NEW ORLEANS ADVOCATE -- Deckbar grew up in the Carrollton area of New Orleans and left in the mid-1970s to get her Master’s in painting and drawing at San Francisco State University. She returned in 1978 and never left.
The tight-knit community of artists in the city has remained nurturing despite great odds. Before Katrina struck, Deckbar was scheduled to show her work in a group show in October. The show went on and became a galvanizing moment in the city’s art scene.
She said she continues to find water unsettling. Even an event as innocuous as watching July Fourth fireworks on the lake had her focused on the water and the strength it yielded 10 years ago.
“We’re living on the edge here. It’s fragile; it’s below sea level; it’s an old city. I do believe we can stave off the threat of nature somewhat longer. But how much longer? I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t dwell on it. I try to let it go and just keep going.”