Lower Decatur, alive again
The night celebrates the end of construction on Lower Decatur. A neighborhood news peg with a party attached, in time for the October 16–18 weekend.
Press room / Art · Music · Absinthe / New Orleans
Some art never dies.
Construction on Lower Decatur is ending, and this is the party: a free, all-ages Saturday night with art by Crystale, the music of Isaiah Da Artist and Death in the Afternoon Absinthe. Silent auction proceeds benefit Glassroots.
Art
Venue
Beneficiary
AbsintheThe night
Dead Artists Drink Free celebrates the end of construction on Lower Decatur. The night pairs New Orleans mixed-media artist Crystal Obeidzinski, who works as Art by Crystale, with the music of Isaiah Da Artist at Disco on Decatur.
Silent auction proceeds benefit Glassroots, which collects glass at drop-off sites in New Orleans and Baton Rouge and puts it to work in coastal restoration and resilience projects. Crystal paints on salvaged doors and reclaimed wood; Glassroots gives used glass a second life. Admission is free, and all ages are welcome.
Story angles
The night celebrates the end of construction on Lower Decatur. A neighborhood news peg with a party attached, in time for the October 16–18 weekend.
An artist who paints on salvaged doors and reclaimed wood, raising money for a group that turns used glass into coastal restoration material. Same idea, two scales.
Crystal’s First Street, acrylic on a reclaimed door, took second place at the R.W. Norton Art Gallery’s 2025 New Orleans in Art exhibition. She also won Best of Show, LA Marketplace, at Jazz Fest in 2018.
Free admission, all ages, 7 p.m. on Lower Decatur, with a local cause attached. Easy to recommend in weekend roundups.
Scenes
Lower Decatur is coming out of construction just in time for October.



Photos from artbycrystale.com.
On the bill

Crystal Obeidzinski’s mixed-media paintings on salvaged doors and reclaimed wood. Pictured: her side entrance.

Live music.

The night’s absinthe partner.
The artist
Crystal Obeidzinski is a Louisiana-born artist and LSU Fine Arts graduate based in New Orleans. She builds mixed-media paintings on reclaimed wood, including salvaged doors, layering discarded print material, her own photography and paint.
She won Best of Show, LA Marketplace, at Jazz Fest in 2018. Her painting First Street won second place in the R.W. Norton Art Gallery’s 2025 exhibition New Orleans in Art: A Love Letter from the Crescent City in Shreveport. FOX 8/WVUE and Artsy Shark have featured her work. artbycrystale.com
New Orleans in Art: A Love Letter from the Crescent City, R.W. Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport, Aug. 28–Nov. 23, 2025. Acrylic on reclaimed door, 28 × 48 in.
A published artist profile on her work with salvaged wood.
The award banner appears in the portrait on this page.
“Artists find stories buried in the pieces of old New Orleans homes,” by Rob Krieger, on painting old doors.
Silent auction beneficiary
Silent auction proceeds benefit Glassroots, a Louisiana organization that makes glass recycling easy to reach and puts the glass back to work. Its collected glass is processed locally by Glass Half Full for coastal restoration, green infrastructure and disaster resilience projects in New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana.
Figures as stated by Glassroots on its website, checked October 7, 2026.


Photos from weareglassroots.org.
Copy desk
Listing-ready text with confirmed details only. Edit freely; please keep the wording on admission and the benefit.
Dead Artists Drink Free celebrates the end of Lower Decatur construction: Art by Crystale, music by Isaiah Da Artist and Death in the Afternoon Absinthe at Disco on Decatur, 1215 Decatur Street. Saturday, October 17, 2026, 7 p.m. Free admission; all ages. Silent auction proceeds benefit Louisiana glass recyclers Glassroots.
Dead Artists Drink Free celebrates the end of construction on Lower Decatur with a Saturday night of art and music at Disco on Decatur, 1215 Decatur Street. New Orleans mixed-media artist Crystal Obeidzinski, who works as Art by Crystale and paints on salvaged doors and reclaimed wood, brings the art; Isaiah Da Artist brings the live music, with Death in the Afternoon Absinthe. Silent auction proceeds benefit Glassroots, a Louisiana group that puts recycled glass to work in coastal restoration and resilience projects. Saturday, October 17, 2026, starting at 7 p.m. in New Orleans. Free admission; all ages are welcome.
Crystal Obeidzinski with her 2018 Best of Show, LA Marketplace, Jazz Fest award.
Official poster for Dead Artists Drink Free, October 17, 2026, at Disco on Decatur in New Orleans, featuring Art by Crystale and music by Isaiah Da Artist. Silent auction proceeds benefit Glassroots.
Press assets

Calendar-size JPG. Full-resolution PNG (2550 × 3450) and the print PDF are on Google Drive.

With her 2018 Best of Show, LA Marketplace, Jazz Fest award.

Event details, artist bio, credits, calendar copy and contact on one page.
PNG, transparentPink, for any background
PNG, transparentWhite, for dark backgrounds
PNG, transparentOfficial, full color
PNG, transparentFull colorVenue, artist and absinthe photos are from artbycrystale.com; Glassroots photos are from weareglassroots.org. The poster’s courtyard is designed promotional artwork, not documentary photography of the venue.
Press inquiries
For additional images, fact checks or event details, email the press contact.