Artists in their own words: Chase Cannon

Chase Cannon, artist in residence at The Old No. 77 Hotel. (Photos: Kelley Crawford)

Who: Chase Cannon

What: Visual artist

Where: Living at Old No. 77 as their summer artist-in-residence, but she’s originally from Indiana

Q: What is something about a house that you’ve never understood?

CC: I have this memory of my little brother living, essentially, under the stairs like Harry Potter. Every single house we moved to he would abandon his bedroom and either live under the stairs or in a small closet.

I never understood that.

Maybe he likes knowing where everything is and having his own space, even though no one would ever want to claim the spaces he claimed. It’s like he had his own secret compartment.

Q: If you had to throw a theme party for three days, what would you make the theme?

CC: There are so many options going through my head right now. I actually have thought about this because I like theme parties a lot. I’m thinking a theme of ‘shutdown from the rest of the world.’

I imagine a transcendent experience with you and your friends in a large house. You can’t leave. There are no electronics. The experience is hugely personal. Even if people are super bored, they would be in the house for so long that they’d eventually overcome that.

Q: What is your first memory of creating something?

CC: When I was a kid, there was this time when my older brother was watching us because our  parents weren’t home. I have a memory of glitter glue, and I remember locking myself in my closet. There was a light in the closet, so I’d lock myself in there, and I would just draw. That is the entirety of the memory. I would sit in there and draw, and I don’t even remember what I was drawing. I do remember that there was construction paper involved, and I went into the closet with the intention of drawing.

It’s funny because whenever I’m creating I’m always sitting on my bed. I’ve never been able to use an easel or work at a desk. Being on my bed, having everything sprawled out all over the covers, and being on the same plane as everything I’m working with has always been the way I’ve created. I’ve never been able to draw comfortably unless I was in that situation.

Q: Whose routine do you admire?

CC: The first person that comes to my mind is my little brother. He has this incredible sense of work ethic, and he spends most of his time taking in information and data and resources. He goes to sleep quite late, and that is the interesting thing about it.

Our family likes to stay up really late and work in the night for some reason. We will wake up really early as well. We don’t sleep a lot, and my little brother is the best at that. I think he thinks of it as a challenge, as a way to prove himself as the most industrious of all of us.

Q: When did you absolutely know that you were in New Orleans and not Indiana?

CC: The day after my boyfriend left, I was alone for the first time since I’d arrived. I got on the streetcar, and I was trying to go to an art supply store. It was way too far for me to walk in this heat. That’s one thing, I had no idea about this humidity and heat. I was not prepared for it.

But, I got off the streetcar in the French Quarter, and I had to walk another mile to get to the supply store. I was walking, and it was so hot and the area I was in was totally unfamiliar to me. Then it segued into this beautiful neighborhood that felt deserted.

It’s not that there weren’t people; I assume they were inside because of the heat. But, I was the only one out there walking, and it was really interesting because it was so quiet and all the houses were so beautiful and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. The heat, the houses, the quiet, and no one around, even though they are there. Nothing like that would ever happen in Indiana.

And even though I was so hot, it was such an amazing moment.

As the artist in residence, Chase Cannon’s show, “The Libertines” will showcase a series of graphite drawings inspired by E. J. Bellocq’s photography of female prostitutes in a Storyville brothel in 1910’s New Orleans. Bellocq notoriously photographed what was known as New Orleans’ red light district, taking candid nudes of women while having a mysterious tendency to scratch out the faces in some of his original negatives. Inspiration for “The Libertines” began with the unexpected finding of a book inside Crescent City Books, where Chase quickly fell down the rabbit hole of Bellocq’s photography and began repurposing his works by pen. “The Libertines” will run from 4:00 -7:00 PM and will be joined by Voodoo Queen Kalindah Laveaux who will be singing songs from that era to pay homage to the city’s musical heritage. To learn more about Chase and her work, you can check out her website as well as follow her on Facebook.