LUNA Fête lights up New Orleans for the holidays
La Maison production’s “New Orleans,” an impressive display of visual effects and colorful movements projected on Gallier Hall’s facade along side surprisingly well matched Jazz that thrilled most audience members, which played at 6,7,8, and 9 p.m. Photo credit: Osama Ayyad
December 10, 2016
More than 100 people gathered at Lafayette Square to attend the first day of LUNA Fête,an outdoor art exhibit that displays work using a spectrum of light, sound and color.
Hosted by the New Orleans Art Council, Lindsay Glatz, the council’s communication director said that the event aimed to “bring together Hollywood South, the Silicone Bayou, and New Orleans contemporary artists.”
The event, which is scheduled to be open to the public from 6-9 p.m until, Saturday, Dec. 10, also featured local food and art vendors.
Artists, attendees and vendors agreed that the event was a great way to get more New Orleanians to participate in the art scene.
Jean Manale, a native New Orleanian and photographer, displayed her New Orleans themed photos for sale at the event for since LUNA Fête 2015.
“Its beautiful lights make the event what it is,” Manale said. “It’s also family friendly, and anything like that is a plus.”
Visitors got the chance to see Brennan Steele’s “Titan the Bison,” which is featured on Space Viking’s Mardi Gras float, is a 20-foot bison made of lights that interact with audience members and music that Graham Holly DJed live.
Steele said he thinks the event was a great social experience, and he was pleased to expose New Orleans to information as art.
“It’s not something you can see often,” Steele said.
Among the visually stimulating artworks was Martin L. Benson’s “The Venus Well.” Observers had to climb a three step platform to look down what seems to be a well; more than once, visitors exclaimed “wow” at an concoction of geometric shapes and fluid colors that seemed to go on forever.
Benson said the opportunity to bring “technology and art, through light, to New Orleans is amazing.”
Marly Tran, a transplant from Vermont, had only one complaint.
“I couldn’t get enough,” Tran said.
According to Glatz at the end of the event, LUNA Fête keeps one of the artworks it displays as a permanent fixture in New Orleans’ less lit areas. This year’s permanent contribution is Michel Varisco’s “Turning,” rotating metal cylinders etched with the Mississippi riverbanks and dotted with blue lights that light up as you rotate them. The artwork’s permanent position hasn’t been completely decided, but it is sure to be in the vicinity of Broad Street.
