By ANDREW LASANE for Colossal For the past three decades, Louisiana-based artist Demond Melancon has created highly detailed Mardi Gras Indian suits using millions of hand-sewn small glass beads. Each suit takes several months to create and features custom patches that tell stories about African and American history. Images of Nyabinghi warriors, Haile Selassie, African nature scenes,…
Demond Melancon was featured on WYES’ “Steppin’ Out”. See the segment below.
Photos by Chris Granger for NOLA Adore. Demond N. Melancon Neighborhood: BYWATER BIG CHIEF OF THE YOUNG SEMINOLE HUNTERS AND CONTEMPORARY BEAD ARTIST WHAT YOU SEE AS OUR FUTURE 100 Black masking tribes on the streets. Mardi Gras with no Covid. Many more opportunities for youth in the arts in our city. DESCRIBE YOUR CHARITABLE WORK I currently serve…
by Grace Ebert for Colossal Through intricately woven displays of minuscule glass beads and rhinestones, Big Chief Demond Melancon continues a legacy. He belongs to the tribe of the Young Seminole Hunters in New Orleans, where he was born and raised, and is a leader in the tradition of creating Mardi Gras suits. The “wearable…
The Undersung Histories of Mardi Gras’s Black Indians Video by Michael PietrzykText by Natelie Meadefor The New Yorker In the predawn, Demond Melancon threads a detailed mosaic made of a million tiny glass beads. The stretch of canvas is etched with designs in red, gold, and green—the signature colors of the Rastafarian movement. He’ll continue…
Posted by Kelly Beall for Design Milk A needle and thread. Glass beads. Canvas. A whole lot of time. These are the tools and materials New Orleans-based artist Demond Melancon uses to create his Black Masking suits and his contemporary art portraiture series. For the past five years or so, Melancon has been building on…
by: Anna McAllister for WGNO NEW ORLEANS — Thread by thread, bead by bead. Demond and Alicia Melancon are creating one of a kind masterpieces. “I’ve been beading for almost thirty years. I tried to change the game with my work and put it into the art world, and change the precedent of what an artist really…
By Ray Funk for Trinidad Guardian In 1911, a statue was put up in New Orleans of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy. A century later, the New Orleans City Council ordered the removal of the statute and it was torn down. Ever since all that remains is a bare platform — until Carnival…
by Doug Maccash for The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate Canal Street commuters’ heads swiveled on Mardi Gras morning at the sight of a magnificent Mardi Gras Indian suit standing on the spot once occupied by a bronze statue dedicated to Jefferson Davis, the leader of the Confederacy. The feathered and beaded suit, which…
“Art in the Time of Empathy” will be on display until December 19th. It can be viewed at the Arthur Roger Gallery at 432 Julia Street in New Orleans by Thanh Truong for WWL NEW ORLEANS — Early in the pandemic, the Arthur Roger Gallery sent out a mass invitation to artists in New Orleans…
by Doug MacCash for The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate The year 2020 has been a tangle of medical, political, social, economic and ecological trouble. There’s no getting around it. But down on Julia Street, the group exhibit “Art in the Time of Empathy” at Arthur Roger Gallery brings a touch of solace to the situation…