Four years ago I spent a year in New Orleans. I became attached to the city during my time there and I try to go back when I can. This past February, since I had begun working at Etsy, I decided to try to meet all the Etsy sellers of New Orleans, and see how they were spending their Mardis Gras. Before heading down, I put up a blog post to announce the meeting of New Orleans Etsians. Vanessa gave me a few tips about the camera and Matt loaded my suitcase with t-shirts, buttons and tote bags, and I was off. I stayed for two weeks and met a lot of lovely, creative people. First we all had coffee and got to know each other, and then I made plans to go to each of their studios and interview them about what they make and their experience with Etsy. I met with artbymags, bakingwithmedusa, greenkangaroo, dismantled, gurlygirl, bellaroo, rustchic, bayousalvage, antelucandaisy, and nolasalvage.

 It was great to be back there to see how the city was doing. I hadn't been back there since Katrina, and now, just after the anniversary of the storm, I've revisited some of my New Orleans video footage. I'll be sharing those here on The Storque as a series.

Watch the Video

Before I moved to New Orleans I knew next to nothing about it. I had spent the majority of my life much further north. All I knew was that it was a place way down south and that parades there were frequent. My friend Kenny and I moved there to see another part of the country – we could have moved anywhere, but we chose New Orleans.

The very first night there, just after unloading all our mini van’s possessions into a hot pink double shotgun, we heard music down the street and sensed a buzz in the neighborhood. It was the Decadence Ball. The Ball was a spontaneous all night party on the bank of the Mississippi. There were jazz bands, of course, and everyone was dressed up in costume. It was all new and foreign to me and I was enchanted by it. The combination of the heat and the music, the friendly welcoming attitude of the people, the colors and the sparkling costumes and lights reflecting on the river —it was all very magical, like the scene of the Capulet’s Ball from Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo and Juliet”. The rest of the year included many similar nights and days. As a painter, I was constantly inspired by people and my surroundings.

We lived right around the corner from the center of the neighborhood’s artistic activity, a place called the ARC. The ARC was a place in New Orleans much like the Etsy Labs, and was a part of the reason our community was so close knit. I took life drawing classes there every week. I had the opportunity to draw a pregnant model and then later her and her baby….that’s pretty unusual. A trapeze artist hoisted ropes to the ceiling and practiced there. Fantastic bands, both traveling and local, performed at the ARC. The communal room served as a gallery and there were always paintings on the walls. There were book clubs that met there. Plays were put on by amateur directors, actors and set designers who worked just for the love of it. There was even a circus that performed there! It was the home of the Bike Project, a bustling workshop for fixing flats, getting new parts or creating new bikes from spare parts. Children from the neighborhood could earn a bike in exchange for logging in hours working there. My friend Kenny and I spent time with two friends who ran the place, Wes and Kelly. Money was a problem and so was meeting code, but the sheer will of the neighborhood seemed to keep the place going.

Food Not Bombs met at the ARC as well. People from the neighborhood would gather and cook on hot plates, and then bring the food to Jackson Square for anyone who wanted it. A lot of transient people live in New Orleans. Some do so by choice and others because of a run of bad luck. In either case, there isn’t a stigma attached to needing a free meal like there might be in some other cities. I remember one of those nights we spent talking to a portentous character who held everyone spellbound by his stories. The man knew New Orleans intimately. He predicted, eerily, that everything would change soon and that it would affect everyone, but homeless people in particular. He thought that the city was due for a major hurricane.

Things have changed in New Orleans post-Katrina, but not quite in the way the media projects. I often meet people who say “You’re lucky you lived there, I wish I’d have made it down there.” But the city is still there. The spirit of the place hasn’t changed at all. The ARC’s building is still there. There isn’t anyone running it right now, but that could change soon. People are coming back to the city they love and some people are moving there for the first time to renovate houses. According to my impression from my friends and the Etsy members I interviewed, the overall attitude is one of regeneration and optimism. Of course, I’m not there day to day anymore… and I know it’s not easy.