Different Forms of Art in New Orleans

Any time post Art (Inner)

Art is something that takes time and skill to tune. I see art everyday in places I go. Every place I went in New Orleans had art. Every piece of art had unique taste. Some art work was perfect for the inner nerd in me. One of the few female artists on the street was selling her work and I wish I got her name because she was awesome. The art piece had the Smash Bros. characters at a table. I thought it was cute and would be perfect for one of my friends. I would say it would look great in my room, but it does not go with my current color scheme. I liked the picture because it was a piece that reminded me of friendship and being together. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The beauty of art is that it can be a visual representation of emotions and experiences.

There were tons of art galleries in the city. Many of them are unique just like their pieces. There were a few pieces by Esther Barend that I enjoyed. A lot of her pieces had females in them. The pictures all look like they consisted of mosaic texture, but they were painted. I feel that these pictures mean that women have so many things going on in their lives. Even though they have all these things in life, but they can hold themselves together. Women should be strong and not let people take advantage of them. I loved her work, I just wish I was able to afford it.

Anytime Post (Outer)

New Orleans has so much history and this history connects to art work. The art is in the architecture, parks, stores, and art galleries. The galleries over the buildings have trellises and fencing that have its own art them. The St. Louis Cathedral had a ton of vary beautiful pieces of art on the walls. They were the stained-glass windows about New Orleans and Jesus. The Convent had a piece art that was created by the whole following when it was first started. This piece of art was beautiful because everyone pitched in and gave sacred stones and metals to help create it. Another Piece that was nice was this acrylic painted tree that was in one of the galleries. I believe the texture was created from plaster put on the canvas and painting over or using thicker blobs of the thick paint to put on the piece. The tree leaves were orange like my hair and the trunk was a light brown. The background was blue like the sky. It was very beautiful. The piece of art I found everywhere in the city was that blue dog. They never had the name of artist posted where it was at. The city is full of so many animals and it is no surprise that here is a lot of art. I love it because I do not think there is enough appreciation for animals in our daily lives. I love some of the pieces that have the pieces of agate and other precious stones connected to them. The pieces were created by James Vilona, they were functional pieces. There was am agate lamp that was very pretty and would match my room, but I could not afford it. Art was a part of many of the things in my daily life here in New Orleans. It was a great experience seeing a lot of it.

The Music Scene (Inner and Outer)

Outer Journey

The music in the city was everywhere. Every single place on Bourbon and Frenchmen street had live bands. These bands ranged from jazz to rock and roll. There was also karaoke in some places like the Kat’s Meow. Bourbon street is a combination of clubs and bars. The Jazz clubs were very nice to go in. It was hard to experience some of the places because they do open at certain times and I was too tired. The best places to hear music are just on the streets. The streets have performers that are independent. Some of the people are good and some of them are not the best. There was one street performer that walked up to the class and tried to rap. He was not the best person doing it, but maybe with a little bit of a bit and tweaking he could be decent. There were street bands playing music and it was very good to experience. It is hard to say what street they are on because one day they could be in one are and the next day be somewhere else.

The Frenchmen street places had a variety of music, but jazz was the most common. I liked the people at the Spotted Cat. They had a jazz band play. BB Kings was the best when it came to having music and food. Having both food and music makes a huge difference in how well I like a place. The bands changed occasionally, but they interact with the crowd. The rest of the places I went to didn’t interact well with the crowd. Once the band knew that there were celebrating their birthday, he pulled them on stage. I enjoyed that because not all of them interact like that. Normally I like pop and alternative music, so listening to jazz and other genres was a nice change.

Anytime music (Inner)

Music is the heart and life of the city. Music is a large part my life as it is part of New Orleans. I listen to rock music when I need to have lively music for my work out. I listen to classical when I am studying or writing a paper. I listen to pop music when I wake up to get ready for the day. Music is important to how I function in the day. I love music because it helps people express how they feel and what they do. I love the focus that some of these people must put time into making the music. Some people are more musically inclined than I am, I wish I would have learned a bit before I graduated high school.

Before coming to this city, I knew that music was important. There are people who spend their whole life in New Orleans performing to make a living. I like that do what they love for work. I hope to get to that point in my life that I can do the same. We went to BB Kings restaurant and the band playing was Willie Lockett & the Blues Krewe, they were the springy bunch who took two of the girls on stage for their birthday. They made the music have a home feel because of their invitation on stage. The music in the city made me feel for the city. The Jazz is important in the history because it was made in New Orleans. The music it self made this trip worth coming to.

Good Bye New Orleans (Outer)

For our last day in New Orleans we meet at the Café Du Monde. I did not get to see my new friend Patsy Klein before we left. She was not there to see me. I wanted to give her my apple. Hopefully my friend has a good life. I did not go and eat the beignets at the Café Du Monde before we left. I did how ever go to Starbucks to get a dragon fruit refresher. It was a bright purple colored tea beverage. It was iced and very sweet. After getting my tea we went to visit our favorite place that we went to. I was unable to go to my original place that I enjoyed because they were not open. My favorite place That I went to was Voodoo Authentica. That store had amazing staff and the selection was organized well with the offering tables.

My second favorite place I went to was Jackson Square. The Jackson Square is perfect for cheap entertainment. The entertainment is good, some of the street performers are remind me of acrobats. They can flip and jump everywhere on the court. Some of the stunts they perform look very painful. One person flopped on his back, which made me wince, but he got back up. Another thing about the square I liked was that it made finding places easier. I was unable to figure out things without it. The are that was posted for sale around the fence was amazing. It reminded me of when I used to paint all the time. The art varies depending on the day. There are contemporary style of art and there are some that are very abstract. I bought a piece from a sweet lady. The piece is like The Last Supper of Jesus, but it is full of Super Smash Bros. characters. It is perfect for my friend who loves playing Nintendo games.

The last thing we did in New Orleans was board the train. This experience had changed my palette of exploring for the better. I was able to try many different types of foods and places. I would recommend coming to any person who likes adventure and getting out of their comfort zone.

Good Bye Is Not the End (Inner)

I woke up so early today that I am still tired. This trip had been a little tiring for me. I am more introverted, so the large groups of people drained me a lot. There were a lot of times with this trip that I had to sit in the room a little by myself or go out to the pool to relax. I was unable to fully get in the pool but I kept dipping my feet in it. The pool is always a way relaxing me.

Today was the last day of being here in New Orleans. This has been the first real trip of me being by myself. It was a little hard since we had to travel in groups to prevent running into issues with theft or kidnapping. I am used to going places by myself because it is an easier way to experience the places. I like being in groups of two because it is easier to converse with people. When I was in groups with people, I was unable to talk and come up with ideas of what to do. I did not feel comfortable with saying things to do. They were a nice group, I just did not want them to not like me. I should have spoke up a little more when I wanted to do something.

The most interesting thing for me on this trip was the Jackson Square. On the square, I saw so many different street performers and groups. There were people rode unicycles and juggled. It was so fascinating watching them do these things. I know I probably I would never be able to do these things in my life. I am a huge klutz and can barely walk on the street without tripping. These people on the square take time to perform their craft that people pay to see them.

I hope while coming here that I learn how to be open with people. Being in a room with a person I have only met twice was a way of making me learn how to share places with people. The group of people I have spent time with have helped me adventure through the city. The service I have received with people have shown me that I am able to be more relaxed and not rush to get to places. I hope that I am able to visit New Orleans again one day.

My Last Full Day (Outer)

I loved the food in the open air French Market. I had gator bites. They had a little bit of a kick in spice, but they were so good. The gator was on top of small bread slices. We went to get our medium readings at the Voodoo Authentica shop. I loved it, I would recommend it to other folks. The shop was very eye opening. I hope to visit again one day. After the readings we went to the Voodoo Museum. The Voodoo Museum is in a small house and filled with so many artifacts. I could feel so much energy in this building. It was more of a positive vibe than a negative vibe. It was full of informative artifacts of the the voodoo religion. We had so many different types of tours about the religion. It was so much better to see some of the the artifacts. It told the story better than just hearing it from a story. I am glad that we went to the museum. After we left the museum we went to back to Jackson Square. We saw a lot of street performers dancing. They were extremely mind boggling by the way they moved their body.
This has been an amazing trip. I love being able to visit and learn as much as I can. This is a city of much beauty as much as it having an ugly side. The city unlike others embraces the ugly. The city acknowledges the tragedies by honoring them in museums and history. 

Free Exploration (Inner journey)

Today was our free day. It was so amazing to have the ability to sleep in if I wanted to. I did not though because I could not sleep. I was able to go to breakfast on my own. I was able to be independent and sit and think. Sitting by the pool was extremely relaxing. I was able to think about my experience in the time in New Orleans. I thought about all the people who dress the way they want to. I dressed the way I wanted in a beautiful dress, but I did not wear make up or do my hair. I love this city, I have so many emotions. There are some good and some bad energies in the here.
I met up with some of my new friends in the hotel lobby. We went to the Voodoo Authentica for a medium reading. It was very invigorating and some closure. Charlie the medium is very good when it comes to predicting my life. He is very good. He told me about my love life and my future career.
He talked about some things that are very true about my life. He told me I like to be ten steps ahead. He also said I need to try and live in the now instead of the future. He is right I should live in the now because if I don't I may miss too much. I think that while in New Orleans people should visit a medium at Voodoo Authentica, they are very kind and great. I need to thank my ancestors for leading me to where I am today. I think that I am better than when I first came here.
I loved being here in the Big Easy, but I miss being home with my family and my friends.

Sunday Fun Day(outer journey)

Today we went through a lot of the city. We went a haunted history tour, the Presbytere, and the Cabildo. The Presbytere was a beautiful building full of hurricane Katrina and Mardi Gras history. The outfits were very beautiful and colorful. It had a history of the outfits, floats, and the crowns. It showed how they entertained the crowds. The Katrina half was very powerful. The museum had many videos of what happened and then the aftermath. The video in the museum with a dog drowning made me super depressed. One exhibit showed what the hospital staff did during the hurricane because this is when people started to loot the hospitals for drugs and supplies. The Cabildo had the New Orleans history museum half. I liked most of the museum, but the third floor. The third floor showed the evolution of the maps of the area and the line of the parishes. The first floor had a small history of everything from history to food. It was super cool to see the evolution of the musical instruments.
The second floor showed a larger history of the city.

It had more of the wars and building history of the city. When walking around the city we walked into this band and they are really awesome. They were chilling in front of the Presbytere and they were there every day this week. We walked along the riverfront to go to the hotel. The weather today was so amazing. The last thing we did was the haunted ghost tour. We walked through the city for this. The sun started to set and it started to get cold. I loved the haunted tour. It gave me an idea for what I may do when I come here again in the future.