Country Roads Magazine Visual Arts Issue by Country Roads magazine

Tickets on sale now at

Sunday, November 15, 2020 at the Myrtles, St. Francisville, LA

Celebrated Chefs • Creative Dishes • Cooking Demos Cookbook Signings • Craft Cocktails • Fine Wines • Lawn Games

Presented with generous support from

BEER Garden hosted by Jay Ducote and FEATURING:

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Enjoy an oasis in the heart of the city. Stroll through the beautiful gardens and walk the many trails of the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens and Windrush Gardens. Step back in time to 19th century rural Louisiana at the open-air LSU Rural Life Museum.

Upcoming Events 50th Anniversary Exhibition Series

A Yardman's Art: the Inspiration of Steele Burden September 18-November 20 . 8 a.m.-5 p.m. LSU Rural Life Museum

Rural Life Alive!

Living History and Artisan Demonstrations Wednesdays and Fridays . October 7-November 20 10 a.m.-2 p.m. LSU Rural Life Museum Visit our website for a schedule of topics: lsu.edu/rurallife

Wine & Roses: A Remote Raffle Affair An extraordinary online raffle of wine, roses, art and other unique items.

September 14-November 23 LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens

Learn more at LSUAgCenter.com/BotanicGardens

Poinsettia Show & Sale

November 28 . 8 a.m.-2 p.m. LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens

A Rural Life Christmas

December 6 . 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. LSU Rural Life Museum Learn more at lsu.edu/rurallife

Arbor Day at Burden

January 23 . 9 a.m.-1 p.m. LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens

Due to COVID-19, events are subject to change.

For details about these and other events, visit our website. Admission may be charged for some events. Burden Museum & Gardens . 4560 Essen Lane . 225-763-3990 . DiscoverBurden.com . Baton Rouge . Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily // N O V 2 0

Contents

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Features

Events

24 27 30

ART ABOARD

Plein air painting & parties inspire & delight

6 8

VO LU M E 37 // I SS U E 1 1

REFLECTIONS by James Fox-Smith

NEWS & NOTEWORTHIES

Publisher

LAMENTATIONS From ice caps to duck camps, Tina Freeman seeks the juxtapositions of our shifting world by Alexandra Kennon

ABSTRACTION OF REALITY Cuban-American artist Luis Cruz Azaceta’s paintings consider the human condition by Alexandra Kennon

SUDDENLY, LAST DAY ON EARTH Art pioneer Dawn DeDeaux wants to know what you’d take aboard the spaceship by Alexandra Kennon

James Fox-Smith

Associate Publisher

Ashley Fox-Smith

Managing Editor

Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Alexandra Kennon

Creative Director

Kourtney Zimmerman

Contributors:

Nolde Alexius, Andre Arceneaux, Marshall Blevins, Beth D’Addono, Camille Delaune, Viola Fontenot

Cover Artist

Marshall Blevins

On the Cover

Advertising

“HEAVEN NEEDS REALIZING”

SALES@COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM

Art by Marshall Blevins, “Church Goin’ Mule”

Alone in the woods in Ocean Springs, artist Marshall Blevins, known by most as the “Church Goin’ Mule,” felt the world around her grow more vivid. As the distractions of daily human interactions and obligations grew smaller, quieter—the tiny events of nature were magnified. Suddenly, the world became “a more intense and vivid and magical place,” the trees “protective parents,” and the turtles “good omens.” During her time at the Twelve Oaks Artist Residency, she saw turtles everywhere—baby turtles, turtles stacked upon one another, turtles laying eggs, eating mushrooms. Describing the morning after completing this ode to her chosen symbol of good luck, she wrote on her Instagram: “After a worried and sleepless night, I pulled the kayak into the bayou, hopeful it wouldn’t rain as the overcast sky warned it surely would. A three-toed box turtle met me on the trailhead and I smiled. It was serenely quiet. It was rainless. It was good, like he promised.” In this visual arts issue, adoration for our natural world—and sometimes devastating appeals to save it—abound. Read more about Blevins’ time at Twelve Oaks on page 40.

Cuisine

32 34

NO BARE WALLS An organization dedicated to covering Lafayette with local art

Culture

MOM & MIGNON Mira Alexius: fashion icon, business woman, jewelry collector by Nolde Alexius

by Andre Arceneaux

THE ST. FRANCISVILLE FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL Returning to the Myrtles: Ten chefs, thirty-odd wines, a demo stage, and a beer garden, too.

TWELVE OAKS In Ocean Springs, the tiny, oft-forgotten wonders of nature build a world of inspiration. by Marshall Blevins

Escapes

A RETURN TO THE SECRET COAST New accommodations

and an aquarium bring us back—as if the cuisine wasn’t enough on its own. by Beth D’Addono

A FEW MILES TO THE NORTH A photo essay as the leaves turn in Fayetteville by Camille Delaune

PERSPECTIVES

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Layers of Meaning

Christiane Drieling’s collages drop characters into new worlds.

Sales Team

Heather Gammill & Heather Gibbons

Custom Content Coordinator

Lauren Heffker

Advertising Coordinator

Baylee Zeringue

President

Dorcas Woods Brown

Country Roads Magazine 758 Saint Charles Street Baton Rouge, LA 70802 Phone (225) 343-3714 Fax (815) 550-2272 EDITORIAL@COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM WWW.COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM

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Copyrighted. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Country Roads magazine are those of the authors or columnists and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, nor do they constitute an endorsement of products or services herein. Country Roads magazine retains the right to refuse any advertisement. Country Roads cannot be responsible for delays in subscription deliveries due to U.S. Post Office handling of third-class mail.

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Reflections FROM THE PUBLISHER

pend enough time poking about in the back of closets in an old house and there’s no telling what you’ll find. Something which came to light earlier this summer, during the interminable renovation of our son Charles’s room, was a Tupperware container containing scores of stone arrowheads found on the property by various of his ancestors. For the first hundred-odd years during which my adoptive family inhabited this patch of Tunica Hill country in West Feliciana Parish they farmed, making a living coaxing crops of corn, sweet potatoes, and soybeans from the heavy loess soils that comprise these forested uplands. And while it’s not great agricultural land—not compared with the floodplain land closer to the Mississippi, anyway— the hunting has always been good here. This fact was clearly not lost on the Native American people who were calling it home long before European settlers began to turn up. So back in the day, when my wife’s farming forebears would disk up the soil, particularly in areas close to the pebble-strewn course of Thompson Creek, from time to time the heavy clay would give up delicately knapped projectile points—mute testimony to the hundreds of generations

of people who came before. They’re beautiful things, precisely flaked from the same rounded pebbles you’ll pick up in any sandy-bottomed creekbed crisscrossing the Tunica Hills. Properly termed “projectile points” (I’ve recently learned), the points in our box are mostly too large to have been arrowheads, and most were instead made to tip spears. From half-pound, palmsized projectiles that might have served as a spearhead, knife, or hand-axe; to tiny, barbed affairs for spearing fish or bringing down a bird, these points come in all shapes and sizes. One thing they all have in common: they’re wicked sharp, pressure flaked to a serrated edge still quite capable of opening a vein all these centuries later. Anyone who has ever sat in a streambed, whacking sand-colored pebbles together in an attempt to flake off the beginnings of a cutting surface, will marvel at the dexterity and patience required. Handling these pieces, you get the sense that the people who made them took pride in their work. It’s easy to imagine that the best points, and those who knew how to make them, would have been highly valued, and that when a favorite point went astray its maker might have taken the loss pretty hard. That seems to have happened a lot, if the

number of spearheads recovered from the land our family farmed is any indication. But then again, people had been living here a long, long time before my wife’s ancestors ever put plough to ground. It was Warren Woods, my wife’s grandfather and the last full-time farmer to wring a livelihood out of this land, who found most of the projectile points in our box. As a farmer he not only knew every inch of this land, but also the various kinds of game that called it home, and where those animals were most likely to be found. It should come as no surprise, then, that the riverbank or game trail where animals tended to gather might also turn out to be a good place to keep one’s eyes peeled for a long-lost spearhead, uncovered after a heavy rain. My mother-in-law, Dorcas, has gathered her own fair share of points over the years, including one beautiful, black specimen that she literally found in her hands while turning over pebbles in Thompson

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Creek. Not long ago she showed her box of points to an archaeologist with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History named Samuel McGahey, who authored the Mississippi Projectile Point Guide. McGahey put most of the points at between three thousand and five thousand years old. That’s a long time—enough, perhaps, for a people to figure out how to live in balance with their place on the earth, neither taking too much or too little. It also puts our own brief tenure into perspective, and reminds us that we’ve a lot left to learn. Our son Charles is becoming a hunter. Sixteen this year and with the rare misfortune of being born a Southern country son to a father without a passion for hunting, he’s kind of late to the game. But now, armed with an aerial map of his great-great-grandfather’s farmland, he’s making up for lost time. Charles is learning every inch of the property, getting to know the trails the deer follow, where the creeks converge, and where the game comes down to drink. Doing this puts him not only closer to the land, but also to all the people who’ve fed and clothed themselves from it before him. One day perhaps the sight of a long-lost spear point emerging from the soil will provide him with his own, unbreakable bond to the long arc of history that runs through the streambeds of this place. I hope so. James Fox-Smith, publisher —james@countryroadsmag.com

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Noteworthy

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N E W S , T I M E LY F A C T S , A N D O T H E R

CURIOSITIES

LO O K C LO S E R

The Barefoot Cajun’s Barn HANNAH GUMBO BRINGS PUBLIC ART TO PRIVATE LAND, INVITING ALL TO MEET THE FAMILY towns called Acadiana, and now you find yourself d r i v i n g aimlessly in an unfamiliar small town, hoping to catch a glimpse of this thing they call “joie Photo courtesy of Hannah Gumbo de vivre.” You can see it—in the backyard magine yourself an urbanite barbecues, in the vast crawfish lakes, in from somewhere far, far from the old—if simple—architecture. But here. Maybe you even wear a you, as an outsider, can’t quite touch it. “When I first moved to Eunice,” said suit, even when it’s Saturday. It’s been years since you’ve seen an artist Hannah Thibodeaux (Hannah uninterrupted skyscape and longer Gumbo), “I was like ‘Oh I’d love to walk since you’ve tasted anything that beside a crawfish pond. I’d love get out wasn’t store-bought. You’re craving and see that gorgeous tree. But, the thing something quiet, something pure, is, it’s all private land.” Gumbo’s latest project brought her something vibrant. You’ve watched a rerun of Anthony Bourdain’s trip right into the center of rural Eunice, to that stretch of small Louisiana painting a mural on a fifty-eight-year-old

family barn. Typically an art form valued for bringing art into the public sphere, this mural turns that particular form of gift on its head: it is inviting the public to share in a single family’s story. “It’s an invitation,” said Gumbo. “Come and see us, and meet the family who grew up here.” The project was first conceived as an homage to Calvin Smith, who built the barn with his neighbors in 1962 and was known within his family as “The Barefoot Cajun” for his personal aversion to shoes. His son Darrel, finding himself living once again in the family home—a space filled with his mother’s spirit— wanted to find a way to mark his father’s story, too. Gumbo went to work, using her signature flair for show-stopping color and design to illustrate long-dormant Smith family stories. “I’d meet new people every time I got out there,” said Gumbo. “The nieces and nephews and cousins would come and the project would spark memories people hadn’t told in a long time. It really took on a life of its

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own.” Completed in time for a family reunion at the end of October, the mural is just visible from the road if you are looking for it through the trees (at 1444 Highway 758, Eunice LA). But the plan is that a sign will soon be set up for people to come onto the property and get a closer look. “The family is really excited to share the mural space,” said Gumbo. St. Landry Tourism will also list it on their website as an attraction worth visiting. “As we try to get people to come visit small town America,” mused Gumbo, “where we don’t necessarily have the manpower for big public events like festivals—maybe we should keep in mind that people passing through want to connect with the people there. And that sometimes, that can be hard to do for an outsider. Maybe, it’s more about living this life that is full of art and life and culture—and then inviting people into it.” hannahgumbo.com —Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

LOCAL LADIES FROM NEW ORLEANS TO ACADIANA INTRODUCE NEW MUSICAL CONCEPTS THIS FALL

ust a few short months ago in our September issue, we delved into the far-ranging difficulties of our region’s performing arts scene in the wake of COVID-19. In the meantime though, it turns out, art persists. Eight months in, the creative fruits of this forced and anxiety-charged quiet time are slowly being unveiled in the form of new music across the region. In Baton Rouge, the piano rockmusical theater-folk (“the holy trinity”) band Group Therapy is reintroducing themselves as Karma and the Killjoys. The evolution adds reinforced instrumentals and existential drama to Rain Scott-Catoire, Sydni Myers, and Sophia Brazda’s spectacle expression of, as Brazda described Group Therapy’s origin songs, “deep middle school sleepover trauma emotional magic”. New members Thomas Vercher, Michael Blount, and Matt Hawkins bring a stronger rock and roll Queen-like element to the group’s expressive sound. 8

Scott-Catoire described it as “rock that needs to be performed.” Karma and the Killjoys expects to release their debut album by the beginning of 2021, but in the meantime, you can get a taste of their music on their Instagram @karmaandthekilljoys. Fellow Capitol City songwriters Molly and Denton Hatcher have also introduced their newest iteration as a duo: Hippie Witch. Born between singer/songwriter gigs on the road last year as the married musicians expressed a longing for more rock and roll, Hippie Witch is, as Molly described “the birth child of Black Sabbath and the Beach Boys, raised on the unfinished sandwich of Mama Cass; a departure in the fact that we are playing some of the rawest music that we can.” While the two are used to long seasons on the road, Molly said that the time in lockdown gave them a chance to really fine tune the new sound. Follow along on Spotify or on Hippie Witch’s bandcamp page.

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Formerly the frontwoman of Baton Rouge band Ship of Fools, Ashley O’Neill—now based in New Orleans—has just introduced her first solo musical concept, Hazy Jane. “It’s the most vibey, electronic, danceable, and personal music I’ve ever made,” she said. Taking on the character of Hazy Jane, “I saw this hazy, blurred person who you couldn’t quite make out,” she described. “She grew up on musicals and ‘90s culture and she was sad as hell but dancing through it, crying at the club,” she said. “I want everyone to be able to see themselves in this music because they can—it’s vulnerable, it’s emotional, it’s sad and open and raw.” Collaborating with a flock of fellow producers and artists, O’Neill produced a music video to accompany her first single, a cover of Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang”. Each of Hazy Jane’s five songs will be accompanied by a video, and released once a month. Follow along on Instagram at @whoishazyjane and

whoishazyjane.com. Finally, across the way in rural Acadiana, “dreamy-fi folk” artist Renée Reed—daughter of Cajun musician Mitch Reed—has been drawing up her own collection of songs. “I’ve been wanting to make a solo record for years,” she said, describing how quarantine finally brought her the stillness to reflect inwardly and make it happen. Recorded on a 4-track tape recorder at home, the songs on her debut album, set to be released March 26, 2021 on Austin label Keeled Scales, are hypnotic and gentle, performed on guitar, fiddle, and organ. Inspired by everything from art to life experiences, Reed draws on emotion and imagery to produce music that is as ethereal as it is therapeutic. Listen along on Spotify and at reneereedmusic.com. —Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Kinder Garden

LOUISIANA’S FIRST MONTESSORI-STYLE GARDEN SCHOOL BLOSSOMS AT PARADIGM GARDENS

ucked into New Orleans’ Central City neighborhood, a secret garden hides in plain sight. Most of the area surrounding it contains more or less what one expects to find two blocks off of I-10, with the Superdome visible on the horizon: shotgun houses, corner stores, churches, a barbecue spot. Then, breaking free from the constraints of the pot-hole-pocked asphalt is a lush, green oasis spanning just one magical city block. Vegetables grow, goats bleat, a brick wood-burning oven awaits a flame and a skilled hand, and sunflowers and zinnias stretch tall toward the sky. It’s pretty clear that for kids and adults alike, a day spent among the goats and flowers beats a day spent staring at Zoom lessons on a computer screen, no contest. This is part of why co-owner and co-founder of Paradigm Gardens Joel Hitchcock Tilton and two parents founded Paradigm Garden School, Louisiana’s first and only K-12 “garden school” of its kind. The three have been discussing homeschooling for over a year now, even prior to COVID-19 resulting in traditional classrooms closing across the nation. “The pandemic provided the perfect catalyst to get the ball rolling and convince the other parents, who were a bit apprehensive at first,” Tilton said.

Now, the Montessori-inspired, projectand-field-trip-based, free program has received more interest than the organizers can accommodate. “We’ve had a tremendous amount of interest, which has been humbling,” Tilton said of the Garden School. “But we want to keep it small to be able to ensure the highest quality for each student.” The parents also serve as teachers, alongside Tilton, depending on their availability. “This way the parents take an active role in their kids’ education,” Tilton explained, “which the kids love!” Ten students were lucky enough to make the limited cut, though on Tuesday field trip days—to museums, bakeries, state parks, exhibitions, zoos, other gardens, and more—the community is invited and more students attend. On Mondays, when school is held at Paradigm Gardens’ Tchoupitoulas campus, lessons in topics including animal husbandry, beekeeping, greenhouse management, and carpentry are taught, along with Spanish and core course work. Wednesday is back to the main Central City campus, and focuses on reading, writing, the scientific method, a variety of individual projects, and music. “At the end of the day each Wednesday, we will cook a large familystyle meal using ingredients from

the garden and invite a few homeless individuals to join us in our large family meal,” Tilton said. Thursdays bring math and more science; more time for individual projects, more music. Lunch is provided twice weekly by The Daily Beet, a local health food restaurant and partner of Paradigm Garden School. Head Chef and Owner Dylan Maisel will also teach a class on fermented foods. “Owning and running Paradigm Gardens over the past five years has allowed me to forge relationships with phenomenal chefs and musicians who have been more than gracious with their time as guest teachers,” Tilton explained. These guest teachers and partners include Mason Hereford, who has received both local and national acclaim as owner and Head Chef of Turkey & the Wolf. Once filmed for Bon Appétit Magazine doing rollerblade tricks while brandishing his highly-sought-after fried bologna sandwich, it’s no surprise that the kids are excited to learn cooking from him. Turkey & the Wolf also supplies lunch once a week; another partner, Gracious Bakery, supplies lunch on the two remaining days. Sorry, grownups, there’s no room for us to enroll—trust me, I asked. Sunday’s school day entails the

students working and running the weekly Paradigm Plant Sale that funds the rest of the week’s activities, “Teaching them hard work, and the value of hard-work and determination,” according to Tilton. The Garden School’s diversity does not end with its curriculum. Regular students vary in age from three to sixteen years old, with a variety of learning abilities and backgrounds. Parents and students range from Bahamian American, to Trinidadian American, to Columbian, to Jewish, and beyond. In breaking the mold of a traditional classroom setting, as well as doing away with labels such as “special needs” or “behavioral issues,” Paradigm Garden School imparts practical real-life skills, while allowing students and parents/ teachers alike to pursue and develop their own unique interests. The Paradigm Gardens Plant Sale that funds the Garden School takes place every Sunday morning from 8 am–10 am, and in addition to a variety of plants offers breakfast, cold brew coffee, and goats. Paradigmgardensnola.com for more information on the school, as well as other events and ongoings at Paradigm Gardens. —Alexandra Kennon

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Events

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A R T, C U LT U R E , A N D

ALL THINGS

FALL THIS

OPPORTUNITIES TO SHOW OFF YOUR

C U LT U R E C A L L

MONTH, WITH

SWEATERS.

PLENTY OF

Locally-made artwork, crafts, edible treats, brews, and live music will fill quintessentially quaint downtown Abita Springs during the Abita Springs Art & Farmers Markets, every Sunday this fall. See listing on page 13 for more details. Image courtesy of the Town of Abita Springss.

UNTIL NOV

22nd

ART EXHIBITIONS A YARDMAN’S ART: THE INSPIRATION OF STEELE BURDEN Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Landscape artist and designer Steele Burden has left an indelible mark on Baton Rogue with his gardens; but his work with other mediums beyond landscaping such as painting, sculpture, and ceramics are still enhancing the aesthetic of some places, as well— including LSU’s Rural Life Museum. His sculptures, paintings, and other artwork still grace the museum after fifty years, and to celebrate the Rural Life Museum is hosting A Yardman’s Art: the Inspiration of Steele Burden, an exhibition highlighting his contributions. 8 am–5 pm with regular museum admission. lsu.edu/rurallife. k

UNTIL

NOV 22nd

FUN FUNDRAISERS WINE AND ROSES: A REMOTE RAFFLE AFFAIR Online

Like many events this year, the Friends of the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens’

Annual Wine and Roses fundraiser is receiving a virtual makeover for 2020. Twenty delightfully-themed gift baskets will be up for auction online; each including two wine glasses, a special bottle of wine, a bouquet of roses and a variety of other themed items. Perfect for romancing that special someone, especially if that someone is yourself. Themes range from the Birding Basket, to the Louisiana Artists Basket, to the Picnic at Burden Basket, to the Wellness Basket—will one of them be yours? Keep an eye on lsuagcenter.com for more details and how to bid. k

UNTIL

NOV 25th

CREATIVE COMPETITIONS ART GONE WILD SUBMISSIONS Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Baton Rouge Zoo invites artists of every age and experience level to submit their artwork for its annual “Art Gone Wild” contest. Share which zoo animals inspire you the most—whether it be the oh-so-limber chimpanzees or the sleek komodo dragons. Only one submission per person, and all artwork must be 2-D and drawn or painted entirely by

hand. Submissions will be on display on December 11 and 12 during the annual ZooLights event for visitors to vote for their favorites in person. First, second, and third place awards will be determined in each category by popular vote and an overall winner will be selected by community judges. Deadline for submissions is November 25, and is free. All submissions can be dropped off at BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo during normal business hours. brzoo.org. k

UNTIL NOV

28th

ART SHOWS MARY JANE PARKER: PARTIAL VIEW Covington, Louisiana

Through intricate, captivating graphite drawings, artist Mary Jane Parker explores the concept of hysteria, a disease many women were misdiagnosed with in the twentieth century and prior. Through these delicate, repetitive patterns juxtaposed with figures of the human body, Parker emphasizes how hysteria was used to restrict women who did not conform to the strict rules of their society. Parker has exhibited work nationally // N O V 2 0

Events

Beginning November 1 - November 6

and internationally, and is represented in New Orleans by Arthur Roger Gallery. Currently she serves on the board of the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans as the Visual Arts Coordinator. There will be an opening reception from 6 pm–9 pm, and guests are required to register in advance for timed tickets to ensure proper attendance limitations and social distancing. Free. sttammany.art. k

UNTIL

DEC 4th

ART SHOWS MARGARET STONES: IN FULL BLOSSOM Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, plant collectors joined renowned botanist Margaret Stones of Australia in braving the Louisiana bayous and forests to gather plants for what became the Native Flora of Louisiana Collection. Stones called the collection her “great work,” and considered her time spent in the Bayou State some of the best of her life. To this day, Louisiana considers the feeling mutual. After cutting its initial opening short in March due to the pandemic, the staff of LSU

Libraries and Special Collections are excited to announce that the exhibition Louisiana’s Natural Treasure: Margaret Stones, Botanical Artist will reopen will re-open In Full Blossom this fall in LSU’s Special Collections Reading Room. 1 pm–5 pm. news.blogs.lib.lsu.edu. k

UNTIL

JAN 3rd

DESIGN EXHIBITIONS THE COLLECTIBLE LIFE OF MIGNON FAGET Port Allen, Louisiana

Mignon Faget‘s name and designs are prolific throughout Louisiana, with many private collectors of her work, there has never been a comprehensive exhibit displaying these private collections—until now. Titled The Collectible Life of Mignon Faget, this exhibit at the West Baton Rouge Museum will feature over eighty of Mignon Faget’s designs, curated entirely from personal collections, including many rare and vintage pieces. Admission will be limited to accommodate social distancing guidelines, and masks are required inside the building. Mignon Faget

MASK NOW so we can

1st - NOV 15th

designs, including home ware and jewelry, will be available in the gift shop.

NOV

Read a personal essay by the exhibit’s curator Nolde Alexius, telling of her mom’s personal Mignon Faget collection, on page 38. k

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

UNTIL

JAN 31st

ART SHOWS CHRISTIANE DRIELING: IT’S NOT TOO LATE Monroe, Louisiana

Ruston-based mixed-media collage artist Christiane Drieling’s whimsical, playful works are currently on display in an exhibition titled It’s Not Too Late online and at the Monroe Regional Airport, presented by the Mansur Museum of Art. Her artwork touches on important themes such as individual conflict, clashing of cultures, and even issues of a political and societal nature; while her fantasy-life ink illustrations and watercolor additions create an air of playful innocence and surrealism. Free; and first hour of airport parking is always free. 7 am–7 pm at the MLU Airport, or online anytime at masurmuseum.wixsite.com/ christianedrieling. For Jordan LaHaye Fontenot’s Perspectives story on Drieling’s work, see page 54. k

LIVE MUSIC SUNDAY IN THE PARK

The Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge’s popular Sunday in the Park outdoor music program returns this fall. The outdoor plaza offers a place to jam out to live music in the cooler fall weather while enjoying a familyfriendly environment. This month’s lineup includes: November 1: The Mixed Nuts November 8: The Original Pinettes Brass Band November 15: Curley Taylor 2 pm–5 pm at the Shaw Center for the Arts Plaza. Free. artsbr.org. k

NOV

1st

- NOV

SILVER SCREEN MOVIES AFTER 5!

22nd

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Beat the Sunday scaries by kicking back and relaxing in the gorgeous fall weather at the Baton Rouge Downtown Business Association’s program, Movies After 5, which presents free outdoor, socially-distanced screenings of your favorites at North Boulevard Town Square on Sundays throughout the fall. Food and drinks will be available from local vendors Memphis Mac, Plant

‘Tis the season for parties and celebrations. With the holidays upon us, let’s work together so we can get back to the life we love in Louisiana. Wear a mask now to protect yourself, your family and neighbors—so we can party later!

01MK7441 09/20

Learn more about ways to protect yourself at bcbsla.com/covid19

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Based Treats by Lotus, and Jolie Pearl. The Capitol Park Museum will be open to guests, featuring its new Fonville Winans exhibition. Participants are asked to practice social distancing and to wear a face covering. Festivities begin at 5 pm, movies start at 6:30 pm. See the schedule below: November 1: Star Wars and the Rise of Skywalker November 8: The Karate Kid November 15: The Goonies November 22: Black Panther downtownbatonrouge.org. k

NOV

1st

- NOV

29th

ARTS MARKETS ABITA SPRINGS ART & FARMERS MARKETS Abita Springs, Louisiana

Fresh produce, locally-raised poultry, just-caught fish, local art, and the quintessential charm of Downtown Abita Springs—it can all be yours, every Sunday, rain or shine. Live music sets the scene from noon until 3 pm, sponsored by the Abita Springs Opry through a grant from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. townofabitasprings.com. k

NOV 4th - NOV 27th TIME TRAVEL RURAL LIFE ALIVE! Baton Rouge, Louisiana

On Wednesdays and Fridays throughout November, visit the Rural Life Museum for a stroll through the past. Interactive artisans will be in action, demonstrating our Louisiana ancestors’ crafts of blacksmithing, candle making, hunting and trapping, tatting, rug making, corn shelling and grinding, and other lifeways. 10 am–2 pm. Regular admission applies. lsu.edu/rurallife. k

NOV 5th

CREATIVE CLASSES PAINTING DEMO WITH CURTIS JAUNSEN Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Florentine-trained Georgia native turned Mississippi Gulf Coast resident and artist Curtis Jaunsen invites all to a painting demonstration at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art. Free with admission, the demo will also be available for viewing online. 2 pm–4 pm. walterandersonnmuseum.org. k

NOV 5th - NOV 19th ART SALONS HEY Y’ALL ART TALKS Online

At the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, museum educator Sara Echaniz is facilitating in-depth online conversations about Southern art and artists currently

on display at the museum. 2 pm–2:30 pm, these events are free to attend, but registration is required. November 5: Women in Abstract Art November 19: Landscapes and Abstractions ogdenmuseum.org. k

NOV 6th

LIVE MUSIC LIVE @ FIVE Natchez, Mississippi

The hospitable folks of Natchez invite you to come out to the Bluff for an outdoor live concert with the picturesque backdrop of a Mississippi River sunset. Family-friendly, socially-distant, and did we mention free? Live @ Five checks all the best boxes. T-shirts, koozies, and beverages to put in them will be available for purchase. 5 pm–7 pm. visitnatchez.org k

NOV

6th

- NOV

7th

LITERARY FESTIVALS FESTIVAL OF WORDS Online

Grand Coteau’s annual Festival of Words is going virtual this year with three incredible authors and two days of wonderfully wordy events. Friday night, Louisiana Poet Laureate John Warner Smith, poet Erika Meitner, and graphic memoirist Robin Ha will share their work with festival-goers via Zoom. On Saturday, Drive-by Poetry performers from the Magnet Academy of Cultural Arts will dramatically recite works by each of the featured authors. Other events include an open mic and multiple creative writing workshops, which are open to the public. festivalofwords.org. k

NOV

6th

& NOV

14th

FUN FUNDRAISERS ODYSSEY: AN EPIC JOURNEY New Orleans, Louisiana

As part of a creative and exciting new fundraising initiative, the New Orleans Museum of Art will host five fabulous nights filled with art and music and decadence. The Odyssey series will welcome guests into the museum for art- and musical-themed evenings featuring cocktails, a special curatorial tour, artist spotlights, and a threecourse seated dinner by Ralph Brennan Catering & Events in NOMA’s newly renovated courtyard. Per local and state mandates, there is an eighty person capacity for each event. Cocktails and hors d’ouvres and the curatorial tour will take place from 7 pm–7:30 pm; dinner will follow. See the schedule below: November 6 —“New Orleans Jazz” // N O V 2 0

Events

Beginning November 6th - November 7th November 13 & 14 (Friday date Sold Out)—”Sinatra and Swing” Tickets are $250 (with additional sponsorship options) and available at noma.org. k

NOV

6th

- NOV

SILVER SCREEN NEW ORLEANS FILM FESTIVAL

16th

New Orleans, Louisiana

While so many sources of entertainment have been barred or limited in this year of social distancing, films and television have been a reliable and steady source of escapism, art, and also activism and education. Instead of bingeing Netf lix this month, turn to the New Orleans Film Society, who is moving forward with its thirtyfirst annual Film Festival through a combination of virtual streaming events and open-air screenings at Lafitte Greenway between November 6–16. This year’s slate was curated from 4,655 submissions from 105 countries into a brilliant selection of 165 visionary, thought-provoking films representing a wealth of perspectives, 26% of which are Louisiana-made. This year, 45% of the films presented were made in the American South, 57% were directed by women and

gender non-conforming artists, and 58% of the films were helmed by directors of color. The festival will also host a series of conferences, industry panels, roundtables, and community engagement events—all presented with safety as a priority and largely virtual. Virtual screening tickets for individual events are $10; $8 for members. Greenway tickets are $15; $10 for members. All Access passes are $160; $130 for members. Virtually Everything Passes are $90; $70 for members; $50 for students and teachers. Virtual Shorts Pass is $55; $45 for members. k

NOV

6th

- NOV

27th

LIVE MUSIC LIVE MUSIC AT RED DRAGON LISTENING ROOM Baton Rouge, Louisiana

A little ol’ pandemic can’t seem to stop the music from f lowing at Red Dragon Listening Room. Though their usual venue is temporarily out of commission due to COVID-19 guidelines, organizers have been finding creative ways to host outdoor and otherwise substantially-spaced concerts. November’s lineup is as follows: November 6: Nina Ricci—Joan Baez Tribute

Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre will turn The Nutcracker into an educational Zoom series for children called the Nutcracker Sweets, featuring choreography, treats, crafts, and more. See listing on page 19. 14

N O V 2 0 // C O U N T R Y R O A D S M A G . C O M

November 27: Bill Kirchen Unless otherwise specified, performances will take place on the back porch of the Red Dragon at 8 pm. Check out their event listings on Facebook for more information. k

NOV

6th

- NOV

7nd

SHOPPING STROLLS MAIN TO MAIN TRADE DAYS Minden, Louisiana

Forty five lovely miles of antiques, collectibles, thrifts, crafts, and more for your holiday and personal shopping enjoyment in the picture-pretty Webster Parish Main Street communities. Venture just twenty eight miles east of Shreveport for a weekend of strolling through local shops, restaurants, and vendors. visitwebster.net. k

NOV

6th

- MAR

7th

In less than twenty years, the cultural concept of a photograph has evolved to something almost—almost— unrecognizable. What was once a private, treasured, physical object is now a public, ubiquitous tool. Photographs are simultaneously less real— in terms of physicality

NOV

LEARN & STROLL FRANK HAYDEN WALKING TOURS Baton Rouge, Louisiana

PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITIONS NEW PHOTOGRAPHY: CREATE, COLLECT, COMPILE New Orleans, Louisiana

and of authentic representations of a moment—and more directly a medium through which we perceive, and construct, our reality. In the New Orleans Museum of Art’s exhibition New Photography: Create, Collect, Compile, four photographers engage and critique the new world of photographs. Collectively asserting that photography today currently exists as a kind of open-source language, the four artists use various approaches to exploring the new aspects of creation, collection, and compilation when it comes to narratives of identity, community, and power. noma.org. k

You’ve likely noticed and appreciated the striking metal sculptures throughout Downtown Baton Rouge. To learn more about sculptor Frank Hayden and how his Catholic faith and experience with the Civil Rights Movement impacts his artwork, join LASM Curator Lexi Adams for a walking tour of Downtown Baton Rouge on the subject, beginning with his exhibit at LASM then traveling to his public sculptures throughout the

neighborhood. Masks are required and will be provided free-of-charge to those who arrive without them. Please note: a section of this tour is accessible via stairway only. 10:30 am–2 pm. $15 or free for members. lasm.org. k

NOV

7th

LIVE MUSIC JULIÁN PERNETT CASTILLA IN CONCERT Natchez, Mississippi

Acclaimed piano virtuoso and composer Julián Pernett Castilla has a wide-range of musical talents, from Columbian music to jazz. This fall he will delight audiences on the keys at the Concert Hall at Stanton Guest House. Concert seating is limited to twenty five people, so get your tickets. $45 admission includes wine. 6 pm. vizyontours.com/julian-pernett-castilla. k

NOV

7th

SELF CARE OGDEN MUSEUM WELLNESS SUMMIT New Orleans, Louisiana

It’s been a heavy year, and in response the Ogden Museum of Southern Art is using its vast resources of visual art to explore self care and healing in the New Orleans community.

During its premier Online Wellness Summit, the museum will offer a soothing and uplifting day of art and mindfulness programming, including guided meditations, virtual yoga, professional tips for nutrition and wellness, workshops in art therapy and art-making, conversations with curators and artists, and musical interludes by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. 10 am–5 pm. Participation is free, though registration is required at ogdenmuseum.org. k

NOV

7th

ARTS MARKETS BATON ROUGE ARTS MARKET Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Baton Rouge Arts Market is returning to downtown. Shop with over seventy artists from Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida who will present original works of art in a variety of mediums including, pottery, jewelry, woodwork, textiles, photographs, glass, paintings, sculpture, hand-made soaps, and so much more. Don’t leave the kids behind; a children’s activity center is always set up between 9 am and noon. Held alongside the weekly Red Stick Farmers Market from 8 am– noon between Main and Laurel streets. Free. artsbr.org. k

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Events

NOV

Beginning November 7 - November 14 th

7th

FUN FUNDRAISERS CENLA ART ODYSSEY Alexandria, Louisiana

The Alexandria Museum, while adhering to social distancing guidelines, won’t let community creativity go by the wayside. Through the museum’s newest fundraising event, CENLA Art Odyssey, patrons can join up in teams of four to embark on a search for a mysterious ART-ifact buried beneath the museum. The secret lies behind a series of challenges to be executed virtually and at various locations around Alexandria. LSUA student teams must raise or pay $60 to participate; each family team must raise or pay $100; each adult or corporate team must raise or pay $300. If your team raises four times the qualifying amount, you’ll get a five minute head start; eight times the qualifying amount gets you a hint; twelve times the qualifying amount allows you to skip one challenge completely. Various awards for first through third place winning teams. All placing winners will receive a free family membership for the year. themuseum.org. k

NOV

7th - NOV 8th

FAMILY FUN YOUNG AT ART

Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Highlighting the talents of Ocean Springs’ young entrepreneurs and artists, the Walter Anderson Museum’s Young at Art Festival is a children’s market, featuring hand-crafted items delivered by the tiny artists themselves. Those interested in participating can register at the Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce website and can do so for free, with 100% of the profits going back to the students for the sales of 16

their work. The Walter Anderson Museum of Art will provide tables and canopies at the students’ request. 9 am–3 pm. walterandersonmuseum. org. k

NOV

7th

- NOV

BIKE PARTIES BIKES, BREWS, & OMELETTES TWO

8th

Arnaudville, Louisiana

A combined two hundred miles of bike routes, great local craft beer, and one giant omelette...what more could a cyclist ask for? The back-to-back Bayou Teche Brewing Bike Bash and Giant Omelette Celebration Ride join forces to form Bikes, Brews, and Omelettes Two, a weekend of cycling quite unlike any other. Arnaudville’s Bayou Teche Brewery hosts the The Bayou Teche Brewing Bike Bash, where delicious craft beer, lunch and a Cajun Jam at Tante Marie, more live music by Ron Eades and Andy Smith at the brewery, and a general good time awaits cyclists at the finish line, no matter how long their route. Check-in at 7 am at the brewery, start times beginning at 7:50 am with festivities extending into the afternoon and evening. On Sunday, November 8, since Abbeville’s Giant Omelette Celebration has been cancelled this year, participants are going to be invited to take part in a new route through Arnaudville. These non-competitive rides both offer various routes with distances from ten to one hundred miles. This event is hosted by TRAIL, a non-profit organization dedicated to building and maintaining parks, paths and trails for hiking, walking, running, kayaking, biking, and canoeing. Tickets start at $35 for individual rides; combo registration deals and bike rentals are available. latrail.org/bbot. k

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- NOV

15th

SILVER SCREEN SOUTHERN SCREEN FILM FESTIVAL Online

Local art and artists as far as the eye can see return to the Baton Rouge Arts Market, held alongside Red Stick Farmers Market at Main and Laurel Streets the first Saturday of each month. See listing on page 15. Image courtesy of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge.

NOV

7th

The Southern Screen Film Festival is again bringing filmmakers and film lovers together for four days of film fandemonium in the heart of Acadiana. Southern Screen shows award-winning, independent films from around the world in the form of short, documentary and feature-film formats, then presents open discussion panels, workshops, and demonstrations for filmmakers hosted by artists and professionals. This year’s event will be hosted entirely virtually in the wake of COVID-19, with all films and sessions screened on Eventive. A Virtual Festival Pass is $50 and grants access to all screenings and sessions throughout the course of the festival. For out-oftowners, you can purchase an add on Cajun Crate to the festival pass for an additional $30, which includes a crate of all the Cajun goods you’ll need shipped to you, ensuring you’ll create your own Louisiana experience in the comfort of your home. Locals can purchase a $20 add on with Wild Child Wines, which includes a bottle of wine and popcorn to go with your bingeing. For $100, you can get it all. southernscreen.org. k

NOV

7th

- NOV

29th

TIME TRAVEL LOUISIANA RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL Hammond, Louisiana

The Louisiana Renaissance Festival is upon us! Bring your falcon and step back in time every weekend through December 13 to party like it’s 1499. Each autumn the festival gathers more than six hundred artists, entertainers, and educational demonstrators, converting the ten-acre compound into a sixteenth-century English “Village of Albright” that features a Queen’s Arms Pavilion, Village Common, Blacksmiths Way, and Piper’s Pub. Festivalgoers enter the turkey-leg-waving, meadguzzling, knight-and-peasant-infested Renaissance village to experience period shows, music, games, food and more. With more than fifty shows on a dozen stages, different themes each weekend, and one hundred booths featuring arts, crafts, and demonstrations, it’s a jousting good time at RenFest, as it’s affectionately known. Too many special events and highlights to list here, so be sure to visit the website. Admission tickets are sold online only this year. $15/day for adults; $9 for children younger than thirteen; free for children younger than six, though an admission ticket must still be reserved online. Please bring a facial covering to wear in areas

where organizers deem appropriate. 9:45 am–5 pm Saturdays and Sundays, rain or shine at the Louisiana Renaissance Grounds. 46468 River Road (Highway 1064). larenfest.com. k

NOV

7th

- NOV

30th

ART SHOWS FRENCH QUARTER AND BEYOND New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans-based artist and teacher Diego Larguía’s work includes landscape, still life, interiors, portraits, figures, and everything in between. A collection of his urban scenes, painted en plein air, depicting New Orleans’ French Quarter will be on display this month at Gallery 600. There will be a socially-distanced opening reception from 4 pm–7 pm. gallery600julia.com. k

NOV

7th

- DEC

23rd

ART SHOWS MARY MONK’S VESTIGES New Orleans, Louisiana

This fall, view New Orleans native pastelist Mary Monk’s latest collection of landscapes, which represent the world of small farm life and ponder the gradual disappearance of such lifestyles. In Vestiges, on display at Lemieux Galleries, she revisits the childhood wonder of growing up on a farm, but this time through adult eyes. lemieuxgalleries.com. k

NOV

7th

- DEC

23rd

PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITIONS BRIDGING THE MISSISSIPPI New Orleans, Louisiana

No matter how many times we cross it, the Horace Wilkinson Bridge draws a sense of occasion—crossing from one side to the other of the Great River, into our capitol city. There’s the smell of coffee roasting, the water’s folding under a barge, and Tiger Stadium rising above the horizon. In his expansive photographic account of America’s greatest waterway, Philip Gould captures this mystique, elevating as subject the architectural wonder of bridges—specifically those that bring us across the Mississippi. lemieuxgalleries.com. k

NOV

9th

SELF CARE STRESS MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP Online

It’s no secret that this year has been considerably more stressful than most, particularly for Louisianans who have been dealing with the residual mental toll of not only a pandemic, but a slew of hurricanes and tropical storms.

The Crescent City Connection from photographer Philip Gould’s Bridging the Mississippi, opening November 7 at LeMieux Gallery. Image courtesy of LeMieux Gallery.

Recognizing this, the Ascension Parish Library has invited Suzanne Hamilton, LPC, to discuss the causes of stress, different types of stress (good and bad), how stress affects the body and mind, and how to otherwise cope with the stresses of coronavirus and reduce its negative effects on our lives. (225) 647-3955 to register for the Zoom meeting. k

NOV

11th

LOCAL HISTORY GALLIER GATHERING: AFROCREOLE POETIC ACTIVISM IN CIVIL WAR-ERA NEW ORLEANS Online

For this month’s virtual Gallier Gathering, assistant professor at Université Sainte-Anne in Nova Scotia Clint Bruce will discuss the history of the group of Creole activists in New Orleans during the nineteenth century. This community of free people of color stood in solidarity with the formerly enslaved population that existed after the Civil War and they produced two successive newspapers, written in their French language, L’Union, founded in 1862 and La Tribute de la Nouvelle-Orleans (1864-70), which was the first lack daily published in America. Bruce, whose research focuses on the Acadian diaspora and francophone identities in Louisiana, will examine how French language poetry articulated these activists’ vision for the future. 6 pm–7 pm. Free. Register at hgghh.org. k

NOV

12th

SYMPHONIC SOUNDS BRSO CHAMBER SERIES THREE Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Entering its seventy second season, the Baton Rouge Symphony has creatively worked with musicians, staff, and the BRSO board to develop a schedule that ensures the safety of musicians and patrons, while also continuing to bring powerful performances to the community in the upcoming year.

This month, enjoy the symphony’s third Chamber Series, the BRSO String Quartet, held at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Baton Rouge and featuring Borislava Iltcheva and Aaron Farrell on violin, Christopher Lowry on viola, and Molly Goforth on cello. The program includes Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte, Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet #1, and Schumann’s String Quartet #2. 7:30 pm–9:30 pm. $30. brso.org. k

NOV

13th

FUN FUNDRAISERS THE ISLANDER PIGNIC ON PORTER Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Focus on the coast and envision another not too far away—tonight we’re on island time. Benefitting the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, The Islander Pignic on Porter promises to be a lovely evening of open-air dining, drink, and sociallydistanced yard games, live readings, and creative economy. The event will be held at the future site of The Collective (401 Porter Ave), which will open next year as a mixed-use development for use of creative economy, environmental sustainability, and coastal culture. 5 pm–9 pm. $25; $20 for members; $10 for kids younger than eighteen. walterandersonmuseum.org. k

NOV

14th

CRAFT FAIRS CRAFTIN’ CAJUNS INDOOR CRAFT SHOW Houma, Louisiana

In the market for some handmade patio furniture? How about a wreath for your door? Some jewelry for the missus? All of that, and so much more, will be packed into the Houma-Terrebone Civic Center this month for the annual Craftin’ Cajuns Indoor Craft Show. Crafters, artisans, and vendors of all // N O V 2 0

Events

Beginning November 14th - November 20th crafty varieties will have handmade products available for sale. Attendees will be required to pass a temperature screening and wear a face covering at all times while at the show. 9 am–5 pm. Free. houmaciviccenter.com. k

NOV

14th

ART WALKS SECOND SATURDAY ARTWALK Lafayette, Louisiana

ArtWalk showcases the creative side of Downtown Lafayette’s cultural district. Museums, independent galleries, studios, craft stores, and art houses of the downtown area all participate in the monthly showcase of Acadiana’s artistic talent. Social distancing and capacity limits will be strictly enforced. ArtWalk takes place every second Saturday of the month—rain or shine. There is no one organization responsible for planning the activities. Instead, each museum, gallery, or studio hosts their own unique event, featuring local artists and performers. facebook.com/artwalk.downtownlft. k

NOV

14th

ART FESTIVALS THREE RIVERS ART FESTIVAL Online

As it has each November for years now, the largest juried art festivals in the Southeast region will once again celebrate the work of fifty artists from across the country, this year from the comfort of home. Instead of taking over Downtown Covington as it has in the past, the festival will take place virtually via the Covington Three Rivers Art Festival Facebook page. Showcasing ten artists per hour over the course of five hours, the virtual sale will allow viewers to ask questions and purchase directly from the artists through live chat. A complete schedule will be available through the Facebook page. threeriversartfestival.com. k

NOV

14th

FUN FUNDRAISERS ZOO RUN RUN Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Give the cheetahs a run for their money, AND give the cheetahs some money. At the Baton Rouge Zoo’s annual Zoo

Cheetah conservation efforsts, animal costumes, and exercise go hand-in-hand, or paw-in-paw, at the Baton Rouge Zoo’s annual Zoo Run Run. Image courtesy of BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo.

collection of Saturday words, I’ll wait. Find local artists and food trucks in the charming enclave off of Jefferson Street. 5 pm. Free. Details at The Wurst Biergarten Facebook. k

Run Run—a two mile race and half mile Kids’ Fun Run—you’ll wind and weave your own adventure through the zoo. All proceeds will benefit the Baton Rouge Zoo and international cheetah conservation efforts. Race day registration will be held at the front entrance of the zoo beginning at 6:30 am. Fun run starts at 7:30 am; Two Mile begins at 8:15 am. $17 for children early registration, $20 race day registration; $30 for adults early registration, $35 race day registration. brzoo.org. k

NOV

15th

RAISE A GLASS ST. FRANCISVILLE FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL Saint Francisville, Louisiana

14th

ART WALKS ARTWALK AT THE WURST Lafayette, Louisiana

Open air. Dog friendly. Beer Garden. Public Market. Name a better

Delicious, innovative food. Lively, danceable tunes. Creative culture bearers and storytellers. A beautiful, historicallyimmersed site. All of the things that have inspired this magazine’s work for thirty-seven years now come together in perfect, joyful synchronicity at the second annual St. Francisville Food and Wine Festival. On the beautiful grounds of the Myrtles Historic Inn and Restaurant

Meet Me at the Mag!

...a way to give and to receive®

“I worked at Seniors Helping Seniors part-time for more than a year and the owners genuinely care for their employees and clients.” -Former Caregiver “I want to thank SHS for the love you showed mom day in and day out. Mom would share that if you Garry couldn’t find anyone for transportations, he would take her to the doctor himself and sit with her. You gave her security! She felt taken care of and you allowed her to live in her own home with dignity! I am forever thankful to you. My mom was an amazing mom and she thought so highly of you and Seniors Helping Seniors family…again thank you”-PG

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225.778.7699 • www.seniorcarebatonrougela.com 18

N O V 2 0 // C O U N T R Y R O A D S M A G . C O M

3-V Tourist Courts •1940’s Motor Hotel • Reservations: 225-721-7003

1796, readers, dancers, and diners will convene for a fall day in the company of some of our region’s most celebrated chefs. In between the decadent sips and bites, roam the grounds to enjoy tastings of select wines and spirits from area purveyors, a beer garden showcasing Louisiana and Mississippi craft brews, and live cooking demonstrations from celebrated chefs. There’ll be plenty of room for dancing, so choose your shoes appropriately! Join us in the very city that inspired this magazine’s conception, with all of the things, and the people, that we at Country Roads love best. 1 pm–5 pm. $75 at bontempstix.com. k

NOV

15th

- NOV

29th

STEPPIN’ OUT THE NUTCRACKER SWEETS Online

For the first time decades, the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre will not present its annual production of The Nutcracker. But toes are still pointing, and the world of dance in Baton Rouge is as sweet as ever. In a series of three Zoom experiences, the organization is presenting The Nutcracker Sweets, which will allow children of every age to watch and learn choreography from the classic ballet, led by company dancers. Each episode will also be accompanied by footage from the beloved Nutcracker:

NOV

The series can be purchased in individual episodes or as a whole. If purchased in total, the entire treat and craft package can be picked up from November 9–13 from the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre office; if purchased individually, the treat and craft packages will be available the week prior to the event. Each episode begins at 2 pm. $125 for three part series; $45 for each

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

individual event. batonrougeballet.org. k

made in local-art heaven. 6 pm–10 pm. midcitymakersmarket.com k

19th

A Tale From the Bayou of years past. See the schedule below: November 15: “Cookies with Clara”— Clara will lead participants in dancing along with her at Stahbaum’s holiday party, an experience made all the sweeter by a cookie-making demo using cookie packages from the Four Sisters Cake and Company. November 29: “Ballet and Bonbons”— Enter the Land of the Sweets! Spanish dancers and Bonbons will share their dancing secrets and will lead a craft for Spanish fans and bonbon necklaces while sharing chocolatey treats from Raw Sugar Toffee. December 13: “Sugar Plum Soirée”— Dancing flowers and the Sugar Plum Fairy herself, played by dancer Casey Dalton, will join participants in a memorable variation and a demonstration on crafting a pointe shoe.

LIVE MUSIC DOWNTOWN RISING

NOV

Lafayette, Louisiana

Downtown Lafayette is on the rise, it’s plain to see. Local organizers have harnessed that energy into an exciting community event—Downtown Rising. Join the town in toasting to the vibrancy and the growth of cultural center that is Lafayette, made all the more exciting by performances from Cold War Kids, Givers, and DJ Digital at Parc International. 5 pm–10 pm. $25; $50 for front stage; $100 for VIP (includes reserved area with seating, complimentary snacks, sodas, beer, and wine); Group tickets for ten are $200. socialentertainment.net. k

NOV

ARTS FESTIVALS WHITE LIGHT NIGHT Baton Rouge, Louisiana

‘Tis the season to celebrate local art, music, and culture in Mid City Art and Cultural District. Chat with the artists shaping Mid City Baton Rouge’s creative scene, sip a seasonally appropriate beverage, grab a tasty bite, hear some live tunes, and maybe even knock out some holiday shopping (or pick up something special just for you) in a whirlwind evening of locally-made bliss. 6pm–10 pm. midcitymerchantsbr.org.. k

NOV

CRAFT FAIRS MIDCITY MAKERS MARKET Creative locals from Baton Rouge and beyond f lock to the monthly event to showcase and sell artwork, homemade food, handicrafts, and an infinity of other goods. Once a modest holiday trunk show, now the market has expanded extensively, and recently found its home in the modern outdoor Electric Depot. This month’s market will coincide with White Light Night for a match

20th

20th - NOV 22nd

RETAIL THERAPY HOLIDAY MARKET AT THE MILL New Roads, Louisiana

The City of New Roads will once again present its three-day fall shopping extravaganza, Market at the Mill, at the historic cotton mill located three blocks north of Main Street, off Community Street. Complement your shopping with antiques, food and beverages, crafts, and more. 10 am–5 pm Friday; 10 am–5 pm Saturday; 11 am–4 pm Sunday. $5 admission; tickets available at bontempstix.com. marketathemillnewroads.com. k

Friends of the

Presents

RED ROOSTER ONLINE AUCTION “EXPERIENCE RURAL LIFE” Thursday, November 12th through Monday, November 30th Some items included in auction An evening “Wine & Windrush Gardens Tour” “Open-Hearth Creations Supper” “Blacksmithing and Bourbon Tasting” “Twilight Gathering” under the Oak Alley “Back Yard Flora” arranging class

Visit www.lsu.edu/rurallife ww to bid on your experience and more! All proceeds to beneﬁt the Friends of the LSU Rural Life Museum

LOCATED AT BURDEN MUSEUM AND GARDENS OPEN DAILY 8:00–5:00 I-10 AT ESSEN LANE, BATON ROUGE, LA FOR MORE INFO CALL (225) 765-2437 OR VISIT WWW.RURALLIFE.LSU.EDU

// N O V 2 0

V I S I T S T. F R A N C I S V I L L November 6—7 | ST. FRANCISVILLE

Shop Small Y’all

THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, SHOP LOCAL TO SUPPORT YOUR COMMUNITY

t’s the most wonderful time of the year (at last!) and there’s nothing quite like the holidays in a small town. Everyone seems to have a little more pep in their step, the cool fall air feels just a bit crisper. As we know living in South Louisiana, our swampy setting doesn’t usually reflect the changing of the seasons, but what we lack in aesthetic we make up for in holiday spirit. And this year especially, celebrating any festivities—big or small—seems like a Christmas miracle.

St. Francisville during the Shop Small Y’all weekend. It’s an opportunity to shop special sales, see your neighbors, and find one of a kind Christmas gifts at local businesses that will undoubtedly welcome the support. You can meet the owners behind popular St. Francisville retail newcomers such as Lizzie’s Country Candles & Gifts, Away Down South, BSpoke 4 U, and much more; plus, unlike ordering on Amazon, your purchase has an immediate impact on the community. “When you shop small, you’re On November 6—7, get a sneak supporting your community peek of all the gifts and goods through the sales tax,” says Main available at storefronts in historic Street Director Laurie Walsh.

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And for the koozie collectors out there, participating businesses will also have Shop Small Y’all koozies to distribute for shoppers who spend a certain amount. It all leads up to the return of one of St. Francisville’s longest-running traditions. The town will turn aglow the first weekend in December, welcoming residents and visitors to the annual Christmas in the Country lighting celebration. As part of the festivities, there’ll be a parade, town tree lighting, a gingerbread scavenger hunt, as well as live music and artisan booths throughout downtown St.

Francisville. The town’s famed historic homes will allow visitors in for a sneak peek during the fest, and outside you’ll find a winter wonderland along Ferdinand and Royal streets as each white light display competes to be a bigger and better showstopper than the last. It’s a big dose of Christmas cheer, which is well worth planning a visit to St. Francisville for the day, weekend, or perhaps the whole season.

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Christmas gifts for the whole family!

Goods • Antiques • Happenings 11914 Ferdinand St. (225) 635-4199

ST. FRANCISVILLE INN

Boutique Hotel, Restaurant, & Bar

5720 Commerce Street (225) 635-6502 www.StFrancisvilleInn.com // N O V 2 0

Features

N OV E M B E R 2 0 2 0

TINA

FREEMAN

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LUIS CRUZ AZACETA

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Photos by Tina Freeman. Left: “20130816_Scoresbysund_Fjord_Greenland_1297. Scoresbysund Fjord, Greenland” Right: 20160220_Atchafalaya_Basin_211. Ancient hollow cypress tree that escaped logging, Lake Fausse Pointe, Louisiana.”

L A M E N TAT I O N S

Of Cypress and Ice

PHOTOGRAPHER TINA FREEMAN JUXTAPOSES LOUISIANA’S COASTAL WETLANDS WITH THE GLACIERS AND ICEFIELDS OF THE ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC

ay Pomme d’Or. Little Bay Pomme d’Or. English Bay. Bayou Auguste. Bayou le Boon. Bay Jacquin. Cyprien Bay. English Bayou. Scofield Bay. On, and on, and on still continues the list printed in large, white letters near the entrance to photographer Tina Freeman’s Lamentations diptych exhibition that recently came down after a month-long showing at the New Orleans Museum of Art. The colloquialism “ain’t dere no more” gets thrown around fairly often in Louisiana, but the list on the wall alongside Freeman’s photographs— matter-of-factly labeled “South Louisiana Geographic Locations Removed From NOAA Charts #11358 and #11364, October 2011”—drives home what 22

By Alexandra Kennon that phrase truly means for places, communities, and families along our state’s rapidly diminishing Gulf Coast. For countless people, what “ain’t dere no more” was home. For countless more, it’s the dreaded future for the places they now call home. In 2011, the same year that all those listed places were wiped from charts as they had been wiped into the sea, the U.S. Geological Survey’s analysis determined that Louisiana loses approximately a football field-sized amount of land every hour. It’s a warning we’ve heard so many times now that it sometimes feels as though it’s lost its gravity, but the practical reality of such a degree of land loss has lost no weight in its devastation on both environmental and human levels. The two are impossible

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to extricate from one another, after all. The extensive and complex interconnectedness—between humans and our environment; between humans and other species; between our environment and itself—is what Freeman presents in Lamentations. In an accompanying documentary short produced by NOMA, Freeman describes her childhood excursions to the mouth of the Mississippi River at South Pass to fish, and how at that time one could climb up the lighthouse and look out over dense, thick marsh. In 2013, she chartered a small, fixed-wing plane and flew over those same marshes from above. “Looking down from the plane, I did indeed encounter a fractured and sickly marsh compared to what I

remember from half a century ago,” she says in the narration. On that flight she took aerial photographs—still finding the marshes beautiful, but also inspiring her to help educate others about the many tangible human forces destroying them. Two years earlier, in 2011, she visited Antarctica and was struck by the urgency of another problem generally foreign to Louisianans, but inextricably connected. “It was very much, ‘These Icebergs are going to end up in our backyard,’ in Antarctica,” she said to explain how the issue of melting icebergs was brought into her consciousness. She described seeing the massive cracks already

Continued on page 24 . . .

West Feliciana Chamber Supports Local with Ladies & Fall Sale Weekend

hat better way to kick off a sale weekend than to gather ladies and promote all the wonderful things West Feliciana’s shops have to offer! Thursday, October 1, the West Feliciana Chamber of Commerce hosted “It’s Fall Y’all Ladies Night Out” for local ladies. From 5-8 pm, guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres from The Magnolia Café, as well as giveaways from local boutiques. “The goal of the night was twofold. We wanted to bring together local business women for networking, but also we wanted to highlight all the selections our area has to offer,” explained Chamber President, Ranee Rogers. “It has been difficult for businesses due to COVID restrictions and shutdowns. We wanted to help promote the Fall Weekend Sale that began the next day.” Throughout the evening, drawings were held for individual giveaways.

Local businesses that participated were Away Down South, B Spoke 4U, Barlow, District Mercantile, Grandmother’s Buttons, La Reine De Bois, Lizzie’s Country Candles, Ma Milles Gifts, Mia Sophia Florist, Olivia’s Creations, Patrick’s Fine Jewelry, Sage Hill Gifts, Temple Design, The Cranbrook, The Conundrum, Trends Boutique and The Vintage Hive. Items donated were everything from store gift cards to hand painted crosses and jewelry. “With so much being canceled this year, it felt great to get out and be with friends,” said attendee, Lindsey Landry, realtor with Landry Team Real Estate.

Sponsor for the night’s event was Sullivan Dental Center. “It was so great to see local ladies out and networking together. This year has certainly been challenging, so we definitely wanted to support this fun night out,” said Candice Sullivan of Sullivan’s Dental Center. The ladies’ night kicked off the “Fall in Love with West Fel Weekend Sale.” This weekend was a special effort from the WF Chamber of Commerce to focus on shopping small and returning to shopping in person as customers feel safe to do so. Highlights of the weekend included a special appearance by A Hint of Lime Tacos truck, many clearance tents and tables outside all stores and even face painting offered at the local ice cream parlor, Away Down South. Follow the West Feliciana Chamber of Commerce on Facebook and Instagram for more upcoming events!

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Upcoming Awards Banquet

n a year of changes and challenges, so many businesses have had to adapt their daily workings to survive in this challenging time. The West Feliciana Chamber of Commerce is setting aside Thursday, November 19 from 5-7 pm at The Bluffs Clubhouse to honor our local businesses. Awards will be voted on by chamber members prior to the banquet. The Chamber will recognize – Large Business of the Year, Small Business of the Year, New Business of the Year, and Volunteer of the Year. For information on nominating a business visit the chamber website www.westfelicianachamber.org. Tickets are available at https://bit.ly/2Hb52sW for $45.

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for the planet goes far beyond taking photographs and doing research: she has moved into an apartment because of the dramatic reduction it makes to her carbon footprint, she drives an electric car (“although I still drive,” she says, as though with a tinge of guilt), she has switched to a plant-based diet because of

ice was much more trepidatious and complicated. “For me it was the beauty of the icebergs and the fact they were disappearing….it’s not going to be the same a couple of days down the line,” Freeman explained. “And I actually find that really exciting.” In one memorable excursion, she

“IT WAS VERY MUCH, ‘THESE ICEBERGS ARE GOING TO END UP IN OUR BACKYARD.’” —TINA FREEMAN

Photographer Tina Freeman in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden during the final weekend of her Lamentations exhibition’s run at NOMA, the day after New Orleans narrowly avoided out-of-season Hurricane Delta. She was kind enough to wear a mask for our talk, and to remove it for the photograph. Photo by Alexandra Kennon.

observing Freeman’s direct comparisons of such different yet interconnected landscapes juxtaposed in simultaneously beautiful and haunting images produces a visceral and immediate reaction. “It’s so overwhelming, to take on what needs to be taken on,” Freeman observed. “But in an interesting way, this period has really shown us some things. Like what happens when you cease a lot of airplane flights and cars moving around, how it really can clear up the environment.” Freeman’s passion

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

forming in Pine Island Glacier, which— along with Thwaites Glacier—was being affected by warming waters. “So that glacier is kind of like a plug, the kind that’s on the water,” Freeman described. “So if that melts, it’s going to release a tremendous amount of ice.” Such monumental quantities of melting ice across the world are directly correlated to rising sea levels and shrinking coastlines in Louisiana and far beyond. Reading the data and hearing it from scientists is one thing, but

the methane that cows produce. “And I did slow down the amount of flying I was doing for a while,” Freeman said, “But I have to say I didn’t stick with that too long, because most of the places I was going were for this project.” And in the process of photographing Lamentations, she covered thousands of miles, from locations closer to home in South Pass, Morgan City, Leeville, Grand Isle, and beyond; to as far afield as it gets in various remote areas of Iceland, Greenland, and Antarctica. Often the process of capturing the images she wanted was by turns adventurous and idyllic, like when on an air boat at a duck club south of New Orleans; other times, even GPS coordinates were little help in returning to a particular spot in the wetlands. Particularly in the Arctic and Antarctic, capturing the melting

and another photographer hired a pilot to fly them over Iceland in a small fiveseat, single-engine plane. The other photographer took the front seat, relegating her to the back of the tiny craft while he suffered bouts of violent air sickness. “And here I was in the back of the plane, trying to get my shots,” Freeman laughed. The Icelandic Air pilot directed her to remove her seatbelt in order to lean her camera out of the small open window. “And it was so funny, because I had all of my weight on this flimsy—I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a single-engine plane… you know how those are, the door is not as strong as this bench,” she illustrated, banging on the hollow-sounding metal bench we shared from a safe distance in the sunny sculpture garden outside of NOMA the day after New Orleans

SOUTHBOUND

Photographs of and about the New South on view until February 14, 2021

LETITIA HUCKABY This Same Dusty Road on view until March 14, 2021

ART IN LOUISIANA

Views into the Collection 1

16th Annual Holiday Trunk Show at LSU Museum Store

EVENTS & PROGRAMS

Friday, December 4 | 4−8 p.m. Receive 20 percent off one regular priced item (George Rodrigue items excluded) during this holiday shopping event downtown.

Free First Sunday Gallery Talk and Activity Sunday, December 6 | 1−5 p.m. Free admission: Learn about Southbound with LSU MOA curator Courtney Taylor plus a hands-on activity. Pre-register for program time slots at lsumoa.org (50 percent capacity and masks required).

lsumoa.org |

ongoing / newly installed landscape gallery plus more

Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South was organized by the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, funded by the East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President and Metro Council. All LSU MOA exhibitions are supported by the generous donors to the Annual Exhibition Fund. Thank you to the following sponsors of Free First Sundays: Louisiana Lottery Corporation® and IBERIABANK® for sponsoring free admission and LA CAT® for sponsoring cultural programming. IMAGES (detail): (1) Susana Raab, Untitled, 2006, From the Migrants in Immokalee series, Immokalee, Florida; (2) Letitia Huckaby, Grant Street, 2010, pigment prints on silk, 36 x 39.5 ½”, Courtesy of the Artist; (3) Ed Smith (American, b. 1959), Weight of the World, 2009, oil on canvas, Purchased with funds from the Friends of LSU Museum of Art Endowment, LSU MOA 2010.9; (4) Susan Worsham, Marine, Hotel near Airport, Richmond, Virginia, 2009, From the By the Grace of God series, Richmond, Virginia

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exhibition: the images are aesthetically beautiful and serene, but the severe practical implications of the shifting geography they depict are enough to make you sick to your stomach. Though Freeman spent most of her career as an interior and architectural photographer by vocation, she spent six years on a national conservation committee, producing a portfolio on the affects of toxins in air quality, and another on endangered species. She was taken aback when she reached out to the only source who possessed the necessary images to depict the research, and was denied use of the copyrighted material. “I was just so surprised that Top: 20130911_Louisiana_Deltas_171 here is this information that’s Fort Jackson, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana Bottom: 20130815_Bear_Island_Greenland_532 really important, really needs Refrozen glacial water, Bear Island, Greenland to get out, and they’re holding avoided the anticipated walloping from it.” It seems Freeman has taken this to out-of-season Hurricane Delta. “And I heart, and chosen to be much more open had all my weight on the door, and we with her Lamentations series. Not only were doing these circles. And meanwhile, has it been shown at NOMA and LSU’s my friend who was also a photographer Museum of Art within the last year, but in the front seat was getting sick. It was the diptychs are available in the form of pretty hysterical. But oh my God, it was a book, as well as for free perusal on her so beautiful.” This story reminds me of personal website. my emotions taking in the Lamentations Freeman hopes the series will educate

those willing to learn, as it did for me To view more image sets from and countless others who have viewed it Lamentations, purchase a copy and been moved to implement changes of the book, watch the NOMA in their lives to benefit the world’s glaciers documentary short, or keep up and marshes and everything in between. with where the exhibition will “It’s amazing what’s happened in a short be next, visit tinafreeman.com. period of time,” Freeman mused in regard to the previous day’s outTop: 20130816_Scoresbysund_Fjord_Greenland_1073 of-season hurricane, the Musk ox skeleton, Scoresbysund Fjord, Greenland rampant wildfires in the Bottom: 20140101_ Avoca_Island_066 Fallen tree on a pipeline canal near Morgan City, Louisiana Western United States, and the other natural tragedies on 2020s substantial list. “And Australia was burning previously, and Siberia has been burning, Russia has been burning… But that’s something that I’ve been thinking about, is how anyone can continue to deny that this is happening,” Freeman balked. “I don’t know that anybody is actually denying that these things are happening, but the fact that they can continue to deny that it’s anthropogenic, to say that we’re not responsible— there’s a lot of denial in reality going on.” h

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AT R O C I T I E S I N C O L O R

Apocalypse Pop

FOR OVER HALF A CENTURY, PAINTER LUIS CRUZ AZACETA HAS BUILT A BODY OF WORK EXPLORING ISSUES OF THE HUMAN CONDITION By Alexandra Kennon Story by Jordan LaHaye • Photos by Olivia Perillo i m m i g r a t i o n — a r e often-geometric, and as complex extensive and profound. aesthetically as his feelings surrounding While 2020 has been a the subjects he addresses. In the midparticularly pressing year, 1980s he created paintings that dealt Azaceta’s commitment to with the AIDs and HIV epidemic. addressing such matters Now, in the year of the Coronavirus in his work has already pandemic, they are as salient as ever. spanned half a century. But that has not stopped Azaceta, who “I’ve been creating works is quite prolific, from creating new work of art dealing with the focusing on today’s crises. “Currently human condition for I’m working on a series dealing with the over fifty years,” he told pandemic crisis and the unrest it has me. "Themes addressing caused in this country, like I did back in violence, injustice, the mid eighties with the Aids Epidemicdictatorships, war, HIV crisis, where I lost a lot of friends,” immigration, refugees, he said. identity, racism, the Aids Most recently, two of his paintings— Epidemic, and death.” “CRISIS 2” and “Light at the End of The intent of Azaceta’s the Abyss”—are currently included in work goes far beyond the the Contemporary Art Center in New colorful and imaginative Orleans’ landmark exhibition Make shapes in his large-format America What America Must Become, paintings. Described which is not a reference to what you’re once as a “devotee of likely assuming, but rather is a direct A MEASURE OF EQUALITY (2019) by Luis Cruz Azaceta. Acrylic, yarn, and wood on canvas. Part of the Ogden visual experiment,” quotation from a letter written by Museum’s collection. and at one point self- philosopher and commentator James identifying his work as “apocalyptic Baldwin to his nephew on the hundredin my work. I’ve been making paintings n 1960, Luis Cruz Azaceta was a teenager traveling to the United and drawings based on the horror and pop,” the images he creates are abstract, year-anniversary of the Emancipation States for the first time, escaping hope [of immigrants] "CRISIS 3 (2020) by Luis Cruz Azaceta. Acrylic on canvas. This piece was chosen as "best in show" of the Ogden Museum's Louisiana Contemporary exhibition by juror Rene Morales." Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba. His to go across the parents sent him to live with family in Caribbean in makeNew York, where he remained for thirty shift boats and inner two years. In 1992 he made his way to tubes, escaping their New Orleans, where the now-prominent condition to reach without seventy-eight-year-old modern artist freedom hardly any water or decided to stay. “I embraced the culture instruments of New Orleans, which is very much food, of navigation, and Caribbean,” Azaceta explained. “Feeling in waters infested very much at home.” The security of home is not something with sharks,” Azaceta said. “According to Azaceta came by easily. Upon arriving the American Coast in the United States, he experienced Guard, one-third of alienation as he navigated the challenges the people perish in of a language barrier, which was only the crossing.” magnified by racism. “If you don’t Azaceta works know the language in a given country, not just with paint you feel like you are a nobody. You have and canvas, but with no way of integrating into the society, intuition. At the and into the culture,” Azaceta said in an outset of a project, he interview for the Phoenix Art Museum. does not know how “That’s why I think I became an artist. It it will turn out, or gave me a weapon to express myself, to what it will become. express whatever I feel, and put it down In this way, his work on canvas.” reflects life and His formative teenage memory of politics, as well. And crossing the Caribbean in pursuit of Azaceta’s feelings— a better life of course remains strong about a wide range and vivid, and continues to make of globally-pressing appearances in his art. “I’ve been societal and political addressing immigration for many years issues even besides

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Proclamation. Another recent painting titled “CRISIS 3” currently hangs in the Louisiana Contemporary exhibition at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Each painting is as bold in intent as in color and style. “My work, whether it is figuration, abstraction, or a combination of the two, is used to convey the most bold statement that the content requires,” Azaceta emphasized. Though topics of disease, exile, and political strife are certainly heavy in Azaceta’s body of work, hope for the future is a strong thematic rope binding his diverse array of paintings from his long and successful career. “In my work I try to present compassion, and hope for a better world.” h

“MY WORK, WHETHER IT IS FIGURATION, ABSTRACTION, OR A COMBINATION OF THE TWO, IS USED TO CONVEY THE MOST BOLD STATEMENT THAT THE CONTENT REQUIRES.” —LUIS CRUZ AZACETA

Visit Make America What America Must Become at the Contemporary Arts Center until January 24 2021 or Louisiana Contemporary at the Ogden until February 7, 2021. Curator of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art Bradley Sumrall is curating a survey of Azaceta’s work titled What A Wonderful World that will run March 6–July 2021. luiscruzazaceta-art.com "THE PLAGUE AIDS" (1987) by Luis Cruz Azaceta. Acrylic on canvas. Issues of diseases and epidemics/pandemics have long been on Azaceta's mind, as well as in his art.

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Tools: Departing Definition. Work in progress rendering, 2020. Commission for Transart Foudation for Art and Anthropology, Houston. Mixed Media: Digital Imaging, Objects, Aluminum Frame System, Lighting. 8’ x 12’ x 3”

PA R A D I S E LOS T

Suddenly, Last Spaceship

DAWN DEDEAUX CREATES POST ART FOR A POST HUMANIST WORLD By Alexandra Kennon Story by Jordan LaHaye • Photos by Olivia Perillo

ven artist Dawn DeDeaux, who has been preoccupied with the inevitability of an apocalypse for years, was not immune to the surprise of a pandemic sweeping the globe during her lifetime. Seated at opposite ends of a long, narrow garden table on a sunny Saturday morning at her Camp Abundance property in New Orleans’ Fairgrounds neighborhood, we removed our masks to sip dark roast Community Coffee and discuss her expansive career, and naturally, the end of the world. “I think it’s got us thinking about how precious life is, and the experience of living—to have these barriers, to be sitting now so far from you at a table, and to speak muffled through a mask,” she told me. “That’s a small taste—a very small, modest taste—of how bad things could really get.” DeDeaux has long-identified as a “student of the apocalypse,” anticipating pandemics, environmental disasters, and unrest over social inequities in her 28

artwork long-prior to 2020. "I don’t want to go so far as to be a fear-peddler, but I do want to bring you to the brink of that, because it is quite serious,” she said from across the expansive table. “We still have some opportunity to change the paradigm, so this is the moment. We don’t have much time left to safeguard the future for our children. I have none, but for those who have children, I care about that.” Now that much of what she anticipated has manifested, she seems more professor than student; a Cassandra issuing warnings too-oft unheeded in mediums from sculpture to painting, to photography, to interactive and immersive use of technology. Of course, DeDeaux is far from the only artist and thinker to address the concept of apocalypse. A devotee of science, philosophy, and literature, she has taken to heart Stephen Hawking’s prediction that humans will need to colonize another planet within one hundred years as the planet’s environment changes and degrades.

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She has also slogged through Milton’s Paradise Lost several times, taking the old English text as a prediction of the future, despite its antiquity. “I mean, look at this abundance!” DeDeaux gestured widely to her lush, green garden, replete with citrus trees, ginger lilies, and climbing vines. Truthfully, she admitted, she prefers gardening to art. "I kind of had a wake-up call, actually, on my last reading of Paradise Lost. I had a ‘Eureka!’ moment, in that I said ‘Oh my gosh, Genesis and Milton, that’s not a story of the past. That’s a foretelling of our future. This is paradise. This is paradise, and we are the ones who will expel ourselves from this wonderful, glorious, bountiful Earth.’” She recognizes, however, that Milton’s text is not the most accessible—this is where her art and incorporation of technology come into play. In her outdoor sculpture installation FREE FALL: Prophecy and Free Will in Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, which was created for Kansas City’s International OPEN

SPACES art venue, forty-eight towering, leaning, white concrete cylinders stick up from the grass at odd angles. A closer look, particularly as the sun sets and one shines headlights or a cell phone flashlight on the columns, reveals excerpt’s from Milton’s 1667 epic poem in highway reflective vinyl. Upon an even closer look, QR codes await at the base of each, offering a more contemporary and accessible interpretation of Milton’s themes when scanned with a smartphone. In addition to Hawking and Milton, DeDeaux takes inspiration and audio bites from hip-hop artists like NAS and J. Cole—one QR code reveals J. Cole’s verse, “I can see the future that we’re heading and it’s better not to tell/ If it’s anything like this in heaven/I’d be better off in hell”. Another iteration of the work, titled Darkness Visible, is scheduled to go up in the neutral ground on Poydras Street across from the Superdome this fall. DeDeaux was the first artist in Louisiana to heavily incorporate digital

media as a means of engulfing the senses and emotions of her audience, in addition to reaching those beyond the scope of your average (privileged) museum-goer. “What’s paramount is to really communicate outside of the museum walls, to make works that are accessible without compromising the aesthetic power,” DeDeaux explained. “For me, using contemporary technology puts me in touch with the people who are out there using it too.” As early as 1975, her project CB Radio Booths, which entailed nine telephone booths attached to CB radio connections at varying locations, provided opportunity for equal communication regardless of race and class—social media, long-prior to its existence as we now recognize it. That same year she continued bringing art into the streets by installing outdoor film projections on the sides of buildings. Perhaps her most-auspicious—and most theatrical—digital media piece to date, having premiered at the 1996 Olympics and won the international Montage 93 Competition for best example of merging art with technology, is “The Face of God, In Search of”. Drawing on her somewhat Southerngothic childhood combined with digitized theatrics, the piece reckons with the past as well the future; technologically ahead of its time,

conceptually a tribute to DeDeaux’s personal history and another long-time inspiration: Tennessee Williams. “I lost two siblings,” explained DeDeaux of her unusual preteen years spent down the street from the Degas House. “I was somewhat mute, living with my grandmother on Esplanade. “Television was out, black and white, and I’m in a very sorrowful state. I’m alone in a room and all of a sudden, Suddenly, Last Summer, the T.V. version with Montgomery Clift and Liz Taylor and Katherine Hepburn and the elevator— that comes on, and I’m very taken with it. That was my first experience of art, was watching this—whether you like it or not, this particular interpretation of Tennessee Williams.” The crux of the play, and film, is the bizarre, untimely death of Sebastian—a young, gay poet preoccupied with finding the “face of God,” as he once said he had on Encantadas beach watching thousands of newly-hatched turtles be devoured by carnivorous birds. “He finds God in consumption,” DeDeaux assessed. “I said, ‘My God, I don’t see God there.’ I was having a crisis of faith, too. I said, ‘If you’re going to find God in consumption, you don’t have to leave your room.’” Having watched her beautiful seven-year-old sister be consumed by liver cancer before her

Dawn DeDeaux takes flight in a thirty-foot metal ring from her MotherShip series, on view now at TransArt in Houston. Photo by Bill Fagaly.

What do we encourage you to consider when making your trees storm-ready? Soil Aeration so your tree’s roots can breathe, increasing its overall health. Seasonal fertilization so trees are better prepared for extreme weather. Skilled preventative pruning can greatly reduce the amount of damage during a storm. Pest and disease management by a pro will alert you of insects or fungal diseases you may not have seen otherwise. Untreated infections or infestations can decimate a tree. Cabling and bracing can be added to co-dominant tree trunks to strengthen them during heavy rain, ice and wind. Scheduling regular tree care will grow your trees to be stronger and healthier. They’ll be less susceptible to pests and diseases, nutrient deficiencies, branch drop and other dangerous elements that will reduce your tree’s structural integrity. Give Frank or one of our many other Certified Arborists a call this season. Isn’t the investment in your valuable and wonderful trees worth the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your family will be safer from the type of damage our Southeast Louisiana storms can cause.

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Still image from “The Face of God, in Search Of ” (1996), Dawn DeDeaux’s only autobiographical piece, inspired by the death of her sister, and Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly, Last Summer. eyes, the tragic artistry of Williams’ story spoke to her, loudly. “The Face of God, in Search of” features a solitary twin bed bathed in moving projections, recordings of Williams’ stage directions from the 1958 play echoing through the space. It is the only piece DeDeaux considers autobiographical, though like the play that inspired it, it addresses the environment and issues of class division and societal upheaval, as well. Another seminal moment for DeDeaux’s reckoning of loss and beauty came following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when visiting Pass Christian to

survey the damage to her parents’ home near the beach. “So there I was, and you couldn’t drive anywhere, so I did this long, long walk to see if the house still stood…there was a moment when I was standing and sludging through in my boots, in eighteen inches high of shattered, tempered glass. And I’m crying, because there’s no there there. So much destruction of so much beauty. And then all of a sudden the sun comes out, and I look up, and there are five pelicans flying, and the sun is just beautiful and the sky becomes this gorgeous azul, and I look down and all

of the glass surrounding me three sixty is glittering like diamonds, it’s sparkling. And so I said to myself, ‘Oh my God, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.’ That’s the paradox.” DeDeaux laughed her deep, effervescent-yet-melancholy laugh. That moment inspired her 2008 piece “The Glass Floor,” featuring a recreation of the sparkling, sea-like glass amid the dilapidated frame of a house. This is one of her Post-Katrina sections that is currently on display as part of her exhibition Being and Everything: Post Art at Houston’s TransArt Foundation for

Art and Anthropology. “It’s a fictional imagination that could become true, that is predicted to be true, that at some point humankind will be extinct, and who will know what art was?” She asked. "Art can be out there floating around, but who’s there to give it definition?” She and the curator of the exhibition tapped into a “gestalt moment” DeDeaux had while based in Luxor, Egypt in 1982, where she discovered the ground beneath her feet was not merely dirt, but tangible shards of pots, sculptures, temples, and other indicators of civilizations long-past. Another work included in that

December 6, 2020 8 am until 6 pm Artisans • 8am until 5pm Music • 10am until 6pm Ring in the Christmas season with a 19th Ri century Louisiana celebration. Musical groups, demonstrating artisans, storytellers, and costumed re-enactors will be present to set the holiday mood. The event will conclude with a bonﬁre and a very special guest.

ADMISSION: $10.00 per person • 10 years & under free

*Event dates and times are subject to change due to COVID-19 LOCATED AT BURDEN MUSEUM AND GARDENS OPEN DAILY 8:00–5:00 I-10 AT ESSEN LANE, BATON ROUGE, LA FOR MORE INFO CALL (225) 765-2437 OR VISIT WWW.RURALLIFE.LSU.EDU 30

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show is one of her thirty-foot metal rings that comprise her MotherShip Series (which goes back to Hawking, intersecting inequality and climate change to ask the question “Who gets a seat on the spaceship?”) “We’re in the Anthropocene, okay?” DeDeaux says, referring to the present geological age in which humans are the dominant factor influencing the environment. “So the shattered glass in one room kind of dealing with water’s impact. But we’ve got over a million acres burning in California and Australia, the arid climates. So this piece will be this huge fire landscape with rings coming down to save us, the spaceships are landing, the ladders are there to climb into the spaceships to get away—just a little bit of theatre,” she chuckled. One piece called “Dirt Bowl Table” comes along with her Souvenirs of Earth series, which asks viewers what they would bring with them from Earth when boarding the hopefully-theoretical MotherShip, if they could only take something small enough to fit in their hand. “I narrowed it down, and I was going to take a small jar of my mother’s ashes,” DeDeaux concluded. “Now, how strange, to leave Earth and to bring dirt with you? So it grew, it grew.” Handhoned wooden bowls sit beneath a glasstopped coffee table, filled with various colors of dirt and ash from around the world—including DeDeaux’s mother’s ashes. “So I’m a recyclist: the Dirt Bowl Table will have my mother’s ashes, and the timbers are from my studio,” she said of the charred timbers that remain from her former studio, which burned a year after flooding following Katrina. “So I just pick from what’s immediately around me, and hopefully it translates into something universal.” A new wall installation called “Veiled

Tools #1” incorporates anthropology, archeology, and the philosophy of Heidegger—presenting a twelve-foot wall of flying, rusted tools thinly veiled by a translucent screen; reminding viewers what might one day remain of human existence and our material world. These pieces for TransArt, and many others, will appear again next fall during DeDeaux’s first comprehensive retrospective of her expansive career at NOMA, which was previously scheduled for fall 2020 and postponed due to COVID. Titled The Space Between Worlds, the retrospective will mark the premiere of a brand new work called “Where’s Mary?” featuring a sea-worn, alabaster sculpture of the Virgin, which DeDeaux picked up at a curiosities shop. “You can see where the sand and the bottom of the sea made its etching into this soft marble, and so I’m taking this object and floating it out as the last surviving remnant of our culture, out into outer space,” she told me. “I think that my job as an artist working in visuals is to give kind of an iconography to the complexity of the science and the philosophy… An icon, one image, can say so many things.” h

Being and Everything: Post Art will be open at TransArt in Houston until January 31, 2021. She also has pieces from her Space Clown series up as part of the exhibition Art in the Time of Empathy at Arthur Roger Gallery until December 19, 2020. DeDeaux’s retrospective exhibition The Space Between Worlds is scheduled to run at NOMA from September 16th, 2021 January 30th, 2022. For more of DeDeaux’s work and philosophy, visit dawndedeaux.net.

The sea-worn marble statue of the Virgin Mary, which DeDeaux plans to launch into outer space as a theorized last remant of human culture in a premiere piece for her NOMA retrospective called “Where’s Mary?” , on a table among Asian calligraphy and other collectibles at Camp Abundance. Photo by Alexandra Kennon.

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Cuisine

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32 ART WHEREVER YOU GO / / 34

MEET US

F R A N N Y, W H E R E

FOOD &

CULTURE MEETS CUISINE

FUN

AWAIT W

Artist Kristie Mayeaux’s mixed media work“Celosia,” which is in rotation in the BARE Walls Project and made an appropriate feature for local business CENTRAL Pizza & Bar.

ART EVERY WHERE

Every Wall A Gallery

BARE WALLS INFUSES CREATIVITY INTO THE COMMUNITY THROUGH COLLABORATION

Story and photos by Andre Arcenaux

itting at the doctor’s office, waiting for your server to bring your iced tea, passing through the lobby at your apartment complex: such activities are easily made sterile, plain, unexciting by routine. But blankness can be broken consistently by a single thing—beauty. This is the mission of BARE Walls—a Lafayette organization operated through cross-disciplinary arts incubator, Basin Arts—which is dedicated to infusing 32

Operated through Lafayette’s cross-disciplinary arts incubator, Basin Arts, BARE Walls is an organization dedicated to connecting local artists with local businesses—creating a mutually beneficial relationship between the two that grants artists exposure and income while also bringing more art into the community. Pictured on top from left to right: artist and BARE Walls Program Director, as well as Co-founder, Dirk Guidry; founder and Director of Basin Arts Clare Cook; and BARE Walls Program Manager Michael Eble. Erin Gray (bottom) is both a local artist participating in BARE Walls and the manager of Central Pizza & Bar, which displays works from the program.

creativity and life into the community’s businesses through local art. Dirk Guidry, the organization’s Program Director and Co-founder, is known for his vibrant, swirling abstract works, iconic cultural murals, and live event paintings. With the help of the 24-Hour Citizen Project—an annual event in Lafayette where people with community-focused ideas and expertise are connected with financial backers— BARE Walls launched in 2018 with a

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goal of supporting the arts in Acadiana. BARE Walls works from the premise that any wall can essentially be a gallery and strives to create an appreciation for local artists within the community. The art itself varies in subject matter, size, medium, and notoriety of the artist. “We look for anyone with passion,” said Guidry. “From the self-taught to the well-established.” Fame and experience are not required to be part of BARE Walls, though the art must

meet a certain caliber. For those who fall just short of the quality standard, the program offers constructive feedback, in the form of mentoring and guidance on how to improve one’s craft. For emerging artists and students, BARE Walls is a “rare and valuable opportunity to gain exposure with the public, but also to gain some residual income within their own local art community,” said Michael Eble, BARE Walls’ program manager and curator of

events and engagement for the College of the Arts at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Eble explained that the business of art just isn’t taught, especially in the increasingly virtual market. “It’s a whole new world,” he said. For more established artists, this avenue of sharing their work is equally exciting. “A lot of artists like myself, us older people, we don’t understand the advertising,” said painter Tony Mayard, who picked up a brush for the first time in 1968. He later did commission work while in the United States Army, has shown his works in galleries throughout Louisiana, and now has pieces in rotation at BARE Walls. Mayard’s studio and home overflow with the artwork of his own, other local artists, and from his travels around the world. “All this is priceless,” he said, “either in a monetary form, or an emotional one.” “BARE Walls gives local artists more chances,” said Erin Gray, who received her Bachelors in Fine Arts with a concentration in painting from the University of Louisiana Lafayette. “If you’re a student, you can’t just walk into a gallery and get your art on a wall. But, here, you can get your work seen easily.” The exposure is good for the artist and the restaurant. It’s a symbiotic relationship. “The art opens the door for more people to come in. They want to see it.” said Gray, who in addition to being a featured artist of BARE Walls, manages participating restaurant CENTRAL Pizza & Bar. CENTRAL, as it is commonly called, is the warm hug from the Italian grandmother that you never had. During lunch and dinner hours the smell of fire-roasted pizza crust lures area professionals, construction workers, and skateboarders to the black and white octagon checkered floor, mirrorlined walls, and repurposed church pew seating. Walking through the restaurant, your eye is naturally drawn to the various paintings on the wall. Celosia is a small genus of edible and ornamental flowers whose name originates from the Ancient Greek meaning “fire”. So, it is fitting that the newest work prominently displayed in the wood-burning oven restaurant is a piece bearing the same name by local artist, Kristie Mayeaux. An appreciation for the arts is shared by Robert Autin, M.D., owner of the Acadian Superette––an authentic Cajun shop with everything Louisiana from andouille to Zatarain’s. With a desire to beautify the space he occupied, Autin was an early adopter of the program and has become one of its cornerstone clients. “Regardless of your budget as a business, the price of a subscription is modest,” said Autin. Some works

available for display through BARE Walls are valued at as much as $5,000. For a fraction of that, a business can rent the piece so long as it isn’t purchased. Autin notices how many people, both employees and customers, pay attention to and engage with the artwork in the restaurant. “Customers will often ask if they can buy a piece we have up, so we direct them to the BARE Walls’ website,” he said. Autin is aware of the difference the art makes within his restaurant, where one might sometimes feel as though they are being taken back in time: drinking coffee, listening to Cajun music while older men and women hold a conversation in French at the table next to you. There’s a connection that people make to a painting like “Be Still and Know” by Broussard artist Larry “Kip” Hayes while eating an overstuffed shrimp po’boy. You can almost hear the sounds of cattails rustling in the wind. In the wake of COVID-19, the National Restaurant Association is reporting that the restaurant industry has already lost $120 billion and is on track to lose $240 by year’s end.* Those are scary numbers for everyone, but in an area known for its food, it is a devastating cultural blow. Guidry and Eble are optimistic in these dark times. They have enough business to keep BARE Walls going, but they are still hesitant to approach new companies to discuss partnerships. “You don’t want to put a burden on anybody, and timing with anything is tricky,” said Guidry. Even though businesses aren’t as open as they usually are, BARE Walls participants are thrilled to have artwork to showcase. Just having art on the walls “hopefully gives everyone a sense of normalcy,” as Gray said, something that has been missing lately. Despite the world’s state of standstill, Eble and Guidry hope to continue to evolve and grow with the program. “We’d love to set up some works outside, branch out to other areas of the state, do more mural work, or even possibly start a residential subscription plan,” said Guidry. “In the grand scheme of things, it can help us bring together the gaps of all the arts in Acadiana.” While we are uncertain how long we will wait until we gather again with friends in a crowded restaurant, and uncertain how long it will be until we can lift glasses with our friends at a bar, or dance at a festival, creation is still happening, and there are still bare walls to fill. H

5713 Superior Drive, Suite B-1 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70816

BARE Walls 113 Clinton St. Lafayette, LA 70501 barewallslafayette.com // N O V 2 0

Festival photos by Raegan Labat

For a second year, we at Country Roads are proud to partner with The Myrtles to bring you the St. Francisville Food and Wine Festival, a daylong distillation of everything we love about our region: culture, cuisine, history, and the flavor of celebration. Against the backdrop of a venue known for its penchant for lore and ethereal beauty, ten of the area’s most innovative chefs convene to offer exclusively crafted morsels from their own creative menus, each paired with notable wines handselected from small and boutique wineries. Join us for a day of exploration, friendship, and indulgence—presented with safety and socialdistancing measures in mind—that we have so longed for after this difficult year. We can’t wait to raise a glass with you!

Meet Your Chefs Therese Albornoz

Lyle Broussard

Jeremy Conner

Government Taco, Baton Rouge

Jack Daniels Bar & Grill, Lake Charles

Spoonbill, Lafayette

Huey P(ork) Long: Sugar-cured Sticky Pork Belly, Braised Collard Greens, Chile and Corn Cream, Cornbread

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Baked Oysters Au Gratin smothered with Blue Crab, Crawfish, Pepper Jack and Cheddar Cheese

Tuna Tostada Raw Poke Gulf Tuna, Avocado, Cabbage, Radish, and Chili crisp on a Crispy Corn Tortilla with Cilantro and Green Onion

Victoria Loomis

Phillip Lopez

The Gatherin’ Girl, Natchez

Galatoire’s, New Orleans

Duck Pastrami with Cranberry Jezbel

Jeff Mattia Pyre Provisions, Covington

LIVE OAK LANDSCAPES

Blackened Redfish with Butternut Squash Purée, Louisiana Crabmeat, and Wilted Greens

Saskia Spanhoff Cocha, Baton Rouge

169 Homochitto St Natchez, MS 39120 (601) 445-8203

5064 Hwy 84 West Vidalia, LA 71373 (318) 336-5307

liveoaklandscapesms.com

Cantonese Glazed Ribs with Spicy Peanut Salad

Tres Leche Cake with Passionfruit Mousse

Nick Wallace

Rory Wingett

Natchez Depot, Natchez

City Group Hospitality, Baton Rouge

To be announced . . .

Pork Belly Porchetta with Herbed Cornbread Stuffing and Stewed Mustard Greens

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LibationS

Each featured chef’s dishes will be expertly paired with a selection of notable wines, hand chosen by a certified wine specialist with an emphasis on boutique and small-production wineries, generously presented

by Artisan, Uncorked, and Copper Cane wine merchants. New this year, guests will be able to select and order their favorite wines through an onsite ordering process. Select the wines you love most and place an

Demos It’s not all fun and games. Our festival offers some lessons to be learned as well, from yet more of of our region’s finest culinary personalities. As this year’s featured entertainment, we bring to you acclaimed chefs from Mississippi and Louisiana, demonstrating techniques 36

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and talking all things delicious. New Orleans-based writer, blogger, and all-round food personality, Lorin Gaudet moderates presentations by Spoonbill’s Jeremy Conner, Natchez Depot’s Nick Wallace, and Lyle Broussard of Jack Daniels Bar & Grill at L’Auberge Casino.

order for a case (or more). Orders will be fulfilled by Calandro’s Supermarkets of Baton Rouge and available for pickup the following week. Between the grapes, be sure to stop by the cocktail

station to see our friends from New Orleans’ Seven Three Distilling, returning this year to feature a very special French 75, showcasing their Louisiana-made Gentilly Gin.

Beer Garden New this year: our own little Oktoberfest, hosted by Louisiana food personality and Bite & Booze Radio Show host Jay Ducote. Sample five lager-style fall beers presented by Pelican Craft Brands, each created by your own

Artistry of Light By Mary T. Wiley

local breweries Parleaux Beer Lab, Brieux Carré, Rally Cap, Huckleberry Brewing Co., and Istrouma Brewing Co. And it gets better ... Each beer is to be paired with a gourmet Bratwurst sausage, presented by Iverstine Butchers.

Join us! sunday, November 15th from 1 pm to 5 pm at the myrtles and restaurant 1796 tickets are available at bontempstix.com

Installation & maintenance on new & pre-existing lighting

Landscape Lighting Specialists

Transforming outdoor spaces throughout Louisiana for 39 years.

225-955-7584 • artistryoflight.com • MARY T. WILEY

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Culture

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A WOMAN ADORNED, A WOMAN

A D O R E D // 4 0 T W E L V E O A K S , S T A C K E D

NATURAL BEAUTIES TURTLES, INFINITE

INSPIRATION W

Mom and Mignon A CONTEMPLATION OF COLLECTIONS By Nolde Alexius

he collectability of Mignon Faget’s jewelry designs in Central Louisiana from 2006 to 2014 made for an impressive display at my mother Mira’s Alexandria shop, MA Designs. Mom placed Mignon’s designs in three custom jewelry cabinets built by craftsman Glen Armand. They were tall and painted pale blue and unlocked with an ornate key. An enormous electrified curly willow chandelier

Sea Sand Dollar Necklace, stirling silver, from Aza Downs Bowlin Collection, currently on display at the West Baton Rouge Museum as part of the exhibition, The Collectible Life of Mignon Faget. Courtesy of the West Baton Rouge Museum.

of artist she wanted to be. She enrolled at Newcomb during a notable era of evolution for the art school. Since the late 1800s Newcomb Pottery had enjoyed critical acclaim for productions with natural motifs, featuring regional flora and fauna such as iris, cypress trees, and Live Oaks. The closure of Newcomb Pottery in 1939 signaled the art school’s move away from the promotion of its core tenet, the idea that women could gain financial independence through developing a craft. The professor who would become one A CUSTOMER’S STORY WAS IN THE of Mignon’s major influences, MIDDLE OF EVERYTHING FOR MOM, the school’s Director Robert Durant “Robin” Feild, then PULLING ALL OF HER INTERESTS, steered Newcomb to focus on INTUITION, AND PRIORITIES film and other art forms. As a TOGETHER. result, Mignon’s 1955 Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a major in metalwork upheld different artistic ideals. Yet, as from Urban Earth Studios in dress,”—an indirect description, in the 1990s hired Mom as artist Robert New Orleans evoked a cool embracing what it is but also manager and assistant buyer for grove, a quiet and gentle space for what it represents to the wearer. her family’s Italian import browsing and trying on Mignon. A customer’s story was in the business, The Odyssey Customers could strike out middle of everything for Mom, Shop, which specialized beyond the cabinets, around pulling all of her interests, in DeSimone pottery. and about the displays Mom intuition, and priorities together. Mom enjoyed these devoted to artists she loved, such A question Mom never strong influences from as tabletop designers Moutet, answered directly, because such within her community, Annieglass, Mottahedeh, and an answer isn’t really possible, examples of how one Abigails, jewelers DeFarro, concerns how she developed an could reinvent Barbara Conner, and interest in fashion. If her mother and reclaim Konstantino, and glass artists ever wore jewelry, it was usually the identity and sculptors from the Penland for a special gathering of family of the female School of Craft. or Sunday church services. For p o s i t i o n society. Her customers could depend Mom, an early influence may in M i g n o n on Mom’s enthusiasm for have been her best friend while too, the latest trends. She loved growing up in the 1950s and Faget, served as this kind introducing beautiful designs 1960s—the daughter of Gus and crossed her showroom floor Kaplan, who would operate of influence. Mignon attributes her with the same thrill she exhibited his fashion department store in while hiking the summit of her Alexandria from 1967 to 1997. philosophies of design to her favorite trail in the Great Smoky Rather than a particular moment undergraduate education at Mountains. that had lifelong influence on her Newcomb College in Exotica Fig Leaf Necklace, sterling silver, from I knew well the joy Mom took eye, I’m more inclined to believe New Orleans, where the Abigail Voelker Collection, currently on from seeing her customers, many that Mom’s instinct for putting a she was given the display at the West Baton Rouge Museum as of them lifelong friends. I helped look together came naturally. It freedom to explore part of the exhibition, The Collectible Life of Mignon Faget. 'Courtesy of the West Baton out with sales and wrapping was an assumed part of who she and discover the kind gifts in teal paper with bronze lettering and Midori satin ribbon. On day trips to New Orleans and summer vacations we visited artist studios and selected inventory, often with particular customers in mind. On slow days at the shop I read David Sedaris essays aloud to her. With ease, Mom could imagine a customer’s life. She sold a dress from the FLAX line in this way, saying, “It can be your Saturday morning

was, and she possessed an easy self-awareness about her fashion sense. For example, she didn’t wear hats except to go fishing. “My hair is my hat,” she’d say. Two successful businesswomen held the Central Louisiana Mignon Faget account before Mom did—first Nancy Young, whose boutique in the 1980s was the go-to for ribbon belts, headbands, and monogrammed stationery and Bermuda Bags; and then Abigail Voelker, who

Rouge Museum.

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Tannen observed in his introduction for Mignon’s 1986 exhibit An Enquiring Eye, her longstanding career carries forward the economic objective of an earlier Newcomb. That Mignon’s artistry and prolific work ethic combine with her business acumen to appeal to collectors was apparent to anybody who shopped with Mom. With more than seventy jewelry series—as well as designs for the home— in Mignon’s oeuvre, every personal collection is unique; collectors would have to coordinate their acquisitions in order to possess the same pieces. Mignon’s offer of choice cultivates loyalty to her brand. She has built her brand by successfully communicating a particular philosophy of collecting—to embody the natural world paradoxically by wearing its forms, cast in silver and gold. Notably, her three-fold design process begins with creating a collection of objects—sea shells, for example, which are nestled between books in her library of art and design titles: Urformen der Kunst (Art forms in nature) (1928) by Karl Blossfeldt, The Creation of Sculpture by Jules Struppeck (1952), and Flowers by Irving Penn (1980), to name a few. Distillation of images follows as the second step, and the third and final step is the creation of new forms, such as pendants, rings, and

bracelets. The result is a context of design Mira Alexius owned MA Designes in Alexandria from 2006 to 2014, where she featured an that is immediately communicated to impressive display of Mignon Faget jewelry. Photos courtesy of Nolde Alexius. collectors who pore over the varying shapes, textures, and sizes. Generally speaking, amassing a collection begins with the fundamental idea that a sense of self may be understood in the past, present, and future; the symbolic power of an object evolves with its collector. Collectors of Mignon understand what they want others to see and what they don’t. The secret space of adornment is the self that is out of view. My dad, brother, and I lived in denial of Mom’s However unpleasant of this year, we acknowledged a struggles with dementia a moment might contemplation of choice as present and until Mignon’s wholesale become, she could powerful in her life. This must have director explained it to us appreciate it, even been part of the reason, or maybe the with an example: Mom enjoy it, for its karma. main one, that Mignon’s designs spoke called headquarters on Magazine Street several times a day to Maybe dementia skewed the idea she to her. h place the same order, over and over again, had wished to convey to her customers, which might have been that it wasn’t her Nolde Alexius is the curator of for Tiger, Tiger Glasses. The Collectible Life of Mignon During the early days of her store decision to close the shop. Or maybe not. Faget, on display at West Baton closing sale, Mom told her customers, Dementia certainly was not her fault. The role Mom’s shop played in the Rouge Museum through January “It’s not my fault.” The news of her 3, 2021. The exhibit features more diagnosis hadn’t traveled far enough to personal narrative of her customers than eighty jewelry designs from reach all who knew her, so some wanted was no small part of its value. She loved hearing about the adored one who would personal collections and twentyto know what lay behind her decision to be adorned, or about the milestone a seven representative series Faget close. created between 1970 and 2019. To explain the end of her professional design was purchased to commemorate. life by denying culpability was so like her. At Mom’s memorial service in March

#VisitorsCenter

#DineIberville

Life is a journey

#TheBayouPlaquemineWaterfrontPark

#TheChurchOfTheNativity

LEARN MORE AT VISITIBERVILLE.COM // N O V 2 0

OUTSIDER ART

Wanna Get Lost, Wanna Get Found

REDISCOVERING CHILDLIKE WONDER AT TWELVE OAKS Story, photos, and artwork by Marshall Blevins “Church Goin’ Mule”

t was raining; puddles collected in the yard and dripped from the oak trees that surrounded the house. They pooled and rushed towards the bayou, cold clear January rainwater. It was one in the afternoon, but the sky was dark, night was approaching, thunder rattled the doors. Sitting at my drawing table, I painted a mule beneath a barn that was looking a little worse for wear. “Heavenly Day (rough weather)”. The mule had a pair of wings on its back and a glad smile on its face. From January to March, I sat at that table, in all kinds of weather, largely alone with my dog, Wilbur. And on days like that rainy day I began to feel like I was in some other world. Carefully adding raindrops and highlights to the puddles in the

painting, it seemed as though the whole world fell silent and still. A chorus was rising ... singing voices of simple folks with sincere beliefs, the sounds of church. Eyes wide, I looked over to Wilbur, sleeping on the couch. He couldn’t hear it. Studying the wide picture windows that looked down the trail to Old Fort Bayou, I didn’t see a single leaf move. But the voices were climbing. I walked as quietly as possible to the back door and opened it slowly. The choir sounded like a warbling record, near and high above at once. I stood at the screen door, heart pounding, the music sweet and echoing around me. Lightning flashed and a line of people in baptismal gowns were in the corner of my vision, heading down the trail, and gone. I stood there for a long time. Wilbur

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began to snore. Strange and beautiful things will happen to a person when they are alone, making art in the woods, listening to music, reading books, wandering trails and bayous. They might begin to think they know Providence personally, that they have a particular insight into Mother Nature, that the world has become a more intense and vivid and magical place. The trees might become protective parents, turtles might become good omens. They might even begin to

learn the names of plants and to distinguish trees, they might prefer to roam barefoot, to know the night creatures crawling on the roof might not be ghosts, to fall asleep in the arms of trees, to lose track of where dreams meet reality. That’s the sort of thing that a Twelve Oaks Artist Residency offers—the long and short of it summarized in the phrase “rediscovering childlike wonder.” The miracles of the woods happen daily, if not hourly: nature is increasingly strange the more you go into it. Turtles stack

I HAD LONG SINCE FORGOTTEN TURTLES AND THEIR PIERCING DINOSAUR EYES, HOW ALL OF NATURE WORKS TOGETHER IN ITS CYCLES, AND HOW IT WILL CONTINUE TO WORK WITHOUT ME.

themselves up on logs to sun and warm each other. Snakes sleep high in the branch. Foxes come right up to the back door. Living as I did back home, apart from the woods and the water, I had long since forgotten turtles and their piercing dinosaur eyes, how all of nature works together in its cycles, and how it will continue to work without me. The residency is an arm of the Twelve Oaks Nature Preserve & Trail, which is a part of the Land Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plains. Funded in part by the Mississippi Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, the program invites artists of every kind— painters, photographers, poets, sculptors, and more to work and make art inspired by the land, nature, and the history of

Twelve Oaks. Among the residency’s most recent artists are painters Carmen Lugo and Mary Hardy, along with writer Mary Ann O’Gorman and sculptor Spence Kellum. I had the incredible opportunity to be the artist in residence for 2020. Wilbur and I moved in January 3. That morning, we left Sunset, Louisiana in the pouring rain. The deluge only intensified as we travelled I-10, taking the split to I-12 and onwards toward Mississippi. The thunder growled and rolled, the rain made the roads slick. My ’93 Ford truck has had a history of dying abruptly if the undercarriage is splashed with too much water. Gripping the wheel, Wilbur blisfully unaware, we covered 216 miles in pure downpour.

5th

DEC

11am – 10pm

Virtual Pictures with Santa 11 am-4 pm Christmas Parade 5pm

Live Music 7pm

Christmas Tree Lighting 6:30pm

Food Arts & Crafts Music Downtown New Roads, LA

211 W. Main Street

A family-friendly event

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Hidden off of Highway 90 in Ocean Springs, Twelve Oaks Nature Preserve & Trail is the original residence of Johanna Blount, who saved enough money while enslaved to purchase the property after attaining freedom once the Civil War had ended.

Believing it too good to be true, we stopped at the Land Trust office, the clouds still drizzling rain. Shaking hands, smiling, Wilbur loudly greeted everyone, and we got our keys to the house. Twelve Oaks is hidden off of Highway 90, truly an unintentionally well-kept secret. We arrived in bright sunshine. We had paid the toll through the rain and storm. We made it, and the sun let us know our dues were done. Time to begin. In the first week of my stay, a feller came to fill up the propane so the old house might be warm through January and

February. He exclaimed he had not only been in business forty years, but had been born in Ocean Springs, and had never known Twelve Oaks was there at all. Twelve Oaks truly existed long before he was born, older than suffrage, as old as emancipation. Johanna Blount was an enslaved woman who had saved enough to buy the acreage after the civil war. She might have been the woman to plant the twelve oaks that gives the property its name, though some claim the trees are as old as four hundred years. Upon establishing her household, her former owner came knock-ing— impoverished, having lost everything— including her husband. She wasn’t doing well. Can she stay? Johanna, it is said, exhibited the very soul of forgiveness and invited her into her home. Johanna sold off parts of property for taxes, gave land to her family, sold some to be used as a Methodist Episcopal camp. Research is muddy for many reasons, not just because of time but because of race, and many of the stories of Twelve Oaks are anecdotal. Some stories claim baptisms were held not far from where the house stands now, down in Old Fort Bayou. Much of the art I make is concerned with stories, with love, with concern for the generations past and what they have left us. To walk in Johanna’s shadow and memory was a blessing to my art and my soul. The time I spent at Twelve Oaks was a dream. Wilbur and I walked the world of Ocean Springs every day. Front Beach, East Beach, downtown Ocean Springs, day after day we walked to the

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Greenhouse on Porter for fresh biscuits and pour-over coffee. And of course, we walked the land at Twelve Oaks each day. The property’s entrance itself is breathtaking, especially at the peak of spring when camellias and azaleas are blooming, the oaks gigantic and timeless surrounding the house, leading the visitors to the short trail to the bayou—a journey through the home of the coast’s creatures: eagles, pelicans, turtles, foxes, lightning bugs, and so on. Barefoot, in the rain, in the chill of a coastal January, we were wandering. We watched the tide roll out every morning and come in every evening. We searched the woods looking for magic. Well, Wilbur was looking for squirrels mostly, but nearly the same thing. Learning the trail took a week, to be really comfortable, and then I could let my mind wander as my eyes studied for wildlife and light. It seemed like a miracle to have the chance to watch the world change from a sleepy winter to

a sonorous spring. The ferns came first, their di-nosaurian fists rising from the swamp day by day, unfurling like birds of paradise and fanning out, encouraging spring to keep on. It seemed too beautiful to be real, to watch the light filter through the old oaks every morning into the night. After a few days it began to feel as though the oaks, whose branches stretched over the roof of the house, and their roots surely below, were centurions keeping me safe from storm, bad luck, and ill-willed strangers. They kept me safe from ghosts and late night raccoons scratching on the roof. When we weren’t outside, we were inside working and dreaming. Wilbur slept and dreamed of chasing his squirrels. He watched the windows to see who was going down the trail. I spent time writing, painting, drawing, learning, photographing it all. I made about two hundred paintings during my two-and-a-half months there: countless sketches, prints, photos, zines. At the time, the idea of lockdown couldn’t be imagined. The time spent at Twelve Oaks was a spirit set free, time all my own to make art, a blessing unfathomable and now so many months separated from the experience, it seems like a very far away dream. As we are in the heart of fall now, along the coast and in the south, there has never been a better time to get outside. Twelve Oaks is waiting, open from dawn to dusk, to share the trail, the bayou, and all the crea-tures who

T H E

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L I F E

Mignon Faget August 1, 2020 - January 3, 2021

call it home. The trees have their arms wide open with waiting. The house has a spirit of creativity and love living in it, meaningful to witness. Wherever you are, I hope you have the opportunity to get outside, spend some time really seeing the world around you and creating, rediscovering that childlike wonder we sometimes seem to have forgotten. h

You can find out more about Twelve Oaks Nature Trail & Land Preserve at ltmcp.org. The author and artist Church Goin Mule can be found at www.churchgoinmule.com.

845 N. Jefferson Avenue Port Allen , Lousiana 70767 225. 336.2422, ext. 200 www.WestBatonRougeMuseum.org

Connect with Louisiana newsmakers Join the conversation weekdays at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

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Escapes

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RETURNING

TO T H E G U L F C O A S T, T H I S

NORTHWARD, TO SEE

THE

SEASONS

TIME

CHANGE

SEE

THE

AFRICAN

WO R T H T H E D R I V E PENGUINS

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BIT

COASTING

Seascapes on the Secret Coast

RETURNING TO MISSISSIPPI’S GULF COAST, WITH A NEW APPRECIATION FOR ITS WATERY WONDERS By Beth D’Addono

In Ocean Springs, the Walter Anderson Museum serves simultaneously as an homage to one of the Gulf Coast’s most prolific artists, but also as a love story to the natural world of the region, depicted in Anderson’s gorgeous murals, watercolors, sketches, and more. Photo courtesy of Coastal Mississippi.

or those of us becoming weary of the same old same old, hoping to dip our toes into the travel waters again, Mississippi’s Secret Coast makes for the perfect destination of solace and stimulation without having to venture too very far from home. Yes, there are sandy beaches stretching the sixty-two miles of coastline along the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi Sound. But, not unlike the way the Florida Keys deliver different kinds of experiences, the twelve cities that make up Coastal Mississippi offer everything from small town charm to arts and culture and fab fine dining. After hearing a friend rave about her recent stay at Ocean Springs’ The Beatnik, which coincided with the opening of a brand spanking new aquarium in Gulfport, I hatched my own little micro-vacation to the coast.

Biophilic Style at The Beatnik The Beatnik had me at outdoor 44

shower. Always a transformative addon, the experience of showering al fresco makes for something like a private spa treatment. It was just one of the many “wow” moments that happens at the Hotel Beatnik, the newest place to stay in the Creative District of Ocean Springs. Designed by New Orleans architect Charles Neyrey, the self-contained A-frame cabins are perfect for pandemic travel—although that was never part of the plan, said owner Roxy Condrey, a local real estate developer who with her husband Ted dreamed up the hotel, along with The Roost and the Inn at Ocean Springs. “We had started and then COVID hit—and we didn’t know if we should stop or what to do. But we pushed forward, and people seem to really like the concept.” Hinged on the biophilic design movement, the idea was to create harmonious natural elements within the space to give guests a sense of wellbeing. Three Mississippi artists have been commissioned to create murals

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in the coming months, and a local woodworker created accents designed to mimick the design patterns and textures found in nature. The little chalets sleep two or four— two of the four units have bunk beds — with private outdoor space and screened porches rigged with rocking chairs. Their Danish modern-meets-mid-centurymeets-Mother Nature vibe is reflected in details like a cypress ceiling, terracotta Morroccan tile, stone vessel sinks and floor-to-ceiling windows. A swank pourover coffee service, wet bar, and disco-lit fridge add to the VIP treatment. Venture outside of your oasis and there’s a plunge pool and a fire pit, and lots to explore on foot—the beach and downtown are easy strolls. Next door, The Greenhouse is a breakfast and lunch spot that seems like it got lost on the way to the commune, with its friendly hippie aesthetic and garden setting, complete with kitty cats for company. On your way into town,

pass by The Wilbur, the speakeasy cocktail bar at The Roost, with its craft cocktails and “secret” room behind a large portrait of Al Capone, who reportedly owned Del Castle, a home in town that may have fronted the mobster’s booze running during Prohibition. Committed to raising the bar in her community, Condrey is working on a mixed-use artist, yoga, retail, and culinary space called The Collective across the street from the Beatnik, opening in about a year’s time. “Porter Street used to be the town’s Main Street, with all kinds of motels and businesses— which changed with the Interstate. We want to bring that hometown community back.”

Seafood Spots: White Pillars & Vestige The dining scene in and about Ocean Springs is simply swell, a mix of casual spots like Government Street Grocery (get the burger) and chef-

BE THANKFUL

Photo by Christy Ryan, courtesy of The Beatnik.

driven restaurants like Maison de Lu, where Chef Luann Ellis is known for crafting creative dishes with fresh local ingredients and a French accent, everything made in-house. For fine dining, there are not one but two James Beard award nominees along the coast, Chef Austin Sumrall’s stunning White Pillars in Biloxi and the spectacular Vestige from Chef/owner Alex Perry (one of Country Roads’ three 2020 Small Town Chef Award-winners) downtown on Washington Avenue. White Pillars is a showstopping space, restored to its original 1905 splendor after suffering significant damage during Hurricane Katrina. The large antebellum-style mansion lends beautiful backdrops for Sumrall’s unfussy mix of Cajun, Creole, and new Southern cuisine. Whether he’s serving briny

oysters on the half-shell that were in the water just hours ago, having fun with shrimp corn dogs, adding fresh crabmeat and micro greens to avocado toast, or reinvigorating eggplant Josephine, an original menu item that layers eggplant with marinara, crabmeat, mozzarella, and hollandaise—Sumrall’s eye for detail and sense of flavor is spot on. The experience at Vestige is more intimate, a romantic date night spot with a menu that combines contemporary American cuisine with Japanese influences, thanks to Chef Perry’s wife Kumi Omori’s inspiration. Perry, an Ocean Springs native, delivers a farm- and Gulf-to-table experience, with just-caught seafood, museumquality composed plates of greens and vegetables, proteins like perfectly cooked Black Hawk wagyu steak adorned with

November 7 Jackson Fall Fest 8am-4pm

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More than just a frame shop. Give the Gift of Art for Christmas

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Alligator Bayou, oil by Nancy Smitherman

Cypress Mood I & II, oil by Carol Hallock

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O N E DAY F R A M I N G AVA I L A B L E 680 Jefferson Highway, Baton Rouge, LA 70806 225-924-6437 // N O V 2 0

a sauté of seasonal fruit, butternut and delicata squash, and sweet potatoes. Chicken wings are salted, cooked, boned out, then grilled yakitori style with a soy-powered glacé, all topped with smoked fig miso and fermented figs. Seriously, each dish is perfection. The chef’s four-course tasting menu is $50 per person, an experience that would easily be twice the price in the big city. Make your reservation now.

Coastal Inspiration: The Walter Anderson Museum

With its plentiful access to bounties of fresh-caught seafood, the Mississippi Gulf Coast possesses an exciting culinary scene, which includes concepts by two James Beard-nominated chefs. Chef Austin Sumrall of White Pillars offers a menu of creative and flavorful Cajun, Creole, and New Southern dishes (oysters pictured on top), while in Ocean Springs, Chef Alex Perry infuses his seafood with Asian influences and gorgeous detail in flavor and presentation at Vestige (dish pictured above). Photos courtesy of Coastal Mississippi.

Atchafalaya at Idlewild

Staycation on the

cajun coast

Your outdoor family getaway!

Window the the Waters: The Mississippi Aquarium

Aquariums are always fun, but if you’ve been to a bunch, they often seem interchangeable. The brand-new Mississippi Aquarium breaks that mold. Although it’s still getting some of its residents situated—the dolphins are on the way, the African penguins awaiting a permanent home—this inviting attraction does a remarkable job of showcasing critters both local and not, with most of the emphasis placed the Gulf and its inhabitants. Dubbed “the window to the waters of Mississippi, the Gulf Coast, and beyond,” the aquarium focuses primarily on conservation and education. While most aquariums have a

Southside Gardens

Next Best Place to Home!

“A wonderful experience with wonderful people" Michelle Cave, resident. Also pictured, Judy Johnson, Team Member

Discover historic downtown Franklin

#cajuncoast

(800) 256-2931 | www.cajuncoast.com

The Walter Anderson Museum of Art is as much about a man as it is about his art. The New Orleans native was trained at the Parson’s School of Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, but his inspiration was always the natural world, most specifically the flora and fauna on Horn Island. Plagued by mental health demons and hospitalized several times, Anderson was often reclusive and spent weeks at a time alone on the island, where he’d paint and sketch in mediums including oil, watercolor, pen and ink, and pencil. Also a sculptor, furniture maker, potter, and printmaker, Anderson’s output was staggering, although fame was not his game—the one time he was featured in a show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, he skipped the opening, rode his bike to

New Orleans, and took a flight to China. He was a practical endurance athlete and both his time-worn bicycle and the rickety rowboat he’d take to Horn are on display at the museum. The murals he painted on the adjacent community center are heart-stopping renderings of the natural rhythms of the seasons, plants, flowers, and animals, especially birds, of which the pelican was his favorite. To visit his work, see the tiny room studio where he’d dreamed and worked and breathed, in the color and reverence he showed for nature, is a balm for these times.

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Boasting garden apartments that support an open-air environment. These ground floor units allow residents and visitors to enter without going through common areas. • No buy-in fee • Utilities and cable TV included • Weekly housekeeping • Ground floor apartments • Home cooked meals prepared daily by Chef Celeste

4604 Perkins Rd. | 225.922.9923 | southsidegardens.com

180-degree tunnel on their ground levels, Mississippi Aquarium’s tunnel goes directly through the primary habitat, a 360-degree plexi walkway that allows you to literally walk on water and see the marine life and the humans viewing it from above, from every angle. Situated across from the beach, the aquarium includes a colorful bird aviary, touch tanks for the kiddos, an otter habitat, and more. Try to organize your visit so you can have lunch at the nearby District on the Alley in downtown Gulfport, a super

spot for sandwiches and salads, all fresh and portioned for mammoth appetites. The restaurant backs up onto Fishbone Alley, a funky venue for public art, live music and eateries.

On the Water: Biloxi Shrimping Trip

With seafood front of mind, get out on the water with the Biloxi Cruise Company’s Shrimping Trip, a favorite attraction of the area since 1954. Captain Mike Moore and his first mate David Graham will host you on a seventyminute cruise around Biloxi’s Mississippi Sound that includes trawling for shrimp, tons of shrimp factoids (the species’ biggest threat is other shrimp, wily little cannibals), and interacting with all kinds of finny friends—all of which get returned to the water. The experience is great for families and for anybody curious about why that shrimp you had for lunch tasted so gosh darn good. There’s so much to explore here, so close to home, that even if you think you’ve done the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the “Secret Coast” will surprise you and make you very glad you came. h

Photo courtesy of The Mississippi Aquarium.

COME FEST

Photo courtesy of The Mississippi Aquarium.

If You Go: The Hotel Beatnik 402 Porter Avenue Ocean Springs, MS 39564 (228) 285-7424 thehotelbeatnik.com White Pillars 1696 Beach Boulevard Biloxi, MS 39531 (228) 207-0885 biloxiwhitepillars.com Vestige 715 Washington Avenue Ocean Springs, MS 39564 (228) 818-9699 vestigerestaurant.com

Walter Anderson Museum 510 Washington Avenue Ocean Springs, MS 39564 (228) 872-3164 walterandersonmuseum.org Mississippi Aquarium 2100 East Beach Boulevard Gulfport, MS 39501 (228) 241-1300 msaquarium.org Biloxi Shrimping Trip 693 Beach Boulevard Biloxi, MS 39530 (228) 392-8645 biloxishrimpingtrip.com

look up to the sky

WITH US

at B R E C ’ S

H I G H L A N D R O A D PA R K

OBSERVATORY #LANorthshore

FALL IS A TIME OF CELEBRATION

We celebrate everything in St. Tammany Parish, one hour from Baton Rouge. Mark your calendar and plan a weekend getaway for these exciting upcoming events.

Bayou Kitchen Food Truck at Fontainebleau State Park: Saturdays and Sundays 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. (excludes Sat., Nov. 14) Nov. 5 & 12 Chillin’ on the River Concerts in Covington

EVENING SKY VIEWINGS SCIENCE ACADEMY SATURDAYS STEM COURSES SOLAR VIEWINGS

Nov. 6 & 7 Gulf States Quilting Association Biennial Quilt Show in Slidell Nov. 20 East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity Annual Fall Gala in Slidell Nov. Bayou Showdown Car and Truck 21 & 22 Show in Slidell Nov. 26 Tammany Turkey Trot in Covington Nov. 28 Louisiana Bicycle Festival

1-800-634-9443 • www.LouisianaNorthshore.com/cr

hrpo.lsu.edu | 225-768-9948

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joyeux noël Our story is YOUR History.

COLORS OF THE WIND

Fall Envelopes Fayetteville

2161 Nicholson Drive, Baton Rouge • 225-343-4955 • brec.org/magnoliamound

A SOUTH LOUISIANA GIRL SOAKS UP THE MAGIC OF CHANGING SEASONS Story and photos by Camille Delaune The air is all musky vanilla and pine. The hickory tree outside our window has become ochre overnight, it seems. We’re sipping bourbon cider with every moonrise, and my sweetheart comes home with pumpkin treats with growing frequency. It’s fall in Fayetteville—a South Louisiana girl’s first. I’ve been taking long walks lately;

any citizen of Northwest Arkansas would be remiss not to this time of year. Sometimes they’re to the park by my home (the richest, loveliest park I’ve ever seen, second only to Central Park herself). To the coffee shop via the Greenway, our beloved walking path that runs thirty-seven-miles-long through the length of the region. To the

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downtown square with a friend or two, through streets lined with maple trees and craftsman homes made of shale stone (the overwhelming architecture in the area, luckily for us). It feels like I can’t walk enough, even after wandering wideeyed for hours on end. Like every other poetry-inclined person to exist in early fall, I feel an overwhelming sense that the season’s change must be trying to tell me something. With my head tilted back, I ask the turning leaves in Wilson Park to impart their wisdom. Is their lesson that change is promised (thank goodness)? Is it that death infallibly makes way for new life? Is it that things come together and fall

Lets plan your next

From the brilliant colors in the gardens of Houmas House Plantation to the vivid color in an Alvin Batiste painting. From the explosion of flavors in a bowl of Jambalaya to the explosion in retail at Tanger Outlets and locally owned shops. From Louisiana’s second largest historic district to a sugarcane distillery, there’s just so much to see, taste, experience and savor in Ascension Parish, the perfect spot for your next staycation!

A MIX OF HISTORY AND CULTURE GONZALES | SORRENTO | DONALDSONVILLE

TourAscension.com

PREMIERE Sunday, November 1 • 8PM

JOSH GROBAN: AN EVENING OF HARMONY Friday, November 13 • 9PM

Saturday, November 28 • 7PM

www.lpb.org 50

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lp w.

es liv

tre

apart, always? Is it that life is a constant balance of learning to carry both joy and sorrow at once? Or are they simply asking me to keep paying attention? “Whatever fits,” they say. “In 2020,” I respond, “they all fit.” I can conclude, at least, that every last prospective lesson this season offers carries green hope. Autumn is generous with opportunities for peace; perhaps we need only to surrender to them. And so, with fresh, autumnal resolve, we’ve been gulping in Fayetteville’s bounty as any two native Louisianans would—like kids in a candy shop, we’re adults who’ve stayed giddy with the delight of our new home’s offerings. Whether camping by the river under a

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milky moon, or sipping hot drinks on one of the benches found at nearly every block, or hiking right here in city-limits under an absolute chroma of fall color, I’m tempted to say that the novelty hasn’t worn off. But then…I have to wonder if it’s novelty at all. It’s hard to believe that one might ever become jaded of a place that could make you believe all-out Halloween

decorations are a city mandate. The grayhaired couples strolling hand-in-hand down Lafayette Street, necks wrapped in scarlet scarves, faces aglow like teenagers, seem testament to that. Maybe fall in Fayetteville really is an endless well of magic, an enchantress who visits each year to make even hardened hearts soft again. h

4 - 6 pm M-F, Talk 107.3 FM @jayducote jayducote.com

camilledelaune.com // N O V 2 0

Directory of Merchants

Baton Rouge, LA All Wood Furniture 27 Amy James Photography 53 37 Artistry of Light Baton Rouge Clinic 15 Becky Parrish 51 Blue Cross Blue Shield 12 45, 47 BREC 3 Burden Museum & Gardens Calandros 11 Casual Creations 49 East Baton Rouge Library 56 Elizabethan Gallery 51 10 Eye Wander Photography Lagniappe Antiques 52 Louisiana Public Broadcasting 48 LSU Museum of Art 24 LSU Rural Life Museum 19, 30 52 Pinetta’s Red Cake Event Planning 10 Samir Oriental Rugs 31 Seniors Helping Seniors 18 Southside Gardens 44 14 Stafford Tile and Stone Talk 107.3 FM 49 Wilson & Wilson, LLC 33 Window World of Baton Rouge 9 WRKF 89.3 FM 43

Breaux Bridge, LA St. Martin Parish Tourist Commission

Grand Isle, LA Grand Isle Tourism Department

Hammond, LA Tangipahoa Parish CVB

Jackson, LA The Felicianas’ Store

Lafayette, LA Samir Oriental Rugs

Mandeville, LA St. Tammany Parish Tourist Commission Mansura, LA Avoyelles Commission of Tourism Morgan City, LA Cajun Coast CVB Natchez, LA Live Oak Construction Natchez.com Nest, LLC United Mississippi Bank

52 44 35 17 24 35

New Orleans, LA Neal Auction Company Stafford Tile and Stone

5 14

New Roads, LA City of New Roads

Opelousas, LA 24/7 Inspection St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission

7 7

Plaquemine, LA Iberville Parish Tourism Department

Port Allen, LA West Baton Rouge CVB West Baton Rouge Museum

53 43

Scott, LA Bob’s Tree Preservation Sorrento, LA Ascension Parish Tourism Commission

St. Francisville, LA Artistry of Light Bohemianville Antiques Bspoke 4U Butler Greenwood Christmas in the Country Daryl May Construction District Mercantile Grandmothers Buttons Magnolia Cafe St. Francisville Inn Sullivan Dental Center The Conundrum Books & Puzzles The Myrtles Plantation West Feliciana Chamber of Commerce

E U R O P E A N R E S TA U R A N T

Lunch Mon-Sat 11-2 Dinner Mon-Thurs 5-10 Fri & Sat 5-11

3056 Perkins Road

225-387-9134

Zachary, LA Signature Southern Accents

NOVEMBER, 2020 Main Street Market Downtown Marksville Thursdays, 3pm-6pm Main Street Market

Passport to the Arts Membership Drive Avoyelles Courthouse Square November 5, 2020, 6pm-9pm 318.240.3495 Christmas on the Island Fifth Ward Community Center November 14, 2020 318.305.1401

Treats delivered daily

Taste of Heaven Bordelonville School Gymnasium November 15, 2020 @ 10:30am by ticket 318.419.1093 Christmas Outdoors Extravaganza Paragon Casino Resort November 21, 2020 318.253.8599

Bottomless Cup of Hospitality.

(225) 927-0531 • 2175 Dallas Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 52

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8592 Hwy 1 Mansura, LA 800.833.4195 travelavoyelles.com

Farmer’s Market 6802 Hwy 107, Marksville Every Saturday, 8am-noon Da & Papa’s Farmer’s Market & Event Center

21 21

Sunset, LA Sunset Merchants Alliance

act • Avoyelles Commission of Tourism A B AT O N R O U G E T R A D I T I O N S I N C E 1 9 6 2

37 21 13 21 20 37 21 18 18 21 23

/CountryRoadsMag

Amy James photography Es t . 1 9 9 0

Still using lm and darkroom for art quality prints that last for generations

225-772-1400 • Ajamesphoto@aol.com • www.amyjames.photography •

@amyjames_photography // N O V 2 0