Art Walk features Delle Bates

Staff Reports

The Contraband

Historic City Hall Arts & Cultural Center will host a reception during Spring Art Walk on Friday, April 29from 5-9 p.m. Their three floors of gallery space will be filled with a variety exhibitions. All ages are welcome, admission is free, and refreshments will be served. 

Artist Delle Bates will be present in the third floor gallery to meet and greet guests. Bates grew up in Winnfield, Louisiana. After working in the timber industry, in 1977 he began his own successful business that developed an innovative plywood adhesive. Having had a successful run for eighteen years, Bates sold his business in 1995 and was able to indulge his lifelong dream to create art full time. He moved his family to Orange, Texas to bring his children closer to their maternal grandparents. He later bought and renovated the Reliable Cleaners on Front Avenue in Orange and converted the structure into his home and art studio.

Bates paints on canvas and wood. One of his newest and most unique techniques is carving defining features into the wood before applying paint, creating a new richness of expression in his art. In a true sense, he’s reached a new resonance in his career as a craftsman. “Ironically, it’s plywood” he said of his new medium. “So I’ve come full circle.” The formative influences of Picasso, Russian expressionist Nicholai Fechin, and the strong lines and vivid colors of Theo Tobiasse can be seen in his works. Exotic still life's are prone to harbor a Mediterranean cityscape in a terra cotta vase; seedpods bust from brilliant red poppies; animated religious icons raise the spiritual life to transcendence. Palette de Couleurs will hang through June 25.

In the first floor gallery, the Artisans’ Gallery will present their annual Spring exhibition. The group is comprised of more than 20 well-known local artists offering an array of ceramics, sculptures, jewelry, paintings and much more. All works will be available for purchase. The exhibition will run through May 28.

The second floor gallery is filled with architecture and design. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Samara: A Mid-Century Dream Homeexplores the relationship between an architect and his clients, and opens a window into how one family experienced life in a work of art. Sandra Walkin combines wood and metal to create one-of-a-kind pieces for Furniture with Soul. The local woodworker and furniture designer will be present for a meet & greet this evening. And a display three scale models of local iconic buildings handmade by Architect Steve Maurer in the first floor gallery- the Calcasieu Marine Bank, Cash & Carry, and the Phoenix Building.

Historic City Hall is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are gladly accepted. Charlestown Farmers’ Market is open on Bilbo Street behind the center every Saturday 8 a.m.-noon. For more information, please call 491-9147 or visit www.cityoflakecharles.com.