The usual topsy-turvy New Orleans weather can’t overshadow a recent — and welcome — burst of unmistakable signs of spring. Tulips are blooming in City Park, the fragrance of jasmine is drifting through neighborhoods and I dress for three-to-four seasons throughout the span of most days. The change in season brings with it a return of in-person versions of many beloved local design events and openings.
Art in Bloom is Back
This year’s installment of the New Orleans Museum of Art’s annual event is dubbed, “Art in Bloom 2022: In Full Bloom Presented by First Horizon,” evincing a much-needed sense of hope and renewal. From March 24 to March 27, view floral installations by designers, creatives and garden clubs. The installations run the gamut of exacting beauty and comical joy to overt outrageousness. (Visitors will also be able to see the new “Queen Nefertari’s Egypt” exhibit.) The patron and preview party is March 23. While taking in the exhibits, attendees can place bids on the silent auction, sip cocktails, nosh on light bits cuisine and enjoy live music. Get additional details and tickets at noma.org/artinbloom2022.
Revealing Works
On March 26, M.S. Rau’s “Au Naturel: The Art of the Female Form,” opens and runs through May 28. This free show is described as exploring “this ever-alluring subject through over four hundred years of fine art. View the nude through the eyes and brushes of masters such as Jan Brueghel the Younger, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frederick Carl Frieseke and René Magritte.” It is curated from M.S. Rau’s collection.
Designing Women
Longue Vue house and Gardens announced the 2022 lineup for its annual Design Symposium in April. The symposium, which has been held for more than 30 years, draws design-industry insiders and aficionados from all over the United States. This year, guests will hear presentations from New York-based Edwina von Gal and Texas-based interior designer Cathy Kincaid.
Author and founder of Perfect Earth Project, which “promotes toxin-free lawns and landscapes for the health of people, their pets, and the planet,” von Gal’s work centers on simple, natural landscapes using native species and employing sustainable designs and can be seen in both private and public spaces all over the world. She has been recognized by the Guild Hall’s Academy of the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award for the Visual Arts and has received both the New York School of Interior Design’s Green Design Award and The Isamu Noguchi Award.
Kincaid creates traditional interiors and is a recipient of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art Texas Chapter’s John Staub Award for residential interiors in recognition of her work restoring old houses. She has been featured in Veranda, House Beautiful, Southern Home, Southern Accents and countless other publications, both in America and abroad.
The Design Symposium runs April 7 through 9. On April 7, mix, mingle and stroll the Longue Vue grounds with cocktails from 5 to 7 p.m. during the patron evening. Presentations by by Edwina von Gal and Cathy Kincaid are on April 8 at 10:30 a.m. and are followed by a picnic in the Longue Vue Gardens at noon. On April 9, attend the free Perfect Earth Project Community Roundtable with Edwina von Gal at 10 a.m. The event is open to the public. Get more information here. For additional details and tickets for the patron evening and April 8 presentations, visit the Longue Vue website.
Do you have a design event you’d like considered for the Bon Vivant blog? Email melanie@myneworleans.com.
