Overture February 2014 by Innovative Digital, LLC

February 2014

To Mardi Gras with Love

Acadianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Publication for the Arts

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February 2014

features

CONCERT FEATURE

LES DEUX MARDI GRAS Whether you enjoy the rural or city twist on the celebration, let the spirit and traditions of Mardi Gras overwhelm you with rich history, intriguing customs, and blessings of complete abandonment.

Be drawn to an intimate Valentine’s Day concert that features two cellos harmonizing and conversing with one another to give the audience a romantic, intense, and unforgettable experience.

SOMETHING SPICY, SOMETHING SWEET

If the way to a lover’s heart is through the stomach, then those who dine with ASO during the “Heartstrings” concert will undoubtedly drift off in love. Tsunami sushi promises to delight all the senses with an elegant meal that pairs with the sensuous music of the ASO Chamber players.

RENAISSANCE

Don Bertrand reminisces and enlightens us about the good ol’ days when Acadiana’s arts and culture scene debuted on the world’s stage and how a special group of friends (and artists) paved the way for the vibrant arts and culture community we know and love today.

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FEUFOLLET: CONTINUITY MEETS CREATIVITY

Difficult to define but easy to enjoy. Feufollet captures the spirit of traditional music while creating their own style, composing original tunes, and interpreting traditional music with their personal flair.

FORGING A FIRE WITHIN A young man inspires us to ignite our internal passion as he communes with the age-old traditional art of blacksmithing. Paying homage to his mentors, the teenaged artist describes the love and discipline required to create something that is beautiful and functional.

on the cover

The Overture cover was the collaborative effort of Lafayette visual artists Terreé Tisdale-Kwarteng and Bonnie Camos. The two talented artists co-created a montage painting to represent Mardi Gras with a nod to George Rodrigue in the presence of an old oak tree. But when readers look more closely they may find a surprise. Can you see the human being in the painting? If so, good eye! One of the many magical qualities of paint is its ability to camouflage people and objects, making them melt into the background. The person who became one with the painting is Terreé’s gracious husband, Eugene Kwarteng. Overture appreciates everyone’s hard work on this project. Photo Credit: Lucius A. Fontenot

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MAKE TONIGHT MEMORABLE. P L AY T O H E R H E A RT.

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contents 8 OPENING NOTES Jenny Krueger, Executive Director

10 FANFARE Mariusz Smolij, Music Director & Conductor 18 GUEST COLUMN Jay Dardenne, Lieutenant Governor, State of Louisiana 26 WANDERLUST THEATER PRESENTS: EURYDICE Acadiana Center for the Arts 27 SING, SING, SWING! ULL Jazz Band 28 PUBLIC SCHOOL ARTS EDUCATION Lafayette Parish School System’s Talented Program 32 A PROJECT TO REMEMBER Cover Story

33 LEAH GRAEFF: BIOPHILIA Mixed Media Installation/Photography 34 COMMUNITY SEAUXCIAL HIGHLIGHTS 16th Annual Silver Bell Soiree 34 COMMUNITY SEAUXCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Alexander Mouton Annual Christmas Party

36 STANDING OVATION Contributors to the Arts in Acadiana 38 SYMPHONY SEAUXCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Symphony Patron Party

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Overture Magazine

February 2014 Vol. 1, No. 5

PUBLISHED BY

Discover the Romantic Moments in Perfect Harmony

EDITOR Jenny Krueger jenny@acadianasymphony.org

PROJECT MANAGER Rebecca Doucet rebecca@acadianasymphony.org

WRITERS Emily Brupbacher Samantha Hoffpauir Marisa Olson ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Carolyn Brupbacher carolyncb@me.com • 337.277.2823

GRAPHIC DESIGN/LAYOUT Mike Bedgood • Innovative Digital, LLC mike@inndgtl.com • 337.322.2854

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Don Bertrand Jay Dardenne Ann B. Dobie Mariusz Smolij MAILING ADDRESS 412 Travis Street Lafayette, LA 70503 EMAIL overture@acadianasymphony.org ON THE WEB acadianasymphony.org

Exclusively at

Overture Magazine is published nine times a year and distributed free of charge by Acadiana Symphony Orchestra & Conservatory of Music. No parts of this periodical may be reproduced in any form without the prior written consent of Overture Magazine. The owners, publishers, and editors shall not be responsible for loss or injury of any submitted manuscripts, promotional material and/or art. Unsolicited material may not be returned. Advertising in Overture Magazine does not imply endorsement by Overture Magazine or Acadiana Symphony Orchestra & Conservatory of Music. Overture Magazine reserves the right, without giving specific reason, to refuse advertising if copy does not conform with the editorial policies. Overture Magazine does not necessarily agree with nor condone the opinions, beliefs or expressions of our writers and advertisers. Neither the publishers nor the advertisers will be held responsible for any errors found in the magazine. The publishers accept no liability for the accuracy of statements made by the advertisers.

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Opening Notes

Live, Laugh, Love! Jenny Krueger, Executive Director

In the rest of the United States February is the month of love. In Acadiana, it’s the month of love and…Mardi Gras! We come together to celebrate with a fanfare of color, food, dancing, and of course music! Just the thought of Mardi Gras brings a smile to my lips. The vivid saturation of this time of year makes me feel alive and joyous. My heart grows warm when I anticipate all the fun that Acadiana citizens will enjoy this month. What makes you smile? What warms your heart? Not just a little fuzzy warm feeling, or a loose grin, but that overwhelming feeling of jubilation? For me, it is the people who surround me, and what their gifts and talents add to my life. As you read this issue of Overture I hope it will warm your heart and bring a big smile to your face. You will be entranced by Sam Riehl, a high school senior whose insight on life and his craft of blacksmithing will brighten your day. You will enjoy the colorful costumes and inside story of our beloved celebration known as Mardi Gras. Learn how Tsunami sushi and its Chief Operating Officer, Fred Nonato, collaborate with the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra to offer Acadiana a culinary and musical Valentine’s Day experience like no other. A special night in which culinary artistry and music will combine to heighten the pleasure of both. I hope the February issue of Overture will make you smile, make you hungry, and inspire you to enjoy the spirit of celebration that surrounds us this month.

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Fanfare

Symphonic Love Songs Mariusz Smolij, Music Director and Conductor

For centuries the subject of love has served as a major source of inspiration for creative artists of all kinds. William Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet, Auguste Rodin’s sculpture The Kiss, numerous paintings by French Impressionist Pierre Renoir and German Symbolist Gustav Klimt and Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Boheme can serve as just a few examples of the subject’s universal appeal of that topic among artists in all disciplines. Orchestral and chamber music are no different. An extensive list of compositions directly addresses the subject of love by title, lyrics, or a composer’s dedication. Even larger is the group of works where the connection is less apparent. Some symphonic love songs are the result of literary inspiration. The drama of Romeo and Juliet, for example, was described in symphonic language by Piotr Tchaikovsky in his famous Overture; the love story was told by Sergei Prokofiev in movement and sound in his ballet score; Hector Berlioz described it in his large-scale choral symphony and Leonard Bernstein in Broadway musical West Side Story. Quite often composers find musical inspiration through their own personal experiences in love. One of the greatest Romantic symphonies, Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz, is a direct result of the composer’s affection for the Irish actress, Harriet Smithson. After attending her performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the composer sent the actress numerous love letters, all of which went unanswered. He then wrote the symphony as

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a way to express his unrequited love. The love story had a happy ending when the two finally met and got married. Frederic Chopin was inspired to compose the Romance of his Concerto No. 1 by his tender feelings for Constancia Gładkowska, a young singer he had met at the Warsaw Conservatory. Three of my personal favorite symphonic love songs are: the third movement (Poco Allegretto) of Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 3, the Adagio from the ballet Spartacus by Russian composer Aram Khatchaturian and the slow, second movement of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra. The Brahms’ selection contains one of the most beautiful melodies he ever composed with an ethereal touch of nostalgia and exquisite orchestration. Khatchaturian’s Adagio captures the unique orchestral colors of great passion. My favorite love songs of Mozart bring to mind a lover serenading his sweetheart by singing and playing guitar beneath her balcony. When lyrics are not present, defining what may or may not be a love song becomes a subjective choice. Orchestral literature is full of inspiring, romantic compositions with a special message of love for everyone. Have you found your own favorite symphony love song? Overture Magazine

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Concert Feature

The Music of Friends Ann B. Dobie

for Two Cellos with ASO principal cellist Mark Pritchard under the baton of Maestro Mariusz Smolij, admits to looking forward to chamber concerts like this one. “The smaller chamber group,” he says, “plays in an intimate setting that provides Just as good conversations require more than a rich vocabulary, a unique playing chamber music calls for more than skilled musicianship. experience for the performer Its success is also dependent on the rapport of the players, who as well as the must agree on general musical issues while they are playing audience.” His independent parts. For instance, they must decide on matters excitement grows such as when and how much vibrato to use, and they must as he explains coordinate their bowing and breathing. It is a shared musical some of the experience at the same time that it is a personal one. The paradoxical situation extends to the audience as well. Usually seated in close proximity to the performers, the listeners are enveloped in the sound of the instruments and aware of the passions of the musicians. Simply by attending and listening, members of the audience become part of the moment, adding their own emotions to the collective experience. For all these reasons, chamber music is sometimes called “the music of friends.” What, then, could be more appropriate than “the music of friends” for Heartstrings, a program on Valentine’s Day that includes a wide variety of musical offerings depicting something romantic–be it a sensation, a flower, or something as simple as a duo? Cellist Dragos Filip, who will be performing Vivaldi’s Concerto

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musical aspects of Vivaldi’s Concerto and what it is like to perform it. He comments: “I believe that the tone color of the paired cellos, along with the minor key in which the work is written, bring out the relatively somber sound of the work. The accompaniment is rather transparent, and therein lies the difficulty for the soloists, being on the edge of their seats, literally and figuratively. The solo cellos sometimes harmonize with one another; at other times they respond to one another in canonic imitation. After a songful Largo of rather grave beauty, which happens to be my personal favorite, the work concludes with an extroverted Allegro.” Dragos Filip’s fellow cellist, Mark Pritchard, also looks forward to the chamber concert with great enthusiasm. “Playing Baroque music, for me, comes closest to my idea of what it must feel like Overture Magazine

Photo by Nouveau Photeau

n an effort to define chamber music, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described it as “four rational people conversing.” He hit upon an apt metaphor, because, just as in talk among close acquaintances, in chamber music one instrument speaks and another answers, or one makes a statement that another repeats. Adding to the similarities, chamber music, like friendly verbal exchanges, is meant to be performed in an intimate setting, such as a room in one’s home, a small auditorium like the James D. Moncus Theater, or perhaps in a palace chamber.

to be a rock god, or jazz superstar. It contains elements that would later give rise to the modern popular genres of folk and pop music, especially its ability to accommodate the musician’s individuality, allow room for improvisation, and to immerse oneself in the music with utter abandon - to go absolutely berserk.”

Pritchard sees Vivaldi’s Concerto For Two Cellos in G Minor as a quintessential early Baroque piece. “The first measures of the opening Allegro movement capture a dramatic atmosphere of an opera seria. Both outer movements possess the rhythmic drive and invention characteristic of Vivaldi’s allegros, but in the double concerto, the synergy of the double cellos is particularly potent. In the Largo, the violins and violas fall silent, exposing the powerful eloquence of the cellos’ lower ranges.” In its earliest stages of development chamber music was usually played by amateurs for their own amusement. In our own day radio, television, and recordings have reduced the demand for live musical entertainment in our homes, but chamber music nevertheless remains a vital source of enjoyment. The passage of time may have changed who plays the music and where it is performed, but it has not altered the essence of the music itself. A string quartet, as Schumann wrote, is a piece of music in which “everyone has something to say. [It is] a conversation, often truly beautiful, often oddly and turbidly woven, among four people.” We might say “among four people” and an audience.

Interiors • Luxury Gifts • Mardi Gras Registry

Buy tickets for the Heartstrings concert on Feb. 14 at acadianasymphony.org.

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Les Deux Mardi Gras By Marisa Olson Photos by Lucius A. Fontenot

The time-honored tradition of Louisiana Mardi Gras, itself based upon the ancient celebration of Carnival of medieval, Catholic Europe, is an intricate interweaving of distinctly different cultural heritages from Africa, Paris, Acadie and Acadiana, and Spain that over the last three-hundred years have converged into the unique celebration we know today. Such diverse cultural elements continue to simmer and blend into a magnificent gumbo, their respective color and flavor sweetening the melting pot that is South Louisiana. 14 February 2014

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Perhaps nowhere else in the continental United States is the tradition of Carnival still alive and well than in the rural prairies of Acadiana. Here, the ancient begging ritual of peasant farmers, the fête de la quémande, and the contests and races of Carvinal, are enthusiastically celebrated throughout rural farming communities. The begging ritual is thought to have originated hundreds of years ago in medieval France when, at the end of long winters and short on food, farmers would gather in roving bands, led and policed by local authority, and would make their way from castle to manor, seeking food from the wealthy, and dancing and singing in return for the nobles’ generosity. Medieval French Carnival contests are also thought to be the origins of today’s chicken chases associated with the Courir de Mardi Gras. The Capitaine who leads the roving minstrel bands of “starving peasants” still brandishes a whip to enforce order upon the carousing and drunken escapades of the troupe (participants); but this “whipping” tradition, too, recalls the flagellation of “sinful” penitents during the Carnival season. As practiced by the peasantry, the spirit of Mardi Gras is inherently subversive, and inverts and mocks social order and rules: men dress as women, the rich pose as poor, while the poor mock authority. Mardi Gras as variously interpreted by the Prairie Cajuns reveals itself not only in traditional sport and activities, but also in choice of color and costume. Today’s costumes are still homemade and brilliantly colorful, unlike the torn tatters worn by their ancestors. But the costumes of past and present serve not as mere “dress up,” but to (ostensibly) conceal identities, permitting antics that release inhibition and restraint, and that parody religious, social, intellectual authority. Vestiges of the ancient tradition survive in the masks, pointed hats, miters, and mortar boards that mocked the wealthy, the ordained, and the well-educated of a world long ago vanished (in modern parlance, “sticking it to the Man.”). The ancient traditions themselves have undergone radical inversion, now that social oppression Acadiana’s Publication for the Arts

and starvation no longer loom as a threat. Today’s Cajuns thus have transformed a ritual of struggle and scarcity into the triumph of plenty and life-affirming joy, and community. In the Courir de Mardi Gras, bands of revelers awaken before dawn, resembling a roving circus that has lost its way. The troupe of celebrants led by their Capitaine casts a festive eeriness upon everyday landscapes as they travel through the farming villages that are still quiet and misted in the pre-dawn gray. Every other day of the year, these Cajun farms host scenes of back-breaking labor; the Courir de Mardi Gras transforms rice fields and crawfish ponds into open theatre, a panorama of surreal enchantment as brightly-costumed bands of minstrel beggars commence to drinking, singing and begging for food, and staging open contests of male virility through delightfully absurd chicken chases. After the troupe of revelers gather all their ingredients, the entire community meets for, the fais do-do, and for chicken and sausage gumbo.

Mardi Gras, New Orleans Style

The gemlike baubles and beads that are thrown during parades, the baroque and brightlycolored, feathered masks worn by revelers, torchlit parades, these we have inherited from Creole New Orleans at a time when it was ruled by international merchants and plantation aristocracy, when antebellum New Orleans was the wealthiest, and, outside of D.C., arguably the most powerful city in the United States. The Mardi Gras of New Orleans is a layered doberge of tradition and customs resting upon the French Catholic “scaffolding” instituted by the famous brothers from Montreal: Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville, and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, who were sent by Louis XIV to secure the territory of La Louisiane for France, and whose expedition entered the mouth of the Mississippi on March 2, 1699. Their expedition party encamped on the west bank of the Mississippi, about sixty miles downstream of present day New Orleans. The following day, Tuesday, March 3, 1699, was Mardi Gras, and in honor of this European holiday, Iberville’s expedition named the site Pointe du Mardi Gras and the connecting tributary Bayou Mardi Gras. The territory of Louisiana, it can be argued, was virtually conceived on Mardi Gras, making its birth doubly festive and joyful.

Antonio Abrignani / Shutterstock.com

Courir de Mardi Gras

New Orleans Mardi Gras was never of the Acadian variety, but of the wealthy Creoles and their slaves who settled in Louisiana in the early 1700’s. St. Martinville was often referred to as Petit Paris by dislocated Parisian aristocrats who fled there during the French

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The celebration of Mardi Gras in the Crescent City was first recorded in 1743, when Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnal, Marquis de Vaudreuil (1698 – 1778), the French colonial governor of Louisiana, hosted a ball to celebrate Carnival; however, the tradition of Mardi Gras and its Carnival balls had already been well-established at that point by its elite, monied citizenry. In 1827, a group of young men from New Orleans, who had been sent by their families to receive higher education in Paris, incorporated a new festival element to the traditional celebration upon their return from abroad, which they borrowed from their Parisian cousins. These bon vivants organized the first street parade of masked revelers in New Orleans, an innovation that was received with great enthusiasm. “Every year thereafter the experiment was repeated, and each time it grew in popularity,” according to Louisiana historian Kendall Smith. The grand masked balls still celebrated in the Big Easy speak to the opulence and to the decadence of its 18th and 19th century citizenry, who enjoyed lifestyles resembling that of their forebears who flourished politically and socially under the crowns of Spain and France. These wealthy urbanites incorporated contemporary Parisian elements into their celebrations. In 1833, Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville (1785 – 1868), the great Creole developer of the Faubourg Marigny, better organized the New Orleans Mardi Gras and established a fund for an official Carnival celebration. Marigny, a wealthy plantation owner and former senator, wished to celebrate in a manner better suited to his own rarified tastes, and in the high style expected by his buddies, including Andrew Jackson, the Marquis de Lafayette, Sam Houston, and Zachary Taylor. Also in 1833, the opera, the Bal Masqué (the Masked Ball) debuted in Paris, and left a permanent trace on how Mardi Gras was observed when it premiered in New Orleans in 1840. The opera’s grand finale featured a march of maskers and a gallopade, a lively dance popular in the 19th century. The dance became incorporated into the local tradition by Creole maskers as they paraded around the French Quarter and ended their procession at the theater in time to join the onstage cast for that opera’s grand finale. The influence of drama and music, of opera specifically, upon New Orleans Mardi Gras, seems to have been forgotten, although can be retrospectively imagined. Wrote one theatre critic: At their feet, constantly moving, is the circling crowd, disguised in every imaginable costume, and dominoes of every conceivable hue. Harlequins of all fashions, clowns, peddlers, what shall I say? . . . . you can hardly imagine the infinite confusion. Peasants, marquises, princes, monks, I know not what, mingle in one rainbow-hued crowd. It is impossible to describe this endless madness, this whirl, this bizarrerie . . . . I, who am so well-accustomed to spectacles like this — I, who am, not easily disposed to surprise — I am yet dazzled with this radiant scene. -Jules Gabriel Janin Contemporary French writer and critic Acadiana’s Publication for the Arts

In 1837, the first floats appeared when revelers rolled out a gigantic six-foot tall rooster, riding in a carriage. Such opulence and bizarre pageantry attracted the imaginations, and the cash, of visiting tourists, lend the festival a cosmopolitan flair. In this way, outdoor pageantry was joined to masked balls. This earliest version of the New Orleans Mardi Gras parade was comprised of and celebrated by small, impromptu bands of masked celebrants from the élite classes who began their procession on foot, accompanied by music, from the aristocratic old city to the St. Louis Hotel, where the party culminated into one grand, masked ball. Within a generation, the new practice of street processions by masked revelers grew so insanely popular with all New Orleans citizens, regardless of race, creed, gender, age, free, or slave, that the Creole gentry grew alarmed that the races and classes were mixing too freely, and that distinctions between social and racial distinctions were becoming forever blurred. In response to this liberalizing political and social inversion that threatened to take permanent hold of the city (and potentially could spread to other southern cities as well), in 1857 the Mystick Krewe of Comus, a secret society founded by six Anglo-Protestant men from Mobile, and thirteen New Orleanians, effected a coup d’état on New Orleans Mardi Gras, and declared “moribund” its inferior, Catholic-Creole origins and traditions. No longer could just anyone participate in the parade; one had to belong to a krewe, and by definition, members could only be AngloSaxon Protestant males. Comus introduced its own Carnival night parade, the nightly torch-lit processions known as “flambeaux,” and thematic floats. Comus called and closed the city’s festivities in grand style and pomp, and ruled as “king” of Mardi Gras for over a hundred years. At its height, the secret society numbered over three-thousand, and grudgingly admitted a handful of French New Orleanians, bowing to heavy political pressure. The native Creole citizenry got the social restoration it had begged for, and found itself similarly excluded as the leaders of its own Mardi Gras traditions. Gary Yim / Shutterstock.com

Revolution, as well as by the refugees of Napoleon’s army who settled in Ville Platte and the surrounding area. Free, Frenchspeaking blacks from Haiti and other Caribbean islands are also included early on.

As for the traditional colors of Mardi Gras, the purple, green and gold: they are of Russian, not French, provenance, and were adopted in 1872 when the visiting Russian Grand Duke, Alexis Romanoff, bequeathed the colors of the House of Romanov to the Rex organization. The opulent, grandiose, and cosmopolitan tradition of Mardi Gras in New Orleans has been built, layer upon layer, like a great doberge, and now the dueling Cajun Mardi Gras of rural Louisiana is mixing with its New Orleans tradition. It will be fascinating and exciting to see how the two traditions competing will continue to blend, merge, and influence each other in years to come. February 2014 17

Guest Appearance

The Impact Arts Has On Community

Jay Dardenne, Lieutenant Governor of the State of Louisiana

Arts and culture have a special home in Louisiana – a state where everyone is encouraged to pick their passion. As an integral part of our state’s overall identity, they are part of what defines us collectively and individually. Our culture creates a sense of place, particularly for both residents and visitors to Acadiana. We take pride in our diverse cultural legacies from New Orleans jazz to the Cajun two-step. Our food is a literal and figurative gumbo, representing the delicious ingredients of the many ethnic groups who have settled in Louisiana. Individually, the arts convey many of the same feelings and sentiments as our most cherished family heirlooms. They speak to our deepest emotions and harken memories that are passed down through generations. So many of us have built family traditions around enjoying holiday performances, exploring colorful festivals, or cooking certain dishes at special times throughout the year. These are the experiences we hold close and dear. With these ties that the arts and culture have created through the decades, it’s easy to see how they are vital to building a sense of community today. The arts are an economic driver in areas both rural and urban. Louisiana has 67 cultural districts that create jobs for our communities and facilitate neighborhood transformation. The

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arts also spark the creative spirit that is the backbone of entrepreneurism. They fill our cities with diverse entertainment options and a civic pride that helps to attract and retain top businesses and talent in an increasingly competitive environment. In Louisiana, the arts are also an export industry. Our artists travel the world serving as global ambassadors for our state, bringing back new friendships and resources that benefit our communities – especially as we celebrated the Year of Music in 2013. This year, our efforts to promote Louisiana will center not just on music, but on the entire artistic spectrum of our state. We will embrace Louisiana’s unique culture. No place in America has a culture quite like ours. Likewise, no state could and should celebrate its artistic legacy like we do. Our lifestyle embraces the arts – performing, visual, musical and culinary. We are so lucky to live in a time and place where the arts can be shared by everyone. It is the great societal bond that we all share and yet experience in our own unique way. So pick your passion and enjoy the experience of art – creating, viewing and connecting.

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Something Spicy, Something Sweet

By Samantha Hoffpauir

“Heartstrings” is the first time the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra has offered a meal option during a concert. Nonato and his Tsunami chefs have created an elegant dinner that will be presented in two courses - one savory and one dessert. First, patrons will enjoy offerings such as Thai chicken salad and short rib lettuce wraps as they listen to selections from Vivaldi and Puccini. The dessert course will feature a white chocolate and Thai tea panna cotta that pairs exquisitely with Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir de Florence.” The menu was designed with music in mind. Nonato considered the acoustics: “wood against porcelain is quieter [than forks], so people will use chopsticks as they eat and listen to the music.” Tsunami chefs took special care to create a sauce for each dish. “Everything will be balanced by the chefs themselves. No sauce is going to overpower, and every bite should be perfect when we’re 20 February 2014

done with it.” Nonato laughs. “We don’t want to haul a bunch of soy sauce bottles!” Patrons who enjoy the “Heartstrings” dinner are in for a special treat - Tsunami is rolling out a new menu and will debut some of the new dishes at the concert. This is Tsunami’s first major overhaul of the menu since 2006. Tsunami chefs in both Lafayette and Baton Rouge were asked to create new dishes. “Both locations have very talented chefs who have gone to culinary school and who have done a great job with our current menu. We asked them to put their own twist on the menu because we want them to take ownership and pride in their dishes.” Most of Tsunami’s sushi rolls will make the cut, but of the eight current entrees, perhaps only three will remain. According to Nonato, “entrees may seem like a small portion of the entire written menu, but changing entrees means revamping the entire cooking line. It means sourcing new

Photo by Lucius A. Fontenot

sunami sushi’s unrivaled menu and casual-yet-upscale ambiance make it a perennial darling of the Lafayette food scene. Frederick “Fred” Nonato, Chief Operating Officer of Tsunami sushi, stays busy as he oversees all aspects of both the Lafayette and Baton Rouge locations. Nonato still makes time to participate in exciting collaborations with local organizations, such as Acadiana Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming Valentine’s Day dinner and concert. The culinary expertise of Nonato and the Tsunami crew will be featured at the “Heartstrings” chamber concert on Friday, February 14 at the Acadiana Center for the Arts.

Overture Magazine

Photo by Lucius A. Fontenot

ingredients and changing it up.” Tsunami staff spent several months researching, creating, cooking, and tasting the new dishes. Look for the new menu to debut at Tsunami over the next several weeks.

Even if the kitchen is competitive and not for the faint of heart, Nonato believes that it is a great learning environment. “There’s always a competition among chefs, one upping each other is the goal...but teaching is also a big part. I encourage chefs to live in different regions

Tsunami sushi is rolling out a new menu and will debut some of the new dishes at ASO’s “Heartstrings.” of the country - go out into the world, come back and teach me something when you get back. We all have knowledge to share with one another.”

Photo by Lucius A. Fontenot

Nonato has devoted his career to food and service. “This Lenten season I’ll have been in the restaurant world for thirty years. I started as a busboy and dishwasher when I was twelve and moved to cooking at fifteen. When I was eighteen I started waiting tables and went from there.” He has managed restaurants and bars but his heart belongs to the kitchen. “It can get pretty intense at Tsunami. We’ll have three managers on the floor and when it gets really busy we go to our comfort places. It’s funny because no one

says anything at all. One manager helps at the bar. Another goes straight to the wait staff. I go to the kitchen. We go where we’re needed, where we can really help the most.” It sounds like Nonato is a key player in the sushi symphony heard nightly at Tsunami. Bring your special someone to taste the delicious melody at “Heartstrings” this Valentine’s Day. “Heartstrings” chamber concert, Friday, February 14 at Acadiana Center for the Arts. Tickets are $35 each. Patrons can purchase the Valentine’s Day add on dinner for $50 per person. Tickets for the concert and the dinner may be purchased at www.acadianasymphony.org or by calling (337) 232-4277 ext. 1. Acadiana’s Publication for the Arts

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Renaissance a s s e e n by D o n B e r t ra n d

Editor’s Note: Overture magazine encounters people in the community whose passion for music and art take second billing to their “day jobs.” City-Parish Councilman Don Bertrand is one such person. Bertrand played the trumpet in his school days before switching to guitar and mandolin, which he currently plays to a close-knit audience of family and friends. Bertrand attributes his abiding love and respect for the power of music to his younger years in Lafayette, which experienced a musical renaissance as he was coming of age. He was generous enough to share his thoughts on this special time.

A friend once complimented me on a painting I was finishing. His words reminded me of how grateful I am to have come of age at a time when our community was in the midst of a renaissance, due in great part to people I was fortunate to know through school and the neighborhood as I grew up. My recollection of Acadiana’s Renaissance spans the late 1960s to early 70s. Some of my earliest musical memories are of my father, Lucien, in his bedroom with the door closed, practicing scales, perfectly mimicking Louis Armstrong, Artie Shaw or Bix Biederbecke. He was so talented. I could sit outside the door and listen as long as he played. His musical passion began in his childhood. After WWII he earned a Bachelor of Arts in music at South Louisiana Institute (now ULL) before attending Tulane Law School with a fellow musical friend, Charlie Boudreaux. My sister Sandy tells me she remembers sitting on the hard benches in Preservation Hall in New Orleans while my father sat in with the house musicians. I fondly recall the story Dan Deballion told me at my father’s funeral about Dad bringing the house down at an SLI football game halftime show with a trumpet solo and the standing ovation that followed. In his final days as he recounted his life, it was apparent that music had shaped my father’s passion for life and taught him to focus and practice. Always he practiced.

Our culture, music and art shape and define us.

It was no surprise that I wanted to play the trumpet in elementary school. I was in good company. Popular local musicians like Tommy Alesi, Robbie Bush and Larry Begnaud played in school. Robbie and Tommy were in the percussion section while Larry and I sat in the trumpet section with Sonny Landreth. Sonny was usually First Chair – naturally. There were other recognizable names in our class. Our band director, John Kenny, got a glorious large band sound out of us. When I was offered a chance to play French horn in the orchestra I had no idea the chills I would experience playing classical pieces like Swan Lake. I still get chills when I hear it, such as at Acadiana Symphony Orchestra’s season opening concert a few months ago.

The Rock era transformed my generation’s world of music. I got my first guitar around the same time as two other guys in the neighborhood, Sam Broussard and Sonny Landreth – both incredible guitarist/musicians. The early 1970s ushered in another significant leap in local music and culture. My old classmates like Barry Ancelet, Zachary Richard, Michael Doucet and others were promoting Cajun and French music, which for years had been relegated to a handful of dance halls and Sundays on KLFY Channel 10. Cajun music instrumentation was creeping in to local Rock and Roll music stylings. As college students we were all getting to know the old Cajun musicians who were all so approachable and welcoming. Notables like the Balfa Brothers, Nathan Abshire and Ambrose Thibodeaux and Blackie Forrestier were all willing to share the music they had been playing for years. Of course I can’t leave out the late, great Clifton Chenier and the Zydeco scene which we were exposed to at the same time. I would show up early when Clifton played the Bon Ton Rouler Club on University just to talk to him about music and anything else he wanted to talk about. 22 February 2014

Overture Magazine

We had some great conversations.

The 1980s saw the world embrace the food, music, art and culture of the Cajun and Creole people. That recognition was due in great part to James Domengeaux and CODIFIL; as well as the renaissance of the 1970s which included the beginning of what is now known as Festivals Acadiens et Créoles and the Traditional Studies program at ULL steered by Barry Ancelet. The recognition was also fueled by Chef Paul Prudhomme and the World’s Fair in New Orleans. They all ushered Lafayette and the surrounding communities onto the world scene, building pride and self-confidence in a people and culture, who, only a generation before, had been shamed from speaking its native French dialect. Our culture, music and art shape and define us. They have composed a great part of our entrepreneurial spirit and “can do” attitude, those integral parts of our cultural DNA, that drive Lafayette to lead the state and country in so many categories today. Other cities all around us want what we have. They want to be us, but you simply can’t buy the art, culture, music and food that is native to our community. So, what was the compliment? My friend called me a “Renaissance Man.” I don’t know if I can live up to that moniker, but I am proud to share the friendships of so many inspiring true renaissance people. Meanwhile, I will continue to practice.

The renaissance was happening all around my friends and me while we were studying at USL (ULL) and attempting to get into classes in the Art and Architecture Department with Professors like Fred Daspit, Fred Packert, Dutch Kepler, Tom Secrest, Robert Wiggs, Tom and Dickie Ladousa, John Geldisma and my favorite landscape painter Elmore Morgan. They exposed us college kids to art, architecture and a larger view of the world around us.

west to Mamou to hear the Balfa Brothers in the afternoon. Then that night if there was someone good at Jay’s Lounge in Cankton we’d drive back east. We were weekend warriors, just driving and listening and dancing to the music. Suddenly this roots music was becoming part of the vernacular of the rock and roll we were playing also. OM: You played trumpet growing up and still play guitar and mandolin. How has playing a musical instrument shaped your outlook? DB: When you learn an instrument you are building a foundation, one that for me manifested in so many ways later on. I doubt I would have had any success with math if I hadn’t played music. Practicing music teaches one so many cognitive exercises that take place without your knowledge. I spent a lot of time by myself playing. If you write music lyrics you learn about yourself and how to tell a story. By performing on stage you learn confidence and discipline, and as a child, how to sit still and be attentive! For me, when I play guitar at home, whether it’s practicing scales or just playing with friends, I go to a happy place. It’s more than that though, playing music is selfleveling activity. It’s meditative, and a whole lot of fun when you can do it with folks you musically connect and communicate with! OM: Has your generation – the Rock and Roll era – succeeded in passing on music to the next generation?

Overture magazine sat down with down to Don to expand on his freewheeling thoughts and memories of the artistic wonderland that Acadiana was and continues to be. OM: Don, you said that your schoolmates and especially your college friends shared your love of local music. Tell us more about that. DB: We had a band called Big Pecan and the Assorted Nuts, (Dr. Tommy Comeaux, Bobby Robira, Phil Amy, Robbie Bush and me) and we wrote and played our own music. We would invite anyone from the audience to join us in the Pistachio Singers at the end of our sets. Many a Saturday if we weren’t playing music, we would drive to Fred’s in Mamou for a 7:30 am radio show. It was a live radio show by Revon Reed. This is when I first met Phillip Gould who was just getting his start as a photo journalist and beginning his incredible career of chronicling our culture. I was in college so of course we were dancing and drinking beer. Then we’d grab a bite to eat in Eunice at a place called Ruby’s and maybe stop by Mark Savoy’s. Then we would drive Acadiana’s Publication for the Arts

DB: They’re a link. The things they did gave us so many of the musicians we have today, folks like the Pine Leaf Boys, Louis Michot, Steve Riley, and Kevin Naquin and on and on. It was informally passed down and in a lot of cases the guys who are playing today were influenced by who they heard around them when they were growing up. It’s remarkable to me how important our music is to our area, our culture, the economic impact it can have, especially when I think of it as something that I really saw flourish in my own neighborhood as I was growing up. Now a new generation is doing the same. OM: What do you think about when you go to local performances these days? DB: If you look at what Lafayette is doing with our roots music, with camps, Todd Mouton, Christine Balfa, and certainly what the ASO Conservatory and so many others are doing to promote our music education, and the traditional music taught at ULL under the Tommy Comeaux Endowed Chair in Traditional Music, it’s the next generation paying it forward. The musical opportunities people have today are phenomenal, and the understanding of what our regional music is, and how it is enjoyed around the world, is remarkable. Then you look at the economic impact on the community on the large scale, and the artists and their families who live on music, it gets pretty remarkable. Music, art and dance fuel us to live to the very best of our potential. We shouldn’t take for granted the impact it has to our lives. February 2014 23

Feufollet:

Continuity Meets Creativity By Ann B. Dobie, Photo by Greg Miles

Nobody is sure what to call it. Is it traditional Cajun music, rock, indie pop, country or a combination of all of the above? The fans of Feufollet, a sextet of young musicians from Lafayette, may not know what category their music belongs to, but audiences throughout Acadiana and beyond know that they like it. The group takes its name from the ghostly lights produced by gases in the marsh at night. The term is translated literally as “swamp fire,” but local lore has long claimed it to be specters haunting the bayous. Either way the name is apt. The musical Feufollet is reigniting interest in all things Cajun, and just as the shifting light in the swamps changes the shapes of the surrounding landscape, these six young musicians are changing the shape of Cajun music. The members of Feufollet started their musical lives young. Some of them very young. Chris Segura began going to hear Cajun music with his parents at the age of two and was playing fiddle by the time he was four. When he was twelve a friend introduced him to Chris Stafford, who is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist (fiddle, accordion, most anything that makes music). Segura says that their first collaborations took place by playing for each other over the telephone before they ever met. Michael Stafford, Chris’s younger brother, joined them to play drums when he was about eight. They recorded their first album when Chris Stafford was eleven, his brother nine, and Chris Segura fourteen. Other members of the group and guest musicians have come and gone over the years, but today the original nucleus plays with vocalist, fiddler and guitarist, Kelli Jones-Savoy, Philippe Billeaudeaux on bass, and Andrew Toups on electronic keyboard. With the newest addition of songwriter, vocalist and instrumentalist Kelli Jones-Savoy in the last year, the band is covering even more territory and diversity. In the early years the band played traditional Cajun two–step tunes and waltzes, then added songs that ranged

24 February 2014

from lively to heartbreaking, but as the years went by the group began testing boundaries, bringing innovation to the old stories and melodies. When they are criticized for deviating from conventional practice, their defenders explain that Feufollet maintains respect for tradition while experimenting with new possibilities. Its music, they say, is rooted in the past but also reflects the sensibilities of a younger generation. Barry Ancelet, professor of French and folklore at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette,

points out: “Feufollet represents the seamless integration of ancient and thoroughly modern sounds and styles. It is as playful and challenging as we expect young music to be. At the same time, it is as respectful and grounded as we hope it would be.” A case in point is “Femme l’a dit,” a song that Josh Caffery, who has played guitar with the group, discovered in the UL archives. Originally sung by Gilbert Martin, a Creole from New Roads, Louisiana, and recorded by Dr. Harry Oster as part of his fieldwork in the 1950s, it reappeared in a fresh arrangement by Feufollet that added some new chords and horns. The Overture Magazine

horns were a tip of the hat to traditional New Orleans jazz. One way the band has brought new energy and imagination to traditional music is by expanding the usual accordion, guitar, and fiddle instrumentation. Their additions have been anything but conventional. The New York Times has described the group as “downright radical in the studio.” They have, on occasion, used strings, flutes, mandolins, a Wurlitzer electric piano, an air-powered organ, omnichords, and a conventional piano. For Cow Island Hop they added a Mellotron (an early electronic keyboard), and in “Ouvre la Porte,” a song about a dying woman whose faithful lover calls for the doctor and bids a sorrowful farewell, they used a toy piano and glockenspiel. “Cowboy Waltz” in En Couleurs includes a banjo and bells. Feufollet has made another twist to tradition by gradually adding their own music to their repertoire. En Couleurs, released in 2010, features original songs that are connected to traditional Cajun music, but have a contemporary feel and sound. For example, “Au Fond du Lac,” written by then lead singer, Anna Laura Edmiston, has its roots in time honored Cajun ballads, but its composition was a thoroughly modern process. She composed it using her iPhone voice recorder while on a cross-country drive to Los Angeles. Although Feufollet has diverged from tradition in some ways, one aspect of its music is strictly conventional. At a time when other South Louisiana musicians are turning to English, Feufollet sings in Cajun French as well as English, and intends to continue doing so. Chris Segura says, “French is what brought us together.” And it continues to bind them together. Most of its players studied in a French immersion program in elementary school, and Billeaudeaux and Edmiston grew up speaking the language. They sing and compose in French and English. Critics as well as audiences clearly approve of their choices. While still in their teens they received glowing praise from National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and Elvis Costello called En Couleurs, “one of the most beautifully melodic records I’ve heard all year.” It even received a Grammy nomination for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album. It was also selected for Songline Magazine’s Top of the World 2010, the best CDs of the year. The band appeared at American Routes’ 10th anniversary celebration at the House of Blues, and earlier this year it was nominated for one of Gambit Magazine’s Big Easy Awards, which it won in 2011, and for “Best Cajun Band” by Offbeat Magazine. So what do you call it, this integration of old and contemporary sounds and styles? Some say it is Cajun music for a new generation. Some call it Cajun pop. One thing is certain: the Cajun stage is no longer reserved for old men. Today a new generation of musicians is expanding its inherited musical traditions and infusing them with fresh vitality. Be on the lookout for Feufollet’s new album recorded in Austin (yet to be titled) in late spring, early summer. In the meantime, you can hear them live at All Ways Lounge in New Orleans on February 21 and at the Blue Moon Saloon in Lafayette on March 1. For more information, visit the band’s website at feufollet.net. Acadiana’s Publication for the Arts

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February 2014 25

Wanderlust Theater presents:

Eurydice

by Sarah Ruhl

resurrection

Saturday, March 15, 2014 /// 6:00 pm Heymann Performing Arts Center

guest artists: With joint orchestras of ASO and Baton Rouge Symphony, ASO Chorus and BRSO Chorus

PrograM: G. Mahler – Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection”

tiCkets: www.acadianasymphony.org Sponsors

Masterwork no.5 26 February 2014

Ruhl presents an imaginative retelling of the Greek myth of Eurydice and Orpheus. Ruhl portrays the classical lovers as young, giddy, and lovestruck, completely unsuspecting and unprepared for the cruel twist of fate soon to be visited upon them. On the day the two are to wed, a misstep sends Eurydice to the surreal depths of the Underworld, and Orpheus in desperate pursuit. Through his mournful playing of the lyre, the grief-stricken groom compels open the gates of the Underworld, a realm forbidden to the living, but resembling more the world of Alice in Wonderland than the Hades of Greek literature. Orpheus finds his love there, and attempts her rescue and return to the world of the living. However, Eurydice has her own ideas, and made a surprise discovery reunion while in the Underworld, which forces her to confront a choice, and ultimately decide her own fate. Sarah Ruhl explores love, loss, and the pleasures and pains of memory in a work that the New York Times describes as “rhapsodically beautiful, a magical play with gripping emotional potency . . . . a love letter to the world.” Wanderlust is a Gulf-Coast based theatre company that offers full seasons, while serving the community through outreach, classes, and workshops. The Feb 6 2014 - 7:30pm company participates Feb 7 2014 - 7:30pm in community and Feb 8 2014 - 7:30pm academic dialogues Feb 9 2014 - 2:00pm on both the local and national level, and often Acadiana Center for the Arts employs puppetry and non-traditional elements in their work. Recently, Wanderlust has been featured as part of the New Orleans Fringe Festival, as a guest of the Shakespeare Behind Bars program, and produces an annual puppet slam during Festival International de Louisiane in conjunction with the Henson Puppet Slam Network. For more information about this company, please visit their website at www.wanderlusttheatre.com. Overture Magazine

Sing, Sing, Swing! On February 21, Angelle Hall will come alive with jazz vocals and swinging big band sounds when New York Voices appears with the UL Jazz Ensemble. As the Grammy Awardwinning vocal quartet wraps up their 25th Anniversary Tour, they will join forces with UL’s 20-piece big band.

NYV has traveled the globe, amazing audiences the world over with their impeccable voices, close harmonies, and stunning arrangements. Appearances have included jazz festivals, the Boston Pops, and even the Count Basie Band. With harmonies reminiscent of the Hi Lo’s, The Four Freshmen, and Manhattan Transfer, the group and their diverse repertoire remain unique. UL band members are hard at work on nine great tunes, ranging from Miles Davis and Louis Prima, to Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon.

M I G N O N FAG ET

The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 21, at UL’s Angelle Auditorium. Call 482-6016 for further information.

Acadiana’s Publication for the Arts

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February 2014 27

Public School Arts

The LPSS Talented Arts Festival: A Celebration of Student Art

Emily Brupbacher, Photos by Leslie Westbrook

Louisiana is steeped in a rich culture that encourages creativity and an imaginative approach to self-expression in people of all ages. Children who are raised in our community are exposed to a wide variety of art – music, visual arts, theatre – that inspires them to tap into their creative side at a very young age. Lafayette families are fortunate to have many local programs and resources that nurture young artistic ability and help it to grow.

only two-week long student arts festival in Acadiana,” notes LPSS Talented Theatre teachers Lian Chemarie and Amanda Newbery. “It features individual creative accomplishments by Talented students in music, theatre, and visual arts.”

Nearly all of the more than 500 students enrolled in the Talented Program participate in the Talented Arts Festival. Students use most of the school year to develop their artistic skills and work on personal projects. They are rewarded with the culminating festival that gives them the opportunity to Lafayette Parish School System’s Talented Program, a exhibit their art to the public. The collaborative efforts of division of Special Education, is one such resource. The Talented Program students, instructors, and parents make the Talented Program has the goal to foster artistic talents of our festival a juggernaut that grows each young citizens. Students are asked When students in the year. to assemble portfolios, which are reviewed by arts professionals, and Talented Program see Since its humble beginnings in to pass a state evaluation in order to 2006, the Talented Arts Festival has their projects and creative evolved from a one-day festival to join the Talented Program. Students who exhibit talent in works realized publicly, two weeks of showcasing students’ artistic achievements. The festival visual art, music, theatre, or any they connect with the fuels students toward the cruciallycombination thereof are given important, yet daunting, leap that the opportunity to participate in larger arts community every artist must make – displaying accelerated arts education through here in Acadiana. their work to the world. “The festival the Lafayette Parish School System. gives students the opportunity and The Talented Program instructors experience of presenting their work are highly-qualified, itinerant and performances in a public venue,” says Anne Boudreau, teachers who are certified by the State of Louisiana based on Talented Visual Arts teacher. As they work on the Festival, their expertise in the field. students improve their leadership and collaboration skills, One of the flagship events of the LPSS Talented Program to say nothing of their tenacity. Talented Program students is the Talented Arts Festival produced each spring. This year create their own goals for the festival and thus feel a great the Talented Arts Festival will be held at Cité des Arts and sense of ownership as they present their works. No matter if the Cajun Spice Gallery, and runs from Saturday, March a student focuses on theatre, music, or visual art, he or she is 8 to Saturday, March 22. “The Talented Arts Festival is the

28 February 2014

Overture Magazine

sure to shine at the Talented Arts Festival. The festival centers on a theme that is given to students at the beginning of the school year, to which they respond by creating original works and performances. The festival is a unique occasion for student artists to experience firsthand the sharing of their artistic visions with their cultural community. “When students in the Talented Program see their projects and creative works realized publicly, they connect with the larger arts community here in Acadiana,” says Timothy Gaffga, Talented Music teacher. “The true successes of the festival have been seeing interdisciplinary student collaborations around a theme as well as watching our students grow and evolve in their art forms over the years.”

Please visit www.lpssonline.com/site5432.php for more information on the Talented Arts Festival and LPSS Talented Program. The Talented Arts Festival runs from March 8-22, at Cite des Arts at 109 Vine Street in downtown Lafayette. A satellite visual arts exhibition will also be on display at the Cajun Spice Gallery at 505 Jefferson Street. All events are free and open to the general public.

Acadiana’s Publication for the Arts

February 2014 29

Leauxcal Students

Forging a Fire Within

Emily Brupbacher, Photos by Lucius A. Fontenot

Some might say that a young man like Sam Riehl was destined to be an artist—the high school senior comes from a supportive, creative family and was encouraged in his artistic endeavors as a child. But Riehl’s talent and success as a visual artist and blacksmith are a result of more than just an artistic pedigree. Determination, patience, and dedication are some of the characteristics of a great blacksmith, one who creates and works with metal, and they are qualities that Riehl has in abundance. Sam Riehl, a senior at Saint Thomas More Catholic High School, is quick to acknowledge that, like any visual artist, he strives to create something aesthetically appealing. However, he also concedes that blacksmithing requires a bit more. “As an artist, I desire for my work to be visually appealing, and as a metal worker I require it to be structurally sound,” Riehl explains. “But it is as a blacksmith that I strive to infuse both form and function. This is where blacksmithing differs from many other art forms. Not only must I be concerned with the visual aspect of a piece, but also the function of it.” Although blacksmithing may be a small niché of the visual arts, Riehl begins to create in the same way as other artists—with a blank piece of paper. “Typically, I begin in a sketchbook,” he says. “I play around with ideas, I tweak designs, I work through both visual and mechanical issues. A prototype comes next, and after more tweaking, a final piece.” It’s an exacting process that requires patience and skill. “Blacksmithing demands a broad skill set: an eye for composition, an understanding of metal, and a will to keep going,” says Riehl. Collaboration is also a key part of the creative process. 30 February 2014

“I brainstorm with people and get their opinions,” Riehl says. He is quick to show gratitude to the artists and mentors that have inspired and helped guide him through his artistic development. These people include his mother, Angela, who is an art educator at Saint Thomas More and a lampworking glass artist and jewelry artist, as well as mentors like blacksmith Richard Delahoussaye from Carencro. “Richard has become one of the best teachers, mentors, and friends I have ever had,” Riehl says. “He didn’t emerge from a classroom; he didn’t emerge from my family or direct community, and he was neither one of my parents nor one of their friends. He came from the most unlikely of places and has changed my life for the better. He has taught me everything ‘blacksmith,’ from how to draw a taper to how I should conduct myself in business situations. The skills I have learned from this man will serve me until the day I die, and no measure of gratitude could possibly convey a proper thank you.”

“Blacksmithing demands a broad skill set: an eye for composition, an understanding of metal, and a will to keep going.” –Sam Riehl

This kind of education and encouragement from local artists has helped Riehl realize a dream he has had since he was a boy. “I discovered blacksmithing through Pyromania—Lafayette Art Association’s annual festival centered on fire-generated arts—when I was eight and a half years old and I’ve been at it ever since.” Sam also joined the Lousiana Metalsmith Association (LAMA) at a young age and it was through that organization that he met other blacksmiths who shared his passion and fostered his growth as an artist. “I was immediately embraced by blacksmiths such as Richard Delahoussaye, Jerry Baker, and David Bernard—all lifelong Louisianans. They have facilitated my learning and supported my dedication to the trade all along; helping me every step of the way, and continuing to lend me a hand

Overture Magazine

on a daily basis. These men took me in, elected me ‘vessel keeper,’ and offered me every opportunity to learn. I couldn’t imagine my passion for blacksmithing being what it is without these individuals. Blacksmithing is more than just a job for me. It’s what I love to do, how I choose to employ my free time, my outlet, my favorite.” Riehl himself has turned to teaching others blacksmithing over the past several years, perhaps because he believes that he has been given so much by the artists around him. “Around seven years ago I had my first chance to demonstrate in front of a crowd,” Riehl says. “I can undoubtedly say that the experiences of teaching are the most exciting and gratifying moments of my career as an artist. This is where I discovered my passion for teaching, something that has not diminished in the slightest.” Riehl has educated others on his craft by demonstrating at Pyromania for three years before the festival was discontinued due

to lack of funding. He has also demonstrated blacksmithing several times at Festivals Acadiens et Créoles and ArtMania, and can still be found demonstrating his craft at smaller festivals in Arnaudville and Alexandria. Though still quite young—only a senior in high school—Sam Riehl is most certainly an artist who understands art not only as a creative outlet, but also as a way of life. He’s had several years of experience, both creating and teaching blacksmithing. He takes his work seriously, sincerely appreciates the advice and support of others, and feels grateful for the opportunities he has had. “I am the most fortunate kid I know and I say it confidently. My mother is a fantastic jewelry artist, my grandparents are fantastic glass artists, and between the three of them, I have been exposed to an incredible array of art forms, an overwhelming diversity of people, and every opportunity to find my own talent among it all.”

L A F AY E T T E · L O U I S I A N A

mardi Gras

february 28-march 4

Big city fun in a family-friendly atmosphere.

Acadiana’s Publication for the Arts

February 2014 31

A Project to Remember At first glance, this month’s cover of Overture was the collaborative effort of Lafayette visual artists Terreé Tisdale-Kwarteng and Bonnie Camos. The two talented artists co-created a montage painting to represent Mardi Gras; including music, parades, royalty, and all things Acadiana, with a nod to George Rodrigue in the presence of an old oak tree.

Photos by Lucius A. Fontenot

But when readers look more closely they may find a surprise. Can you see the human being in the painting? If so, good eye! One of the many magical qualities of paint is its ability to camouflage people and objects, making them melt into the background. The person who became one with the painting is none other than Terreé’s gracious husband, Eugene Kwarteng. We give much gratitude for him for his patience and willingness to work on the project.

The cover was shot by Lucius Fontenot, an artist and ASO’s staff photographer – not to mention ticketing manager. He is a man of many talents. Free Town Studios, a non-profit artist co-op in the heart of old Lafayette, managed by visual artist Susan David, hosted the photo shoot.