CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Gabryelle Allnütt was seeking a safer city, evacuating from Hurricane Ida to Charlotte. The Queen City proved deadly for the artist, who police say was murdered by a stranger.
The ceramic artist spent about a week in Charlotte, doing what she knew best: teaching others the talents she was gifted.
"It's hard," said Adrienne Dellinger, the executive director at Clayworks, an art studio on Monroe Road.
Dellinger didn't have to know Allnütt long to know the kind of person she was.
"Her personality was just so wonderful," Dellinger said. "She was so full of love, and light and energy."
Allnütt started volunteering at Clayworks about a week before her death.
"We had a common bond that we both loved to share our love of clay with community," Dellinger said.
Through the studio door and down the hall, Allnütt eventually picked up a few shifts teaching lessons.
Dellinger knew the hardship Allnütt was going through as she evacuated her home as an artist and wanted to help.
"You can leave all your troubles behind," she said, describing how artists feel when they enter the studio.
Allnütt loved to teach and create art on a wheel, spreading her passion with others, Dellinger said.
"She was creative, she was loving, she was positive, she was just a really wonderful person that I wished I got to spend more time with," she added.
Dellinger said she should be remembered as a beautiful spirit with dreams of spreading what she learned from Charlotte with those back in Louisiana.
"And I had told her don't worry about trying to do that right now, we're going to be friends for life," Dellinger said with tears in her eyes.
A life cut short by a shocking murder, but a legacy living on with those she taught.
Allnütt was killed at a separate art studio in Optimist Park, near NoDa. She volunteered and worked at Clayworks during her time in Charlotte.
Contact Hunter Sáenz at hsaenz@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.