I am so fortunate to get to do what I love for a living, but getting to meet & become friends with other talented artists is an amazing perk! A few have become very good friends, so much so that I joined forces for three weeks of shows with JJ from Goldyfish Handbags. It can get costly & lonely on the road so having friends like her made it a super fun experience! We started in Memphis, TN for the River Arts Festival , the Gulf Coast Art Festival in Pensacola, FL and ending in Covington, LA at the Three Rivers Art Festival.
Don’t think it was all play & no work however…we both brought our supplies & got plenty of work done between shows. When we needed a break we took some adventures to learn more about the places we were.
First things first! If I’m leaving for 3 weeks, I’m going to need 3 weeks worth of stuff!! Don’t worry though, JJ had plenty of room for my extra stuff, so it was only this packed until I got to Memphis!
Both of us busy at work in Pensacola, FL! It rained most of our stay, so we weren’t tempted by the beach….until the last day!
Just a quick shot from my booth…not a bunch of time, this was just a small break in the crowd!
We got to visit the beach on our last night in Pensacola….it REALLY was that cold!! I think we lasted about 30 minutes.
What does the end of the road look like? We wanted to find out so we drove South waaaaaaay past New Orleans to see what we could find. It was the Sea. And oil refineries. But it was a fun adventure for us. Sadly, we later found out that there used to be a road to Pilottown but that Southern Louisiana’s landscape has been changing rapidly.
More proof of working on the road!!! The piece to the right was a commission based on a previous piece-the difference being they requested 3 baby snails atop the parent snail.
This is one of my favorite tours to do in Louisiana. I just love swamps & boats. Now I will mention that early November has been beautiful weather wise for this, I couldn’t imagine doing this in August!! But it’s just an absolutely mystical feeling down there.
This is the other reason I love the swamp tours!!! Now, I admit it’s different when these critters live so far away….but on vacation, they’re adorable! We learned the wild pig is responsible for a tremendous amount of destruction to the trees, destroying them at their roots as they forage for food.
I saved the most impactful experience for last. We drove to the Lower 9th Ward to see how it was doing since the devastating Katrina flood. I’m sad to say it’s only just begun. Nothing near where it needs to be. But there ARE improvements. There are still large areas of grass - what was clearly a neighborhood that has yet to be rebuilt. There are a few houses/structures that are still standing in good condition, but several new structures are being built to fill those empty voids. We discovered the Lower 9th Ward Living Museum which was an absolutely amazing experience. It is NOT a Katrina Museum. I can’t recommend it enough. Rarely do you get the opportunity to see AND hear the oral history through the eyes of its denizens. There are pictures from the neighborhoods tenants-and let me tell you-it’s powerful. It shows a history of the neighborhood with only a fraction dealing with Katrina, it’s mostly how the lower 9th came to be. It runs on volunteers & donations. The volunteers were amazing. Again, I can’t recommend it enough.
Random boat in the road. Lower 9th Ward Living Museum entrance. Some newly built homes.
Now with all of those shows & adventures done, it’s time to head home again to get ready for the next show!
I promise I was in the passenger seat when I took this picture. Up ahead is New Orleans & we are driving over Lake Pontchartrain, the lake that broke the levies and flowed into the Lower 9th.
Always use your turn signals & check your mirrors! Safe driving everyone!!
Until next time!