“There’s so much here to see,” says Chelsea Norris, co-director of Ann Connelly Fine Art, a gallery frequently hired by businesses, health care facilities and other organizations to create onsite art programs. “There’s so much regional talent, and we’ve also been able to attract a growing number of significant artists to the community to create works here.” Here are a few the gallery has helped foster that you can enjoy across town.
Angela Gregory bas-relief panels
Watermark Hotel
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The historic Watermark Hotel on Third Street holds the work of sculptor Angela Gregory, a pioneering artist from New Orleans who trained in France and worked throughout the 20th century, creating many public commissions. In the late 1940s, the building’s first occupant, Louisiana National Bank, hired Gregory to create eight bas-relief panels depicting the state’s economic history, including its natural resources, transportation and commerce. The detailed murals are a fine example of Gregory’s remarkable craftsmanship, says Norris, adding that the rest of the art in the Watermark’s lobby “sort of morphed around the murals.” The collection includes edgy, lenticular works that seem to shape-shift as the viewer changes position.
KEF! mural
The Overpass Merchant
Murals are big in Baton Rouge, thanks to the Walls Project and the previous work of orthodontist Kevin Harris, who recruited international muralists and street artists to contribute to the Museum of Public Art in Old South Baton Rouge. Norris says that foundation has helped Ann Connelly Fine Art successfully recruit other internationally known muralists, including KEF!, a German street artist who the gallery brought to Baton Rouge in 2017 to create both public and private commissions. Spot KEF!’s fanciful mural, complete with signature curlicues, on the Overpass Merchant’s exterior wall at Perkins Road and Christian Street.
Little Treasures Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital
Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital is chock-full of visually appealing art and design meant to help children and families feel more comfortable in times of distress. One piece, “Little Treasures,” intends to connect with kids through its accessible scale and diversity of images, Norris says. “We tried to be really thoughtful when we commissioned it,” she says. “It’s a grid of 120 tiny little paintings, installed floor to ceiling—so a young person can engage with the work,” she says. “We worked with artists from all over the region to source the works, as well as people who work in the hospital who are also artists.”
Meditation Art Wall (Lord, Hear Our Prayers) by Stephen Wilson
Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center
Part of Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center’s Healing Arts program, the Meditation Art Wall is a stunning 22-foot piece designed by Baton Rouge stained glass artist Stephen Wilson. Visible from the lobby, it reflects and refracts light in beautiful jewel tones, Norris says. A portion of the work also forms a wall in a quiet meditation room on the other side of the lobby, where small groups of patients and family members can pause to reflect on their cancer journeys while taking in the moving design.
FALL RADAR
The Walls Project
“Our public art program is excited to start mural production on another downtown visual landmark while expanding our apprenticeship and STEAM programming. With the celebration of our 10-year anniversary behind us, our grassroots public art program has exciting interactive art installations on the horizon.”
—Morgan Udoh, public arts program coordinator
Louisiana Arts and Science Museum
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“LASM’s newest exhibition, ‘Diamonds of History: Mighty Women by Ashley Longshore,’ on display through January 2023, highlights the contributions, struggles, and triumphs of 29 influential women from the past and today, depicted by New Orleans artist Ashley Longshore. She has also created a colorful ‘Gem’ painting that will debut at the museum to highlight the women whose portraits are on view and are true ‘Diamonds of History,’ whose persistent sparkle will never fade.”
—Serena Pandos, executive director
This article was originally published in the October 2022 issue of 225 magazine.