Art Inner Journey

I enjoy Aaron Westerberg’s art is absolutely breathtaking. It takes me into a separate world where you can imagine being there. He really draws from poems and literature while also adding in the emotional flare that a viewer should feel when looking at the art pieces. The color variation adds dimension and a personal touch to his portraits. The fact that he is painting what looks like real objects is what I love most. I can picture the item that he drew in real time. For instance, he drew a yellow flower that was full of life and value. Each one of his pieces starts out normal around $4500 depending on the number of products used. The background has green, blue, and red oil paints mixed together for more of a contrast against the main object, what looks like a hibiscus. The leaves of the stem are very subtle, but if you look closely you can easily see the veins in them as well as the jagged edges. It reminds me of when I was younger. As a child before my grandma’s multiple sclerosis really took over, she would take myself and my siblings to the garden. She had a hillside full of different variations of flowers that she absolutely adored. There were purple flowers, red flowers, pink, etc. On the side closest to the house she had buried on of her favorite dogs and had a small remembrance stone on top. By the stone she had planted hibiscus flowers as a gesture of love. This painting reminds me of being happy and always taking time to enjoy the beautiful things in life.

Art Outer Journey

New Orleans had more free lance artists and galleries than any other city I have been in. I found a painting by Aaron Westerberg that immediately caught my eye in the first shop we went into. The painting is so lifelike it is as if the little girl is real. In turn, it also reminds me of Alice from Alice in Wonderland which was my favorite movie as a child. He blended a mixture of royal blue, sky blue, greens, and yellows to make the sky around her. The sky also has a squiggly line on the left side as if to give it a little more depth and dimension. She is in a walking pose with her left arm outstretch as if leisurely walking along. Her hair is more of a golden yellow, with tinges of white to contrast and draw your eye in. She has small facial features of a nose and chin, but no eyes because she is supposed to be at a sideways glance. Her arms are painted with a peach color, with red and white undertones to make the look long and as if there is a shadow on the opposite arm. Her dress is made of the same dark blue as the sky, but with brush strokes of white mimicking almost a wave pattern. The girl is walking on what looks like sand. It is texture with a mustard yellow, orange, some red hints, white, and some green. The artist is known for making oil paintings that help to reflect poems. He phrases them as "distilled memories". He is a very known artist and now mentors in Los Angeles. 

Music Inner Journey

The city of New Orleans has spoken to me a lot through music. I never really got into much jazz music before, typically listening to some form of metal music most days. My significant other used to be a very good trombone player when he was younger, but now "adulting" has caught up to him and he does not have the time to play. There are so many different instruments being used throughout every street. These instruments range from clarinet, 5 gallon buckets, trash cans, tuba, clarinet, trumpet, etc. About ninety percent of the musicians on the street not only play for fun and enjoyment, but also to make some extra money. We were able to view one of out cemetery tour guide’s cousins playing the clarinet with other family members. He said that every single day she is in the same spot doing what she loves. My first thought was: do they make any money just playing on the street? The answer was: yes, every day’s income fluctuates but they usually make a very good chunk of change. I would be worried to not have a dependable source of income. But, this clarinet player did know how to sing as well as being able to play a beautiful tune on the clarinet. I did something that I almost forgot that I knew how to do while in New Orleans. I danced again and it was exciting and fun because any person in New Orleans is willing to dance to a good tune!

Music

New Orleans is full of many different sounds of music. Most music around the French Quarter comes from brass bands involves, trumpet, saxophone, trombone, etc. While standing in the French Quarter soaking in all of the different events going on, I caught the most beautiful sound within my ears. It started out very faint and relaxing and then slowly got louder and more harmonious. I almost forgot that I was standing in the middle of Jackson Square in front of the Saint Louis Cathedral on top of slate tile. My feet were no longer aching, and I just wanted to focus on this beautiful tune. As I came back to the present, I looked around for the source of the sound. There was a very colorfully dressed man with an Afro with a cherry colored violin standing about 100 feet away. This man had his violin plugged into an amplifier system in order to spread his melody throughout Jackson Square. He was playing more for fun than for the money, but so many people enjoyed his serene music that they were more than willing to throw some change into his violin case. You could tell he used his emotions in his music as the tune carried along, and it was very easy to get caught up and listen to the entire piece. I found out that this man actually plays for some musical festivals and ballets which was very intriguing coming from a retired ballet dancer herself. This was one of my favorite pieces to stumble upon.

Inner Journey 1/8

My favorite part of the class was undoubtedly the Pharmacy Museum Tour. The tour guide took pride in his work ethic and gave one of the best tours I have ever witnessed. He was joking and yet extremely knowledgeable on the topics. He spoke loud and clear which was nice for those of us who cannot hear extremely well. He held up and showed off different medicines and tools such as hand rolled and hand cut pills, women’s facial powder ingredients, old amputation saws, blood letting tools, and the tonsil guillotine. I had no idea that there were so many different concoctions to put together medicine in the early years of Pharmacy. The fact that they did not even need a license and just kind of threw together ingredients like mercury, morphine, cocaine, opioids makes me so baffled. Most of these pharmaceutical options were for women. They believed that having a uterus made you have hysteria and I guess they preferred them to be sedated 100% of the time. The entire hour my attention was held into his speech, and for someone who normally has zero attention span that is amazing.

My favorite part of the trip was getting to try all of the different foods. I have had seafood my entire life because my mom’s family is from around Calhoun county which is popular for catfish and crawfish like I had down in New Orleans. The best meal I had was definitely fried oysters. I have always been a sucker for oysters (especially oyster soup) and try to eat them when I can. At NOLA Po’ Boys they had the first choice of fried oysters in my book. They were crispy and had that Cajun spice that was what gave it a little kick. I was not expecting them to be that good but I would give them an 8/10.

 

Outer Journey 1/8

My favorite place in the French Quarter was found this morning on our last day. We could not decide on a place to eat and most businesses do not open until around 10 am. We walked through the French Market and the only thing open was a sewer smelling seafood stand and a sweet-smelling crepe stand. Upon further investigation we noticed that their crepe mix is pretty much just pancake mix and we could just make those back home. We started walking along the barren street along the French Market towards Canal St. The trash smelled sour and was sitting on the curbs awaiting pick up. We even saw one scraggly homeless man looking through the trash for some food which was a very sad sight. We could not decide where exactly we wanted to eat, but I knew I wanted some home cooked food that did not include seafood for the first time this trip. We ended up stumbling upon this little café called French Toast. We entered through some tan painted French doors into the cutest little place ever. It had black and white checkered tile (pretty common around here it seems) with bright blue painted booths and chairs. There was a front counter that reminded me of an old 50s counter one would go sit at to drink a cherry coke. There were 10 stools that swiveled at the counter with a black pad and shiny silver on the edge. The menu had a variety of foods ranging from your average breakfast of meat and eggs, to different options of toast, to fluffy pancakes, chicken and waffles, and build your own crepes. I ordered some hot coffee as I tried to decide on what in the world I was going to order. The coffee came back in a nice huge mug and was piping hot, with fresh liquid cream on the table in a silver container. After ten minutes of looking at the menu I finally came to a decision. I ordered over easy eggs with crispy bacon, buttery grits, a biscuit, and of course an extra side of crispy bacon because you can never have enough of that. The food came out quickly and I was so impressed at how delicious it was. Every bite I took I felt like I was at home again (minus the grits because I have never in my life ate grits before and they were not too bad with bacon in them). The atmosphere of The Toast was absolutely amazing. Everyone was happy. The waitress was more than willing to help out with any questions we had and made sure to frequently check on us to see how we were doing and make sure the food was to our satisfaction. I would HIGHLY recommend to my friends and family to eat at French Toast.

Inner Journey 1/7

The Pharmacy Museum Tour was one of the absolute best tours I have ever taken. The inside was warm and dark, filled with real wood from the original building. The floor was made of a hard stone that was also original to when the building was first built. Along the walls lined wooden shelves that were filled with medicinal mixtures used at this time, most of it being shipped in because the store sat empty for 60 years before the city bought it at an auction. On the opposite side of the room housed all of the early surgical tools and the first style of soda machine. Soda machines back then were filled with cocaine and other drugs, but it was mainly used to cover up the horrible taste that would happen if you took the medicine by itself. There were old perfume mixtures in the center case, and a powder from a butterfly that was used for women's faces that made their faces look blue because that was the "style" back then. In order to get the powder to stay on their face, they often used beeswax which often melted off and had to be fixed often due to the Louisiana heat. This is where the term "mind your beeswax" came from. Pills were inconsistent in dosage and were often mixed together and then rolled out by hand and freely cut. There used to be what was called a tonsil guillotine, which parents would use on their children for the females to have a more open throat. Everything back then was directed towards how to please a man and how to sedate women and their "hysteria" brought on by having a uterus. The upstairs was filled with old Obstetrics tools such as a pelvic measuring tool and old speculums.  There even used to be a glass urinal for women!! From blood letting tools to a cocaine filled soda machine, this pharmacy had it all. I would highly recommend to anyone coming to New Orleans to take this tour, because the tour guide loved what he does and made it so much fun.