I belong to a local photography club and had gotten an email about an organized group field trip. There were 3 places on the agenda and the Chauvin Sculpture Garden was one of them. In doing prior research to find new places to shoot, I came across this place many times before. It was always on my list but I had never gotten around to going .
I almost didn’t go this time either. Lately, I just have not been feeling like myself and not very “peoplely” so I didn’t feel up to doing a group thing. I also didn’t have much interest in the other 2 places that was on the trip agenda. For whatever reason though, I was strongly being pulled to go to the Sculpture Garden, almost in the same way that I feel pulled to going to Charlene Richards grave. So I decided to go solo.
Sat. morning, I woke up early and headed out. It was a bit weird. On my way there, I had this beam from the sun that shone on my car the entire trip, as if it was guiding me there.
Seeing his work made me reflect back on my life and all the many people and significant events that have left a big impact on me. It made me “feel” again, which is why I think I was called to go.
While there, several people, “came and went”. I heard them say words such as “bizarre”, “weird” and “creepy”. However, I didn’t see any of that because I was to enthralled with feeling Mr Hills soul-all his ups and downs and influences on his life. Artists express their feelings through their work and I felt every bit of his and I developed a deep respect for him.
If you have never heard about the garden, you can read more bout it here: https://www.nicholls.edu/folkartcenter/park.html
I also spoke Mr Gary LaFleur, who was working in the museum across the street from it. If you go, you need to visit the museum. There are pictures of Kenny Hill there, along with other mementos. Mr Gary told me that Mr Hill is still alive and they hear from his family every now and then. It is believed that he may be with his family that live out of state. My Hill is very private so not many details are known.
Mr Hill is no longer there because, from what I understand, he didn’t have permission from the land owners to build the sculptures and he let the grass grow over. The neighbors complained, he got evicted and he just walked away on foot, without telling anyone anything. I cant imagine how he must have felt-to have people complain about his art, aka his heart and soul, so much that he was forced to leave.
Mr Gary gifted me this sticker. Its a design that is seen on Mr Kenny s belt buckle on his statues in the garden. It is the map of the garden itself. I proudly put it on my camera bag.
I encourage everyone to go and check it out. It makes a great little day trip and there is no admission fee. Don’t forget to walk across the street and visit the museum while you are there.
I am unable to fit all of my images on here. You can view them all on my FB page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=tmattphoto&set=a.304454758104098
