Reflections: A Year In Art

January brings a quieter rhythm to the gallery, and the year sharpens its focus for what is ahead. This time of year lends itself as a liminal space that reflects upon memories of long days and late nights, unexpected challenges, close calls, bright victories, and quiet moments that carried more weight than anyone realized in the moment. The walls hold the memory of the ones who returned to our tucked away gallery to think, feel, and resonate with the moodiness that New Orleans exudes.

One of the most remarkable discoveries of the past year has been the response to the Thresholds series. Many people, familiars and strangers alike, felt pulled to this new body of work in a way that has never happened in all sixteen years that Tanner Gallery has been open. The response was overwhelming in the most grounding way.It allowed for uncertainties to morph into a momentum of curiosity, with painting in a new way.

A gallery is never only a place where paintings hang on walls. It lives in the balance between vision, structure, and the people who bring meaning into the space. Collectors returned for pieces they could not forget. Designers reimagined rooms around a single statement painting. Visitors wandered off Royal and through the veil of the courtyard. All of us, our curiosities also moved by searching for something we may not have had words for but could recognize when standing in front of pieces like Where The Shadows Gather. A painting that has felt lived in, rich with color and textures is something that has spoken and connected to us.

Every piece that has left the gallery this year now lives somewhere new. It changes the feeling of rooms. It becomes part of daily ritual and holds quiet personal meanings. That is where the work continues to live and breathe.

This new year does not feel like a closing point, but rather an entryway to something truly grand. A collection of reflections that turns into intention, and curiosity staying alive remains essential as this story keeps unfolding, both in the gallery and in the lives that carry these paintings forward.