Charlie Rauh and Jim Pharis perform live at NUNU’s Art & Culture Collective in Arnaudville on August 25 at 7:30pm. Listen to their folk music tunes inside of the beautiful gallery. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased here.
Ever More Nest is the Americana music project of Kelcy Mae Wilburn, a New Orleans-based musician and writer, bandleader, queer woman, Pisces, and modern-day transcendentalist. Ever More Nest tours the US, playing festivals such as the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Milwaukee’s Summerfest in addition to venues and listening rooms ranging from quaint bar rooms to the John F. Kennedy Center. Prior to embodying alt-country outfit Ever More Nest, Kelcy Mae released three earlier folk/rock albums.
Kelcy will be performing at NUNU’s Art & Culture Collective in Arnaudville on August 18th at 7:30pm. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased here.
Head to the town of Washington for TMatt Photography Studio & Gallery’s open house on Sunday, August 28 from 2pm-5pm. The gallery itself is located in a 100-year-old Methodist church and houses Tiffany Matt’s photography studio and art pieces by Anne Matt. This open house will feature Catherine Myers’ work including primitive pottery created from crawfish chimney mud.
You can contact Tiffany Matt at 337-308-8000 for more details.
The St. Landry Chamber of Commerce will cut the ribbon for the newest mural in Sunset at 9 a.m. on Friday, July 1 at Artworks by Ted Bertrand on 855 Napoleon Avenue. The celebration also falls on the gallery’s monthly open house where the artist and gallery owner, Ted Bertrand, will be celebrating its 5-year anniversary at 5:30pm that evening. The featured artist will be Anne Matt and you can enjoy refreshments while you appreciate the art.
The mural was painted by muralist and Breaux Bridge native, Darryl “Demo” Demourelle. Demourelle is known for his colorful, larger-than-life works. His energetic and loud style fits in perfectly with the artsy community of Sunset and especially along the walls of the Artworks by Ted Bertrand gallery. Bertrand’s works are well-known for their bright impressionist renditions of rural St. Landry Parish scenes.
Painted along the historic early 1900s bank-turned-gallery, the mural displays a man playing a rubboard alongside a swath of sweet potatoes and three large cotton bulbs. The worn rubboard, an iconic zydeco instrument, has taken root in Sunset. The instrument was popularized by zydeco legend Clifton Chenier and his brother Cleveland. In 1946 Chenier approached metalworker Willie Landry to create the frottoir, a wearable rubboard. Landry’s son, Tee Don Landry, continues his father’s legacy with his Key of Z Rubboard Shop, located just a few minutes away from the gallery. Cotton and sweet potatoes, also highlighted in the mural, were both major exports of the town.
The ribbon-cutting will be attended by Mayor Charles James of the town of Sunset and St. Landry Chamber President & CEO Laina Brickley.
For more information, call the St. Landry Chamber of Commerce at 337-942-2683.
Daniel and Jesse Reaux began performing as the Rayo Brothers in their hometown of Lafayette Louisiana. According to Offbeat Magazine, the brothers present “honest and insightful songwriting” against a backdrop of “impassioned folk-rock and modern alt-country with majestic, sweeping arrangements”. Featuring sibling harmonies and a variety of instrumentation, they put on a rollicking show that flows from raucous foot-stompers to intimate ballads to everywhere in between.
The Rayo Brothers will reunite for a night at NUNU Arts & Culture Collective on Friday night, April 26. The show starts at 7:30pm. Admission is $20.
For tickets/directions: https://events.humanitix.com/nunu42624
Head to NUNU’s Art & Culture Collective in Arnaudville, Louisiana to hear the musical stylings of Tommy Malone. Malone has a history in music that goes back to the 70s with bands like Dustwoofie, the Cartoons and the Continental Drifters; the last of which spawned a stripped-down band known as the Subdudes. Enjoy food from the 5-mile Café while Malone performs live.
Tickets are $25.
The NUNU Arts & Culture Collective in Arnaudville hosts La Table Kreyol, a heritage language round table. Every second Saturday of the month at 2pm, join Herbert Wiltz as he leads a casual conversation in Louisiana Creole. This event is available in person or via zoom. Complimentary coffee is available for those who join in person.
This event is made possible in partnership with the Diversity Initiative for Cultural Inclusion, Saint LUC French Immersion Cultural Campus, C.R.E.O.L.E., Inc, and Acadiana Open Channel (AOC).
On March 21st from 7am-4pm, you can shop Sunset Downtown and Around. Shop owners and antique dealers in Sunset, Louisiana invite local vendors, artists, and craftspeople to set up shop along Napoleon Avenue and the surrounding area. Find antiques, artwork, jewelry, and one-of-a-kind items at bargain prices. Some shops will feature special sales or one-day discounts.
This event takes place annually on the third Saturday of the month in March. Vendors are invited to contact any antique store or market in town for booth space. Call 337-331-5577 for more information.
Want to plan ahead and need accommodations? Find hotels nearby, here.
Dec. 28, 2018
Camping trips inspire artist Margo Baker
By Mary Hawkins
Cajuntravel.com
Update on 11/5/2022: Artworks by Ted Bertrand is closing after December 2022. This post will remain up in honor of the years of being a bright spot of creativity in the parish.
Every first Friday of the month at Artworks by Ted Bertrand in Sunset, where Ted displays his bright and colorful art, a new artist shows off their best pieces. This event, which begins after 5 p.m., serves as an opportunity to unwind and appreciate the beauty and creativity that can be found In St. Landry Parish.
To end 2018, artist Margo Baker, wife of Dave Baker of KATC fame, gave the public a glimpse at the motivations and heart behind her pieces.
When approached about a specific piece, a mixed media painted collage of faint purples and blues depicting an abstract forest scene that had been used to promote that month’s event, Baker explained why she had chosen this piece of art as representative of her work. At first, she insisted the reason was because the collage was her most recent piece and truest to her current style. As the night carried on with event goers standing by and admiring her work while sipping on wine and listening to local musicians, she went into more detail, describing the story behind its inspiration.
Homecoming by Margo Baker
Baker recalled a camping trip to her and her husband’s favorite outdoor getaway, an undisclosed campground. It was the first time they had been able to visit the site with just the two of them in years. She spoke about the love and peace and fun they had found hidden away in small moments together. Baker revealed that two other pieces were inspired by that time, and as patrons walked through the artwork pieces of her story revealed itself in every aspect of the display. The names of the pieces were “Homecoming”, “Valentine’s Trail” and “Lover’s Lane”.
Baker’s media ranges from oil paint on a layered collage to large, sculptural pieces. Her style is whimsical and colorful, showing scenes of nature in an abstract way. She plays with texture and unique paper types, including sheet music, for her work. Each one of her creations speaks of an experience many of which take place outdoors reinterpreted in paper, paint, and salvaged paper that speaks to her in the moment.
St. Landry Parish is made up of a collection of stories, people experiencing life in all the different ways possible. Each mural, each painted violin, each piece of art hanging on a wall, as you drink your coffee, is a snapshot of a time in an artist’s life. It is time spent thoughtfully creating, a way to evoke feeling in a viewer. The art and creativity of St. Landry Parish is just another way that this destination is Gumbo for Your Soul.
Visit Artworks by Ted Bertrand, 855 Napoleon Avenue in Sunset from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This parish’s other great art galleries show the heart of these local artists, a thing that cannot be truly captured through words alone.
Mary Hawkins is the communications manager for the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission. Contact her at hawkins@cajuntravel.com
