Realizing that the natural and cultural beauty of Lafourche Parish and South Louisiana has been generally unnoticed by it’s citizenry, in April of 2005, I determined to do a one-man show in order to display a photographic documentation of cultural and historical landmarks along Highway 1 between the city of Thibodaux and a point at the end of the road known as Grand Island, Louisiana. The arrangements for the show had already been made; it would be hosted by the Wetland’s Acadian Cultural Center, Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve, Thibodaux, Louisiana in October of that year.
I realized that most South Louisiana city residents were aware (at some dubious, but dull level) of those cultural and natural features, but – as an artist – I wanted my photographs to make the viewer literally confront and engage these points of interest, so to speak. To actually focus on them – to spend a few minutes absorbing them, and paying attention to them, to see them in a way that a casual motor trip, or fishing expedition “down the bayou” might not afford. Why? Because I believe it is the privilege and responsibility of the artist to cause the viewer to “see” the world in a different way – to appreciate what is, and perhaps has been there all the time, but maybe he has just not noticed.
I, myself, have little or no formal art training. I can draw pretty well. I always could. I never took lessons; it was just something I could always do – a discovery I made as a child. At the age of 15, I began working for the local newspaper, The Houma Courier, drawing items for advertisements.
I got encouragement in my early artistic endeavors by winning a few ribbons in the only available outlet to artists at the time: The Terrebonne Parish Fair and Rodeo, Houma LA. As part of that fair, there was a division for art. In the student division, I would always manage to win a few ribbons. And it was there, in Houma, Louisiana, that I met an elderly, short, enthusiastic, very talkative French gentleman named Allen Bourgeois who had won blue ribbons repeatedly in the adult division. Mr. Bourgeois was a gifted artist and a very kind old man; he would explain to me by the hour how he had created his paintings, which I marveled at as a child, and still do as an adult today. He had a story for each artwork, and was more than happy to share it with me. I especially loved the stories about how he had painted something; because I could try that technique or method when I got home to my brushes. He worked in oils; I worked in tempera – and was too young and inexperienced to appreciate the difference. Nonetheless, still to this day, I find myself trying to “pull off” something that I admired at the time in one of Mr. Bourgeois’ paintings. He is deceased by many years, but I hope he can smile at my less than accomplished imitations.
Today, I paint in watercolor, casein (milk-based paint), and fixed guazzo (permanent gouache), egg tempera, pen & ink, acrylic, and oil, ink, charcoal, as well as the old French school technique: conté crayon. I create sculpture in Papier Mache which is then over-painted with acrylics.
Many years went by, before I meet the next major influence on my artist life. Oh, yes, I have been drawing and painting during the interim. But, it was at this point that I encountered Miss Lula Ameen. Besides being a nationally recognized watercolorist, Lula was the art teacher in the next-door classroom at Central Lafourche High School in Matthews, Louisiana. She was an excellent teacher; she insisted that the students learn the fundamentals and rudiments of art – before they pursued wild and crazy, “soup-can,” Warhol-ish endeavors. “Once you prove to me that you understand the very basics of composition, color use, etc,” she would say, “then you can do whatever outlandish and bizarre things your imagination inspires.”
I was the choral director whose classroom was just next-door. Lula and I contrived several joint projects combining the choral students and the art students. We taught together at Central Lafourche High School for about eight years; then we both taught (down the hall neighbors again) at the nearby university, Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, Louisiana.
Just by being around Lula and her influence, listening to her critique student’s efforts, and discussing the correlations between art and music, I learned a lot from Miss Ameen, as she was known.
Lula, unfortunately, died unexpectedly during a hospital test. The Gallery at Nicholls State University is named after her – though almost no one on the faculty today remembers her, or even knows who she was, or why the Gallery was named after her. And as typical of the University’s characteristic indifference, there is no plaque on the walls -- not a clue as to why the gallery might be named for her.
And from my experience with Lula, I believe she would not be pleased with what hangs today in the gallery named after her. She would quickly perceive that fundamentals are no longer being taught or learned, and that the faculty is as guilty as the students on that issue. Lula would have shown them her slide show of Picasso’s early painting: very realistic, almost photograph, gorgeous paintings. She would say: “Now when you can do that, you’ve earned the right to break and ignore the rules; but you must know and be able to apply the rules, first.”
It is probably good that Lula never lived to see the despicable, psuedo-artistic fakes who have taken over the art world – as adjudicators, community art-teachers, and overrated professors on college campuses. They have little or no talent themselves. Most of them have no drawing ability, and have never developed the self-discipline to learn those very fundamentals and rudiments in which Miss Ameen so strongly believed. Obviously they cannot teach what they, themselves, have not learned.
What they have done is created a slimy, self-promoting, sub-culture in the world of art – one in which those who lack real talent and a clear understanding of the fundamentals, reward each other. They slither themselves into so called positions of authority (teaching, judging, etc.) and then attempt to validate the pitiful and shameful attempts of others like themselves. Throw paint at the wall…stick feathers in it…paint with your eyes closed…throw in some junk metal and some Mardi gras beads…and some moss…make juvenile scribbles on the paper…imitate excrement…”Wonderful !” -- They say.
“Shameful,” I say.
Ever attend an art show when you wonder why the judge chose to give ribbons and awards to every piece of garbage in the show – while neglecting the really wonderful paintings, seemingly on purpose? Well, now you probably know the motive: Crap artist – validating other crap in a blatant attempt to convince the general public that what is pure garbage is “great art.” How ridiculous. And the undereducated public wonders in the spirit of self-examination, what is wrong with them? Why don’t they get it? They quickly admonish themselves for “not knowing very much about art.” They confess that they really liked the paintings with the cow and the green grass – the ones when “you could tell what it was.”
Those who can truly paint realistically, who have studied and learned and applied the basics rules of composition, color values, harmony, etc., just shake their heads in disgust. Why should the art show judge give ribbons to the ugliest, most childish and amateurish efforts? The “soup can” art? Why is it that judges seem to always ignore the really beautifully painted landscapes, still-life's, and portraits, they wonder? Well, fellow artists, perhaps now you have the answer: A sub-culture of artistic mediocrity, promoting mediocrity in the name of creativity. Oh yes, we all want to encourage creativity – but it does not mean we totally discard the fundamentals and rudiments that have served us well since the time of Brunelleschi and Michangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. Oh yes, “creativity” is a worthy goal, but it should never serve as an excuse for artistic malfeasance.
For that, I am very, very grateful for Lula’s influence. When I paint, I can sometimes feel her presence over my shoulder – and on a few occasions, I think she might have been pleased. I dedicated my very first solo art show at the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center, Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve, in Thibodaux, LA – to her memory.
Many years ago, I took a basic design course 101 in college with an instructor named Orville Hanchey at Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, Louisiana. It was a wonderful course – very well organized and structured to stress the fundamentals and basics of compositional design. I thoroughly enjoyed the class and felt like I learned a great deal from it.
Years later, while on vacation and a return trip to Natchitoches, I learned that the university’s art gallery had been named after the long deceased Mr. Hanchey. So I made a point of dropping by the gallery for old times sake. There was a faculty produced art show on at the time. Mr. Hanchey, who once walked so tall and proud, would be bent over in shame to see what was displayed in the very gallery named after him. Those poor, pitiful faculty produced representations that they had the nerve to call “art” clearly trashed all of the values and fundamentals Mr. Hanchey had spent a lifetime trying to teach. It was clearly a case of the blind trying to influence, and to procreate artistic ineptness.
It is strange to see indeed, how uneducated, uninformed, self-promoting proponents of artistic mediocrity have disgraced both the Orville Hanchey Gallery and the Lula Ameen Gallery. At best, they have done so out of ignorance, at worst, theirs represents the contrived attempts to replicate their own personal disdain for our true artistic legacy, and to promote and reward their own self-achieved levels of ineptness.
Now, like old Mr. Bourgeois, I’ve gotten carried away with my story (most of us Cajuns do). But I am coming to the point about my photographs and paintings: In April of 2005 when I set off down Highway 1, from Thibodaux to Grand Isle, little did I realize that the photos that I would take would become particularly important. Why? Well, as you may recall, on August 29th of that very year, Hurricane Katrina struck the Louisiana coast. Katrina was one of the six strongest, and five deadliest storms in the history of the United States. That 1,836 people died and the devastation to the below sea level town of New Orleans is well documented. What is less widely known is that there was tremendous damage to the Louisiana coast: Grand Isle was particularly hard hit as well as the lower parts of Lafourche and neighboring Terrebonne and Saint Bernard, and Saint Mary parishes. The city of Chalmette, through which runs the infamous “Mr. Go” waterway (Mississippi River Gulf Outlet) was particularly hard hit. Mr. Go had been created by the U.S. Corps of Engineers to accommodate oil tankers. In addition to the devastation caused by Katrina’s winds and resultant tidal surge, Saint Bernard parish also endured the collapse of refinery oil tanks owned by Murphy Oil company.
The bridge at Grand Isle was destroyed and had to be rebuilt. Fishing camps and homes as well as the sandy beach, itself were demolished. The island, itself fortunately, remained essentially intact, and is – to this day – the only inhabited barrier island off the Louisiana coastline.
My photographic exhibit entitled “Take Highway 1 South from Thibodaux to Grand Isle, Louisiana” was an especially big success with the local population who were anxious to see and remember the beauty of those areas before Katrina took her toll.
In April of that year, I had never personally seen the sand dunes on the beaches of Grand Island look more beautiful; after August 29 and Katrina; I had never seen them look worse.
Between August 2005 and 11:00 PM CDT, April 20, 2010, Grand Island had been making a steady comeback from Katrina. The beaches were almost beautiful again. Camps, homes, roads and bridges had been rebuilt and tourism was beginning to return. But at 11 pm on April 20, 2010 all that suddenly changed with the explosion and subsequent sinking of the deep water drilling rig, British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon. Within hours, the worse oil spill and ecological disaster in U. S. History had begun – only 41 miles from Grand Island.
It was bad enough that 11 oil field workers, employees of BP (British Petroleum) died instantly. Seventeen others were seriously injured.
The explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig began the worst ongoing offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on record. It is now considered the largest environmental disaster in U. S. History.
From the outset, Grand Islanders knew this was going to adversely affect their island, and it’s natural beauty and ecology. And sure enough, it was only a matter of days before the hastily erected oil booms failed to prevent the nasty, oily gunk from fowling the sandy beaches of the island, killing many pelicans (Louisiana's State Bird), assorted birds, and seafood in the process. Soon after, the Department of Fish & Wildlife began closing the waters to oyster fisherman, and shrimpers and commercial fisherman. Soon, no one wanted to hire a deep sea fishing boat…and, as of this writing, June 10, 2010, it is unsure how successful the Grand Island Tarpon rodeo (established in 1928) will be -- under the circumstances.
Soon after the initial blast, the Island experienced an onslaught of political and media personalities vying for nightly TV placement in the 24 hour news cycle. President Obama has made three visits to Grand Island to reassure the population of the Gulf Coast that his administration was there to support them. One of his many photo opportunities even shows him eating crawfish (not a Gulf of Mexico creature) and shrimp. CNN’s Anderson Cooper broadcast nightly – “just keeping them honest”… (good luck with BP on that…) and Rachael Madow, one of the brightest minds on TV news, appeared on Grand Island in an effort to inform the country of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. History. Keith Oberman added his voice to the presence of MSNBC news on the matter, taking immediate issue with the way government inspections and regulations had failed to be enforced under the W. Bush administration. Oberman explained that the paid inspectors and “enforcers” in the employment of the MMS (Minerals Management Service) during the Bush Administration had not only failed to enforce the regulations they were Federally obligated to enforce, but were shamefully taking bribes from oil field executives, sleeping with oil field executives, doing drugs with oil field executives – the very ones they were overseeing.
Politicians like Louisiana’s, Charlie Melancon, U.S. House of Representatives, appeared on countless news programs representing the state of Louisiana and registering his objections to Louisiana Senator David Vitter's attempts to provide financial projection for British Petroleum -- and Vitter's attempts to limit the amount of compensation they might have to pay citizens of Louisiana -- as well as the Gulf Coast. Only the most radical politician, Sarah Palin, would shout “Drill, Baby Drill !” at such a time – and she did: she added insult to injury, spit in the face of Louisianans by insensitively promoting Arctic Drilling in Alaska at the very time of this growing disaster.
If anyone was “acting” with more purist political motivation than Ms. Palin, it had to be the Louisiana Governor, Mr. Piyush “Bobby” Jindal. He proposed building reefs of sand out in front of the Louisiana beaches to contain the oil spill. He did this so cleverly as to never admit that the oil containment booms that BP had hastily erected (but not maintained) were doing little or not good whatsoever. He then insisted that the Coast Guard approve his plan, and that the President and Congress fund It.
Problem is that even at such a critical time, it was already too late to consider such a fantasy. Oh, yes the U.S. Coast Guard eventually approved part of it, and the Obama Administration agreed in part to finance it – but the oil spill, as nasty as it was – was already washing up on the shores of the Gulf Coast – including Grand Island and the Louisiana coast line.
Tar balls began washing up on the beaches as far east as Pensacola, Florida as British Petroleum security “thugs” tried to prevent US news media from filming the mess, the dead pelicans and sick, oil covered birds. BP knew that toxic crude oil covering already endangered pelicans, the Louisiana State Bird, would not be good publicity.
At the same time, their CEO, Tony Hayward, was creating enough bad publicity by failing to assure the US Public that BP had things under control. And, after numerous botched attempts to cap the blown out well with its continuous flow of toxic crude oil, Hayward made the faux pas of all time: he made the mistake of saying to a news reported that “he wanted his life back” – which was not taken too well by the survivors of the eleven men whose lives were lost in the initial Deepwater Horizon explosion. Even BP’s stock--which seemed to take an immediate tumble--was rallying under assurances from their CEO, Tony Hayward, that the company would survive this without missing a beat.
President Obama almost immediately demanded an investigation into the causes of the incident, and shut down all off shore drilling until some answers and reasonable assurances about public safety could be made. Many who are concerned about the livelihood of those who are employed by offshore drilling, tried to characterize Obama’s move as a mistake. Those who were adversely affected by the disaster were already negatively economically impacted: those who fished, trawled for shrimp, crabs, or sought oysters; hotel owners on Grand Isle and along the coast, Charter Fishing Boats, Restaurants, and the entire travel and tourism industry and it’s support staff.
Some life goes on as usual in Louisiana – in inland cities like Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Houma, and Thibodaux. Bollinger Shipyards, heavily invested in the Republican Culture, seem to continue to flourish. Even BP’s stock which seemed to take an immediate tumble was rallying under assurances from their CEO, Tony Hayward, that the company would survive this without missing a beat.
In August of 2006, Thibodaux Regional Medical Center undertook a 77 million dollar facility expansion project which included the addition of the Heart and Vascular Center. When decorating the main entrance to the Center, the hospital wanted to use artwork which espoused it's philosophy of serving and including all the citizens of Lafourche Parish. It was a unanimous decision on the part of Greg Stock, the Hospital's CEO, Marie Falgoust, interior designer & consultant, and Charles White, Chief Project Decorator of Skyline Art Co LTD, LLP, of Houston, to acquire six of my photographs which take the viewer on a symbolic journey from Thibodaux to it's Southernmost city, Grand Isle. Those photographs which hang today are a photographic, artistic, welcome wagon for patients and their families. These six photographs, which depict landmark scenes beginning in Thibodaux and proceeding along Louisiana Highway 1 to end in Grand Isle, have been a source of ongoing interest: I have received numerous phone calls and visits from hospital people who have seen them, wanting to purchase prints of those photographs for themselves -- or just to reminisce, or relate to a particular scene which resonated with them.
As for me? An artist and a photographer. Well, there is not much inspiring natural beauty left on the Louisiana coastline these days. Certainly not on Grand Island. I am very, very glad that I was able to capture the beautiful sandy dunes of the beach, and the natural beauty of the marsh lands when I did back in 2005. I am glad to be able to share these scenes via photographs and paintings with you through this web site. I hope you will take this opportunity to bring to your home some our Cajun scenery and hospitality. We’d love for you to come and visit us – but it might be better if you wait a few years. If you do come, let me advise that you stay out of the water.
Fortunately, there are many, many other scenic wonders here in the Low-Bayou Country for us artist to enjoy and capture with camera and paintbrush. So for those of you who have never had a chance to travel and stay with us, I have included a section on this site which depicts some of my favorite scenes from the South Louisiana Low-Bayou-Country. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed preparing them for you.
Finally, Thanks for reading through this, and listening to my artist’s statement. If you like what you see and read here, I would be delighted if you would like to place a link to my website on your own website. And in true Cajun style, I’ll be happy to put a reciprocal link to your website on mine. Just let me know.
Sincerely,
Dan Junot
www.GrandIsleLouisianaArt.com
danjunot@bellsouth.net 