Why do we give? I wonder a bit at the designation, “Giving Tuesday” following Thanksgiving, since every day is an opportunity to give and to better our world! So, instead of asking for help on behalf of the Life & Legacy Foundation, I am GIVING thanks to those individuals and entities that provided much-needed funding,Continue reading “The Spirit of Giving”
Category Archives: New Iberia
Walk With Me to the Future
It was while bedridden with polio that George Rodrigue (1944-2013) discovered painting. Unable to walk, and highly contagious with a disease feared by parents everywhere, he remained at home throughout much of the third grade with only his mother for company. His father, George, Sr., supported his family from the road while working as aContinue reading “Walk With Me to the Future”
Miss July Fourth at Fifty
“Paintings take on a life of their own, long after the artist is gone.” George Rodrigue, from my journal. As a young Cajun man of twenty-seven living in Lafayette, Louisiana, George Rodrigue (1944-2013) chose to express his culture’s pride in their adopted American homeland in a most unusual way. His painting of Independence Day illustratesContinue reading “Miss July Fourth at Fifty”
I’ve Moved! Please Join Me!
Dear Rodrigue Friends and Fans, It was 10 years ago that I started, with George’s encouragement, “Musings of an Artist’s Wife.” Today, it’s time for a change. The more than 300 essays highlighting George Rodrigue’s history, artwork, and our life together will remain posted here as a permanent reference. All new posts, however, are inContinue reading “I’ve Moved! Please Join Me!”
Sharing George: A Video
The Life & Legacy Tour began because I felt compelled to help others experience George Rodrigue in a more personal way. After eight months, the tour is in demand more than ever, with no end in sight! And perhaps that’s exactly as it should be. Want to know what it’s like? Here’s a video from Dr.Continue reading “Sharing George: A Video”
Life and Legacy
George Rodrigue’s life, art, and philanthropy touch lives every day. In a reality that, from my perspective, is both exhilarating and unsettling, I see him moving into near-mythic status, grouped in art lessons with Van Gogh, Picasso, and Matisse. I’ve always known that he belongs with these artists —Modernist giants whose output enriches our world,Continue reading “Life and Legacy”
Rodrigue Comes Home
Those of you who follow this blog know that over the past six years (goodness…..six years….) and more than 300 essays, I focus on text, with quotes from George, and a careful complement of photographs and paintings. However, after spending a whirlwind week in Louisiana, I’m ready to post quickly and then get on withContinue reading “Rodrigue Comes Home”
Spinning Wisdom
‘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 thatContinue reading “Spinning Wisdom”
Rodeo Drive
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 thatContinue reading “Rodeo Drive”
Dance with Me, George!
“What do you do here?” ….asked George Jones of George Rodrigue at a Lafayette, Louisiana Mercedes dealership, as Jones shopped a new car and Rodrigue awaited repairs on his 1978 diesel station wagon. “I’m an artist,” he replied. “Oh yeah?” said Jones. “What do you sing?” Rodrigue recalls the countryContinue reading “Dance with Me, George!”
The American Indian in Louisiana
As George Rodrigue and I explored ancient Indian mounds in northeast Louisiana, the sun in my eyes and warm, wind-blown hair in my face, I accidentally turned to an old page in my notebook covered with scribbles from an earlier adventure. Unaware of my mistake, I wrote, Each ridge 4-6 ft high when built, 50Continue reading “The American Indian in Louisiana”
Blue Dog: A Life of Its Own
“Feel the dignity of a child. Do not feel superior to him, for you are not.” – Robert Henri It was in Hollywood, ironically, that George Rodrigue and I reflected recently on the Blue Dog in a new way. We learned of a school in southern California that used the styles of art world mastersContinue reading “Blue Dog: A Life of Its Own”
Rodrigue’s Cajun Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras is not just about New Orleans. Cities like Mobile, AL, Galveston, TX and my hometown of Fort Walton Beach, FL also celebrate. In Louisiana, dozens of small towns host Mardi Gras parades and celebrations every year. Long before his Mardi Gras posters, George Rodrigue painted the tradition on his own, recording favorite stories andContinue reading “Rodrigue’s Cajun Mardi Gras”
Life Lessons and an Art Contest
George Rodrigue entered two art contests in his life and failed at both. By ‘failed,’ I’m not talking about losses, but more significant that he was disqualified or learned a hard lesson about cheating. “Nothing in life is fair,” my mother used to say, and maybe she was right. But in the end perhaps that’sContinue reading “Life Lessons and an Art Contest”
George Rodrigue’s Creature from the Black Lagoon
Update, 9/25/13: Pictured below, George Rodrigue with his new version of the Creature, a one-of-a-kind piece on chrome, made for his private collection; click photo to enlarge- In the early 1950s, it was the movies more than television that made the biggest impact on mainstream American culture. Today during school visits, I describe this environmentContinue reading “George Rodrigue’s Creature from the Black Lagoon”
The Daughters of André Chastant
Like ghosts of Evangeline, André Chastant’s daughters float brilliant in white and framed within the landscape of southwest Louisiana. The painting, a combination of photograph and imagination, is my favorite from George Rodrigue’s Cajun period. These daughters are not posed around their father as though for a photograph. Rather, they exist as one unit, aContinue reading “The Daughters of André Chastant”
Paintin’ Shrimp Boats and Pickin’ Crabs
“Shrimp boats is a-comin’; there’s dancin’ tonight!”* After many months indoors, George Rodrigue and I ease cautiously yet eagerly this fall into adventure. Here in south Louisiana, diversion awaits in exploring small towns, riding an airboat, or simply walking on the nearest levee. Our last adventure, some six months ago, took us past Lafayette toContinue reading “Paintin’ Shrimp Boats and Pickin’ Crabs”
Dogs in Space
“I dropped the Cajun influence, just painting a Blue Dog, and I wondered, What does that mean?” –George Rodrigue It was the painting Loup-garouof 1991 that altered the Blue Dog concept for George Rodrigue, as he abandoned his oak trees and Cajun figures for the first time since the late 1960s. Although he painted theContinue reading “Dogs in Space”
Match Race
“The straight sprints raced in heats or in match races where the two riders would balance for long seconds on their machines for the advantage of making the other rider take the lead and then the slow circling and the final plunge into the driving purity of speed.” –Ernest Hemingway* Because life intended it thisContinue reading “Match Race”
Clifton Chenier and a Cajun Explosion
In 1985 George Rodrigue painted the great musician Clifton Chenier (1925-1987). At the time, Chenier was world-famous, crowned a Grammy Award winner in 1983 and summoned everywhere from San Francisco to Switzerland to share his unique Louisiana sound. Rodrigue’s timing in painting the portrait honors Chenier not only for his music, but also for hisContinue reading “Clifton Chenier and a Cajun Explosion”
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)”
Rodrigue’s Bicentennial Poster
George Rodrigue painted the Aioli Dinner in 1971 based on photographs of a gourmet dinner club, the Creole Gourmet Society. This was his first painting with people, and during the six months that he painted their portraits and a landscape on this single canvas, he developed a style uniquely his own and recognizable today, fortyContinue reading “Rodrigue’s Bicentennial Poster”
Farmer’s Market
Since the early 1970s George Rodrigue set out to preserve on his canvas Louisiana’s Cajun heritage. Following his return to New Iberia from art school in Los Angeles, he noticed dramatic changes in the southwest parishes, and he feared that the Cajuns, his people, faded quickly as a distinct culture within America. Growing up, heContinue reading “Farmer’s Market”
All Hail King George
George Rodrigue makes a great King. I hear it every year as we attend the Washington D.C. Mardi Gras, where he ruled in 1994 and still commands regal respect. (pictured, It’s Good to be the King, 1994, acrylic on canvas) This royal interest started in his childhood, in the late 1940s. George’s first memory, inContinue reading “All Hail King George”
Four for Mardi Gras
It’s impossible to live in the Gulf South and ignore Mardi Gras. It spreads from Galveston to the Florida Panhandle, affecting our judgment, so that ‘normal’ becomes beads, wigs, costumes and masks. (pictured, Four for Mardi Gras, 2012, 24×38 inches, edition 190) In New Orleans we expect parade traffic most evenings and all weekends, shruggingContinue reading “Four for Mardi Gras”
George Rodrigue: Painting Louisiana
Note: Based on an essay scheduled for publication in an upcoming book* celebrating Louisiana’s bicentennial, published in April 2012 by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, this blog version includes added images, as well as links throughout, referring you to specific relevant posts and websites. Born and raised in New Iberia, Louisiana, George Rodrigue (b.Continue reading “George Rodrigue: Painting Louisiana”
The Family Table
In 1950 George Rodrigue drew and colored a turkey for his parents. On the back he wrote in a surprisingly elegant child’s script: For Mother and Dad on Thanksgiving: 1. Visits to chapel. 9 2. Prayers in school. 40 3. Decades of rosary. 27 George Rodrigue 2nd Grade To fit the tiny picture in aContinue reading “The Family Table”
The Secret of Pirate Lafitte’s Gold
“O’er the glad waters of the dark blue sea, Our thoughts as boundless, and our souls as free, Far as the breeze can hear, the billows foam, Survey our empire and behold our home!” –Lord Byron, 1814, The Corsair By 1974 George Rodrigue pursued a unique, self-invented style of American genre painting, typified by hardContinue reading “The Secret of Pirate Lafitte’s Gold”
Popular Art: Famous Paintings by George Rodrigue
During our recent tours in north Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle, the question arose several times regarding George Rodrigue’s most popular paintings. “My favorite painting,” he’s quick to reply, “is always the one I’m working on now.” (pictured, George Rodrigue at his easel in Carmel Valley, California, 10/6/11) But for the rest of us, humanContinue reading “Popular Art: Famous Paintings by George Rodrigue”
Chef Paul Prudhomme
If George Rodrigue has a chef’s counterpart, it’s Paul Prudhomme. They grew up in the relatively close Cajun towns of New Iberia and Opelousas, Louisiana. As young boys both pursued their passions as career goals, determined to hone their talents and define their lives with innovative, bold and personal contributions to the art of paintingContinue reading “Chef Paul Prudhomme”
Gator Aid (Nude Swamp Women)
George Rodrigue and I are in Las Vegas this weekend, enjoying a three-day vacation before the much-anticipated, happy chaos of the upcoming Baton Rouge exhibition, opening July 23rd with a series of events at the Louisiana State University Museum of Art. For that reason, I’m keeping my blog light-and-easy, with mostly pictures and a fewContinue reading “Gator Aid (Nude Swamp Women)”
The Artist’s Father: George Godfrey Rodrigue, Sr. (Daddy and Baby George)
George Rodrigue rarely speaks of his father. I’ve written before about his construction and tomb business, as well as peripheral facts regarding his Cajun heritage. But even when pressed, I had a hard time pulling personal information about Big George from his son. As I suspected, George struggles with these memories, and he stared inContinue reading “The Artist’s Father: George Godfrey Rodrigue, Sr. (Daddy and Baby George)”
The Artist’s Mother: Marie Courrege Rodrigue
“Aren’t you happy?” my uncle asked Marie Rodrigue on the night of my engagement to her son. “You’re going to have a daughter-n-law!” “I had one,” she replied, her face deadpan. “It didn’t work out.” When she died in 2008 at age one hundred and three, George Rodrigue’s mother still wanted to “go home” toContinue reading “The Artist’s Mother: Marie Courrege Rodrigue”
Hank Williams or Moon Mullican: A Blogging Dilemma
“I love how Louisiana artists yell out food names when they run out of lyrics.” -Elizabeth McClanahan, Senior at Loyola University, majoring in Music Industry Studies I intended this Jazz Fest post for weeks, focused on Hank Williams. George Rodrigue and I trekked through rural Alabama last month, the Hank Williams Trail, with stops inContinue reading “Hank Williams or Moon Mullican: A Blogging Dilemma”
A Distinguished Eagle Scout
On May 12, 2011 the Boy Scouts of America honor George Rodrigue with their highest honor, the Distinguished Eagle Award. Since established by the National Eagle Scout Association in 1969, only six Eagle Scouts from the New Orleans area have received this honor, the last one twenty-two years ago in 1989. Never have I seenContinue reading “A Distinguished Eagle Scout”
Museums and Critics, an Early History
“I’m a survivor.” George Rodrigue, 2011 In 1969 the Art Center of Southwest Louisiana held George Rodrigue’s first solo museum exhibition. Located in Lafayette at the University of Southwest Louisiana, the museum, also known as the Pink Palace, existed within a Mississippi River-style plantation, surrounded by huge columns and designed by architect A. Hays Town.Continue reading “Museums and Critics, an Early History”
I First Loved Picasso (Again)
On March 1st, 2011, George Rodrigue and I celebrate fourteen years of marriage. He kindly insists that our gift to each other exist as a re-blog of my choice. This provides me with a week away from blogging, more time for Mardi Gras and my current obsession with Cleopatra (a new book by Stacy Schiff),Continue reading “I First Loved Picasso (Again)”
Rodrigue vs. O’Keeffe: Choosing Magnus and Murphy Over the Great Modernist Painter
It’s a snowy day in Santa Fe at last. George Rodrigue and I made the most of this past week’s clear weather, however, spending a day exploring an ancient turquoise mine owned by our friend Doug Magnus, a jeweler and artist in the area. …And another day within the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Once again, asContinue reading “Rodrigue vs. O’Keeffe: Choosing Magnus and Murphy Over the Great Modernist Painter”
Santa Claus: Paintings and Sculptures Inspired by the Season
In 1979 George Rodrigue painted his four-year old son André with Santa Claus. As with most of his Cajun paintings, he manipulated a photograph to suit his needs, in this case cutting the figures out of the staged snapshot and placing them outside. André posed with Santa not beneath an oak tree, but at AcadianaContinue reading “Santa Claus: Paintings and Sculptures Inspired by the Season”
The Greatest Gift
“And they sat there and they marveled And they knew they could not tell Whether it were angels, or the bright stars a singing”** I was surprised by the large and heartfelt response to the recent post “The Ghost of Christmas Past,” a story I hesitated sharing. Obviously there is something about this season thatContinue reading “The Greatest Gift”
The Art Contest
George Rodrigue entered two art contests in his life and failed at both. By ‘failed,’ I’m not talking about the fact that he lost, but more significant that he was disqualified or learned a hard lesson about cheating. “Nothing in life is fair,” my mother used to say. And maybe she was right. But inContinue reading “The Art Contest”
The Ghost of Christmas Past
I try and, honestly, fail to imagine 1950s New Iberia, Louisiana. I’ve stared at this photograph for hours, a six-year old George Rodrigue dressed as a cowboy on Christmas morning, an only child surrounded by symbols of the time: a Radio Flyer red wagon; promotional Coca-Cola Santa Clauses (in multiples because his dad traded themContinue reading “The Ghost of Christmas Past”
The Bronzes
George Rodrigue holds a deep appreciation for classicism in the visual arts. In a way, this embrace of time-honored techniques and subjects translates to a parallel within his own career, as even today he talks about his bronzes of the mid-1970s with reverence, recalling the process as though he worked alongside Donatello himself, paying tributeContinue reading “The Bronzes”
Swamp Women
“Oh, this stinkin’ swamp water stinks!” –from the movie Swamp Women, 1955 Early on the morning of October 31st I met George Rodrigue in the garage for the two-hour drive to Lafayette, Louisiana, where we were to meet some friends from California at the Blue Dog Café. I was running late. “What are you wearing?!”Continue reading “Swamp Women”
Spirits in the Trees
A Tulane professor visiting the New Orleans gallery with her class this week asked me about George’s connection to voodoo. Although I’m sure she intended nothing of the sort, her question reminded me of the only negative comment we received in response to the 2008 Rodrigue exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art. AContinue reading “Spirits in the Trees”
Doctor on the Bayou
There was a time, other than The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie, that doctors made house calls. A time before waiting rooms and diagnostic centers and ten minute speed-treating, when doctors traveled to homes in the middle of the night, held their patient’s hand, and worried alongside panicked relatives. There was also aContinue reading “Doctor on the Bayou”
Broussard’s Barber Shop (Melding Fact with Fiction)
After painting the Aioli Dinner in 1971, George Rodrigue’s confidence soared in rendering not only the Cajun figures, but also a style all his own. During the six months it took to complete the painting, he developed specific rules for himself, things separate from and often contradictory to the established rules of art. He wouldContinue reading “Broussard’s Barber Shop (Melding Fact with Fiction)”
Riding to New Orleans: An Artist’s Journey
For George, in honor of his new gallery and a dream fulfilled- In 1970 I bought a ticket on a train To New Orleans for my first art show, Oak Trees. I painted Cajuns, not Creoles, and then Blue Dogs and Hurricanes I built sculptures and changed directions, painting Tee Coons* and Jolies I’m anContinue reading “Riding to New Orleans: An Artist’s Journey”
Boudreaux in a Barrel
As any Louisiana joke teller knows, the two lead characters of most Cajun stories are Boudreaux and Marie. They might venture out fishing with a roll of duct tape or accidentally hit a skunk with their truck. Maybe Marie catches old man Boudreaux’s attention with her pot of gumbo, or perhaps Boudreaux waits until theirContinue reading “Boudreaux in a Barrel”
Alligator Crossing
It’s ironic. In south Louisiana, where alligators actually do cross the road (or the levee or the yard or the bayou), there’s no warning. However, in Carmel Valley, California, where the possibility is, okay, impossible, you’re warned just in case. I guess this makes sense if you consider the context. A Cajun lives in thisContinue reading “Alligator Crossing”
Eagle Scout
It was probably our first date when I asked George Rodrigue, “How would you describe yourself? What are your best qualities?” Without hesitating, he rattled off a list: “I am trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.” “Goodness,” I said, secretly hoping I could measure up. It wasn’t untilContinue reading “Eagle Scout”
The Class
My nine-year-old nephew William said to me, as I headed out the door to my 25th High School Reunion in Fort Walton Beach, Florida this weekend, “Why would you want to see all those old people? I mean, you could swim at the pool with us!” I tried (and failed) to explain to him aboutContinue reading “The Class”
Louisiana Roots (The Louis Prima of the Art World)
George Rodrigue is unique in the art world. I can think of very few contemporary visual artists of his renown that define themselves by their culture. From the time he first returned to Louisiana from Los Angeles and art school in the late 1960s, he called himself a Cajun artist. Even today he describes everyContinue reading “Louisiana Roots (The Louis Prima of the Art World)”
Fairs and Festivals, Ducks Unlimited and the New Orleans Jazz Club
If you ask George Rodrigue what made his art famous in Louisiana, his answer might surprise you. It’s not the Blue Dog, Absolut Vodka ads, or Jazz Fest. Rather, it’s the small town festival posters. Throughout the 1980s George created posters for dozens of festivals throughout the state. He sold thousands of these inexpensive offsetContinue reading “Fairs and Festivals, Ducks Unlimited and the New Orleans Jazz Club”
Catholic High, Brother Edward, and the Art Scholarship
George Rodrigue, known as ‘Big Rod’ to his teenage peers, graduated from Catholic High School in New Iberia, Louisiana in 1962, along with thirty-two classmates. They have an annual reunion in someone’s backyard (BYObeer), women not permitted. This is a group of guys that remembers a time when “if you could drive, you could drink,”Continue reading “Catholic High, Brother Edward, and the Art Scholarship”
If Not Painting, Then Cars…
We had dated about a year when George Rodrigue and I had our first fight. I had just visited him in Lafayette, Louisiana, where we cruised along the Atchafalaya Basin levees one moonlit night in his prized possession – a black Mercedes SL Convertible hard-top. A month later, as we drove down a Carmel, CaliforniaContinue reading “If Not Painting, Then Cars…”
The Name ‘Rodrigue’ with Pronunciation and a Bit of History
The name ‘Rodrigue’ is a common one in Cajun country. However, outside the southern part of his home state, George Rodrigue endures miss-pronunciations and miss-spellings on a regular basis. Most of the time, people say or spell the name ‘Rodriguez.’ A close second is ‘Rodrique’ (with a ‘q’ in place of the ‘g’). And barContinue reading “The Name ‘Rodrigue’ with Pronunciation and a Bit of History”
The Traiteur
With nearly 60,000 visitors in two months at the George Rodrigue exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art in 2008, we received hundreds of letters, all positive, mostly from people who prior to NOMA knew little about the scope of George’s career. As a result, they were surprised at how much they enjoyed theContinue reading “The Traiteur”
Art School: Lafayette and Los Angeles, 1962-1967
When George Rodrigue entered his senior year at Catholic High School in New Iberia, Louisiana in 1961, his future, to his mind, was certain. He would go to art school and become a professional artist. His parents, however, had other ideas, determined he have something more steady than his father’s (and grandfather’s) work in brick-layingContinue reading “Art School: Lafayette and Los Angeles, 1962-1967”
A History of Evangeline in Rodrigue Paintings
There are enough Rodrigue Evangelines to fill an entire museum exhibition. He’s painted the Acadian heroine one hundred or more times over nearly forty years. Like Jolie Blonde, the Oak Tree, and the Blue Dog, she is a staple in his work, a protagonist as much for him as she is in the story ofContinue reading “A History of Evangeline in Rodrigue Paintings”
The Creative Competition in Two Parts
Part I I grew up in an artistic household in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. My parents, although originally from New Orleans, settled there when my dad was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base. In the first ten years of their marriage, they lived and traveled all over Europe and Asia with the military, and byContinue reading “The Creative Competition in Two Parts”
The Aioli Dinner and a Cajun Artist
The first time I saw the original Aioli Dinner, I was struck by its monochromaticity. It is a green painting through and through. You don’t notice it in a photograph and certainly not in a print (as explained below), but the painting itself exudes the swamp, and one almost feels the mugginess, smells the sweat,Continue reading “The Aioli Dinner and a Cajun Artist”
Tombs in the Life and Art of George Rodrigue
It’s Halloween, which makes me think of skeletons and vampires and okay, pumpkins and candy, but those don’t apply here, which makes me think of cemeteries and caskets, which makes me think of George Rodrigue’s unusual to my mind and on-going interest in tombs. As I mentioned briefly in my last post, George’s father wasContinue reading “Tombs in the Life and Art of George Rodrigue”
How Baby George Became an Artist
George Rodrigue grew up an only child in New Iberia, Louisiana, a small town in the heart of Cajun country. His father, also named George Rodrigue, was a bricklayer by trade, but he dabbled in other businesses as well. As the youngest of thirteen children, Big George (as he was known around town) took onContinue reading “How Baby George Became an Artist”