Storm & Rise - The Peggy Martin Series

The Peggy Martin Series

The Peggy Martin Series is a visual meditation on resilience, memory, and the enduring beauty of the Gulf South. Set along the historic streets of the New Orleans French Quarter, the triptych follows the arc of a storm — from gathering darkness to the quiet return of light and the joy that follows.

At the center of the story is the Peggy Martin rose, a climbing rose celebrated across Louisiana for surviving weeks submerged beneath the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina. Thought to have been lost, the rose emerged alive when the waters receded, becoming a quiet symbol of endurance and renewal.

Each panel in the series captures a different moment in that journey. The Storm reveals the rose bending beneath wind and rain as lightning fractures the evening sky. The Rise shows the first light of morning returning to the wet streets, where the rose once again turns toward the sun. In the final movement, celebration fills the street as music and laughter return, the balcony roses blooming brightly above the revelers below.

Rendered in rich impasto brushwork and luminous color, the Peggy Martin Series reflects the spirit of New Orleans itself — a place where beauty persists through hardship and where joy inevitably returns.

Together, the three works form a narrative of endurance and renewal, rooted in the culture and history of Louisiana and inspired by the quiet strength of the rose that survived the storm.