December 31, 2019

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Two women born and bred in New Orleans take on their artistry, aging, and the city’s decadent decay.

Photographer Cheryl Gerber and artist Gretchen Weller Howard strive to capture the essence of life in the work they’ve lovingly created for almost three decades.

They’re both 54, both make their living from their art, both were born and raised in the New Orleans area, and both have enjoyed more than two decades of marriage with slightly older men. And both women have chosen New Orleans as their place of choice to document, celebrate, and be inspired by.

“Not many places are like New Orleans,” says Howard. “Here, everywhere I look I am visually stimulated.”

Gerber quickly concurs, “I’m still discovering things. I’ll never get bored with New Orleans.”

When asked what it is about New Orleans that engages them, there’s a slight pause, then Howard excitedly says, “It’s New Orleans’ decadent decay.”

“Yes, that’s it exactly,” Gerber agrees.

The women knew of one another’s work, but had never met until Nola Boomers put them together for this issue. At the photo shoot in October, they instantly felt a camaraderie and rapport. During this interview at Howard’s beautifully appointed home, they soon discovered that they lived blocks apart in the Marigny/Bywater neighborhood.

“I walk my dog past your house almost daily and I’ve always thought it was such a great house,” says Gerber.

Howard also has a fondness for dogs, made clear by her white powder-puff dog, T-Bone Shorty, who is quite content on the corner of the sofa.

Gerber laughs and recounts her connection with the dog’s namesake, Trombone Shorty, the New Orleans musician, producer, actor, and philanthropist.

“I’ve been shooting him since he was 3 or 4 years old,” she says. “And I just recently shot him at the Boudin and Beer Festival. It’s been rewarding seeing him as a little kid in Treme to now seeing him command a huge crowd.”

In the Beginning

Howard has deep artistic DNA, her father was the local artist Melvin “Dell” Weller, one of the founding teachers at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. Her mother was also an artist.

After graduating college, Howard moved to New York and worked as a receptionist at Liz Claiborne’s retail store. “My boss came in one day and asked if I could design some graphics and I said, ‘Of course I can.’ And she said, ‘Fine, but you won’t get paid for it.’”

She eventually moved back home and began working with an interior designer who made vignettes with antiques and Howard’s paintings. “We were the original pop-up,” she laughingly says.

Her first solo show was after Hurricane Katrina. “I was thrilled when my work would sell out every show,” she says. “I couldn’t believe it.”

At the age of 25, Gerber was teaching English in Honduras.

“The school was full of old National Geographic magazines,” she says. “I wrote to the editor a handwritten note, asking him what did I need to do to become one of the magazine’s photographers. And he wrote back to me, a three-page typed letter. I just found it recently, and then I found him on Facebook and we’re Facebook friends now.”

Gerber spent years trying to break into photojournalism. Finally, she started writing for various local publications and provided the photographs for her stories thinking that would get her noticed. One of her first big breaks was a cover story for Gambit.

“I spent a month with a group of gutter punks in the mid 90s and I took all the pictures,” she says. “It took my breath away seeing it published. I remember I was in a coffee house and a policeman was reading it and said how good it was to his friend. It was the turning point in my career.”

Coming up in their work, being female has had challenges and rewards for the two women. In her early days, Gerber says that there weren’t a lot of women photojournalist, but that sometimes worked in her favor. In the mid-1990s, editor and publisher Errol Laborde assigned Gerber to follow an inner-city girl, who had won an essay contest, on a trip to England.

“I mean, they couldn’t have hired a man for that,” Gerber says. “So, I got to meet Princess Diana.”

Aging

Sometimes a sorry side effect of aging, especially for women, is an increasing feeling of insignificance. However, aging has empowered these women with an energy that can be focused on their work. “I like feeling invisible,” says Howard. “There’s freedom in it.”

“It’s like a super power,” Gerber adds.

Howard then describes an episode of Netflix’s “Grace and Frankie” (played by Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin) she recently saw. The heroines were trying to buy cigarettes and the clerks were ignoring them in favor of a beautiful young blond.

“Once outside, Frankie shares that she’s stolen the cigarettes,” relays Howard. “And Frankie says, ‘We’ve got a super power: you can’t see me, you can’t stop me.’”

“We need to make T-shirts with that on it,” laughs Gerber.

Both women agree, as they get older, their work is becoming more personal and are trusting their instincts more. The best advice they have for young artists is that they shouldn’t fall into the trap of comparing their work to other artists.

“I did that for years,” says Howard. “I’d beat myself up. You can’t win that way. You have to do your work from your heart, find your niche.”

For five or six years, Gerber supported herself by waiting tables until her career started to gel. “You have to be the last one standing,” she says. “It’s nerve wracking, but you have to trust yourself that you will make it.”

“And you have to put yourself out there,” Howard adds.

The women spend much of the time during the interview talking about mutual friends and about how the city has changed. “The other day I was having coffee in a place that once was the Iberville projects, and 20 years ago I was shooting something there and someone threw a chair off a balcony at me,” Gerber says. “And now I’m sitting having coffee in that same spot.”

Another thing these women have in common is the support of long-time friends.

“Gretchen is a fearless creative,” says fellow artist Nancy Rhettt. “Her work comes from her heart, which is what makes it so powerful. It flows out of her. Her instincts with color are incredible and her taste is beautiful. She is a trusted sounding board for anything visual.”

“Working with Cheryl Gerber always leaves me with a smile on my face,” says writer Bonnie Warren, who’s worked with Gerber for three decades. “She is imaginative and captures a bit of magic with every photograph she takes. Her joyful spirit showers me with wonderment and working with her is always a pleasure.”

As the interview ends, the two artists exchange contact details and make plans to meet again soon. “You know, I just found a bottle of champagne in a cabinet,” Howard says. “We should get together and celebrate when this issue comes out.”

Gerber quickly and resoundingly agrees, “Pour me a flute!”

Pamela Marquis, a freelance writer, has lived in New Orleans for more than 40 years.