"Chair Art" Opening at Fair Grinds Coffeehouse

Patrons of the arts spilled out onto the street from the upstairs gallery at 3133 Ponce de Leon on Thursday, August 22 at the new Fair Grinds Coffeehouse. The crowd was there to view the eclectic collection of painted chairs for the "Chair Art" open house at the Fair Grinds Coffeehouse in Faubourg St. John. Robert and Elizabeth Thompson, owners of the newly-opened coffeehouse, were on hand to greet the guests and to offer samples of coffees and desserts.

Thirty artists created varied works that adorned the chairs, each one more colorful, clever, or "arty" than the previous one in this diverse collection. The paintings on the chairs range from traditional, to Mexican primitive, a pointillism painting of Louis Armstrong, beaded chairs and "Priscilla Pianomouth" with a keyboard for teeth, fishnet stockings and red high heels. After the open house, the chairs were put into service around the tables in the downstairs coffee house. So, if you missed the opening, you still have an opportunity to view these wonderful chairs.

"It's sometimes fun to watch," says Robert Thompson, "to see who will sit in which chair. Some people will sit in one chair and refuse to sit in others."

The Thompsons have totally revamped the space on Ponce de Leon that has gone through various lives as a coffeehouse. On the wall is also a recently uncovered historic horse racing mural that they have restored. Their renovations include a more comfortable, coffeehouse feeling with the artistic chairs and eclectic art by various local artists on the walls.

Thomspon doesn't want to have a "gallery" setting, just offer a space for creative people to display their work. "These are often people who are talented, but because they are not well known, cannot get into a gallery." Thus, Thompson is offering them an opportunity to display their work at no cost to the artists. "We will take no commission from the sale of the work," states Thompson.

In October, sculpture by Leslie Wagner will be on display. "This will be the closest thing we've come to an art show," says Thompson with a laugh.

Fair Grinds Coffeehouse also has space upstairs that, for now, is being used by the Dog and Pony Show for rehearsals. Thompson is not sure how he is going to use the space in the future, but is open to perhaps using it for poetry readings, book signings, guerilla art shows, etc.

Fair Grinds Coffeehouse is located at 3133 Ponce de Leon, NOLA, on the side street next to Whole Foods Market. They serve fair trade and organic coffees and teas and feature a variety of eclectic art by local artists.