{"id":10359,"date":"2019-04-26T15:18:17","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T20:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/georgerodrigue.com\/?p=10359"},"modified":"2019-04-27T07:29:11","modified_gmt":"2019-04-27T12:29:11","slug":"a-heartfelt-farewell-to-rodrigue-studio-in-carmel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgerodrigue.com\/blog\/a-heartfelt-farewell-to-rodrigue-studio-in-carmel\/","title":{"rendered":"A Heartfelt Farewell to Rodrigue Studio in Carmel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"On May 1, 2019, after 28 years, an end of an era has come to Rodrigue Studio as we say farewell to our beautiful Carmel location. As part of a new direction in expanding George Rodrigue’s legacy<\/strong> from a primarily commercial focus, Rodrigue Studio is reaching farther<\/strong> with exciting new exhibitions<\/a> and the NEW George Rodrigue Life & Legacy Foundation.<\/a><\/p>\n

In 1991 George Rodrigue opened Galerie Blue Dog in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.\u00a0 The one-square-mile village includes cottages, restaurants, shops and galleries, all descending westward towards the beach and Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

\u201cI visited Carmel often while a\u00a0student\u00a0at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles during the 1960s,\u201d recalled Rodrigue.\u00a0 \u201cAs long as I can remember, it was my dream to open a gallery in this seaside artist\u2019s community.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Chef Paul Prudhomme at the Grand Opening of Galerie Blue Dog in 1991<\/p><\/div>\n

In Rodrigue\u2019s Louisiana style, the gallery opened with the help of his good friend,\u00a0Chef Paul Prudhomme, who fed hundreds, or maybe thousands, of eager Californians during a party so popular that lines wrapped around the block.\u00a0 We received reservation requests for months afterwards, as folks confused the arrival of a\u00a0Cajun artist\u00a0with the arrival of jambalaya and \u00e9touff\u00e9e.<\/p>\n

The original Galerie Blue Dog opened in 1991 on the South side of 6th<\/sup>\u00a0Avenue between Lincoln and Dolores Streets.\u00a0 A former doctor\u2019s office, the space was long and narrow, with one small window.\u00a0 At the time, it was the only option available in the popular tourist\u2019s destination.\u00a0 One block from the main drag of Ocean Avenue, the odd space fit us well for many years, as we joined the artist-owned galleries and family businesses that cemented Carmel\u2019s charm.<\/p>\n

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Jenny Johnson (L), George Rodrigue and Mary Threadgill (2013)<\/p><\/div>\n

Wendy Rodrigue described our side of the street as \u201cFlowers, Fruit, Dogs, Ducks and Fairies,\u201d featuring\u00a0Lilliana Braico\u2019s pink blossoms,\u00a0Loran Speck\u2019s Renaissance-style still-lifes, George Rodrigue\u2019s contemporary\u00a0Blue Dogs, The Decoy\u2019s hand-carved wooden ducks, and\u00a0Lynn Lupetti\u2019s dainty creatures and fairies.<\/p>\n

In fact, Jenny Johnson, who works today full time at Rodrigue Studio in Carmel, worked first in her family\u2019s business, The Decoy, and later for the Lynn Lupetti Gallery, both originally on our block.<\/p>\n

Also during this time, Mary Threadgill came to work for the gallery.\u00a0 A Certified Gemologist, Mary and her late husband, Burney, were longtime Carmel residents who raised their family here.<\/p>\n

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Sandra Crake and George Rodrigue<\/p><\/div>\n

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From Wendy Rodrigue:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“In Carmel I worked from the beginning with\u00a0Sandra Crake, a Baton Rouge native by way of Arkansas and Texas, who remained in California until 2011, when she returned to Louisiana.<\/p>\n

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Wendy Rodrigue in Carmel, photograph by George Rodrigue<\/p><\/div>\n

Today I channel the early years as my \u2018olden days,\u2019 recalling our first clients, hand-written invoices, and daily trips to Carmel Camera Center. I rehung the gallery many late nights, imagining on the following morning, as I walked from Guadalupe to Dolores, that I encountered George\u2019s art for the first time.\u00a0 If I didn\u2019t stop, stunned, I pulled the paintings from the walls, grabbed the ladder and hammer, and started again.<\/p>\n

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Sandra Crake and Wendy Rodrigue (Galerie Blue Dog, 1991)<\/p><\/div>\n

I recall with sentiment the heavy gallery typewriter, along with Sandra\u2019s and my excitement over the new \u2018roll\u2019 fax machine and the way, as Sandra said, we \u201cstood on our heads\u201d on the gallery floor, finagling a 6-foot high roll of bubble wrap and assembling wooden crates.\u00a0 Throughout it all, we adhered to our self-imposed 1990s gallery fashion: short skirts, high heels, and big hair.<\/p>\n

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George and Wendy Rodrigue at Rodrigue Studio, Carmel (2013)<\/p><\/div>\n

It was in Carmel that Rodrigue\u2019s famous\u00a0Loup-garou<\/a><\/em>\u00a0first hung by my desk, selling in 1993 and finding its way, years later, back to me.\u00a0 In 1992 I stood in line at the Carmel Drugstore for multiple copies of\u00a0The Wall Street Journal\u00a0<\/em>featuring a sketched Blue Dog on the\u00a0front page.\u00a0 And in 1993, following\u00a0Absolut Louisiana<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Absolut Rodrigue<\/em>, it was in Carmel that I witnessed the\u00a0public\u2019s shift\u00a0from ‘What\u2019s with this dog?’ to ‘Hey! I know that dog!'”<\/p>\n

In 1998 George Rodrigue became,\u00a0once again, agent-free and owner of his galleries.\u00a0 A change in name accompanied the legalities, and Galerie Blue Dog became Rodrigue Studio.\u00a0 In 2009 he relocated his Carmel gallery to a location he eyed for years, abandoning the former doctor\u2019s office for a larger and brighter exhibition space.<\/p>\n

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I could write for days about George\u2019s history in Carmel, but I think I\u2019ll let the photos speak for us instead… About George\u2019s and my love for the Carmel-by-the-Sea community, for the \u201cFlowers, Fruit, Dogs, Ducks, and Fairies\u201d of 6th Avenue, for wet paintings, lilacs in the window, bags of banana slugs, sand dollar hunts, bonfires, sunsets, and long walks between the gallery, the beach, and a Guadalupe Street cottage. More than anything, however, it is the people who have meant the most. \u00a0Jenny, Mary, and Sandra gave the gallery life and joy and made it thrive, whether George and I were in town or not. \u00a0These incredible women will always be a substantial and important part of the history and legacy of George Rodrigue, and they deserve heartfelt gratitude and best wishes from us all. – Wendy Rodrigue<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Carmel Memories<\/h4>\n\n\t\t