After our incredible night at WYES Studios in New Orleans, Louisiana Through Wild Eyes was officially on the move again.
Our next stop was Twin Steeples Creative Arts Center in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, a place that both Dave and I already knew well. We had each exhibited there previously, just never together.
This time, we were bringing Louisiana Through Wild Eyes with us.
And after everything that happened at WYES, I had some work to do first.
When a Traveling Show Keeps Changing
One of the interesting challenges of making Louisiana Through Wild Eyes a traveling exhibition is that the show doesn’t simply get packed up at one venue and recreated exactly the same way at the next.
We’re selling the artwork along the way.
At WYES, I sold around nine original paintings in one night. Obviously, that’s a wonderful problem for an artist to have, but suddenly our next exhibition was coming up and I needed more paintings!
The turnaround between shows meant getting back to work pretty quickly. I wanted to make sure we still had enough pieces to create a full exhibition at Twin Steeples, so that meant looking through more of Dave‘s photographs, choosing new subjects and painting additional pieces.
It’s become one of my favorite things about this entire project.
Every stop is a little different.
Some paintings sell and leave the collection. New paintings take their place. Dave has new photographs. I find new images I want to interpret. So if someone visits Louisiana Through Wild Eyes at more than one location, they’re not necessarily going to see the exact same exhibition twice.
The show keeps evolving as it travels.
Two Little Churches With a Big Story
Twin Steeples itself is a really special place.
The venue was created from two small, abandoned churches that originally sat on opposite corners of a small community. The churches were moved and turned so that they face each other, with a courtyard between them and fencing connecting the property into one arts and event space.
Hence the name, Twin Steeples.
One of the churches, with its beautiful stained glass, is primarily used as a gallery. The other is used for events, meetings, parties, weddings and other gatherings.
Our exhibition was originally supposed to be in the gallery church.
Then, about a month before our opening, lightning struck.
A Last-Minute Change of Plans
The gallery church caught fire during a lightning storm.
It was incredibly sad, and for a while we weren’t even sure whether our exhibition would be able to happen.
Thankfully, the team at Twin Steeples found a way.
Instead of canceling the show, they moved Louisiana Through Wild Eyes into the other church.
It was another reminder that with a traveling exhibition, you have to be willing to adapt.
We had already gone from replacing paintings that sold at WYES to figuring out how to hang the exhibition in a completely different space than the one we originally planned for.
And it worked.
A Packed Little Church
Our opening ended up being a wonderful night.
I would estimate that around 50 people came, and in a small space, 50 people feels like a LOT of people!
We made some sales, saw familiar faces and met plenty of new ones. Dave had friends there. I had friends there. And the people at Twin Steeples were, as always, incredibly kind and welcoming.
That’s one of the things I remember most about that stop.
Twin Steeples is a beautiful venue, but what really makes it special is the people behind it. They put together a lovely event for us despite everything they had been dealing with after the fire.
We’re incredibly grateful that they found a way to make our exhibition happen.
And I’m also very happy to see the damaged church being repaired. The restoration has been going well, and I can’t wait to eventually walk back into that beautiful gallery space again.
Painting Surrounded by the Exhibition
The Twin Steeples stop also gave me an opportunity to do something a little different with Louisiana Through Wild Eyes.
While the exhibition was up, I hosted a watercolor paint party right there in the space.
We painted one of the subjects represented in the exhibition, which was really fun because everyone was creating their own version while surrounded by Dave’s photography and my finished watercolors.
In a way, it brought the whole idea of Louisiana Through Wild Eyes full circle.
Dave starts with an animal he sees through his camera.
I take his photograph and interpret it through watercolor.
Then a group of painters gets to look at that inspiration and create their own interpretations.
Same subject. Completely different sets of eyes.
Never Quite the Same Show Twice
By the time we left Twin Steeples, I think I was starting to understand something about this project that I hadn’t really anticipated when Dave and I began.
Louisiana Through Wild Eyes isn’t one exhibition traveling around Louisiana.
It’s an exhibition that changes as it travels around Louisiana.
Paintings sell. New paintings are created. Different venues change the way the work is displayed. Different audiences respond to different pieces. Sometimes we have a documentary premiere in a television studio. Sometimes we’re packed into a tiny former church. Sometimes I’m teaching a paint party surrounded by the artwork.
Every stop has developed its own personality.
And honestly, I think that’s part of the fun.
If you’ve seen Louisiana Through Wild Eyes once, you haven’t necessarily seen it.
Because by the next stop, there’s a good chance we’ll have something new to show you.
We are booking stops for Louisiana Through Wild Eyes in 2027! Know of somewhere we should exhibit? Contact me!