Musings of an Artist's Wife

Since childhood, George Rodrigue has loved the movies. It’s the reason, along with Saints and LSU football, that his studio doubles as a theatre, and why most nights he paints to the backdrop of Turner Classic Movies. He returns to his favorites, The Searchers and Lonesome Dove, repeatedly. And he spent his teenage years painting his renditions of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. This fall, George Rodrigue serves as the Featured Artist of the Carmel Art & Film Festival.

In 1974 Rodrigue experienced, for the first time up close, the movies, when he remained for a week on the set of The Drowning Pool, filmed partly at Oaklawn Plantation in Franklin, Louisiana. The set borrowed several Rodrigue Cajun paintings for the plantation house, but they shied away from the expensive insurance. Instead, they asked the artist to babysit the artwork during filming.

“I spent that week with Paul Newman, the cast, and my good friend Dr. Voorhies, Director of Charity Hospital in Lafayette, who was hired by the film people to be the crew’s physician. Nearly everyone on the set got sick because of the Louisiana farm country viruses and allergies.

“Despite the (relatively minor) health concerns, we had a fun time. All Paul Newman did was drink beer and, according to Dr. Voorhies, put drops in his eyes to keep them blue. I remember Newman drinking beer at breakfast.

“Ten years later, The Big Easy stocked their on-set and on-film refrigerator with my Jolie Blonde Beer. But I didn’t get to babysit that one!”

-click photos throughout to enlarge-

George Rodrigue painted Bush Films in 1983. The painting became a poster advertising an LPB documentary on the artist by Charles Bush of Louisiana Film Workshops. The movie coincided with the unveiling of Rodrigue’s 20-ft bronze statue, Legacy, depicting Longfellow, Evangeline and Gabriel. Regrettably, the movie is unavailable for on-line viewing.

A few years later, Rodrigue painted actress Dolores del Rio as Evangeline in a tribute to the 1929 silent movie filmed in Louisiana. The painting is part of his Saga of the Acadians, a series of fifteen paintings chronicling the Cajun journey from France to Canada, and from Nova Scotia to Louisiana.

In 1992, producer and director David DuBos filmed Rodrigue: A Man and His Dog with Whoopi Goldberg for Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Although the storyline has little connection to George’s recent paintings, at the time it followed his imagery, tracing his dog Tiffany as she searched for his studio in the afterlife.

The movie includes Rodrigue’s Cajun and Blue Dog paintings, as well as early footage from his studio and home in Lafayette, Louisiana.

(pictured, Me, Myself and I, 1992 by George Rodrigue)

“As the voice of the Blue Dog,” recalls Rodrigue, “Whoopi was very serious and professional, insisting on many takes to get it just right.”

The 8-minute clip below features Whoopi Goldberg as the black-and-white Tiffany, the Blue Dog, and the Red Dog. Be sure and watch to the end for some fun interviews with Chef Paul Prudhomme and others, along with Cajun music by Hadley Castille and the Sharecropper's Band.

In the late 1990s, the movies called again. This time it was Tri-Star pictures and the big screen, interested in a feature film based on the Blue Dog. George and I met with the movie folks in Los Angeles, considered the idea, and ultimately declined, as he weighed widespread fame against the importance of his copyrights and control of his art. Unlike his project for Xerox a few years later, this was too big a risk.

Passing on this project was tough for George, not only because he loves the movies, but also because he wrote a script. Within his movie, the Blue Dog exists only on the artist's canvas, as a spiritual conduit for an aging painter. He’s expanded and shaped this story for years, resulting in a fanciful tale of animals and art.

Today, the script remains fresh in his mind, as he occasionally reworks it, waking me in the middle of the night just last week to recount his latest version.

At his easel, his newest series, Hollywood Stars, features legends of the silver screen in large-scale artworks on metal.

(pictured: New Orleans attorney, Laura Ashley, volunteers often with students and events at the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts. Rodrigue’s Some Like It Hot, along with similar works featuring Doris Day, Clint Eastwood, and Humphrey Bogart, is on view at his galleries in Carmel and New Orleans; details here-)

Also today, we celebrate the movies with the Carmel Art & Film Festival, an exciting event for Rodrigue, who is honored to serve as this year’s Featured Artist. The weekend deepens George’s connection to his second favorite state, a love born during the 1960s and his years at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.

Hope to see you at the movies, October 9-13, 2013.

Wendy

-pictured above, George Rodrigue on the California coast, 1965-

-for details on the Carmel Art & Film Festival, including related Rodrigue events, visit carmelartandfilm.com -

-in addition to film, Blue Dog artwork appears occasionally on Reality TV, including a fun clip from Cajun Pawn Stars; story here-

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Painted in 1971, The Breaux Bridge Band is a classic among George Rodrigue’s paintings. Along with similar works from this period, it defines his style as a pictorial champion of the Cajun culture, recording snapshots of time within turn-of-the-century Southwest Louisiana. Ironically, however, it is only on the artist’s canvas, and not in reality, that this band connects Acadiana’s heritage to the music that today, along with Cajun food and joie de vivre, characterizes a culture.

“There really was a Breaux Bridge Band around 1900,” explains George Rodrigue, “but it was called a ‘Classical Music Band.’ They were very popular at the time. The members were Cajuns and Europeans, and their repertoire was classical. It had nothing to do with Cajun music.”

(pictured, The Breaux Bridge Band, 1971 by George Rodrigue, oil on canvas, 30x40 inches; click photo to enlarge-)

(Author’s note: Sadly, this is the best photo we have of this important work, a canvas full of blending and nuances, and without the solid black areas visible here. Tracking down these early paintings and arranging photography with the owners is an on-going challenge. As a comparison, see the blog posts describing the Aioli Dinner, The Mamou Riding Academy, and Broussard’s Barber Shop, all from the same period and all recently photographed with the latest technology-)

A Breaux Bridge native whose grandfather was in the band gave George a photograph in 1971, knowing that he researched local traditions for his paintings.

“She was a self-proclaimed Breaux Bridge historian,” says Rodrigue. “Many of us feared that the Cajun culture was dying, and we each tried to preserve it in our own way.”

The Breaux Bridge Bandbelonged to a series of four paintings that included the Aioli Dinner, the Mamou Riding Academy, and Broussard’s Barber Shop, all part of George Rodrigue’s first series of prints made from paintings. Without a gallery or agent, he listed his home telephone number in ads featuring these images for Apollo Magazine out of London, an impressive periodical full of European antiques and art.

“One day a guy from New Orleans called my house,” recalls Rodrigue, “wanting to know why an unknown Cajun artist in Lafayette was running ads in the premier international arts & antiques magazine. At the time, I was the magazine’s only American advertiser outside of New York City. He was so impressed that he bought the original Breaux Bridge Band.”

The four paintings also formed the basis for Rodrigue’s landmark publication, The Cajuns of George Rodrigue, the first book published nationally on the Cajun culture. From the book:

"Looking at them, one can see how proud they were to be musicians. During the week they were all farmers, but on the weekend they felt like they were contributing to, I think, America, doing something no one else was doing.

"I guess this was true at the turn of the century when the Breaux Bridge Band was rehearsing at this barn." -George Rodrigue from The Cajuns of George Rodrigue (Oxmoor House, 1976); learn more about this important book here-

Each of these classic images sparks memories for George, not only the long hours it took to paint them, but also his personal nostalgia related to the subject matter:

“I started going to Breaux Bridge in high school (1959-1960), because the town was open on Sunday night. You could drink alcohol and dance at the clubs on the Breaux Bridge Highway, the road from Lafayette. The white nightclub was on one side of the road, and the black club on the other. The musicians performed back and forth between them.

“The bands alternated between rock-n-roll and swamp pop. I saw Clarence Frogman Henry, Irma Thomas, and Fats Domino. I remember that while singing, Fats played the piano with one hand and signed autographs with the other.

“My favorite club was Mulate's, owned by Mulate Guidry, a combination pool hall, bar and barber shop.”

(pictured, Kerry Boutte of Mulate’s, Beverly Friedman, George Rodrigue, and Steve Friedman of NBC, pose at Mulate's in 1988 for a photograph that would eventually become a Rodrigue painting; the Friedmans were in Southwest Louisiana from New York City, celebrating the Cajun Mardi Gras for a segment on NBC’s Nightly News; click photo to enlarge-)

“My good friend Kerry Boutte,” continues George, “bought Mulate’s and transformed the bar into a Cajun restaurant and dance hall. He single-handedly brought back Cajun music.

“Kerry told me that the first week the bands played, no one showed up. Eventually, however, the word spread, and even the national press took notice. Zachary Richard, Octave Clark (the subject of this year’s Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival poster), Michael Doucet and Beaujolais, and hundreds of Cajun bands played there over the years. It became the place for Cajun music, while also sparking the revival of Cajun food.”

George Rodrigue’s paintings and prints hung in Mulate’s almost from the beginning. Today, although the original Breaux Bridge Mulate’s is gone, Kerry Boutte and his family own Mulate’s, the Original Cajun Restaurant in New Orleans, where the music and dancing continue.

Wendy

-pictured above, Fais do-do, 1986 by George Rodrigue, oil on canvas, diptych 3x8 feet; click photo to enlarge-

-as with The Breaux Bridge Band, Rodrigue’s Mamou Riding Academy and Broussard’s Barber Shop are also in private collections; the Aioli Dinner, however, is currently on view at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art-

-click each of the painting titles above to see the images and read their histories-

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In George Rodrigue’s latest painting, He Stopped Loving Her Today, Jolie Blonde’s hat sits alongside an above-ground tomb, the same type of vault his father installed in New Iberia, Louisiana as part of the family business.

“I wanted to paint a tribute to George Jones (1931-2013)," explains Rodrigue. "I’ve loved this song for thirty years, and even though I’ve painted the Blue Dog before on tombs, this one is particularly special, because I reference the woman he loves. Her hat is a remembrance alongside his grave.”

The painting, at 5x4 feet, is typical of Rodrigue’s long-established style. An oak tree, sliced by the top of the canvas, frames a sky of interesting shapes. The Blue Dog, like Rodrigue’s Cajun figures, appears cut out and pasted onto the Louisiana landscape, so that every element is deliberate, locked in and unable to move.

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Behind the tree, a river, which could also be a road, leads to a small, Heaven-like horizon, the hope of a displaced people in Rodrigue’s Cajun paintings, and perhaps another kind of hope in this contemporary expression.

He kept her picture on his wall

Went half crazy now and then

He still loved her through it all

Hoping she’d come back again

(words and music by Bobby Braddock)

Obsessed with this idea since Jones’s death, George Rodrigue painted on this canvas for more than a week, never leaving the house and hardly sleeping. Realizing he hadn’t come to bed, I found him, at daybreak on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, hanging the wet painting in our living room.

“Good idea,” I said, as he removed the large-scale copy of We Will Rise Again, after seven years on our wall. “That Katrina piece is too sad.”

“Yeah,” he noted. “This tomb with the cross on it is much better.”

I’ve modeled as Jolie Blonde for twenty years on George’s canvas, suggesting in this painting several personal footnotes.

For example, recently, after watching the movie Hemingway & Gellhorn, I recalled a question that I first asked myself when I started this blog nearly four years and 1,000 pages ago:

Does it lessen my accomplishment because I write about my husband?

I don’t have the confidence of a Martha Gellhorn who, putting aside the fact that she immersed herself bravely amidst the victims of war while I live safely within an artist’s studio, refused to write or speak of husband Ernest Hemingway, with the exception of one famous query,

“Why should I be a footnote to someone else’s life?”

George and I discussed or, rather, he endured my explanation, as much to myself as to him, as to why I live happily as a footnote.

"Unlike Gellhorn," I explained, "I signed up for this."

As we stared at his new painting, now hanging permanently in our living space, he countered,

“The difference with us, Wendy, is that we put our feelings for each other above everything else, even our personal ambitions.”

Heavenly day. Did I hear him correctly?

“Say that again...”

...whispered the artist’s wife, as he returned to his computer, designing the promotional poster for my book.

I don’t want to be a Leonardo, I thought, smiling at the irony of my life’s situation as I recall the line that's haunted me since college. I want to be myself.*

Wendy

*Lucy Honeychurch, speaking to her fiancé, Cecil Vyse, in the 1986 movie from E.M. Forster’s 1908 novel, A Room With a View-

-the original painting, He Stopped Loving Her Today, remains within George Rodrigue’s personal collection; however, he is working on a silkscreen edition, as well as a small number of large-scale chrome pieces based on this work; for details, contact Rodrigue Studio-

-for a related story, see the post "Dance with Me, George"-

-for more art and discussion, please join me on facebook-

When it comes to painting, George Rodrigue is a loner. In recent months, he embraces full time the isolated setting of his Carmel Valley studio. The limited interruptions and lack of social commitments on this quiet California hill settle the artist into a near-obsessed dedication to his canvas and ideas. Ironically, however, it’s Louisiana that remains, always, on his mind.

(pictured, George Rodrigue at his easel this week, Carmel, California; click photo to enlarge-)

Although partial to solitude in California, in Louisiana Rodrigue enjoys collaborative and unusual projects. This includes the Blue Dog Café and Jolie’s Louisiana Bistro, both restaurant partnerships with Lafayette attorney Steve Santillo; large scale public sculptures for the New Orleans Museum of Art and Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, constructed with Begneaud Manufacturing of Lafayette; and even Jolie Blonde Beer, a joint project with Pearl Brewing Company and Kerry Boutte of Mulate’s Cajun Restaurant.

(pictured, The Rodrigue Steinway and The Dukes of Dixieland at the Old U.S. Mint, New Orleans; click photo to enlarge-)

Perhaps his most exciting collaboration, however, is the Rodrigue Steinway, the result of partnerships with the LSU School of Music, Hall Piano Company in New Orleans, and Steinway & Sons. Rodrigue spent three months in 2012 painting the piano, “swirling music around the sides,” says the artist.

Piano-involved events assist LSU’s goal to become an official Steinway School. Funds also support the education programs of the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts (GRFA), as well as other non-profits. On June 21^st, 2013, Rodrigue and the piano join musicians Irvin Mayfield and Ellis Marsalis at the historic and newly renovated Joy Theater for a special event benefiting the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.

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Rodrigue also enjoys collaborations with area museums. For example, this summer the Ogden Museum of Southern Art joins the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts (GRFA) July 8-12 for “Art of the Family Table,” one of seven 2013 GRFA Art Camps, this one focused on the history of Cajun food, as illustrated by Rodrigue’s iconic Aioli Dinner, now on view at the Ogden.

-click photo to enlarge; camp details here-

(pictured, Aioli Dinner, 1971 by George Rodrigue; more on this painting here-)

Other collaborations include small-production cameo glass bowls and vases with Pilgrim Glass of West Virginia, unique jewelry designs with Douglas Magnus in Santa Fe, and wine labels for Amuse Bouche and Pret a Boire, Napa Valley.

(pictured, George surprised me recently with a one-of-a-kind belt, a collaboration with Douglas Magnus of Santa Fe, New Mexico; click photo to enlarge-)

For the public, however, the most significant collaboration is the new George Rodrigue website. GRFA Executive Director Jacques Rodrigue and our website designer/manager Heather Parker worked with Design the Planet, creating an exciting and accessible on-line world of Rodrigue history and art.

Launched this week, the site was a year in the making and includes not only the latest technology, but also an extensive timeline spanning Rodrigue’s career in photographs and links from 1944 to 2013; the latest on Rodrigue exhibitions, lectures, and other news; and most important, the highest quality digital images of available artwork.

Presenting the new and improved….

George Rodrigue Studios

Happy exploring!

Wendy

-pictured above, the opening page of the new George Rodrigue website, featuring Sit in Your Own Chair, Rodrigue’s newest silkscreen print, now available through Rodrigue Studio-

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“We mortals are but shadows and dust.”–Proximo, Gladiator

Recently, while shopping for skinny jeans and day-glo tees with my sister and cousin, I time-warped to the 1980s when flashy jewelry, exaggerated shoulders, and acrylic fingernails prevailed. For a while, subtle feminine style seemed lost forever.

George Rodrigue has never been subtle, in his ideas, personal style, or on his canvas. His earliest oak tree paintings drew criticism for their dramatic contrasts of light and dark, and he exaggerated a primitive look to his Cajun figures, emphasizing the unique culture of his ancestors over the established rules of art.

The older he gets, the bolder he becomes, rejecting soft colors in favor of bright primaries and, recently, rejecting the flat white canvas in favor of a reflective sheet of silver metal.

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(pictured, George Rodrigue at his studio in Carmel, California, 2013; mixed medias on chrome are 48x32 inches-)

At first, I related this shift to George’s fondness for 1950s nostalgia, similar to my renewed interest in the 1980s. One look at the shiny accents in the newly renovated New Orleans gallery, along with Rodrigue’s recent tribute to Marilyn Monroe, suggests that Happy Days are here again.

To my surprise, however, George relates the chrome not to the 1957 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, but rather solely to the visual, to the shiny nature of the substance.

“Several years ago,” he explains, “I painted around printed Blue Dogs on chrome paper, allowing the silver to show. I created these for children’s hospitals in Texas, with the idea that patients would walk up to the dog and see themselves reflected alongside it.”

Today, that concept is part of “Art for Healing,” a program of the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts, installing similar works in hospitals in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Texas.

“My most vivid childhood memory,” recalls George, channeling the 1950s at last, “is of rows of kids in iron lungs in hospital wards. I was lucky to fully recover from polio, but I still have that image in my mind. I want children in today’s hospitals to remember something happy.”

Pleased with these large-scale works (7-10 feet), Rodrigue researched other materials, hoping to expand his use of the reflective surface.

“After creating the hospital pieces on mounted chrome paper," explains the artist, "I tried embellishing a dog on a real sheet of metal. Afterwards, I coated the metal three times with automotive sealer, enhancing the shine, so that the Blue Dog and additional hand-applied paint appear to be baked into the chrome.

“It reminds me of the old-time porcelain signs, the type I’ve collected for thirty-five years."

These newer works on metal are more shiny than mirrored, with colors so bright and intense that they don’t duplicate in photographs. The computerized images shown here only suggest the actual works, now on view in Rodrigue’s galleries, where one sees hints of life reflected in the unpainted metal.

Unlike the mirror-like hospital pieces, these new works merely whisper surrounding color and movement, all subjugated to Rodrigue’s staring dog and strong design.

After silkscreening the dog on a metal sheet, Rodrigue uses heavy acrylic paint, spacing his design like a puzzle. Unlike earlier, playful mixed medias on silkscreen paper, these new works are deliberate and structured, without drips or chance. In the painting’s reflection, we, the viewers, are fleeting shadows around Rodrigue’s shiny, happy* Blue Dog world.

Similarly, although I recall my mom as 1980s fashionably flashy, with seashells, feathers, and crystals assembled (using a hot glue gun) on twisted ribbons around her neck, recently, while in the shower, I glanced by chance into George’s shaving mirror and, in my wet plainness, saw not my own face, but my mother’s, staring.

My distinct features, such as they are, disappeared in the face of her intense ones. Although near-blind without my glasses, I studied her clearly, my nose two-inches from the mirror, a shiny, happy, curious presence. The water and tiles faded behind me, indiscernible as anything but shadows.

Wendy

*the word ”happy," when used in this blog to describe the art of George Rodrigue, never means “whimsical”-

-see more chrome mixed medias at the new Rodrigue Studio Website-

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“This world, he’d say, is where you live, right here you do whatever work you have to do.” –Darrell Bourque on Elemore Morgan, Jr.*

Some years ago I attended alone an opening at the Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans featuring the latest work from Acadiana’s beloved landscape artist, Elemore Morgan, Jr. (1931-2008). I explored the exhibition unnoticed, struggling to see the art around the large crowd of Morgan fans and making a mental note to return the following week. Out of nowhere, a hand touched my shoulder and, to my surprise, I stood face-to-face with the elegant artist.

(pictured, Oak Shape, 1983. Acrylic on Masonite by Elemore Madison Morgan, Jr.; collection The Ogden Museum of Southern Art)

“Tell George I have always admired him,” whispered Morgan, low in my ear, so that I could hear above the throngs awaiting his attention. “More than any other artist, George Rodrigue inspired me and influenced my work.”

I hugged him, a man I had never met, and I left immediately, pausing on the sidewalk to note the exchange on the back of a grocery list, saved undisturbed in my keepsake box until this essay. A block away, George Rodrigue waited in our car for my report of the artist's reception he feared, not wanting to risk the possibility that his appearance, for good or bad, might distract others from Morgan, his long-time friend.

(pictured, Living in the Spotlight, 2013. Acrylic on canvas by George Rodrigue, 40x60 inches; on view at Rodrigue Studio, New Orleans; click photo to enlarge-)

“I first met Elemore Morgan in the mid-1970s,” recalls Rodrigue, “when we spoke about our art at a Lafayette Kiwanis Club Luncheon. We both walked away appreciating each other and our unique approaches to Louisiana’s landscape.”

(pictured, Low Tide, 2009. Oil on canvas by George Rodrigue, 20x30 inches; on view at Rodrigue Studio, New Orleans; click photo to enlarge-)

This past weekend the spotlight shined bright during The Music of New Orleans Jazz Masters, as Irvin Mayfield, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, and the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts organized an unprecedented event honoring the music of Ellis Marsalis, Harold Battiste, and James Black.

“I never thought until tonight to link the visual arts and the acoustic arts...”

...noted friend Chris Cenac as we walked from the famous Joy Theater towards the famous Sazerac Bar on yet another incredible night in New Orleans. Those of us fortunate enough to attend will never forget the highlights, shared here with a few quotes and photographs (click photos to enlarge)-

“At one point,” explained Irvin Mayfield, “Ed ‘Sweetbread’ Petersen lost his motivation within music. It came back during one unexpectedly spot-on session.

“Now, contrary to news reports,” he continued, as we prepared for perhaps the greatest performance of the year, “it was actually Ed ‘Sweetbread’ Petersen who broke the levees on August 29, 2005, as he played his saxophone with enough force and emotion to flood the city of New Orleans.”

(pictured, Ed “Sweetbread” Petersen shakes the historic Joy Theater to its foundation last Friday night; photo credit, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra)

“Irvin Mayfield,” said the great Ellis Marsalis about our uber-talented host, “broke new ground in New Orleans, because he pays great musicians to play great music.”

(pictured above, George Rodrigue, Ellis Marsalis, Wendy Rodrigue, Irvin Mayfield, June 2013)

(pictured above, the jazz icon Ellis Marsalis plays the Rodrigue Steinway with magical hands, Joy Theater, New Orleans, June 2013; photo credit, nola.com)

(pictured above, George Rodrigue with the near-mythic Harold Battiste, whose presence caused a standing ovation worthy of a true living legend, Joy Theater, June 2013; photo credit, nola.com)

As the evening ended, and even as I recall it while typing these words, I cried as these talented musicians honored my talented artist-husband. Uncomfortable within their spotlight, he was visibly humbled by their applause, as we wrapped our minds around this magical night.

***

And me? I enjoy the spotlight when it involves others, such as my childhood ballet recitals and high school band performances and, in recent years, my joint lectures with George Rodrigue. Alone, however, I’m miserable, particularly with regards to the video camera, a source of considerable anxiety as The Other Side of the Painting premieres with press events this fall.

-click photo to enlarge-

Nevertheless, I model for George’s figurative works because the honor is greater than the embarrassment (okay, except when it comes to my dad), and because the alternative is worse: a strange woman or women posing naked for my husband.

Admittedly, I enjoy public speaking, not because it brings attention to me, but because it allows me to connect with folks face-to-face as I share the artwork and history of the man I most admire. The personal exchanges within blogging and facebook produce similar highs.

Recently, George and I discussed our aging within the spotlight:

“While in my 20s,” I noted, as we recalled his early efforts to lessen gossip over our age gap, “you told everyone I was in my 30s. In my 30s, you told everyone I was in my 40s. But now, well into my 40s, you tell everyone I’m in my 20s!”

I then grumbled about vitamins, face peels, and exercise and how maybe I can pull it off occasionally in the dark,....... until George, age sixty-nine, interrupted.

“Not twenties, Wendy....

.... and he continued, quite seriously...

“...twenty-two.”

Wendy

*from the poem “The Things Elemore Left Behind,” from the collection Megan’s Guitar and Other Poems from Acadie by Darrell Bourque, Univ. of La. at Lafayette Press, 2013

-with sincere thanks to the University of New Orleans, which produces and nurtures some of America’s greatest jazz musicians, including members of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, playing Wednesday nights at Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse in the Royal Sonesta Hotel-

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Taking a painting and blogging break, as George Rodrigue and I celebrate many, many things with a mini-vacation in Las Vegas.

While here, I read at last Walker Percy's The Moviegoer, and will finish up a blog post this week tracing the story behind Rodrigue's portrait of the great southern author.

"Kate is shaking like a leaf because she longs to be an anyone who is anywhere and she cannot." -W.P.

Hope you all continue to enjoy this 4th of July weekend!

Wendy

-pictured above, lunar-like dining within an egg/tilt-a-whirl at MIX, Las Vegas-

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“Waking wide-eyed dreams come as fitfully as swampfire.”*

Years ago artist George Rodrigue owned a camp in Butte la Rose, Louisiana on the Atchafalaya Basin. He purchased it as a small, cabin-like structure on stilts and quickly built on bedrooms, extending a raised walkway to the river and over the swamp.

-click photo to enlarge-

(“With Swamp Dogs,” says the artist about his recent large-scale works on chrome, “I combine these mysteries, the loup-garou and the feux follets.” Read more here-)

In those pre-internet and (in our case) cell phone days, the early 1990s, we hid out easily, escaping society, gallery commitments, and even well-meaning family and friends, as we searched for something undefined, yet irresistible, a new path in our lives. Between Carmel, where I worked at the Rodrigue Gallery, and this camp, we sought a new, unaffected reality.

I thought of this search, a lifelong commitment, really, renewed recently on our West Coast pilgrimage, as I read at last Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer, my choice during a celebratory week within the surreal city of Las Vegas. (As we watched the Bellagio fountains, we admired the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty, while wondering if the full moon, too, was contrived for our pleasure).

(pictured, Walker Percy, 1982 by George Rodrigue, painted for the Flora Levy Lecture Seriesat the University of Louisiana at Lafayette-)

Unexpectedly, I found The Moviegoer familiar, “the sudden confrontation of a time past, a time so terrible and splendid in its arch-reality,” reminding me of my father’s comments in the National World War II Museum. He noted, without expression, that the equipment, bunkers, and weapons were the same he used in the Vietnam War, where he served twenty-five years later in the United States Air Force.

“Dislocated is perhaps the proper state of Binx Boling and man or woman…”*

…wrote Walker Percy about his Moviegoer protagonist, and about himself and all of us.

Rodrigue photographed Percy (1916-1990) at his daughter’s Kumquat Bookstore in Covington, Louisiana, near New Orleans, where Percy lived for most of his adult life.

“It was a tiny wooden structure,” recalls Rodrigue, “so I posed him on the front porch where I took about thirty slides.

“He was very serious and commented that he was at the bookstore part-time to help out his daughter. I sensed an unhappiness or confusion in him. But at the same time, he was agreeable regarding my instructions for placement and posing. The whole session took about ten minutes.”

Did you get his autograph? I asked.

“Honestly, I didn’t know who he was. And I don’t think he knew me either.”

Partial to science and the arts over fiction, George never read Percy’s books and, although he attended the lecture at USL, he recalls nothing of its content. However, the two express a similar interest in philosophy and a lifelong search for meaning, one through humanity and words, and the other through humanity and art.

To my surprise, as I searched on-line, I discovered another link between Percy and Rodrigue, an interview with Harvard University Professor of Psychiatry, Robert Coles (b. 1929). I recognized the name, also from George’s series of ten Flora Levy Lecture paintings, but as the expert on John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces (pub. 1980, LSU Press), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981, twelve years after Toole’s suicide. Walker Percy wrote the foreword for the famous story of Ignatius J. Reilly and was instrumental in the book’s publication.

(pictured, Robert Coles, 1981 by George Rodrigue; a portrait of John Kennedy Toole hangs on the oak-)

Coles, it turns out, is an expert not only on Percy and Toole, but also on the Medical Humanities, surely a weighty subject for Percy, who abandoned the medical profession following a lengthy illness after contracting tuberculosis during a lab autopsy. Like other great writers, including Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, and John Kennedy Toole, suicide haunted him, in this case with the early deaths of his parents.

“Have you noticed that only in time of illness or disaster or death are people real?”*

George Rodrigue and I discuss often today, as we did within the swamps, of our dreams and of things much bigger than ourselves. We talk of black holes and space exploration. (As I write these words, in fact, unable to paint as he nurses a cold, George watches a documentary on comets.) We ponder past lives and the idea that all humanity, in one way or another, seeks meaning. We discuss the importance of our words and actions as they affect others, and as they affect the future.

“…she might now become what they had been and what as a woman had been denied her: soldierly both in look and outlook.”*

And we recall our song, the one we sought on and off Broadway, the VCR, and Netflix, the one we sang countless times as we crossed the country in our truck, and the one we made ours when, unable to sleep, we danced beneath a full moon on the Atchafalaya Swamp.

Eudora Welty, who spoke at Walker Percy’s memorial service in 1990, speculated once that the South spawns great writers because not only are we talkers, we are talkers who are used to having listeners.

“In the Rocky Mountains,” she observed, “a person might talk all day and get nothing back but an echo.”

Wendy

*unless otherwise noted, all quotes in this post are from The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, 1961; the book, published when Percy was age 45, was his first novel; it won the National Book Award the following year-

-Rodrigue’s original paintings of Walker Percy, Robert Coles, and other notables are on view through August 31, 2013 at the State Library of Louisiana. Details here-

-for a Toole-related essay, see the post, “Lucky Dog,” featuring, among other things, Rodrigue’s paintings of hot dogs-

-The Other Side of the Painting (October 2013, UL Press), a book based on this blog, is now available for pre-order at your favorite independent bookstore or on amazon-

-for more art and discussion, please join me on facebook-

George Rodrigue has painted several versions of the Blues Brothers since 1995. Although all in private collections, the paintings from this series are among his most popular, famous within the pages of art books and as reproductions on the walls of the Blue Dog Café in Lafayette, Louisiana and Besh Steakhouse at Harrah’s Casino in New Orleans.

(pictured, The Other Brother, 1997, acrylic on canvas by George Rodrigue, 48x48 inches; click photo to enlarge-)

“The Blues Brothers connection with the Blue Dog was a natural for me,” explains Rodrigue, “and I had fun, from idea to execution, painting their faces blue with the Blue Dog."

In Rodrigue’s typical style, the Blue Dog is eye-level, like a person. The figures are locked into a strong design, forming interesting shapes in the negative spaces. The colors are bold, with little left of the original loup-garou inspiration.

(pictured, My Blues Brothers, 1995, acrylic on canvas by George Rodrigue, 24x30 inches; click photo to enlarge-)

As with most of his original paintings, Rodrigue did not make prints* of the Blues Brothers series. He did, however, create two large-scale copies for himself, both on loan to restaurants.

(pictured, Blue Dog Café, Lafayette, Louisiana, 2013; George Rodrigue at his easel with an original painting, Carmel, California, 2005; click photos to enlarge-)

In 2004, in honor of his 60^th birthday, Rodrigue carried the concept into real life when he joined his sons, André and Jacques, in a Blues Brothers performance during his costume party.

“We surprised the crowd,” recalls George, “when we changed from our Elvis and King costumes into Blues Brothers outfits. Before emerging from the back room for our performance, I even shaved off my beard!

“‘It looks like ya’ll might have practiced for this,’ said my cousin Catherine.

“Well yes!, I told her. It took a month of practice to get the moves down!”

(below: do not miss this video with George Rodrigue and his sons as the Blues Brothers, New Orleans, 2004-)

Following the show, George’s long-time friend, artist Tony Bernard, joined in the fun, with a painted gift for the Rodrigue boys.

(pictured, Jacques, George, and André Rodrigue with a painting by Tony Bernard, Lafayette, Louisiana, 2005; click photo to enlarge-)

Still high on this experience with his sons, George could not resist creating his own version as well, incorporating the Blue Dog with Tony's portraits into a one-of-a-kind piece for his personal collection.

Appropriately titled, It Runs in the Family, this 2005 artwork pays tribute to a father's close relationship with his sons. Although neither of these blue brothers became an artist, you'll find André most days at the Blue Dog Café and Jacques at the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts, where they each pursue, in their own way, a family's legacy.

Wendy

*with few exceptions, such as the recent artworks, He Stopped Loving Her Today and Looking for a Beach House, most Rodrigue Blue Dog paintings never become prints or other forms of reproductions; instead he prefers original silkscreens, unrelated to his paintings; see examples at the new Rodrigue Studio Website-

-for the story behind the Blue Dog, visit here-

-a new Rodrigue book, The Other Side of the Painting, premieres October 2013; visit the UL Press website for details-

-for more art and discussion, please join me on facebook-

Artist George Rodrigue and I attended a rodeo in South Lake Tahoe, Nevada last weekend. The area, called Glenbrook, reminded me at first of developments like Seaside and WaterColor near my hometown of Fort Walton Beach. Although I’m fond of these ice cream colored Florida Panhandle houses, my initial comparison was a stretch, now that I understand, in a small way, this historic western ranching and timber community.

The north Florida neighborhoods, also in timberland, sprung up before my eyes beginning in the 1980s. Glenbrook, however, dates to 1860, and it owes its appeal not only to its natural beauty, but also to the graveyard ghosts and passed-down stories of its homeowners.

(pictured, I Grew Up a Cowboy, 1996 by George Rodrigue, 40x30 inches, acrylic on canvas; click photo to enlarge-)

George Rodrigue and I appreciate such history. In fact, his paintings, such as Rodeo Drive, pictured below, depend on it. I thought of the painting immediately as we attended a rodeo on Glenbrook’s historic site at the base of Shakespeare Mountain.

“In 1988 a gallery on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California, exhibited my paintings,” recalls Rodrigue. “I visited several months earlier to view the space and research the area.

“Turns out the famous shopping stretch was once a country road through swampland. As a Cajun, I preferred this history to the fancy stores, so I themed the show and artwork with my version of Rodeo Drive.”

(pictured, Rodeo Drive, 1988 by George Rodrigue, 30x40 inches, oil on canvas; click photo to enlarge-)

To my surprise, the rodeo referenced in George’s painting is unlinked to the cowboy sport. According to its website, Rodeo Drive (pronounced Roh-DAY-oh) earned its name from the area’s marsh-like terrain. As early as 1769, locals called the land, then part of Mexico, “the Gathering of the Waters,” or “El Rodeo de las Aguas.”

In Rodrigue’s very American painting, a Western rodeo tradition blends with a southern California swampland-turned shopping district, and a Cajun artist’s interpretation of his southwest Louisiana childhood.

“The photo of me on the horse hung on the wall of our house since the late 1940s,” says Rodrigue. “A photographer visited New Iberia with a Shetland pony and kids’ cowboy costumes. My parents dressed me in that outfit, and the photographer took my picture.”

Rodrigue used this photograph in several works over the years, sometimes obviously, and sometimes indirectly, such as his Mamou Riding Academy of 1971, pictured below and detailed in its own essay here.

-click photo to enlarge-

In one case, Rodrigue replaces the pony from his photograph with a blue bull. The large-scale work originally hung behind the bandstand of Café Tee George in Lafayette, Louisiana, a precursor to the Blue Dog Café. Today the painting hangs in our home, occasionally borrowed by creative museum curators for bovine-themed exhibitions.

(pictured, Tee George on the Bull, 1996 by George Rodrigue, 6x7 feet, acrylic on plywood)

Not only does photography inspire George within his artwork, but also his artwork inspires his photography.

“All artists should be good photographers,” he explained, as I poured through his recent Glenbrook rodeo files, “certainly in terms of composition, design, and recognizing a good shot.”

(pictured, Glenbrook, Nevada, July 2013 by George Rodrigue)

But even George admits that our friend Kevin Vogt, who doubles as Master Sommelier for Chef Emeril Lagasse, stole the show with the images below. (Admittedly, I saw more in George and Kevin’s photographs than I did at the rodeo, during much of which I explored the quiet of the barn).

-photos by Kevin Vogt of Las Vegas, Nevada; click images to enlarge-

Finally, our rodeo adventure was about friendship, as we visited with Barbara and Tony Ricciardi, long-time friends from Carmel, California and Reno, Nevada. Barbara’s family, the Crumleys, purchased their Glenbrook home from the original owners in 1967. The 1930s property is one of the oldest still standing in this Lake Tahoe community.

The house overlooks a meadow and the lake, surrounded by cedar, pine, and aspen trees. Although I enjoyed the rodeo experience, it was our friends' front yard that I treasured most, as we lingered in the lush grass with conversation, books and wine, in love with the view over our heads as much as the view across Lake Tahoe.

(pictured, with George Rodrigue (right), Barbara and Tony Ricciardi, at sunset, Glenbrook pier, S. Lake Tahoe, July 2013-)

From Tahoe, we spent an easy day in Reno on a Barbara-and-Tony This is Your Lifetour, including the Ricciardi ranch-style home, in their family since the 1950s, complete with cattle, a river (with crawfish!), and a bomb shelter.

But that’s best saved for another post, without rodeo competition, because Barbara’s father, Newt Crumley (1911-1962), is a Nevada legend, the first person to bring big-name entertainment, such as Bing Crosby and Jimmy Durante, to the state. He alone takes up five hundred words in my notes.

And Tony’s mother, known to her grandchildren and great grandchildren as Gigi, short for "Granny Goose," her thick white hair pulled back, yet flyaway, as though representing her resonant beauty, fairytale cadence, and enduring youth, deserves, on her own, at least another thousand.

Wendy

-the rodeo at Shakespeare Ranch in Glenbrook is a fundraiser hosted by Camille and Larry Ruvo, benefiting Keep Memory Alive and the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, a partner with the Cleveland Clinic, working together towards finding treatments and ultimately cures for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases-

-Chef Emeril Lagasse (above, with Larry Ruvo) donated his culinary talents in Glenbrook for downright (and down-home) mouthwatering rodeo cuisine; check out Emeril’s Boudin and Beer in New Orleans for a similar treat this November, benefiting the Emeril Lagasse Foundation-

-for more art and discussion, please join me on facebook-

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, George Rodrigue, like many New Orleans artists, sought temporary new venues for his work. Even after the Rodrigue Gallery reopened in January 2006, it was several years before tourists returned strong to the city. Local artists depend on this exposure to sell their art.

In addition, although George and I experienced only minor damage to our Faubourg Marigny home, members of our staff did not fare as well. While they struggled with insurance companies, F.E.M.A., and, in several cases, losing everything they owned, we hoped to reassure them with employment and a steady income.

At first, Rodrigue’s program, Blue Dog Relief, pre-occupied us. The prints raised funds for humanitarian and arts organizations on the Gulf Coast while satisfying our need, as well as the need of our staff, to help in some way. However, we also longed for distraction and normalcy for our stressed co-workers, all of whom worried for their families, their jobs, and their city.

George found the answer far from home, in Aspen, Colorado.

(pictured, Wash My Blues Away, 2007 by George Rodrigue, silkscreen, 36x26 inches, Edition 100; click photo to enlarge)

In Aspen, we rented a location for three years and rotated the Rodrigue Gallery staff on two/three month shifts. In most cases they brought their families and lived, temporarily, in this Rocky Mountain paradise.

George and I remained mostly in Louisiana; however, several times each year we visited Aspen, delivering paintings and enjoying our own brief escape. While there, George researched the area using his camera. Back in New Orleans, he manipulated and cropped the photographs, eventually creating four silkscreen prints.

(pictured, Golden Retriever, 2007 by George Rodrigue, silkscreen, 22x36 inches, Edition 100; click photo to enlarge)

“Photography has been a part of my creative process for a long time,” explains Rodrigue. “As I look back over the last forty years, I realize that I have worked basically the same way the entire time. For my early Cajun paintings I photographed models, then used my photographs as sources, ‘arranging’ the images within them in different ways in order to best portray whatever folktale was my subject.

“In these four silkscreen prints, all created in 2007, I’ve used the camera in a similar fashion. First, I went to the Rocky Mountains and made hundreds of photographs of the sky and landscape during each of the four seasons. After studying and playing with these images for a year or so, I was ready to make silkscreen prints that incorporated the Blue Dog shape.”

(Three Dog Night, 2007 by George Rodrigue, silkscreen, 22x36 inches, Edition 100; click photo to enlarge)

“I fused the two images together in a way that showed the Blue Dog emerging from and yet belonging within the mountains and trees. The Blue Dog becomes a part of nature, with the landscape revealing itself through the dog’s shape.

“With today’s technology, the computer has given me hundreds of variations with which to work---in an almost collage-type construction. These are the first four silkscreen editions I made using this new process.”*

(pictured, Take Me Home, 2007 by George Rodrigue, silkscreen, 36x26 inches, Edition 100; click photo to enlarge)

Since these Rocky Mountain images, Rodrigue expanded this technique, exploring large-scale similar artworks on metal in series like Swamp Dogs (2011) and Hollywood Stars (2013). Although these recent works pay tribute to Louisiana and the Silver Screen, it was silkscreens such as Take Me Home and Wash My Blues Away (pictured above) that planted the seed.

“Living off and on in Aspen for three years,” reflects the artist today, “we became more aware of John Denver’s 'Rocky Mountain High' and what that really means. I was very inspired to produce something connected to the area.”

Wendy

*more on George Rodrigue’s print-making process in the book George Rodrigue Prints: A Catalogue Raisonne 1970-2007, detailed here-

-for pricing and availability of George Rodrigue’s Rocky Mountain silkscreens, contact Rodrigue Studio-

-for more art and discussion, please join me on facebook-

Last summer was challenging, as George Rodrigue faced an advanced lung cancer diagnosis and several months of treatment in Houston. Last fall, with his disease in remission, we tied up loose ends in New Orleans and prepared for a West Coast sabbatical. This spring, we spent weeks on the road, exploring America as we’ve done every year in the past twenty, but one, arriving in central California mid-April, indefinitely.

Summer 2013 also has its challenges. We paint a rosy picture on facebook and in photographs, but anyone who knows such health concerns understands that there’s no quick or guaranteed fix. Remission, we learned, means living with cancer, even after successful treatment. It means ongoing tests, occasional setbacks, and unpredictable side effects.

“Having a job where basically I sit all day and paint, using my brain without physical exertion,” explains George Rodrigue, “fits perfect with me. Most days it’s like I never had cancer at all.”

(pictured, a Green Dog by George Rodrigue, 2013; details here-)

We embrace good days with excursions to beautiful Lake Tahoeor Big Sur and quick trips with fine dinners in Las Vegas. On slower days, most days, we osmose nature in our Carmel Valley backyard, where the sun sets over the Santa Lucia Mountains, and the lace oaks define our view.

Throughout it all, George Rodrigue paints, mindful of his lessened stamina, but returned, as much as possible, to his easel.

Without question, George and I lead a blessed life. We have wonderful friends and a loving family, both immediate and extended. We make a good living within the arts, our professions and lifes' pursuit. We marvel often that somehow on our individual journeys, one a product of 1950s New Iberia and the other of 1970s Fort Walton Beach, we found each other.

All of it together is more than luck, I know. It’s a product of some kind of grace, far more than we deserve. This we both know.

(pictured, July 2013 at a rodeo in Lake Tahoe; photograph by Kevin Vogt-)

While dating, George and I drove, as often as possible, the Pacific Coast Highway between Carmel and Big Sur, the rented convertible's top down and the early 1990s New Age Irish sounds of Enya and Clannad surrounding us at full volume.

My mother, a now-credited muse,* sent me the music, suspecting the romance long before we told her or anyone. As a child, I explored often not only her favorite music, Neil Diamond, Don Williams, and Simon & Garfunkel, but also the printed treasures within her bookcase, a large collection she carted from country to country since college, as she transferred, according to orders, with my dad, an officer in the United States Air Force.

From the beginning, her European art books helped shape my course in life, as we discussed together the Rubenesque nude and Picasso's genius. At age thirteen, halfway through Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, which I snuck in secret from the shelves, I sunk into my first depression, jolting my mother into a reaction best saved for my diary. At age sixteen, I memorized and quoted love and life lessons by Kahlil Gibran; and throughout it all, I lightened the mood with the Irish spirit of Ogden Nash (1902-1971, of Baltimore and New York), a collection I pulled again recently from the shelves.

“In the Vanities, No One Wears Panities,” wrote Nash.

I’ve never been to Ireland. My mother, a world-traveler, longed to visit, but she never made it either. Her maiden name, McClanahan, is Scottish, but it’s Ireland that called her, eventually passing Greece and Egypt on her bucket list.

I write often of my NYC museum visits with my Irish friend Emer Ferguson. Together we explored Degas and Litchtenstein at the Morgan Library, miniatures by the Limbourg Brothers at the Metropolitan, and the Irish Dan Flavin also at the Morgan. Emer addicted George and me to Irish butter, Cadbury chocolates, and Irish coffee with real whipped cream. She filled our bookshelves wih Colum McCann, Anne Enright, and, my current obsession, The Granta Book of the Irish Short Story, companions to both my mother’s and George’s art schoolcollections. Within each gift she includes her notes on the text, providing the added prize of a guaranteed good read.

(pictured, George sketches at home in Carmel, California, alongside a few gifts from Emer; click photo to enlarge-)

Other than a brief trip to Canada, George Rodrigue and I have not left the United States since 2005. Prior to that time, we traveled often to Europe and Asia for a mixture of business and pleasure, combining vacations with exhibitions of his artwork. However, since 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, we appreciate more our magnificent country. Rather than long trips abroad, we drive across America.

Recently, we feel the international travel pull again. This time, Ireland is on our radar. With our friends Jack Lamplough and Emer Ferguson, we hope in the coming years to explore Emer's homeland. Now more than ever, we feel the need for this journey, tracking down an Irish angel, visiting America on her honeymoon, who leapt from a crowd last week and, there is no other way to say it, saved George’s life.

(pictured, George Rodrigue and an Irish angel, August 7, 2013; click photo to enlarge-)

“I love the Irish!”

....I told this stranger, through my tears, as three hundred people looked on.

We learned later that a rare side effect of his medication caused George to faint and his heart to stop beating.

“George, tell me your name..."

...insisted Mrs. McBride of Ballymoney, after he coughed, after her fourth chest compression, as she threw all of her weight onto his ribcage.

“George!”

...he called out, in an exchange we laugh about…

...now that he’s okay.

…now that things are normal again.

My mom, Mignon McClanahan Wolfe, loved the music of Loreena McKennitt, the Canadian-born musician of Irish-Scottish descent. When my sister and I packed up her things, we found “Dante’s Prayer” on our mother’s stereo. Like a 1980s radio request, this song goes out "To Brenda."

“I want to see the Irish coast,”

...said Mignon,* laughing, as she quoted a few Ogden Nash favorites in the last week of her life. And I made a promise that, unknown to me at the time, I would not be able to keep.

Wendy

*I dedicated The Other Side of the Painting, a book based on this blog, to my mother, “To Mignon, who named herself after a French actress.” All proceeds benefit the arts education programs of the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts; details and pre-orders here-

-near New Orleans this fall? Please join me for "Coffee & Conversation" on October 16th, hosted by the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival and the Jefferson Parish Library. Details here-

-for more art and discussion, please join me on facebook-

Why do you do what you do?

Ah sir if we only knew.

But the winds call

And the waves toss

And we follow

And are lost.

Ah sir if we only knew.*

-Gus Weill, 1981

(pictured, A Couple of Local Boys, 1981, oil on canvas by George Rodrigue, 48x36 inches; collection the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts; click photo to enlarge-)

In 1981 artist George Rodrigue collaborated on a book with Louisiana poet, playwright, and political consultant Gus Weill (b. 1933). They met in the mid-1960s through Weill’s Lafayette advertising agency, where he gained fame as a mentor to political commentator James Carville, and where he managed gubernatorial campaigns for Jimmie Davis and John McKeithen, and later, in Baton Rouge, for Edwin Edwards and Dave Treen.

In 1965 Rodrigue, home on a summer break from art school in Los Angeles, applied for a temporary job in Weill’s firm.

“He already had an artist, so he didn’t hire me,” recalls Rodrigue, “but we became friends. Fifteen years later he approached me about a book. I had just finished a children’s book, Conversations with André Rodrigue, and Gus wanted to take it further, writing poems about my paintings.”

(pictured, George Rodrigue and son André in Rodrigue's home and gallery on Jefferson Street, with featured books (from left) The Cajuns of George Rodrigue, a couple of local boys with Gus Weill, the Encyclopedia of Cajun Cooking, Bayou with Chris Segura (including the first Blue Dog painting), and Family Recipes: Secrets of Maude Landry’s Kitchen; Rodrigue’s Mamou Mardi Gras hangs on the wall, 1984; click photo to enlarge-)

The book, a couple of local boys, includes paintings by Rodrigue and poems by Weill. According to the inside cover, the collection…

“…is about the rudiments of human existence: laughing and crying and victory and defeat and ghosts and sex.”*

Indeed, I struggled to find something quotable for this G-rated blog.

My grandpa said, hold the bat just like that.

He had seen Ty Cobb do it.

But I wanted to write

and he had never seen Thomas Wolfe.

Before he died he forgave me

and left his baseball cards to

my brother

who never misses a game.*

(above: poem by Gus Weill; Let’s Play Ball, with André Rodrigue and Bud Petro, 1980 by George Rodrigue; click photo to enlarge-)

“Everyone was shocked when they read the book,” says Rodrigue. “I didn’t read the poems before they were published, and I had a lot of explaining to do around town.”

Like George with the poetry, Gus also received a shock when he saw the book’s cover:

“You painted yourself as a swash-buckling Errol Flynn holding a sword,” he said. “And you painted me as a Rasputin.”

(note: Rodrigue still uses this Excalibur-like sword, which he found years earlier in the Bayou Teche, as a mahlstick, helping to steady his hand while painting.)

The Lafayette poet and the Lafayette artist sparred in fun and friendship, linked by their mutual respect and a commitment to their craft. From Weill’s introduction:

“Rodrigue’s people came from Quebec and Canada, and mine came from Alsace Lorraine. His father was a bricklayer. Mine sold mules.

“He begins painting at 8:30 at night and finishes at 5 a.m. I write at 4 a.m. We do this every day. We don’t know why. For the purposes of this book, we tried to come up with an explanation. The best we could do was, we create because we must. That’s not a satisfactory explanation for us either. But we can’t do better. Call it a compulsion.”

-click photo to enlarge-

In addition to his successful advertising firm and political savvy, Gus Weill taught playwriting at Louisiana State University; he authored novels and award-winning plays; and he served for nineteen years as the host of Louisiana Public Broadcasting's Louisiana Legends Gala, honoring, among others, the subjects of sixteen Rodrigue portraits.

(pictured, official poster for the Deep South Writers Conference, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, 1981; more info here-)

-click photo to enlarge-

Today Weill lives and writes in New York City, and Rodrigue lives and paints in New Orleans and Carmel, California. Despite fond memories, the two have not seen each other in years. Rodrigue recalls,

“Gus always talked with questions, and he worked while stretched out on his couch instead of sitting behind his desk. For years, every time I saw him he’d say, ‘They never paid us for that book, did they?’”

On the book’s back inside cover, Weill includes a portrait not by Rodrigue, but by the artist/illustrator Bernie Fuchs.

What the….? I asked.

George shrugged,

“He wanted me to draw him, and I did, but he didn’t like it, so he used Bernie Fuchs’s sketch instead.

“Eventually I quit hanging out with him because he moved to New York,” he continued, laughing, “and because every Christmas I had to give him fifty prints for his friends!”

I think you misnamed this book, I replied.

You should have called it A Couple of Good Ol’ Boys.

Wendy

*about the poem at the top of this post, Weill wrote, "A few years ago on television, I saw salmon swimming upstream to die. I couldn't get over it. So I wrote a poem questioning the salmon. The poem also questions George Rodrigue and me."

*unless otherwise noted, all quotes by Gus Weill from a couple of local boys, Claitor’s Publishing Division, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1981-

-The Other Side of the Painting, a book based on this blog and published by UL Press (October 2013), is now available for pre-order; details here-

-for more art and discussion, please join me on facebook-

“I wish I’d met you 20 years ago,”

...said a tearful George Rodrigue on the phone last week with Tom “Slim” Gray of Alvin, Texas. The two became friends in Houston during the summer of 2012. They exchanged stories every Monday for nearly three months, as they sat for hours during chemotherapy.

“I just wanted to call and let you know how we feel about you,” continued George.

(pictured, Tom Gray with George Rodrigue, reconnecting last month in Houston-)

Last summer Tom was for George in many ways a lifeline, just as Tom's wife Janice was for me. In the midst of their own life’s struggle, they shined with their compassion for others.

(pictured, a coconut cake from Janice and Tom, a surprise for George when he completed his 40^th consecutive day of radiation-)

I took notes last summer as George and Tom visited, resulting in the story, “Match Race,” now revised and updated to reflect the version appearing in the book, The Other Side of the Painting, due this fall. At their request, the story also includes their real names, disguised initially to protect their privacy.

“We’ll send you Wendy’s book as soon as it comes out,” promised George. “Your name’s in the book, Slim. It’s permanent.”

Read “Match Race,” starring Janice and Tom “Slim” Gray, at this link.

“Take it easy, my friend,” said George, as he hung up the phone.

Rest in Peace, Slim.

Wendy

-Tom “Slim” Gray passed away at home in Alvin, Texas on August 19, 2013; his wife Janice and their two sons were by his side; obituary-

In 1991 George Rodrigue opened Galerie Blue Dog in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. The one-square-mile village includes cottages, restaurants, shops and galleries, all descending westward towards the beach and Pacific Ocean.

“I visited Carmel often while a student at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles during the 1960s,” recalls Rodrigue. “As long as I can remember, it was my dream to open a gallery in this seaside artist’s community.”

(pictured, Carmel Edition I, 1991, Silkscreen edition 90, 35x26 inches-)

In Rodrigue’s Louisiana style, the gallery opened with the help of his good friend, Chef Paul Prudhomme, who fed hundreds, or maybe thousands, of eager Californians during a party so popular that lines wrapped around our block. We received reservation requests for months afterwards, as folks confused the arrival of a Cajun artistwith the arrival of jambalaya and étouffée. We threw costume parties at Mardi Gras and Halloween, with George and his boys dressed as the Blues Brothers, while Sandra (see below) and I dressed as colorful cats.

In addition to Hansel-and-Gretel-type cottages and narrow, tree-lined streets, part of Carmel’s charm is its timelessness, including a lack of addresses. In 1991, having never seen the West Coast, I transferred from the Rodrigue Gallery of New Orleans and lived for six years in a tiny house on the east side of Guadalupe Street between 4^th and 5^thAvenues. Without need of a car, I walked daily the ten blocks to Galerie Blue Dog, stopping along the way to visit with friends, detouring between the coffee shop, market, and beach.

(pictured, Pony Monroe and I reminisce in 2013 at Carmel’s Rio Grill beneath an original George Rodrigue, painted on the wall in 1993; for years, Pony owned a nail salon at Junipero and 5^th, a corner I passed on foot twice daily-)

The original Galerie Blue Dog opened in 1991 on the South side of 6^thAvenue between Lincoln and Dolores Streets. A former doctor’s office, the space was long and narrow, with one small window. At the time, it was the only option available in the popular tourist’s destination. One block from the main drag of Ocean Avenue, the odd space fit us well for many years, as we joined the artist-owned galleries and family businesses that cemented Carmel’s charm.

(pictured, George Rodrigue holds a chocolate bunny mold from the mom-and-pop candy store that operated for years across the street from his first Carmel gallery location; the original Galerie Blue Dog sign hangs today on the outside wall of our studio/home, Carmel Valley; August 2013-)

I described our side of the street as “Flowers, Fruit, Dogs, Ducks and Fairies,” featuring Lilliana Braico’s pink blossoms, Loran Speck’s Renaissance-style still-lifes, George Rodrigue’s contemporary Blue Dogs, The Decoy’s hand-carved wooden ducks, and Lynn Lupetti’s dainty creatures and fairies.

In fact, Jenny Johnson, who works today full time at Rodrigue Studio in Carmel, worked first in her family’s business, The Decoy, and later for the Lynn Lupetti Gallery, both originally on our block.

(pictured, Jenny Johnson at Rodrigue Studio, now located on Dolores Street between Ocean and 7^th, Carmel-by-the-Sea, 2013; click photo to enlarge-)

It was in Carmel that Rodrigue’s famous Loup-garou first hung by my desk, selling in 1993 and finding its way, years later, back to me. In 1992 I stood in line at the Carmel Drugstore for multiple copies of The Wall Street Journal featuring a sketched Blue Dog on the front page. And in 1993, following Absolut Louisiana and Absolut Rodrigue, it was in Carmel that I witnessed the public’s shift from “What’s with this dog?” to “Hey! I know that dog!”

Also during this time, Mary Threadgill came to work for the gallery. A Certified Gemologist, Mary and her late husband, Burney, were longtime Carmel residents who raised their family here while also treating me as their own.

(pictured, Mary Threadgill celebrates twenty years with Rodrigue Studio, Carmel-by-the-Sea, 2013; click photo to enlarge-)

In Carmel I worked from the beginning with Sandra Crake, a Baton Rouge native by way of Arkansas and Texas, who remained in California until 2011, when she returned to Louisiana. Today she works at Rodrigue Studio in New Orleans, embracing, even as she misses the quaint village and golden light of Carmel-by-the-Sea, the nostalgia that accompanies her southern roots and the closeness of family.

(pictured, with Sandra Crake, in pink, and daughter Caress Crake Threadgill, far right, at the Mad Hatters Luncheon benefitting the Baton Rouge Symphony League, 2011; also pictured, Mad Hatter and retired Baton Rouge coroner, Hippolyte Landry-)

In 1998 George Rodrigue became, once again, agent-free and owner of his galleries. A change in name accompanied the legalities, and Galerie Blue Dog became Rodrigue Studio. In 2009 he relocated his Carmel gallery to a location he eyed for years, abandoning the former doctor’s office for a larger and brighter exhibition space.

(pictured, Carmel Edition II, 1996, Silkscreen edition 90, 25x21 inches-)

Today I channel the early years as my ‘olden days,’ recalling our first clients, hand-written invoices, and daily trips to Carmel Camera Center. I rehung the gallery many late nights, imagining on the following morning, as I walked from Guadalupe to Dolores, that I encountered George’s art for the first time. If I didn’t stop, stunned, I pulled the paintings from the walls, grabbed the ladder and hammer, and started again.

(pictured, George Rodrigue with Jenny Johnson and Mary Threadgill at Rodrigue Studio, Dolores Street between Ocean and 7^th, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Summer 2013; click photo to enlarge-)

I recall with sentiment, but without longing, the heavy gallery typewriter, along with Sandra’s and my excitement over the new ‘roll’ fax machine and the way, as Sandra said, we “stood on our heads” on the gallery floor, finagling a 6-foot high roll of bubble wrap and assembling wooden crates. Throughout it all, we adhered to our self-imposed 1990s gallery fashion: short skirts, high heels, and big hair.

George and I dated in Carmel between 1993 and 1997, when we married and returned to live in Louisiana. We’ve kept a home on the Monterey Peninsula ever since, visiting often over the years and returning this past spring, indefinitely.

Wendy

-visit Rodrigue Studio, now located on the West side of Dolores Street between Ocean and 7^th, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, (831) 626-4444-

-George Rodrigue serves as Featured Artist of the Carmel Art and Film Festival, October 9-13, 2013; details here-

-for more art and discussion, please join me on facebook-

"When you hit twenty-two, it changes the game..."

...said my friend, referring to her lucky number as we played our own "terrific" version of poker in between blood pressure readings, bed changes, and doctor's visits.

I'm in the hospital again, sharing life's challenges with an ill friend who, although I've taken pages of notes about a truly, as she would say, "sensational life," insists she remain anonymous, as she nurtures an elegant and abiding need for privacy.

"You're seeing the real me, Wendy, and I hope you like it; 'cause as they say, I ain't gonna change."

I'm away from George for a week now, in what may become several weeks, or months, on a life's journey we both knew only I could make ... and must. These are the times when one follows one's instincts and simply tries to do the right thing.

So, no blogging from me for a while, and limited facebook interaction. It is likely that The Other Side of the Painting will hit bookstores October 1 without me. But we'll celebrate later, and I have every intention of seeing you at confirmed dates such as the Carmel Art and Film Festival (10/9 - 10/13), Coffee and Conversation (10/16), Ogden After Hours (10/17), and the Louisiana Book Festival (11/2).

I'll be back as soon as possible, notes in hand, sharing the life and art of George Rodrigue, with a few "sensational" vignettes on the side.

Until we meet again, blessings, good health, and happiness to you all. Oh, and in case I haven't said it lately, I think you're just terrific-

Wendy

“To your book!”

…toasted George Rodrigue and son André as we perused the first copies of the finished hardcover, The Other Side of the Painting.

“I nearly forgot about it…”

…I replied, moved by their acknowledgment, as I returned that day from a long journey after visiting an ill friend back east. The book (still hard to write the words, “my book”), seemed terribly important during many months of rewrites and edits before slipping from my hands and into the printer’s.

(pictured, The Other Side of the Painting, 2013, 474 pages, UL Press; available now through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or at your favorite independent bookstore; click photo to enlarge-)

And of course, it’s not really my book. It’s a Rodrigue book, a memoir starring George, and sometimes me, and sometimes others, as the main character.

"What do you think your last name is?" interjects George, as he reads the draft for this blog post.

In addition, George Rodrigue designed the layout. The cover features a 1965 painting, completed during a studio art class while he studied at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, and blended in this updated design with the Blue Dog. Within the 474 pages are paintings and photographs, one per essay, reduced by George to black and white line drawings referencing the text.

-click photos to enlarge-

Unlike my blog, this book, although not a traditional narrative, adheres to a flow, so that even those familiar with Musings of an Artist’s Wife hopefully see the material anew. In addition, throughout this book, I reworked the original essays, applying a consistent and updated style to basic story lines, such as George’s early years in New Iberia and Lafayette, the development of his Cajun and Blue Dog paintings, and the roots of how and why we explore the visual arts both individually and together.

Within this history, the book integrates today’s Rodrigue story, including the latest from his easel, the goals within our business, the emotions behind his health issues, and our combined passion for the arts in education.

As happens in life, we scaled back the book tour in favor of local events. George and I hope to see you at the following confirmed dates:

October 16, 7:00 p.m., East Bank Regional Library, Metairie, LA

Coffee & Conversation hosted by the Jefferson Parish Library and the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival; details here-

October 17, 7:00 p.m., Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans

Ogden After Hours-

October 19, 1:00 p.m., Barnes & Noble, Metairie, LA

October 19, Evening Time TBA, Nadine Blake, New Orleans
A French Quarter reception and book signing at Nadine Blake Interior Design-

October 20, 3:00 p.m., Books Along the Teche, New Iberia

November 2, Louisiana Book Festival, Baton Rouge

Various events; details here-

November 8, 6:00 p.m., Sun Dog Books, Seaside, FL

December 4-8, Words and Music Festival, New Orleans
Hosted by the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society; details TBA

Stay tuned for additional New Orleans dates, plus a November Houston event, and a January signing at River House Books in Carmel, California. Visit this link and sign up for the Rodrigue Studio email list for updates.

(pictured, a deluxe special edition of The Other Side of the Painting, signed by George and Wendy Rodrigue, limited to 500 copies; details here-)

Although pleased with the outcome, I’m still not sure if this blog-to-book format works. My hope from the beginning with Musings of an Artist’s Wife was that the blog would attract a biographer for George. Although several writers came forward in recent years, George passed, insisting,

“The blog is my biography, especially now that it’s transferred to a book. After ten publications, I’ve learned a lot about these projects. A biographer stepping in now would begin from nothing.

“Wendy’s right here, on this journey with me for nearly twenty-five years. For me this was the natural way to go. She covers my life in the accurate way of a biographer, but with the personal access available only to her as my wife.”

To George, both the blog and book tell his story, and our story, in a non-traditional, refreshing format. And, because the journey is ongoing, maybe that’s good enough for now.

Wendy

-pictured above, from the endsheets, photographed and designed by George Rodrigue-

-all proceeds from The Other Side of the Painting benefit the arts and education programs of the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts. This includes not only the regular edition available at your favorite bookstore, but also a special signed and numbered boxed edition, available only through Rodrigue Studio. Buy here-

-this fall, see a book-related exhibition of paintings and photographs from our personal collection, premiering November 2, 2013 at the State Library of Louisiana during the Louisiana Book Festival, Baton Rouge; details here-

-for more art and discussion, please join me on facebook-

It’s twenty-five years since George Rodrigue last drank alcohol,* and yet he was part of one of the most successful stories in advertising history, promoting a vodka.

“Even when I did drink,” laughs the artist, “it was always bourbon or wine. I never liked vodka.”

(pictured, Absolut Rodrigue, 1993, one of three paintings created by George Rodrigue for Michel Roux and Carillon Importers, Ltd.; click photo to enlarge-)

Rodrigue’s reasons for participating in the famous Absolut Art Campaign had nothing to do with promoting alcohol. Rather, like the Xerox Campaign of 2000, he found the art and advertising synthesis tempting and, from the beginning, impossible to pass up.

Absolut Art aligned Rodrigue, through Carillon Importer’s Michel Roux, with the advertising tradition he embraced at the Art Center College of Design in the 1960s and, more important, with the art tradition started in 1985 by Roux and Andy Warhol.

“It was Roux’s longtime friendship with world-renowned Andy Warhol that fostered the creative genius behind the 1985 ‘Absolut Warhol’ ad campaign. This was the first time a marketing campaign was focused around art.” –from the M.P. Roux website-

(pictured, George Rodrigue and Michel Roux, 1992, New Orleans; click photo to enlarge-)

For years, even prior to the Blue Dog paintings, Rodrigue walked a line regarding commercialization within his art. With his Cajun paintings, he illustrated cookbooks, printed thousands of festival posters, and produced Jolie Blonde Beer.

With the Blue Dog, he proceeds cautiously, avoiding products and mass-production of his art, rationalizing otherwise commercial ventures, such as posters for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, labels for Amuse Bouche Wine, and on-going publishing projects, with an adherence to art traditions.

In the case of Absolut Art, this happened by accident, as Rodrigue painted for an audience at the request of his friend Paul Prudhommeduring the chef’s hometown festival.

“When I first met Michel Roux," recalls Rodrigue, "I didn’t know who he was; he was just someone else in the crowd, under a tent in the Opelousas town square. At the end of the 3-day weekend, I loaded my painting, a triptych of three giant dog heads, in my truck, having no idea what was about to happen.

“Michel Roux approached me in the parking lot, hoping to buy the canvases for Carillon Importers as the artwork representing Absolut Louisiana. I knew the Warhol campaign but had my own ideas for the imagery, creating a new design over the next several weeks, incorporating an alligator and oak treewith the Blue Dog and bottle, which I included as a vase for flowers rather than a container for alcohol.”

(pictured, Absolut Louisiana, 1992 by George Rodrigue; click photo to enlarge-)

Absolut Louisianaappeared full page in USA Today in the fall of 1992. The four hundred prints sold out in a matter of hours, with all proceeds benefiting the American Cancer Society. It was touted at the time as the most successful image of the Absolut Statehood Campaign, with most prints sold at 30,000 feet, from airplane telephones.

Following this success, Roux commissioned Absolut Rodrigue, pictured at the top of this post, an image featured multiple times in nearly every major U.S. and international magazine beginning in 1993 and continuing for several years following.

Rodrigue and Roux became friends during this whirlwind campaign, and when Carillon Importers launched Royalty Vodka in 1995, Roux approached the artist again. His Three Masterpieces was a natural, combining Roux’s blue vodka with Rodrigue’s Blue Dog and Gainsborough’s Blue Boy (1770), all revealed on canvas behind a curtain.

(pictured, Three Masterpieces, 1995 by George Rodrigue, 60x48 inches; click photo to enlarge-)

Although the vodka fell through, the painting premiered, along with the Blue Dog Hog and the landmark book, Blue Dog, in the fall of 1995 at a Rodrigue exhibition at The Time is Always Now Gallery in New York’s SOHO. I recall Three Masterpieces appearing almost small, yet holding its own, in the warehouse-type space filled with Rodrigue’s giant Blue Dog canvases, some as large as 8x12 feet, his first works at that scale.

Rodrigue’s artwork for Michel Roux and Carillon Importers is a highlight in his career. The campaigns place him in an art tradition that includes not only Andy Warhol, but also Keith Haring, Ed Ruscha, and many others, culminating in a permanent exhibition and tribute to the blending of art and advertising at The Museum of Spirits in Stockholm, Sweden.

Wendy

*Rodrigue gave up alcohol in the late 1980s after he was diagnosed with hepatitis brought on by breathing in paint varnishes; story here-

-George and I hope to see you on tour this fall; new dates posted here-

-for more art and discussion, please join me on facebook-

The George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts (GRFA) announces its fifth annual Art Contest, a partnership with the Audubon Nature Institute. This statewide opportunity for scholarships and other awards benefits Louisiana’s high school juniors and seniors, all eligible for entry, regardless of grades or college plans.

“As a student at Catholic High School in New Iberia,” explains George Rodrigue, “I was never the best academically. But I created art, and I had original ideas. At the time, there were no art classes in school. In fact, I was thrown out of class many times for drawing!”

-click photo to enlarge-

(pictured, Blue Dogs and Cajuns on the River, 2011 by George Rodrigue; story here-)

Yet Rodrigue went on to study art at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, followed by the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. For forty-five years he’s made a living with his paintings, beginning with his dark landscapes of the late 1960s. Through his foundation and its scholarship contest, he shares this success with Louisiana’s students, focusing this year on the same subject that launched his career.

(pictured: Rodrigue still paints Louisiana Landscapes, such as Low Tide, 2009, 15x30 inches; click photo to enlarge-)

Louisiana’s landscape is a natural wonder defined by waterways, animals and plant-life. Throughout the state, oaks, cypress, magnolias and other varieties shade country roads, swampland and neighborhoods. Azaleas, irises, and water lilies add bursts of color in parks and alongside bayous, home to alligators, snakes, and hundreds of species of fish, frogs and insects.

(pictured, Atchafalaya Basin Squaw, 1984 by George Rodrigue; click photo to enlarge-)

Within Louisiana’s history and folklore, trees protected early settlers, including Native Americans at Poverty Point and, centuries later, Cajuns along the Bayou Teche, from sun and rain. Longfellow’s Evangeline waited for her Gabriel beneath a famous oak in St. Martinville, Louisiana.

(pictured, Evangeline on the Azalea Trail, circa 1975 by George Rodrigue; click photo to enlarge-)

Politicians, such as Governors Huey Long and Earl Long, campaigned for office beneath similar trees in Baton Rouge and Shreveport. And artist George Rodrigue returned home to Louisiana following art school in California to paint the oaks and coulees of New Iberia and Lafayette.

(pictured, George Rodrigue, 1971, Lafayette, Louisiana; click photo to enlarge-)

For early settlers, moss from live oaks and cypress trees filled mattresses, while the wood became houses, boats and furniture. Since the beginning, the trees are home to Louisiana’s distinctive insects, birds and other wildlife.

(pictured, The First Cajuns, from George Rodrigue's Saga of the Acadians, 1984-1989; click photo to enlarge-)

Located within New Orleans, Louisiana’s Audubon Park best represents this history. Once a sugar plantation and Civil War site, the park boasts a wide range of plant life and animals, as well as trees more than 100 years old, including the de Boré Oak of 1740.

Named for the great wildlife artist and naturalist, John James Audubon (1785-1851), who painted many of his famous images of birds while living in Louisiana’s West Feliciana Parish, Audubon Park became the preserved green space we know today through the work of John Charles Olmsted (1852-1920), whose family firm also developed New York’s Central Park.

(pictured, an early photo of Audubon Park-)

Upon his arrival in St. Francisville, Louisiana in 1821, John James Audubon admired the area’s natural beauty. He wrote,

“The rich magnolias covered with fragrant blossoms, the holly, the beech, the tall yellow poplar, the hilly ground and even the red clay, all excited my admiration.”

Without city funding, Audubon Park depends on proceeds from other Audubon facilities, including the zoo, aquarium and insectarium. To protect the park long term, the Audubon Nature Institute established Olmsted Renewed, a fundraising campaign that “supports the care and preservation of existing trees; the planting of new trees and other natural landscaping; and the maintenance of existing structures throughout the Park.” (from the Audubon Institute website)

(pictured, City Park, New Orleans, circa 1989 by George Rodrigue; click photo to enlarge-)

The George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts and the Audubon Institute invite this year’s applicants to explore Louisiana’s Natural Beauty. The artistic approach can be historical, contemporary, or imaginary in its conception, with interpretations ranging from a traditional Louisiana landscape to an exploration of indigenous plant and animal life, or even a fanciful tableau.

(pictured, George Rodrigue, photographed September 2013 with Creatures, a one-of-a-kind artwork on metal from his private collection, blending a typical Rodrigue-style Louisiana oak tree with his loup-garou-based Blue Dog and his favorite movie-monster, Creature from the Black Lagoon; more history here-)

In addition to scholarships and prizes, as in past years, the finalists’ original artworks tour Louisiana on public display to various locations such as the Louisiana Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge, the Masur Museum of Art in Monroe, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans.

The Grand Prize Winner works with artist George Rodrigue to create a poster based on their original artwork, sold at Audubon locations, including the zoo, aquarium, butterfly garden and insectarium, benefiting Olmsted Renewed, the Audubon Institute, and the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts.

George and I look forward to meeting the finalists, their families, and art teachers next spring at a luncheon in their honor, presented by our 2014 sponsor, Chevron Corporation, at the Audubon Tea Room in New Orleans.

Wendy

-Deadline for entries: Feb. 12, 2014. Learn more about the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts (GRFA), including its Scholarship Art Contest, Print Donation Program, and Louisiana A+ Schools, at this link-

-George Rodrigue and I hope to see you this fall, as we present lectures and book signings benefiting GRFA and its programs; details here-

-for more art and discussion, please join me on facebook-

‘Round about, round about,

Lo and behold!

Reel away, reel away,

Straw into gold!’*

All my life, I’ve been drawn to women older and wiser. I like to imagine my grandmothers, although long gone, as young girls, and I stare hard into the faces of friends, some now in their 80s, sure that I see youth, even child-like innocence, in their eyes, even as I value their advice and experience.

(pictured, Spinning Cotton in Erath, 1977 by George Rodrigue, oil on canvas, 30x40 inches; click photo to enlarge-)

I wrote in The Other Side of the Painting about Gladys, an elderly woman I befriended by chance at the grocery store while a student in San Antonio in the mid-1980s. I read carefully several years ago George’s mother’s day-by-day account of his parents’ courtship, recorded within her diary during the mid-1920s. And I recall often for young women a story from my own stockpile of wisdom, recounting my Granny Wolfe’s reaction to a romantic break-up not long before George and I began dating:

“But you’re twenty-five! Who’s going to want you now?”

Although I laugh today about the scene and its meaning, at the time, I caused my grandmother great distress, as I refused to do as she asked and,

“Call him! Beg him! Make him take you back!”

Nevertheless, I weighed her advice carefully, respecting the opinion that came from her 101 years.

George Rodrigue also embraces this wisdom. He preserves these scenes within paintings, illustrating his mother’s 1924 school class and other early snapshots, such as Boudreaux in a Barrel, elucidated in his own way from the tiny black and white photographs in Marie Courrege Rodrigue’s album. He also appreciates these scenes from other Cajun families, recreating them on his canvas within family portraits and paintings of nineteenth and early twentieth century Acadian life.

(pictured, Theresa Meyers Dronet and her mother, Anaise Landry Meyers; 512 East Edwards Street, Erath, Louisiana; photograph circa 1939; collection The Acadian Museum-)

“General Dronet of Erath brought me a photograph some thirty-five years ago of his grandmother and great-grandmother,” recalls Rodrigue. “He asked me to consider a painting of this important slice of Acadian history. I saw immediately that this was an iconic image, and I reinterpreted it in my Cajun style.”

Warren Perrin, Co-founder of The Acadian Museum and Past-President of CODOFIL (Council for the Development of French in Louisiana) recalls Madame Dronet, who...

"...sold her unique textiles from her home to help support her family. From her dedication to the precious cultural craft, Col. Dronet acquired an early appreciation of his ancestral roots.”

George Rodrigue grew up an only child; however, he was part of an elderly and large extended family, with older parents who were each the youngest of their combined twenty-six siblings.

(pictured, the Courrege brothers and sisters on the lawn of the house built by George Rodrigue, Sr.; George's mother, Marie Courrege Rodrigue, who lived to be 103, sits far left; New Iberia, Louisiana, 1955; click photo to enlarge-)

It was the fading Acadiana, as remembered by his parents, aunts and uncles, that Rodrigue preserved, beginning in the late 1960s, on his canvas. This includes not only genre scenes from photographs, but also imaginary scenes, particularly of Louisiana landscapes, as idealized by a Cajun artist’s eye.

(pictured, Landscape with Cabin and Oak, 1970 by George Rodrigue, oil on canvas, 30x36 inches; click photo to enlarge-)

In a sense, Rodrigue inserts his own ancestral wisdom and unique vision onto his canvas just as a spinner might within a quilt.

Dronet describes his grandmother Therese Meyers Dronet (b. 1871) as “the best-known Acadian textile artisan” who “learned to spin and weave by candlelight from her grandmother at the early age of eight.”

“While her mother, Anaise, would ‘card’ the cotton, Therese would spin the yarn on the spinning wheel, as had been done by the Acadians for two centuries.

“She produced an extensive and handsome collection, including bedspreads ‘courte pointe,’ rugs, blankets, quilts and handbags. Her pride and personal preference, however, was the ‘courte pointe’ (bedspread) expemplified by the ‘cross and diamond’ in a cordonne, boutonne work-syle.

“In 1929, a ‘courte pointe’ woven by Madame J.B. Dronet was included in a gift of Acadian textiles presented to the nation’s First Lady, Mrs. Herbert Hoover.”

-from A Century of Acadian Culture, The Development of a Cajun Community: Erath (1899-1999) by General Curney J. Dronet, The Acadian Heritage and Culture Foundation, Inc., 2000

(pictured, The Patchwork Gift, 1978 by George Rodrigue, oil on canvas, 5x7 feet; click here for more info-)

“Goose quill toothpicks, Wendy, that’s what I need!” declared a wise friend recently, her eyes sparkling like a young girl's.

Where do I find them?

“Look up ‘apothecary’ on your iPhone.”

“And while you’re at it,” she continued, “find me an old-fashioned doctor.... one with real experience!”

I’ll do my best, I promised, even as I knew that, like the early spinners, we’d have better luck finding such a doctor on George’s canvas than we would on google.

Wendy

*"Rumpelstiltskin," from Children’s and Household Tales, 1812 by the Brothers Grimm-

-pictured above, Doctor on the Bayou, 1982 by George Rodrigue, 40x30 inches; more info here-

-join artist George Rodrigue in Lafayette on Oct. 20, 2013 for Franco-Fete, benefiting the CODOFIL Escadrille Louisiane scholarship program; details and tickets here-

-in the book, The Cajuns of George Rodrigue (1975, Oxmoor House), Rodrigue interprets these Cajun scenes not only with imagery, but also with descriptive text written in both French and English; learn more here-

-for more art and discussion, please join me on facebook-

Blue Dog at the Movies

The Breaux Bridge Band

Footnote (He Stopped Loving Her Today)

Rodrigue Collaborates

Shiny Happy Blue Dog

Living in the Spotlight

Intermission

Walker Percy (The Impossible Dream)

My Blues Brothers

Rodeo Drive

Rocky Mountain Blues

A Blessed Life (An Irish Angel)

Gus Weill and George Rodrigue (a couple of local boys)

Tom "Slim" Gray

Galerie Blue Dog, Carmel

Lucky 22

A New Rodrigue Book

Absolut Blue Dog

Louisiana’s Natural Beauty: An Art Contest with the Audubon Institute

Spinning Wisdom