Calanthean Canyon: more to come, including a Wed, May 21, 8 pm, Omen Art presentation at the Calanthean Temple

Still somewhat a pleasant mystery in the presentation of the New Orleans Airlift musical village residency in Shreveport - at the Calanthean Canyon - is the number of Shreveport artists who joined the team. The above photo, shot for the cover of Heliopolis, includes Delaney Martin, a founder of Airlift and head of the project, and well-known singer Brittney Maddox (Peekers, Songbird). You will also see Chrissy Wise and Rachel McDonald tucked into the gang. They were present as reps for Omen Art.

"Omen Art, a women's collective, has been around since 2012. We are not on SRAC's artists' registry and we are not an LLC or a non-profit. We are just a lowly underground group of women creating installation events for Shreveport," says Chrissy Wise.

"We were allowed to do our exhibit on the Court of Calanthe with permission from N.O. Airlift. We have not yet taken "official" documenting photos of our installation. We are throwing a mini event this Wednesday at 8pm at the Calanthean Temple focusing on the history and symbolism represented in our exhibit. Historian Chris Brown will be guest speaking. An Omen Art collective meeting will be held earlier in the evening in the space featuring a special artist's chat with New Orleans Airlift's Delaney Martin. This "mini-show" will follow it."

Also coming to the Calanthean Canyon / Airlift site are 4 weekends of performances, said Pam Atchison. Says Casey Jones, who eyeballed the Fri Airlift event, some 200 people may have packed themselves into the space. Standing room was maxed, he added.

Atchison was not prepared to announce the names of the artists next to perform, but noted that the original musical village in New Orleans was in demand by touring bands as a very desirable venue.

The best documentation of a performance to hit the ether at this point must be the 30-minute Youtube video by Marion Marks entitled "Calanthean Canyon Performance by New Orleans Airlift - Shreveport, LA."

In the photo above: Taylor Lee Shepherd, Jon Mackey, Jimmy Cousins (white cap), Peter Fetterman, Brett Roberts, Ross Harmon, Frank Pahl, (front row), Chrissy Wise, Delaney Martin, Rachel McDonald, Brittney Maddox. See photos from the Omen Art event as well as development of Calanthean Canyon.