Alex Beard
Alex Beard is a painter and author who has emerged as one of his generation’s most creative and successful artists. Influenced to think creatively from a young age by his uncle, noted photographer, Peter Beard, and his mother, author and editor, Patricia Beard, Alex grew up in the NYC of the 1970’s among some of the world’s most interesting and influential people – Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, and their Pop World cohorts were familiar faces in the Beard household.
Alex studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts and participated in the New York Studio School’s Drawing Marathon. His first solo exhibition was in SoHo during his early twenties. Since then, he has had significant one-man shows in New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans and in cities as far afield as Hong Kong. He is the creator of a unique style of painting called “Abstract Naturalism,” and is considered by many as a successor to the school of visual mathematicians championed by M.C. Escher. Alex’s artwork hangs in public and private collections around the world.
Alex’s New Orleans studio, like his New York studio before it, has become the hub of an art career that has blossomed into more than just a creative endeavor; but also a successful enterprise. Alex’s studio is open to the public in a way that encourages and fosters interaction between the artist and his audience. Vanity Fair magazine singled Alex out as “… an accomplished artist, an adventurer and an accidental entrepreneur.”
Alex and his family live in his adopted home of New Orleans, where he has opened an Alex Beard Studio, in the French Quarter, on the corner of Royal Street and Pirate’s Alley.
Christine Guillory
Attorney Christine Guillory was selected among the “Women of the Year” by New Orleans CityBusiness. The annual list honors 50 New Orleans women whose successes in business and contributions to the community have set the pace for our region’s future. Christine is a local attorney who practices primarily in the Medical Malpractice and Healthcare Practice Area.
She represents hospitals, medical schools, long-term care facilities, and other healthcare providers in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana in hospital negligence and physician malpractice cases. She also provides hospital administrative policy recommendations and consults with clients who are developing new policies for patient care.
She attended Emory University and received a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and Italian Studies in 2004. She earned her Juris Doctor from University of Southern California Law School in 2008. Ms. Guillory has been an advocate for community redevelopment for many years in New York City,Los Angeles and New Orleans. While in law school, Ms. Guillory was one of the founders of the USC Legal Aid Alternative Breaks Project, providing legal services to Gulf Coast hurricane victims and investigating NAFTA outcomes and conditions for day laborers in Southern California and Mexico. She also served on the boards of the Community Service Affairs Committee, Student Hurricane Network, Office of Public Service Advisory Council and Black Law Students Association.
Ms. Guillory is currently serving on the New Orleans Public Library Board and the New Orleans Public Library Foundation Board. She is assisting in the oversight and construction of five new libraries as part of post-Katrina recovery and is supervising the implementation of a marketing campaign to increase interest in the existing programs offered at New Orleans libraries. Ms. Guillory is a member of the Links Incorporated and actively involved with the Preservation Resource Center and La Creole historical society.
Rob Masson
Rob is a FOX 8 Reporter, who started his broadcasting career while in college as News Director at WLSU. This LSU grad has 20 years experience covering stories in New Orleans, first as a radio reporter, than at WVUE TV, where he was worked since 1994.
From Pope John Paul II’s visit to presidential inaugurations to the trial of former Governor Edwin Edwards, Rob has had a front row seat to history. He has covered everything from detainees at Guantanamo Bay to Mike Ditka’s return to Chicago, and, yes, dozens of hurricanes and tropical storms in between. Rob has won the Louisiana Associated Press ‘Reporter of the Year’ award twice including in 2005, the year Katrina struck.
Rickie Nutik
Rickie is the Executive Director of Young Audiences of Louisiana, and has been for the past 22 years. During her tenure the organization has expanded its mission to focus on arts, education, and youth development. Prior to joining Young Audiences, she taught drama and language arts to high school students. A graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Rickie spends a large portion of her time visiting schools or writing grants.
Bill Rau
Considered one of the foremost experts on 18th- and 19th-century European and American antiques and fine art, Bill Rau has worked in the family-owned gallery full-time since he was 21 years old, and part-time since the age of 14. After graduating from the University of Colorado in 1982 with a degree in Business, he returned to his hometown and began a highly successful career as one of the most respected antique experts and gallery owners today. Bill’s extensive knowledge and reputation as a leader has not only brought him success in the antiques business, but accolades from his peers. An avid collector as well an authority in his field, Bill has helped to place several items in museums around the world, including the New Orleans Museum of Art, the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Instituto Ricardo Brennand in Receife, Brazil. He has written numerous articles published in a wide variety of antique journals and is currently publishing a book on 19th century European painting. He has also lectured around the world at museums and events and was the youngest senior member ever accepted to the American Society of Appraisers.
Today, Bill serves as President of the Royal Street Guild, and is a member of the Wedgwood Society of New York and Boston, the American Cut Glass Association, the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, the Music Box Society International, the Better Business Bureau, the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, and the Young Presidents’ Organization.
Jeremy Davenport
For nearly a decade, Jeremy Davenport has been a vital part of the New Orleans music scene. With his original lyrics and music, Jeremy infuses his unique style and mood of storytelling creating not only a modern edge, but also the distinct feeling of a lifestyle reminiscent of a time when Jazz was at its peak of popularity. He is known for his vocal and trumpet playing skills, as well as being a born entertainer. Davenport’s showing has tempted such performers as Sting, Paul McCartney, Harry Connick, Jr. and Diana Krall.
Jeremy Davenport was born in St. Louis, Missouri into a family of musicians. His mother has been a music educator for nearly 50 years and his father recently retired, after 40 years, from the St. Louis Symphony. From a young age Jeremy studied and played with members and guests of the St. Louis Symphony, which included an early introduction to Jazz great, Wynton Marsalis. Upon finishing high school, Jeremy was accepted to the acclaimed Manhattan School of Music, under the direction of Raymond Mase. He continued to develop a friendship with Marsalis and it was at this time that Wynton introduced Davenport to Harry Connick, Jr. Together they persuaded Jeremy to move to New Orleans. He enrolled at the University of New Orleans and began training under the patriarch of the Marsalis family, Ellis Marsalis – music educator and jazz pianist. Jeremy went on to play with Harry Connick, Jr.’s Big Band for 6 years touring around the world. Jeremy Davenport can be found every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at The Davenport Lounge in the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans.
Steve Martin
Born in the rural Louisiana town of Tioga, Martin was encouraged by his parents to develop his artistic talents. Completely self-taught, Martin received formal recognition and art awards throughout his childhood and teenage years, his first at the early age of five. Despite the praise of his peers Martin set aside his dream of being an artist for seventeen years to pursue a career as a financial advisor. In 1993, a drawing of a clown by Martin’s oldest son Christian, rekindled his own artistic flame. Steve decided to branch out beyond stocks and bonds to resurrect his artistic vision and attain his goal of becoming an artist.
Showing regularly at respected galleries across the country, Martin’s work is now represented in over one thousand corporate, private and museum collections throughout the world. Through the confidence gained from his repeated sell-out shows, Steve has open three locations of Steve Martin Galleries. One of the new galleries is located in
Miami, Florida and is dedicated to promote New Orleans artists to a broader international crowd using Art Basel Miami as its catalyst.
In 2006 Martin put on the new hat of a political activist to create and champion legislation to change the Constitution of Louisiana to provide an exemption from inventory taxation on artist. The new constitutional amendment passed a statewide public vote and took effect in January 2008 granting artist the exemption.