Wilbert Joseph Dupre Sr.
January 7, 2012
The one that got away
January 10, 2012A tray of crawfish and a saxophone serve as two proxies for celebrated south Louisiana culture. The structure that frames them is a glimpse of truth.
The work of a local artist who has, over time, developed an appreciation for south Louisiana culture and who takes pleasure in life’s unnoticed beauties is on display through Feb. 16 at Southdown Plantation House in Houma.
In her acrylic paintings, Donna Graham adds life to a cemetery and decaying buildings. “A City That Never Dies” was inspired by a stroll through the resting grounds, and “The City Life Series” also uses symbols of life to complement Graham’s love for architecture.
“Whenever I go to the French Quarter and Jackson Square, I always have a camera,” she said. “I love architecture. If I would have been good at math, I probably would have been an architect, but that was out of the question.”
A sampling of the doorway, windowsill and graveyard settings juxtapose the renowned elements of a region’s livelihood with jarring reality.
Cracked stucco gives way to overgrown foliage and brick composition, a decrepit and slightly sentimental frame for the quirky symbols south Louisianans often tout as their own.
A riverboat runs past a string of piano keys, the ivory also contrasting with an alligator and a football within this balcony windowsill. The collage of culture represents a hypothesized manner in which the dwelling’s inhabitant existed.
But it’s more than just a guess; it’s self-awareness.
“You take for granted things when you’re younger,” Graham said. “You take for granted that we have all of this amazing culture, but now that I’m older, I’m just like, ‘Wow, look at this.’
“I mean, the alligator can be beautiful if you really look at it.”
Graham emphasizes texture, structured by tight lines and layers of modeling paste.
Also on display, her “Louisiana Blue Crab Series” follows the life of a blue crustacean, used mostly as a vehicle to depict other regional hallmarks.
One of the grouping’s three canvases has the crab on a tabletop, grasping in either claw a set of Mardi Gras beads wrapped around a glass of wine.
In “Ro-daying Bourbon,” which exemplifies Graham’s dedication to stimulating the sense of touch, a well-defined crab peers into a puddle of water on a cobblestone street to see the mirrored reflection of a street sign on Bourbon. The stones’ cracks show their age, another intermingling of a region’s mainstream symbol with the passing of time that has helped craft the Big Easy’s reputation.
“I like the modeling paste,” Graham said. “I like what it does, and I like where I can have texture on it but still create something on top of it that’s going to look like texture. But it might not be texture; it’s just perspective.”
Graham, a 44-year-old mother of two, was born in Houma. She briefly left the area to attend the Art Institute of Dallas at age 22. After she returned to Houma, she began teaching art at St. Bernadette Catholic School, a profession that rekindled her own desire to paint.
“Telling the kids to be more confident in their artwork made me more confident,” she said. “They have to see it visually, so I definitely started to paint.”
Graham currently owns and works out of a small studio called D-Designs in Westgate. She holds on-location art workshops for birthday parties and has made her work available for the crafts show at Southdown. She also maintains a website at www.donnagrahamartist.com
Graham has been an active participant in Southdown Plantation activities. She’s been a vendor at the Southdown Marketplace and has held workshops for children in which they painted the front of the house.
This, and the interesting way in which she highlights the region’s culture, is why her artwork is featured, according to Southdown Plantation and Museum Executive Director Katie LeCompte.
“I think using the New Orleans structures and tombstones, and then using that as a window to other life is really interesting, and a really good idea,” LeCompte said. “She did it really well, and it meshes together like you wouldn’t think it would. I think it tells an interesting story.”
Southdown Plantation is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost is $2 to view Graham’s exhibit or $6 for a museum tour, which includes the exhibit.
‘Works of Donna Graham’
Where: Southdown Plantation House, 1208 Museum Drive, Houma
When: Through Feb. 16
Cost: $2 (exhibit only) or $6 for plantation and exhibit tours
For More Info: (985) 851-0154 or
