On the Cover

The Last Of The Masters

In his feature on page 46, contributor William Browning recalls the words of a cobbler he once knew, mourning that our “throwaway world” has undone its own need for craftsmanship. Browning drives out to the home of premier Mississippi chairmaker Greg Harkins. Harkins, now seventy-six, still creates chairs “the old way”—drawn from a trusted tradition that has gone untinkered with since the 1800s, passed down from one generation to the next.

In the story, Browning obsesses over the anxieties of such a craft coming to an end, the possibility that the technique and the artistry will be inevitably lost with the last of the masters like Harkins. But while he worries over the future, and tries to get Harkins to worry with him, the craftsman keeps turning back to the past, speaking of his ancestors, his mentors, his hometown—the things that came before him, shaped him.

At the very same time, in Lafayette, Louisiana architect Kevin Gossen is making every effort imaginable to return an old iconic building to the glory of its past life (48). Students at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette are creating a haven of creative thinking using the most primitive of architectural forms (42). And New Orleans artist Carlie Trosclair is making art of broken plaster and torn wallpaper in abandoned buildings, meditating on the past and potential future inhabitants within their walls (70).

As insistent as the new may seem—the past presses forward, in our designs and

Cuisine Culture

SOUTHERN & WILD AS EVER

57

MEYER THE HATTER

Inside “The South’s largest hat store” by Poet Wolfe

Escapes

64 by April Hamilton

RISE & SHINE

Shreveport’s Kanya Michelle is living proof that a great biscuit can change your life

58

STRANGE TRUE STORIES PART III

Into plantation country we go by Nina Flournoy

62

63

UNSUNG DESIGNS

Stringbean supports & Birkenstock gate hinges by Ed Cullen

CRAPS: A MAN & A MYTH

The true story of Bernard de Marigny by Kent J. Landry

67

MCCARTYS

Internationally-known, quintessentiallyMississipi

by Mimi Greenwood Knight

PETRIFYING ANTICS

The fossilized forest in Flora by Chris Turner-Neal

Perspectives

70

ARCHITECTURAL SKINS

Explorations of space with New Orleans artist Carlie Trosclair by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Publisher James Fox-Smith

Associate Publisher

Ashley Fox-Smith

Managing Editor Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Alexandra Kennon Editorial Intern Audrey Livigni Creative Director Kourtney Zimmerman

Contributors: Caroline Alberstadt, William Browning, Kristy Christiansen, Paul Christiansen, Ed Cullen, Nina Flournoy, Mimi Greenwood Knight, April Hamilton, Chris Jay, Paul Kieu, Kent J. Landry, Shelby McClure, Kimberly Meadowlark, Christina Ogea, Kayland Partee, Chris Turner-Neal, Poet Wolfe

Cover Artist

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