BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss.—I am always struck by the light on the Gulf Coast, by its peculiar quality and strength. Blues are bluer. Whites dreamier. Shadows are denser somehow. Makes sense that so many great artists eddy up on these shores.

Three years after Hurricane Katrina, and the drama and color today is in the contrast. So much is brand-new, giving the town a scrubbed, game-board look. But chockablock to the spanking-new pinks and other beach pastels remain the ruins, or, worse yet, black holes. The blank spaces. You find yourself looking for landmarks long gone.

The l...

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