Landlocked Pirogues & Blue Dog’s Eyes (The Art of Improvisation)

“People are moving in time and in history, in a pirogue, on land…”  …wrote George Rodrigue in 1975 about his painting, John Courrege’s Pirogue. The painting is one of seventy-eight images featured in the book The Cajuns of George Rodrigue, the first book published nationally on the Cajun culture (Oxmoor House, 1976, detailed here).  FromContinue reading “Landlocked Pirogues & Blue Dog’s Eyes (The Art of Improvisation)”

Aunt Wendy and the Cones

It was five years ago that our nephews, age four and six, summoned me from the kitchen where, while cooking dinner, I strained my ears towards their whispers in the den.  What on earth?,  I thought, imagining the content of this intense powwow: How do we change Aunt Wendy’s mind about Transformers?  How does the tooth fairyContinue reading “Aunt Wendy and the Cones”

Crawfish Dreams and Artist Friends

George Rodrigue loves crawfish primarily as a symbol of Cajun culture.  The shellfish itself is deadly to him, inducing a closed throat and limited breathing. “Soon after I did my crawfish festival poster, I developed practically overnight an allergy to crawfish.  Even the smell of the boil leaves me wheezing and my wife running forContinue reading “Crawfish Dreams and Artist Friends”