November 19, 2025
In the quiet town of Semmes, Alabama, where pine trees stretch skyward and cicadas sing the soundtrack of summer, Tanner discovered his first refuge. With a sketchbook in hand, he would disappear into the woods, finding peace and inspiration beneath the green canopy. The forest, dense, shadowed, and alive with color, became his earliest muse. Those childhood moments among the trees planted the seeds for an artistic journey that would one day take root in New Orleans. Today, Tanner is celebrated for his hauntingly beautiful landscape paintings, ethereal, dreamlike visions that seem to hum with the same stillness and mystery as the woods of his youth.
After leaving Alabama, Tanner followed his creative calling to New Orleans, enrolling in the New Orleans Academy of Fine Art. There, he studied under the academy’s founder, world-renowned artist Auseklis Ozols, and further refined his skills under artists Adrian Deckbar, Katalin Gergo, Darrell Brown, and Jean Cassels. The training emphasized classical technique, but it was Tanner’s connection to nature and his ability to translate emotion through landscape that would define his voice as an artist.
When he completed his studies, Tanner stayed in New Orleans and began building his career the old-fashioned way, painting and selling his work in Jackson Square, surrounded by the sounds of jazz, the scent of beignets, and the rhythm of the city’s creative pulse. During those early years, he explored various subjects, portraiture, still life, mixed media, even body painting, but he kept finding his way back to the woods. “I knew I’d found my place when I started painting the landscapes of my childhood,” Tanner says. “If my art makes someone forget their troubles, even for a moment, I’ve accomplished my goal.”
Step into Tanner Gallery & Studio at 625 Royal St. and you are immediately drawn into an atmosphere that feels elemental. Inside the carriageway that once was home to a family in the late 1700s, the air moves like sunlight through leaves, steady and alive. Canvases lean against old brick walls, brushes rest in jars like bouquets, and light settles across scenes of dark cypress trees, Spanish moss and the ironwork silhouettes of the French Quarter.
The man behind it all, artist Tanner, works in near constant motion. Visitors often find him painting with sweeping brushstrokes, his dog Loretta resting nearby. Music hums softly in the background as the world he envisions takes shape through color and texture. “The French Quarter has its own presence,” he says. “You see peaks of nature growing between centuries-old buildings, and it all feels connected.”
That connection, a mix of warmth, mystery and motion, defines Tanner’s art. His canvases capture the soul of Louisiana through timelessness, texture, and atmosphere. The glow behind the trees, the shimmer of iron balconies against the sky, the sense of something sacred within the ordinary. “I don’t paint from photos,” he says. “I don’t paint from memory either. I’m not sure where it comes from, since I’ve never actually been in the spaces I create, but I feel them within, and they come into existence as I add more layers.”
Tanner’s gallery is more than a place to display art; it is a living, breathing studio. Locals stop in to chat, tourists stumble upon it and stay longer than they planned, drawn in by the spirit that fills the French Quarter. The artist welcomes the interruptions. “This place feeds the work,” he explains. “You never paint in isolation here. Even in quiet moments, there’s life all around you.”
Over the years, Tanner’s work has traveled far beyond Royal Street, finding collectors around the world. Yet everything he paints connects back to a sense of dark optimism and a deep connection with nature. In this case, it is the Louisiana landscape that continually anchors his vision, both haunting and full of light. In a city that celebrates its artists as much as its music, Tanner stands as a painter of consistent momentum, forever searching to create his best work yet.
Crossing into the Light: Tanner’s Threshold Series
Beyond the carriageway and courtyard, the gallery opens into a realm where a quiet shift takes place. Known for his richly layered Louisiana landscapes that merge the spirit of the bayou with the architecture of the French Quarter, Tanner is exploring new emotional ground in his latest collection, Thresholds.
This series turns his gaze toward spaces that hold transformation, arches, portals, and openings that seem to exist between the physical and the unseen. “Thresholds are about change,” Tanner explains. “They’re about that instant of pause before you step into something new and how, in New Orleans, even that moment is filled with light.”
His palette has evolved into vivid contrasts of orange and blue, tones that illuminate one another and heighten the sense of atmosphere. The brushwork has grown more expressive, carrying a deliberate momentum that feels alive and driven. Each painting suggests a passage through the unknown, the sense of movement that comes before something takes shape.
Nature remains Tanner’s truest muse. “Living in Louisiana, especially here in New Orleans, gives you a sense of renewal,” he says. “Everything grows, transforms, and begins again. That’s what Thresholds is about.”
Step inside Tanner’s French Quarter Gallery & Studio to experience his latest body of work. His Thresholds series captures the energy of transformation and the pulse of the natural world. Painted on site in his historic Royal Street studio, the collection carries the same quiet intensity that has always defined his art, rooted in place, alive with motion, and filled with the spirit of Louisiana. Visitors can often find him painting weekend afternoons, with limited edition Thresholds giclées available.
From a sketchbook in the woods of Alabama to a celebrated gallery in the heart of the French Quarter, Tanner’s journey is one of grounding… of finding peace in creation and offering that peace to others. His art doesn’t just depict the landscape; it restores it, one brushstroke at a time. For more information, visit tannergallery.com or call 504-524-8266.
After leaving Alabama, Tanner followed his creative calling to New Orleans, enrolling in the New Orleans Academy of Fine Art. There, he studied under the academy’s founder, world-renowned artist Auseklis Ozols, and further refined his skills under artists Adrian Deckbar, Katalin Gergo, Darrell Brown, and Jean Cassels. The training emphasized classical technique, but it was Tanner’s connection to nature and his ability to translate emotion through landscape that would define his voice as an artist.
When he completed his studies, Tanner stayed in New Orleans and began building his career the old-fashioned way, painting and selling his work in Jackson Square, surrounded by the sounds of jazz, the scent of beignets, and the rhythm of the city’s creative pulse. During those early years, he explored various subjects, portraiture, still life, mixed media, even body painting, but he kept finding his way back to the woods. “I knew I’d found my place when I started painting the landscapes of my childhood,” Tanner says. “If my art makes someone forget their troubles, even for a moment, I’ve accomplished my goal.”
Step into Tanner Gallery & Studio at 625 Royal St. and you are immediately drawn into an atmosphere that feels elemental. Inside the carriageway that once was home to a family in the late 1700s, the air moves like sunlight through leaves, steady and alive. Canvases lean against old brick walls, brushes rest in jars like bouquets, and light settles across scenes of dark cypress trees, Spanish moss and the ironwork silhouettes of the French Quarter.
The man behind it all, artist Tanner, works in near constant motion. Visitors often find him painting with sweeping brushstrokes, his dog Loretta resting nearby. Music hums softly in the background as the world he envisions takes shape through color and texture. “The French Quarter has its own presence,” he says. “You see peaks of nature growing between centuries-old buildings, and it all feels connected.”
That connection, a mix of warmth, mystery and motion, defines Tanner’s art. His canvases capture the soul of Louisiana through timelessness, texture, and atmosphere. The glow behind the trees, the shimmer of iron balconies against the sky, the sense of something sacred within the ordinary. “I don’t paint from photos,” he says. “I don’t paint from memory either. I’m not sure where it comes from, since I’ve never actually been in the spaces I create, but I feel them within, and they come into existence as I add more layers.”
Tanner’s gallery is more than a place to display art; it is a living, breathing studio. Locals stop in to chat, tourists stumble upon it and stay longer than they planned, drawn in by the spirit that fills the French Quarter. The artist welcomes the interruptions. “This place feeds the work,” he explains. “You never paint in isolation here. Even in quiet moments, there’s life all around you.”
Over the years, Tanner’s work has traveled far beyond Royal Street, finding collectors around the world. Yet everything he paints connects back to a sense of dark optimism and a deep connection with nature. In this case, it is the Louisiana landscape that continually anchors his vision, both haunting and full of light. In a city that celebrates its artists as much as its music, Tanner stands as a painter of consistent momentum, forever searching to create his best work yet.
Crossing into the Light: Tanner’s Threshold Series
Beyond the carriageway and courtyard, the gallery opens into a realm where a quiet shift takes place. Known for his richly layered Louisiana landscapes that merge the spirit of the bayou with the architecture of the French Quarter, Tanner is exploring new emotional ground in his latest collection, Thresholds.
This series turns his gaze toward spaces that hold transformation, arches, portals, and openings that seem to exist between the physical and the unseen. “Thresholds are about change,” Tanner explains. “They’re about that instant of pause before you step into something new and how, in New Orleans, even that moment is filled with light.”
His palette has evolved into vivid contrasts of orange and blue, tones that illuminate one another and heighten the sense of atmosphere. The brushwork has grown more expressive, carrying a deliberate momentum that feels alive and driven. Each painting suggests a passage through the unknown, the sense of movement that comes before something takes shape.
Nature remains Tanner’s truest muse. “Living in Louisiana, especially here in New Orleans, gives you a sense of renewal,” he says. “Everything grows, transforms, and begins again. That’s what Thresholds is about.”
Step inside Tanner’s French Quarter Gallery & Studio to experience his latest body of work. His Thresholds series captures the energy of transformation and the pulse of the natural world. Painted on site in his historic Royal Street studio, the collection carries the same quiet intensity that has always defined his art, rooted in place, alive with motion, and filled with the spirit of Louisiana. Visitors can often find him painting weekend afternoons, with limited edition Thresholds giclées available.
From a sketchbook in the woods of Alabama to a celebrated gallery in the heart of the French Quarter, Tanner’s journey is one of grounding… of finding peace in creation and offering that peace to others. His art doesn’t just depict the landscape; it restores it, one brushstroke at a time. For more information, visit tannergallery.com or call 504-524-8266.
