In the Warehouse District, beyond the local contemporary epicenters of the Ogden and the CAC, turn onto Julia Street to experience local contemporary art in smaller gallery venues, which often house works that are as impressive as the larger institutional collections.
Heading down Camp Street toward Julia Street from the CAC, right next door you’ll find Spillman Blackwell Fine Art, where gallerists Leslie-Claire Spillman and Amy Blackwell’s “artist-centered and community-accessible” space hosts shows by local, national, and international artists.
When you get to Julia Street, the first block to your left kicks off the highly-concentrated galleries of the ADNO. Gryder Gallery offers a space for contemporary experimentation by both well-established and emerging artists, particularly those whose work explores larger global and philosophical questions. Across the Street, The Degas Gallery emphasizes “fine contemporary paintings and drawings characterized by vibrant color and surface texture,” as a nod to its namesake. The Guess-McCall Gallery displays modern art ranging from New Orleans streetscapes to cheeky illustrations and abstracts. Across from that, New Orleans-born visual artist George Schmidt’s Gallery and Studio exhibits his locally-focused “anti-modernist” paintings and drawings. Gallery 600 Julia at the end of the block cycles in exhibitions by popular local artists in its front rooms and maintains a large and varied assortment of works by other artists across its walls, often stretching floor-to-ceiling.
Continuing down Julia in the direction of the river will put you at Ariodante Contemporary Crafts, which cycles in an eclectic variety of paintings, jewelry, sculpture, and “lagniappe” by local artists and craftspeople. Further down the block, Callan Contemporary emphasizes figurative and abstract sculpture and paintings by mid-career and emerging artists from America and across the world.
Once you pass Magazine Street, you’ll come to Ibis Contemporary Art Gallery, a newer gallery opened in 2021 that hosts solo and group exhibitions by both affiliate and guest artists—last year, solo exhibitions of Katrina Andry and Hannah Chalew’s works were featured among Ibis’s varied and elevated curations. Gallery co-owner Louis Marinaro’s Landscapes in Relief is currently on display alongside other exhibits, which sadly will be Ibis’s last, as the gallery has announced its closure in late June of this year.
Next door is longstanding contemporary art staple Arthur Roger Gallery, which opened in 1978 shortly after the CAC, just as the New Orleans art scene was gaining momentum. The gallery’s founder and namesake was instrumental in the early forming of the ADNO, and since the 1980s Arthur Roger Gallery has frequently participated in national and international art events like the Chicago International Art Exhibition (now called EXPO Chicago). Arthur Roger was also a catalyst for organizing the highly-successful Louisiana Arts Exposition at the 1984 World’s Fair. Throughout its history, Arthur Roger Gallery has hosted exhibitions by many of the Crescent City’s most influential pioneering contemporary artists, and continues to represent the estates of New Orleans legacy artists including George Durea, John T. Scott, Ida Kohlmeyer, and others. When the gallery made its fortieth anniversary in 2017, Roger donated his personal collection of contemporary art spanning from 1970 until today to the New Orleans Museum of Art, which was described by NOMA Director Susan Taylor as “transformative”. Arthur Roger Gallery continues to be an important home for contemporary art in the city, featuring exhibitions by important long-active locals like Douglas Bourgeois, as well as emerging artists and creative group shows.
Continuing towards the river will land you at the Ferrara Showman Gallery, co-owned by artist and activist Jonathan Ferrara and curator and art historian Matthew Weldon Showman, who describe their space as, “a commercial gallery with a public conscience.” Founded in 1998, this is also one of the more established galleries on Julia, with a commitment to showcasing pioneering local and international artists whose work is centered on a larger mission and message. Like Arthur Roger, the Ferrara Showman Gallery has garnered a reputation in the larger art world beyond New Orleans through collaborations and exhibitions with museums and art institutions across the country and world.
Further down near the end of the ADNO stretch is LeMieux Galleries, another long-standing staple that made its fortieth anniversary last year. From its inception, LeMieux has emphasized local and “third coast” artists, but since changing ownership in 2015 when gallery employees Christy Wood and Jordan Blanton purchased the gallery, LeMieux’s scope has widened to include artists from across the South and to place a greater focus on emerging artists.