who chose the location, said that in many ways, Gallier Hall, located across the street from the sculpture, is the perfect backdrop. It is the old City Hall, which was finished in the 1850s and undoubtedly built with slave labor. “The origin of the Afro pick dates back to the time of ancient Egyptians as an article of status and cultural belonging. The clenched black fist comb in particular is associated with the 1970s Black Power Movement. As an accessory of a hairstyle, it represented counterculture and civil rights during one of the most important eras of American history. It exists today as many things to different people; it is worn as adornment, a political emblem, and signature of collective identity. The Afro pick continues to develop itself as a testament to innovation.”
Kalief Brownder: The Box, Artist: Coby Kennedy
The Box is a protest work, a commentary on solitary confinement. Kindred Arts’ traveling Monumental Tour is an exhibition that showcases large-scale outdoor works by Black artists.
In 2010, Kalief Browder was arrested for a robbery he did not commit. The seventeen-year-old teenager was imprisoned without trial for over three years at the Robert N. Davoren Center on Rikers Island (NY), a facility known for its culture of violence. During this period, Browder was subject to torturously long segments in solitary confinement—over 700 days in total—as well as physical and mental abuse by prison guards and inmates. Tragically, the severe trauma caused lasting depression that resulted in his suicide in 2015, approximately two years after his release.
Stop 2
Sentinel (Mami Wata), 2020–21
Location: Harmony Circle
Simone Leigh’s statue Sentinel (Mami Wata), 2020–21, was placed in Harmony Circle in January 2022 in New Orleans. The circle, formerly known as Lee Circle, once held a monument to Confederate General Robert E Lee that was removed in 2017. Leigh’s bronze sculpture aims to undo the legacies of power that the Lee statue represented, and was specially designed for the Prospect 5 and the Circle. The sculpture depicts a snake wrapped around a slender female body whose form resembles a spoon.
Leigh’s design is inspired by the various cultures of African diaspora that mix and flourish in New Orleans. Mami Wata is a water deity shared by many African cultures, while the spoon shape is an important symbol of status in the Zulu culture. Even the placement of the sculpture seeks to subvert the hierarchies established by the Lee monument. Unlike the monument, which was placed on a pedestal, Sentinel sits on the ground in front of the raised platform.
Stop 3
Civil Rights Icons of the Boulevard
Location: Oretha Castle Haley
Artist: Adewale Adenle
In 2006, Ashé Cultural Arts Center received a grant from Timberland to create a series of portraits of notable Black Civil Rights Icons and Culture Bearers on the cement poles of the Crescent City Connection Overpass. Ashé commissioned Nigerian-born artist Adewale Adenle to lead the project. It was decided theinstallation would also include sunflowers. These flowers were designed by Adewale Adenle and then painted by community members. The portraits include Mahalia Jackson, a Central City native, Avery Alexander and Professor Longhair.
Location: 1208 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.
Artists: Fred Johnston, Aaran/Deshawne students (Arts Council)
Stop 4
Beloved Community, Artist: Frank Hayden
Each year, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in New Orleans includes a stop on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard where a commemorative statue was erected in 1976. Artist Frank Hayden, a formerstudent at Xavier University and professor at Southern University, designed the abstract sculpture to honor King and symbolize reaching for brotherhood and reconciliation. Hayden incorporated the egg design because of its symmetrical sphere, offering no beginning or end, just like the cycle of life, as MLK too believed. Inside the sculpture are excerpts from Dr. King’s speeches as well as an opening in the back to represent a bullet hole. Hayden was inspired to create a representation and reminder of Martin Luther King Jr.’s drive to bring the people of America together and create a world of unity.
Renegade Artists Collective
Location: The Building, 1427 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.
The Building is an arts venue, gallery and event space on O.C. Haley Boulevard. It dates to the mid-1800s, when then-Dryades Street was the center of the local Jewish and Italian communities. In the beginning it housed – among other things – a stove shop, alongside a popular and notorious saloon.
Around 1900, it became the Dryades Street Branch of Hibernia Bank. And toward mid-century it expanded and was converted to Sol Katz’ Furniture Store, and later Barkoff’s Furniture. Then in 1977, it became the local meeting lodge for the Knights of Pythias and Court of Calanthe, an important fraternal organization in the Black community.
Christian and Connie Labat acquired the three-story property in 2001. After years of self-funded renovations, their vision finally came to life – a venue to host visual art, music, workshops, screenings, discussions and private events. This vision is part of an effort to support the revitalization of Dryades Street as a cultural corridor for New Orleans, while maintaining a unique Central City aesthetic.
Southern Food and Beverage Museum & Museum of the American Cocktail, Leah Chase
Location: 1504 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd
Leah Chase was the remarkable chef/owner with her husband, Edgar “Dooky” Chase, Jr., of Dooky Chase Restaurant in New Orleans, a restaurant inherited from her husband’s family. Leah Chase grew up the first of a large family in Madisonville, Louisiana. Born in 1923 in the segregated South, she struggled with the limits imposed by her gender and complexion to fulfill her ambitions. Always desiring to be greater, to do more, she found herself in New Orleans, married to musician, Dooky Chase Jr. After raising her children, she started working in his family’s restaurant. She moved quickly into the restaurant, redecorating and expanding the menu to include hot lunches for working men. She and her husband took over the business and began a fine dining restaurant for African-Americans - the first in the city. She hosted civil rights activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall and welcomed them through her restaurant doors to plan marches and movements in the upstairs dining room.
She also supported African-American artists, amassing a world-class collection of art.
Dooky Chase, the Restaurant
The restaurant Dooky Chase began in 1941 as a permanent stand for Edgar “Dooky” Chase, Sr. to sell lottery tickets, and it made sense to offer poboys and drinks to garner more business. His wife Emily proved to be a compelling chef, and the business soon became a popular restaurant, expanding into the shotgun house next door. Still located at 2301 Orleans Avenue, Dooky Chase has gone through several renovations and redecorations that were supervised by Leah Chase, who essentially took over from her mother-in-law in the mid-1950’s. The latest was following Hurricane Katrina, when the help of several local and national organizations and many volunteers reconstructed the damaged restaurant.
Location: Neutral ground in front of Y.E.P. yard
Artist: Nesby Phips
Nesby Phips is a New Orleans native musician, visual artist and woodworker based in New Orleans. The grand-nephew of Mahalia Jackson, Phips's musical lineage runs deep, and as a multi-genre producer and rapper he has worked with Lil Wayne, Curren$y, Juvenile, Wiz Khalifa and others.
Beaucoup Power is an art campaign intended to support the esteem and self-awareness of the peoples of the Black Atlantic.
Prison is NO Place for Children: The On-Going Trauma of Black Children Being Targeted for the Prison Industrial Complex
Artist: Antonique Lang
Not Our Family: Black People’s Fight to Dismantle the Prison Industrial Complex That Has Worked to Destroy the Black Family
Artist: Taylor Warren
Stop 5
Felicity/Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.
Location: Neutral Ground in front of Cafe Reconcile, 1625 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.
Artists: Bryan Brown, Kara Crowley
Bryan Brown is a painter, born and raised in New Orleans. His work focuses on New Orleans culture, random but beautiful moments and his, and sometimes others', philosophy. Most of his work is predominantly in acrylics and charcoal. He strives to inspire, invoke thoughts, bring awareness to certain matters, and celebrate the youth and the culture of New Orleans.
Having an early inspiration of being an artist from his dad, Bryan has recently changed his signature to Browno as a way to pay homage to his father, Jerry Brown. This is a signature his dad used in a few paintings dating back to 1993.
Kara Crowley, New Orleans native, is an artist who emphasizes the uniqueness of Black culture through use of portraiture paintings. Her contemporary style makes both emotional and spiritual connections in understanding the aesthetics/ hardships /accomplishments as an African American in society. She discovers unique ways to highlight locals of NOLA on how they’ll leave their mark on the world. Kara's time with YAYA Inc. (Young Aspirations - Young Artist) and at Xavier University of Louisiana molded her into the artist she is today. She also teaches Visual Arts at St. Augustine High School, to help expose young black men into the arts community of NOLA. Kara continues looking for ways to nurture her own artistic practice throughout the New Orleans art community such as Xavier University of Louisiana, Joan Mitchell Center, 912 Studio, Scaleworkspace, YAYA Inc., and the Ana & Adeline Foundation.
Lot 1701
Location: Four-cross panel, 1701 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.
Artist: Charlie V
New Orleans native artist Charlie Vaughn Jr. works range from sketching to murals, commissioned work to teaching /mentoring. Focusing on the art & business aspect by creating UPTOWNARTWERX....he's poised & ready to take any & everyone into his world.
Ashé Cultural Arts Center
Location: Ashé Mural, 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.
Vizual Remedy was a visual artist guild created by Ashé Cultural Arts Center Cofounder Douglas Redd. The goal was to uplift New Orleans Black Artists and their art. Vizual Remedy collaborated to create what is now the iconic Ashé Mural. This mural highlights New Orleans Black Culture. Designed by Shakor and Ivan Watkins, participating artists included Jamar Pierre, Terrance Osborne, Lidya Araya and Lionel Milton. The design included New Orleans notables like choreographer/dancer/social entrepreneur Michelle Gibson, highlighting her work, life and connection to Ashé.
When the mural was refurbished in 2018 several elements and portraits were added, including Baba Doug, Carol Bebelle and Jeffrey Cook. Additionally an African mask was added on the right side of the mural. Shakor added the mask and had every staff person paint a triangle so that we could all be collaborators on the mural. The lead artist for the restoration was Shakor and the contributing artists were Bryan Brown, Jessica Legaux and Swan Gray.
Artists: Lionel Milton, Owolabi Ayodele
Location: 1709 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.
Owolabi was born in the festac year (1977) in Lagos, and was growing up with a passion for Art early in his life. After secondary school in a state high school in Lagos, he proceeded to Lagos state polytechnic to obtain his higher National Diploma (HND) specialized in painting, graduating in 2008. Since then he has been practicing as a professional artist in his private studio with several Art group exhibitions both at home and abroad to his credit. He is a member of society of Nigeria artist (SNA) and art council in New Orleans.
Lionel Milton
New Orleans artist, Lionel Milton’s art has become well recognized by collectors and companies throughout the world. For decades his colorful style has vibrantly demonstrated energy with ubiquitous appeal and eclectic charm. Milton started his career as a graffiti artist when he was in his teens under the name ELLEONE. Over the year Milton has been commissioned and collected the likes of Uber, Capital One Bank, ESPN, Red Bull ,P&G, and Heineken. Growing up in a culturally rich place like New Orleans heavily influenced and continues to inspire his artwork. Milton says," My art is like your favorite Jazz song, except it's visual".
Sons of Desire
Location: Ashé Front Door
Artist: Nik Richard
Nik Richard is a visual artist and urban planner from New Orleans, LA. Nik’s work focuses on highlighting the vibrant culture of New Orleans, and amplifying current urban and social issues with his colorful and surrealist art style. Nik works primarily as an illustrator, collaborating with many local and national agencies on editorial works, as well as a public artist with installations around New Orleans. As a visual artist, Nik primarily works in acrylic paint on canvas, pen and ink on paper, as well as digital illustrations, and is most recognized for his colorful and striking portraits. Nik was most recently featured on Adult Swim as an artist for their New Orleans mural project, and was a 2021 Joan Mitchell artist in residence.
Sons of Desire is a depiction of the standoff that took place between the New Orleans chapter of the Black Panther Party and local law enforcement in the Desire Projects on September 15th, 1970 in a state-led effort to eradicate the Party from Louisiana. After thousands of rounds were fired by law enforcement into the Sons of Desire Cultural Center it was a miracle no one was killed in this shootout. All members of the Black Panther Party were taken into custody and directly onto death row, and a year later in August of 1971 all members were found not guilty.
Location: Hope Community Credit Union
Artist: Dwayne Conrad
Created to honor the Civil Rights history of the Boulevard, portraits include Oretha Castle Haley, the New Orleans luminary whom the street is renamed for. Oretha Castle Haley was a founding member of CORE and one of the leaders of the lunch counter sit- ins that happened on Canal St. Ms. Castle Haley also led the fight for equal employment opportunities and the fight to integrate Black people into the management work force of those employed in the department store once located on what is now the site of the Ashé Cultural Arts Center. Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard was also home to the Free Southern Theater and The Southern Christian Leadership Conference founded by Dr. Martin Luther King.
Stop 6
Location: Baronne and Girod Street
Artist: Brandan “BMIKE” Odums
Brandan “BMIKE” Odums is a New Orleans-based visual artist who, through exhibitions, public programs, and public art works, is engaged in a transnational dialogue about the intersection of art and resistance.