NEW ORLEANS – French Quarter Festivals, Inc. (FQFI) unveiled the 2016 French Quarter Festival posters by French artists Isabelle Jacopin and Simon Hardeveld at a press conference Wednesday, February 17, 2016, in Jackson Square.
Each year, the festival's Merchandise Committee selects a painting that portrays the colorful, festive, atmosphere of French Quarter Festival, and one that both locals and tourists will identify. Consideration is given only to local artists. To keep the festival free and open to the public, French Quarter Festival relies heavily on merchandise and poster sales, sponsorships, and beverage sales to generate its operating budget.
FQFI reps said Isabelle Jacopin's paintings of musicians, streetscapes, and Mardi Gras Indians are summoned to life in loud bursts of bold color, and in person, she is as lively and colorful as her pictures.
A native of Brittany, Jacopin now divides her time between the small village of Le Buque in the Dordogne region of France and her French Quarter apartment. While in France, Isabelle works with the Musique New Orleans et Perigeaux festival, teaching local children how to make Mardi Gras Indian costumes and playing host to the Louisiana musicians who visit. Other than the occasional French landscape, New Orleans provides nearly all of the subjects for her work. Mardi Gras Indian portraits are finished in original bead and feather work and festival crowd scenes, Mardi Gras revelers and brass bands are frequent subjects.
Scenes reflected in tubas, such as the one in the 2016 French Quarter Festival poster, are a frequent motif in her work. "I know almost all the tuba players in town," she says, "and they know me."
FQFI reps said, once again, French Quarter Festival features a special limited-edition poster created by New Orleans' most well-known French folk-art painter, Simon Hardeveld. Since the early 2000s, Hardeveld has entertained many with his whimsical and colorful paintings found in New Orleans restaurants like Boulangerie, Chickie Wah Wah, Lola's, and Joey K's. Born in France and later moving to the United States to start three of his own restaurants, with wife and native New Orleanian Maria Hardeveld, Simon found his true calling to be a painter at his brasserie in Metairie when customers always wanted to buy his signs behind the counter. Most well-known for his set design work on New Orleans evening news, WGNO News with a Twist, Simon has been commissioned by restaurants, stores, locals, and tourists to create special original paintings for anniversaries, birthdays, or just home décor that captures the spirit of New Orleans.
FQFI reps said Simon's pieces whimsically embody the unique culture of this spectacular city.
French Quarter Festival presented by Chevron is produced by FQFI, the 501(c)3 nonprofit organization which also produces Satchmo SummerFest presented by Chevron in August and Christmas New Orleans Style in December.
FQFI's mission is to promote the Vieux Carré and the City of New Orleans through high quality special events and activities that showcase the culture and heritage of New Orleans, contribute to the economic well-being of the community, and instill increased pride in the people of New Orleans.
Painting by Simon Hardeveld
500 Limited Edition Signed and Numbered Silkscreen prints, $65
Poster size: 34"x16"
