Chauvin Sculpture Garden

The Sunday after the Bayou Lafourche Paddle Trip found me on Bayou Petite Caillou, two bayous east of my own Bayou Dularge, for the annual Folk Art Festival at the Chauvin Sculpture Garden.

The eccentric sculpture of Kenny Hill greets the guests at the entrance gate.

There is an interesting story surrounding this mysterious man and his curious art.  A paved walkway winds around the garden, where each piece tells a story of some part of his secret life.  You just have to see it to appreciate it.

The day started at 11 a.m. with some unexpected bluegrass music from a local group called the Moss Pickers.The guitar player dressed in blue was a classmate and co-band-member with my Dotter and her hubby, MuzicMan.  (It’s a small world down here.)

The grounds along the bayou side next to the garden were filled to capacity with artists displaying and selling their handiwork.  Today, I was just a normal person, walking around, talking, taking photos and just enjoying a cultural day on a different bayou.  And of course, I was thinking of all of you and looking forward to sharing this experience with you.

There were so many different artisans there.  This is Ms. Doris, who makes cast nets by hand, and when I have enough pocket change saved up, I am going to buy one of her nets.

There were artists from other parts of the country, who arrived in the most interesting vehicles I’ve ever seen.

This was on the windshield of one of those cars.  And here’s the car . . .

And a closeup of the art work on top of the car . . .

I didn’t get to meet this character and get the whole story about all this art, but I’m sure it’s an interesting one.

A little old man and his wife were selling some of his prize-winning duck carvings at their booth.

Beautiful, intricate, life-like work.

This lovely lady is from my bayou, Bayou Dularge, and has been creating unique jewelry of all kinds from the scale of the alligator gar for many years.

Janie has developed a way to infuse colored dyes into the scales, giving them a different dimension.

There’s not enough time in the day or space on this blog to mention every artist that was there yesterday.  However, I will mention one more.  I just met this lady within the past year.  A mutual friend brought her down for a visit.

This is Dot-Tee, bayou name for Dorothy!  A retired kindergarten teacher, she is pursuing her passion for art and paints folk art on glass in her Art Gecko Studio.

She is becoming known for her portrayal of pink alligators doing all sorts of folksy things, like dancing in this piece.

This is one of my favorites, and one of the reasons I left all my money at home.  It’s a good thing to support local art, but the electricity bill must get paid or I can’t sit here and share all this unique beauty and culture with you.

Another great event down the bayou!  Enjoy!

BW