On a wet October night, globe string lights and the glow of a bonfire light up the courtyard of Ephemeral Gallery. People with umbrellas in tow filter into the gallery for the first time in years for a one-night art show.
Husband and wife David Cano and Kathryn Hunter held seven bustling art events here between 2007 and 2010. The 18th Street building just outside downtown helped launch popular local events like the Surreal Salon and Uncommon Thread Wearable Art Show. It has been a workshop for Cano’s steel architectural fabrication business since 2000. Hunter’s print shop, Blackbird Letterpress, occupied the workshop’s office space until she moved it last year. That cleared up some room for them to host events again.
Sculptural works by Peter Smith at the Ephemeral Gallery. Staff photo.
“It’s not the kind of space you’d find in Baton Rouge,” Hunter says.
Their “Art at the Shop” event was a labor of love, and Ephemeral Gallery is just the right space for it, with its industrial-style setup, cement floors, cinder brick walls and high ceilings. Sculptures by Michael Williams and Peter Smith are set in the entrance. One of Smith’s installations features white ceramic gas masks mounted to a wall with tubes curling out from the mouthpiece like elephant trunk.
Art lovers mingle in small groups around works or gather at the bar. Some are dressed in costumes for this pre-Halloween event—Princess Leia, a bat in a black cape and a cat in a white sweater and white overalls are in the crowd. Progressive-math rock band Relatives hits its first note, the sound of the guitar reverberating through the building.
“Because of the rain, we weren’t sure that people were coming,” Hunter says, while working the bar. “But we’re really excited and honored that everybody’s here.”
Meanwhile, three people are making sense of one of John Lawson’s mixed media pieces, made of Mardi Gras beads, plastic alphabet magnets, Lego Star Wars figures and other odds and ends.
“I’m probably the oldest artist here, but there’s a lot of hardcore talent in here right now,” says Lawson, a British expat who came to Baton Rouge as a college student. “The two owners are just genius.”
Several of Dawn Black’s watercolor, gouache and ink portraits are in the former letterpress space. Black is here, too, wearing skeleton makeup. She says Hunter and Cano purposefully curated works from artists whose aesthetics would jibe. “They’re artists in their own right, and they want to get people together and have conversations,” she says.
LSU printmaking professor Leslie Friedman’s bright, colorful prints also hang in the old letterpress space. “I’m pretty new to Baton Rouge,” the Philadelphia-born printmaker says. “I’ve been here a little more than a year, so I was really honored to be asked.”
In between pouring drinks, Cano talks about his and Hunter’s early dreams for the gallery. “I always wanted to do an art show here, and she helped me put together the first one,” he says. “I’d love to see this part of town develop a little bit more. I’ve invested everything I have in this part of town.”
David Cano and Kathryn Hunter. “Hopefully we can get that momentum going again. I’m really hoping it’s beneficial for this part of the city.” — David Cano.
Indeed, part of what caused Ephemeral Gallery’s hiatus for several years was the renovations the couple were doing to another building just a block away. Cano and Hunter converted the second floor of an old Main Street building for their home, with the ground floor offering studio space for Hunter to host workshops.
They are the quiet leaders of a resurgence of activity in what is known as “Downtown East”—which spans roughly from I-110 to 19th Street—with creative firms and local businesses refurbishing old warehouses for new uses.
Sculptor Michael Williams is at the Ephemeral Gallery event, where one of his sculptures stands in the workshop entrance. He and Cano met when Williams was a master’s student at LSU. “I’ve never been able to show at the Ephemeral Gallery before,” the Virginia native says. “I’ve been here many times for exhibitions. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to show my work.”
Ephemeral Gallery is just that—ephemeral. The show shut down at 11 p.m., and the artwork came down soon after. The next time the Ephemeral Gallery opens, other artists will be showing their work.
Just days after returning the space to a workshop again, Cano and Hunter are thinking up plans to curate art for additional shows in the spring and fall of 2018.
“We plan on getting back on our twice-a-year schedule. We’ve already started working on planning the spring event,” Cano says. “Hopefully we can get that momentum going again. I’m really hoping it’s beneficial for this part of the city.” Find The Ephemeral Gallery on Facebook.
This article was originally published in the December 2017 issue of 225 Magazine.
