|
The water began to recede, but our next big fear came from fires and looters. This block of ante-bellum homes burned in the Lower Garden District. It is a block down from were my friends Tim Burke, Drake Fuller, and Brent and Stacey Cole once lived.
|
On Friday August 26th, Hurricane Katrina was strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico and was a threat to hit New Orleans. We have evacuated for previous storms, and made hotel reservations in Houston and Memphis. This map shows how to leave the city.
|
Adam Ridge, Kellie, and I purchased this 100-year-old building on 12th night 2005, and spent 8 months doing a complete renovation. My studio is downstairs; Adam's home is above. We were scheduled for our final “open walled” inspection on Monday, Aug29th
|
|
We are located Uptown N.O., directly across from Freret Hardware, ½ mile from Tulane and Loyola Universities, and 1 block from Dunbars Restaurant. Katrina became a Category 5 storm on Saturday. It took us 17hrs to board up our home/condo and studio.
|
Abby Dog, Max Cat, Kellie Wife, and I evacuated at 4am Sunday the 28th, bound for Memphis. The reversed highway or “Contra-flow” worked going north (6hrs to Memphis), but stalled going west. Many took 18 hours to arrive in Houston, normally a 6hr drive….
|
Our next-door neighbors enjoyed our “home and armed” board, and added ”so are we” to theirs. As with past evacuations, we planned to gone for a few days. Little did we know, our "silly" messages would save our homes...?
|
|
Our mayor and local officials called for a mandatory evacuation of ALL residence, but more than 30% stayed behind. My neighbors Trevor and John stayed with their families. They had no way out. I do not know what happened to them. I miss them.
|
We watched Katrina roll in from a Memphis hotel room on Monday morning August 29th. Once the storm had passed, a Doctor friend of ours who stayed (Jeff Bejma) informed us our neighborhood was dry. We went to bed that night thinking all was well…
|
We were awake at 2am as a hospital administrator informed CNN about “white caps of water on Canal Street” from a breach in the 17th street canal. Our hearts sank. Our phones rang with calls from terrified friends; we all knew our city was about to flood..
|
|
Daybreak saw our worst fears realized; storm surge had caused floodwall failures. NEW ORLEANS WAS FLOODING! We left that morning for my parents’ house in Arlington Heights Illinois (a Chicago Suburb) where we would spend the next six weeks.
|
We watched from my folk’s house, as our beloved city slowly filled with water and looters ran wild. America did nothing for days. It was like watching your best friend slowly die. I will never forget those horrible days.
|
Not sure what day we received this, but it sure made us laugh… This image spawned a new cottage industry.... type in "the beer looter. com" for more...
|
|
Days past, with the national media showing only devastation. Dry ground is not sexy. We had no idea what condition our house was in. Luckily, a photographer found humor in our graffiti and posted this picture on his website. Our home was safe...so far...
|
Some our friends were forced to stay behind; Dr.Jeff Bejma was at Childrens Hospital, as armed gangs fought gun battles outside attempting to steal drugs from the hospital pharmacy. He escaped a few days later to Memphis, still in his bloody scrubs.
|
Dr. Adam Whatley was at Charity Hospital. He was rescued with 3 other doctors and a sick patiet on Wednesday by a medical sales rep. This Saint (?) used his own boat, and floated through the Iberville Housing Projects twice to save his clients.
|
|
Dr. Rusty Rodriguez was boated out of Charity Hospital on Friday by Texas Fish and Wildlife officers. We had helped each other board up windows; I left town as he took charge of Charity’s Chemical Dependency and Prisoner Wings. He lost 14lbs...
|
Coast Guard Captain Louie Parks could not fly his Dolphin Helicopter (hernia surgery). Sorry Louie.... He coordinated air traffic, as thousands were rescued from rooftops. He flew for Hurricane Rita when it hit Texas and Louisiana on Sept 24th.
|
Levee failures flooded 80% of New Orleans with salt water. After 1878, the Army Corp of Engineers used pumps, levees, and canals to drain and protect new development. Open this image, and look for streets, open the next and look for water.
|
|
Find the land along the Mississippi river and other gray (dry) sections; these parts of the city were NOT FLOODED! !!!!!! This includes my house/condo, most of our historic neighborhoods, and sections of Jefferson Parish without levee or canal failure.
|
Our studio on Freret St.(blue dot) had 2' of water; our home on General Taylor St.(red dot) was dry. Flooding occurred on lands that were once marsh or swamp, protected by levees designed and built by the Army Corps of Engineers/ the Federal Government.
|
Tulane (Black) flooded cold shop-open// Wet Dog Glass-flooded- Open ?// N.O. School of Glass (pink) dry -open// Inferno and Vella Vetro (green) roof/water damage will re-open // Rosetree (yellow) Dry -open// I start rent on a new studio Feb. (blue)
|
|
We were fortunate to evacuate; others had no choice or were stupid /stubborn enough to stay. As of 3/22/06 bodies continue to be found, with thousands still listed as missing. At least 1,300 of my neighbors died, as our Government failed at ALL levels
|
I left Chicago as a kid for college at UWRF, and the Twin Cities (St. Paul/ Minneapolis) much larger glass "scene". I returned 18 years later as a "refugee" to find a thriving glass community in a public access studio called Chicago Hot Glass.
|
I used glass blowing as therapy at Chicago Hot Glass. It was good to get back to my roots. This work is now for sale, and must be sold to pay for my kiln fired and printmaking therapy. Go to Andy's Chicago Work one page back on this site.
|
|
Many thanks to CHG members: Jeremy Scidmore, Dean Allison, Daniel staples, Andrew Lussie, Samantha Lipscomb, Pearl Dick, Dan Ellis, Ben, Drew, and many others. Most importantly I need to thank my trusty assistant Ian Duncan. "good game bitch"....
|
Andy’s Broccoli Rule: “Non gun owning individuals who do not enjoy “camping” in inner city environments, shall not reside in cities that cannot provide fresh produce”. After 6 weeks, our home had power and we had the ability to purchase fresh broccoli…
|
We gratefully returned home October 8th, to 2,600 National Guard troops, 1,600 New Orleans Police Officers and Firefighters, and countless other volunteers and rescue workers from all over the world. THANK YOU!!!
|
|
We returned to our city in ruins... Looters had looted, but were nowhere to be found.
|
Windows facing northwest were blow out...
|
Trees were blown over, and houses flooded...
|
|
Cars were smashed by trees and soaked in salt water...
|
Houses were blown over...
|
Steeples were blown off churches...
|
|
Others collapsed before they flooded...
|
The damage was, and still is beyond belief.
|
My studio was blown over by 130 mph winds, and flooded by two feet of water.
|
|
Freret Hardware had been looted of $200,000+ in inventory, and flooded with 3 feet of water. Insured for fire/water, not for theft; thieves came in before the water came up. They re-opened in October, selling tools and supplies from a tent and a truck.
|
Our home is actually a condo. Our "complex" is a block of 100+ year old homes surrounding a large courtyard and swimming pool. Our little "Melsose Place" pool was a very successful mosquito farm.
|
Our refrigerator was off for 6 weeks in 90+ degree heat. It leaked the dreaded "death sludge" on our kitchen floor. “Nothing says welcome home like maggots”. Once hatched these “sesame seeds” grew into adult “coffin flies”; their name fits their purpose…
|
|
FEMA put the Army Corps of Engineers in charge of the initial clean up. Few local companies were hired, and only as sub-contract... Out of state companies were paid $40/ yard for trash removall, paying local sub-contractors $7 / hour to do the work.
|
With little tax revenue, 3000 city employees were fired. New Orleans now borrows money to provide VERY LIMITED city services. As of 3/22/06 the Federal Government continues to ignore our plight. We are required to pay back these FEMA loans...
|
Our first trash pick-up came 2 months after the storm, we are now lucky if it comes once a week. Mail comes? Flooded sections of the city are still filled with huge piles of trash; each one tells a story. This is plaster relief from a collapsed church.
|
|
There are 2 schools of thought on how to remove a rotting fridge: 1) Tape the doors shut, and move while "death sludge" spills from the drip tray. 2) Open the doors and QUICKLY bag the mush/food before moving; HURRY EVERY SECOND COUNTS! We tried method 2.
|
My neighbor tried "tape and move", but bent the door to his deep freezer permanently open in transit. He was nice enough to put it out on the street still full of meat and seafood, where it remained for the next 5+ weeks. That red stuff is fly poisson...
|
Abandoned and rotting refrigerators have many hidden uses. This one advertises the re-opened French Market. A temporary appliance dumpsite caught fire the first week in January, and burned for days. The smell? WOW!!!!!!!!!...
|
|
These were used to wish us happy holidays. As of 3/22/06, most appliances have been removed from our city streets, but thousands remain in the 200,000+ un-inhabitable homes. YES, 200,000+ HOMES!!! The scale of destruction is mind numbing...
|
I bravely tried to save our fridge with: bleach, oxy clean, hydrogen peroxide, charcoal, newspaper, baking soda, un-uptainium, ect. Alas, our freezer never froze, and we now own a new fridge. We also traded our mosquito farm for a swimming pool..
|
Open this photo. Search and rescue teams use a painted language; the SPCA rescued a black cat inside on 9/27/05. A number below X indicates the # of dead (people) inside. I find it disrespectful of my dead neighbors to shoot a picture of a # < X
|
|
My friend Georgia Gresham is a Theater Professor and Department Chair at Loyola, who wisely evacuated. Her Lakeveiw home flooded with 8 feet of water. Kellie, Georgia, her sisters Linda Arthur and Marsha Walsmith, and I salvaged what we could......
|
It's hard to convey the emotions one feels when confronted with destruction on this scale. Many take one look at their ruined home, and leave never to return... Others like Georgia, put on a hazmat suite and a R-95 respirator and get to work.
|
Words do not do justice; pictures give only a glimpse to loss. Most of what we saved was glass and ceramics, and one very lucky Oriental Rug. PICTURES ARE REPLACEABLE with a digital back-up. STOP USING SLIDES!!! Too many artists lost too much work...
|
|
Gene Koss (UWRF Alum) began New Orleans Glass scene Tulane University in 1975. Pre Katrina, we were the 2nd largest Glass Community in the U.S. Seattle's is larger, but our cultures are direct opposites; volcanos/ear... vs hurricanes/f...
|
Tulane, like my studio received 24" of water. It destroyed their cold shop and these slumping ovens. Fortunately the hot shop is razzed 4 feet of the ground and was spared the flooding salt water...
|
Gene lost 30 years of drawings, tools, molds, ect. ect. ect. at Tulane. His private studio in Belle Chase was also damaged by hurricane force winds and rain...
|
|
Gene and I had the same professors at UWRF, and I originally came to New Orleans to get an MFA Tulane. But alas I never went; I took a teaching position at the New Orleans School of Glassworks were I remained for 13 years. G.W. has since re-opened.
|
I am determined to help re-build our glass community. Immediately after the storm things looked bleak; Eddie and Angela (Wet Dog) were leaving, Inferno was badly damaged, James Vella was ruined, my studio... Gene even considered moving back to Wisconsin.
|
Outside of Mark Rosenbaum (studio had minor damage) and Mitchell Gaudet (too stubborn and ornery), we all thought about leaving. Luckily time heals wounds; ALL OF US HAVE DECIDED TO STAY! I move into my rented studio soon, with Andy Pollack at my side.
|
|
This is a badly flooded and rusted casting mold by Martin Rambusch for a memorial dedicated to NYC firefighters who died on 9/11. Tulane was planning to cast these in glass when the storm hit. It will be restored and cast.
|
I asked a Red Cross volunteer where he lived. He said "New York City in Lower Manhattan". A long silence followed....... I thanked him for his help; He said "he was here today, the same as we there for him".
|
After asking the Pastor, Brandon Mansell and I saved Jesus from a collapsed Church. She thanked us and sadly said the Church would never reopen. Looting remains a problem, but Jesus now happily lives at Brandon's, not buried in a dumpsite.
|
|
As of 3/22/06 my studio is still in limbo. Tear down/rebuild? Straighten/fix? Insurance settlement? My good friend Dick Huss recently asked, “What the hell are you working on?” My response: “a hands on study on how artists can survive catastrophe..."
|
I audit 1 art class a semester at Loyola; art schools teach theory, but Katrina teaches daily lessons on insurance, legal rights, building codes, grants, and survival. I will find beauty in this chaos, and be stronger from my experiences.
|
I had a thousand of yards of canvas ruined by salty flood waters. I did NOT have flood insurance for my studio contents, but did have it on the studio building. In this picture the cabinets are covered by insurance, while the canvas is not...
|
|
Many thanks to: The Pollack Krasner Foundation, The Artists in Needs Fellowship, The Hope Foundation, The Modest Needs Foundation, and The Craft Emergency Relief Fund or CERF. Without your help, we would have left New Orleans...
|
PLEASE GIVE TO ALL THE FOUNDATIONS I LISTED!!! I could not write this without their support, and many thanks to glassartists... for hosting this site! Want to directly help "glass folks"? Give to CERF; at 20 years old, they know who and how to help..
|
I took two CERF board members on a guided tour of New Orleans Glass studios on 1/15/06. We drove along my newly named "Prozac Trace Highway" (the most depressing road in America) and stopped for this picture of a barge on a bus...
|
|
These levee breaks show only our piece of the devastation. My neighbors to the East (especially those in Mississippi) took the full brunt of Katrina. Many were hit with a 30 foot storm surge, and have suffered more than I can ever imagine...
|
Cornelia took a week long tour of Katrina damage along the Gulf. She has blog documenting her trip... type in www.crafteme... WITH NO SPACES!!!! and find the link to her trip...
|
Mitchell returned to his damaged studio, to find this waterlogged letter thanking him for a CERF donation on his floor. I met all of CERF's staff and most Board Members at SOFA Chicago. They are the "real" deal; YOUR $ DIRECTLY HELPS ARTISTS RECOVER!!
|
|
I love my friends at Chicago Hot Glass and CERF!!! CHG raised close to 6 thousand dollars for CERF in a one night benefit during SOFA. Note to all: I challenge y'all to beat that figure. I will gladly post any attempts or donations on this site.
|
Louisiana makes 1/4 of Americas gasoline, 1/3 of its natural gas, and is home 2/3 of its wetlands. We have been raped by the oil industry, blown by Katrina, flooded by the Army Corps, and LOOSE A FOOTBALL FIELD OF WETLANDS EVERY 1/2 HOUR! Enjoy your SUV
|
As 3/5's of an American (the compromise of 1787 was re-issued for us only), our local elections are on hold. If were Iraqi, we could vote on time, with no loans to rebuild. All 50 states recieve the same % of money from our oil and natural gas revenues.
|
|
Shell, BP, and Exxon-Mobil all had 4rth quarter record profits after Katrina. THE LARGEST IN U.S. HISTORY! Texas, New Mexico, and Alaska get a larger % from their oil and gas revenue, while states that don't allow drilling recieve an equal share of ours.
|
I may be 2/5ths less of an American, but I still watched the Super Bowl, and this was my Super Dome Cake. The plate was a "diorama", complete with cans of Filtered Drinking Water, National Guard troops flooded in Jell-O, and "Lootie" gettin some beers...
|
It was of course Chocolate, but as "red Velvet". We are all still red on the inside.... Unfortunately the Saints lost to FEMA, on the field of frosting inside the Dome of Caramel.
|
|
To the rest of the world it's just another tuesday, but to us it's Christmas morning meets Halloween night..... AKA Mardi Gras. This is a picture taken from my friends Steven and Fran Murray's home on St. Charles Avenue.
|
Our Mardi Gras is NOT A drunken orgy; look into a mirror America THAT'S YOU! Our Mardi Gras is a block party for friends, families, and neighbors. We ride in parades to share trinkets with kids on ladders, while drunken tourists stay in the French1/4.
|
I live here for culture. Our sister cities of Venice and Amsterdam face similar flooding issues, are they worth saving? Who's at fault for Katrina? We are. We are ALL guilty for what happened; now let’s work together and save a 288-year-old American gem
|
|
It's March 31st 2006, they continue to find bodies as they remove debris. The body of a young child and adult were found this week; with more than a thousand still listed as missing... I met this hero and her mom while they were "working" in the Lower 9.
|
There is no roped off “Ground Zero”, and I become a “tourist” once I enter a destroyed neighborhood. I recently met and thanked these two” heroes” on a “trail of tears” tourist trip. I wish I knew their names. If you do, please post!!!!!
|
Bad news- our old studio is now a vacant lot for sale. Want to rebuild, but with increased costs construction and insurance we can't right now. We lost our sweet dog to cancer. Good news: we added sweet "tee" in Sept.
|
|
For all Y'all who believed in me, and most importantly granted me money THANK YOU!!! I am too busy making work to write more than this. Gota run... go to my sketchbook site for details...
|
Thanks to the hard work of Eddy and Angela Bernard, Laurel Pocari, and Carlos Zerba; our Glass Community opened the New Orleans Creative Glass Institute. A non-profit comuntiy based glass education facility. This is were I blown glass.
|
Anyone interested taking clases, attending Friday demonstartions, or helping NOCGI (prononced "Nock-Ge") please call 504-482-6003. Donated fans, tables, and chairs would be a big help!!!!!!!!
|
|
It's April 1 and our new Freret Community Center is open, but as with all of New Orleans rebuilding projects it's slow and under funded... MANY THANKS to Shana, Edetha, and Kate!! Want to "directly"" help?...
|
2+ years later (16.5 in dog or Katrina time); there are problems or solutions, and we can and will save this place by working together. I am one of Gambit Magazines “4O Under 40”, hope to build a new home/studio soon, and have NO free time....
|
|
Artist Portfolios
Glass Art
Andrew Brott's Gallery
Browse Sub-Pages of 
Artist:
Comments on This Gallery Page
Amazing Story
