Winter is the Season for Camellias

Camellias are blooming everywhere in Louisiana.  The Camellia Preserve on Avery Island is a great place to see them, approximately 450 varieties of them. 

See this article from the 2011 New York Times by Kate Murphy.   Photography by Sara Essex Bradley for the New York Times.

Bonfires in South Louisiana

I am making plans to drive along the River Road in South Louisiana next week. Destination Lutcher and other places between Gonzales and Houma that build bonfires for Christmas eve to guide Papa Noël  to their communities. 

Would love to be there Christmas eve when the bonfires that look like boats, trees, trains and New Orleans Saints helmets will be set ablaze.  Maybe next year.

Bonfire photo by Hugh Lambert who has written a wonderful description of Cajun Christmas traditions. 

Hattiesburg and The Arts Council

I took a detour from my trips in Louisiana to Hattiesburg, MS where the first exhibit of the Louisiana Portrait Project will be in the spring of 2016.  The Hattiesburg Arts Council is housed in the Hattiesburg Cultural Center, an old library with beautiful gallery spaces on the second and third floors.  

Hattiesburg is a wonderful city and among other interesting things the home of the Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival.  The city of Hattiesburg is a wonderful supporter of the arts.  HAC director Rebekah Stark Johnson and her staff Alehandro Wooten and Abigail Lenz Allen run multiple gallery spaces and teach classes. 

I had the pleasure of walking around downtown Hattiesburg and visiting different art spaces, restaurants and shops.  I recommend Southbound Bagel and Coffee for bagel sandwiches and giant cups of espresso.

Southbound Bagel and Coffee

Rebekah Stark Johnson in a classroom in a rehabbed building in downtown Hattiesburg.

The work of a beginning drawing student in Alehandro Wooten's class.

Back home to Monroe, LA to be greeted by Christmas lights all over town.  Tree and fountain at the Monroe Convention Center.

Lafayette and Garrie Landry

I had a wonderful visit with botanist Garrie Landry who is the curator of the UL Lafayette Herbarium. The Herbarium at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is one of multiple Herbariums in the state of Louisiana.  

Garrie showed me two interesting cases of plant specimens and told me stories about his participation in a couple of Wildlife and Fisheries and parish police cases.  Both times he was able to help the authorities with their cases by identifying and dating plant specimens.  

Garrie is one of the participants in the LPP.  I am working on a drawing of him holding one of his bird skins.  I love it that his office looks as messy as my studio.  Every possible surface covered with objects, books, notes and aquariums of plants.  

Cabinet with folders of plant specimens.

Plant specimen.

Background Reading

Among the books that I am reading to help me understand how Louisiana developed as a state is 

Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America  by John M. Barry.  I have met a couple of people whose families where influenced by this flood.  It displaced people in different ways, sometimes creating a situation for couples to meet and people to move across the state.

http://www.amazon.com/Rising-Tide-Mississippi-Changed-America-ebook/dp/B000S1LVUE/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

Another book that I am reading is No Other World, a fictional book about the beginning of the Metoyer family and plantation near Natchitoches, LA.

http://www.amazon.com/No-Other-World-Norman-German/dp/1463569688/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1

Both books are about land, politics and culture and fascinating insights into the world of Louisiana.

LPP on Etsy

With much consideration I have decided to open a shop on Etsy to help fund my travel expenses for the Louisiana Portrait Project. The items in the shop will only be offered on Etsy and the proceeds will fund basic expenses for traveling across Louisiana for the next year to collect images and recordings for my project. 

I will continue to add to the image library with each trip and to send photo postcards from different post offices in Louisiana starting with Transylvania, Tallulah, Grand Coteau, Vivian, Plain Dealing, Shongaloo, Lisbon, Farmerville, Vienna, Lisbon and Grambling in December. 

Check it out!

LPP on Etsy

On the Road Again - Next Trip Through Northern Louisiana

Each of my next four trips to Louisiana will take me to a different region of the state. My next trip will take me across northern Louisiana from Ida and Rodessa in the northeast corner to the Delhi and Tallulah in the northwest.  I am looking forward to meeting new and wonderful people in this area and hoping for great weather!  

I will be sending photo postcards from 10 different post offices on these next four trips.  Look for information in my next post about the postcards and other artwork in my Etsy shop which will help fund my basic traveling expenses for these trips.