Gov.-elect Jindal touts change during Houma visit
October 31, 2007November 2
November 2, 2007Give Robert Picou a green block of wood and a couple of hours at his lathe – he’s in heaven.
The principal at Greenwood Middle School in Gibson by day, Picou turns to his lathe for stress relief and to give his creative juices a spin.
Over the last 40 years, he’s invested hours into creating one-of-a-kind wooden boxes, bowls, pens and pencils from all types of trees – pecan, cedar, walnut and, of course, cypress. Picou’s even created works with trees felled by Hurricane Katrina.
“Basically, the thing I love most about woodworking is that I can walk into my shop, grab a piece of wood and, in a couple of hours, have a bowl that I’ve created from that block,” he said.
Picou is among the 222 vendors selling their works at the Southdown Marketplace Arts & Crafts Festival in Houma on Nov. 3.
The twice-yearly festival will feature 300 booths of original, handmade crafts and fine arts that are not available in typical retail stores, said Karen Hart, museum director and event organizer.
In addition to woodcrafts, sale items include a wide gamut of items: jewelry, clothing, furniture, pottery, paintings, photography, toys, dolls, metalwork, florals, candles, bath and body goods, gourmet food items, seasonal decorations and the like. There will also be local authors’ books, home-grown plants, antiques and collectibles, and children’s hands-on-projects, she noted.
For the admission price of $4 [children under age 12 are admitted free], visitors can roam the grounds shopping from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A major fund-raiser for the Southdown Plantation House/Terrebonne Museum, proceeds from the arts and crafts show help maintain the day-to-day operations.
Monies from festival admission fees, vendor booth rentals and food concessions account for about 75 percent of Southdown’s annual budget, Hart explained.
Of the 222 different vendors occupying the 300 booth spaces, Hart said about 45 percent hail from Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.
This figure includes Picou.
For the last 40 years, the Houma craftsman has turned to his workshop to relieve tension after a day filled with hormone-raging teens. “It was a hobby that, over time, gives me an opportunity to relieve stress,” he said. “There are some days that I’ll just go into my workshop, grab a piece of green wood and turn it down to nothing. There’s no other feeling like that.”
Other days, Picou spends hours working the wood and watching for it to “show itself” to him.
“With some pieces, I put the wood on the lathe with one thing in mind but a hidden knot or void will appear and I see something new and unique come to life,” he explained. “It’s like peeling an onion only you don’t always know what you will ultimately get.”
For years, Picou has made it a habit to gift his works. His family and friends have been recipients. Even a family in Russia has one of his boxes.
And his works have been featured in a book compiled following a juried selection of wood craftsman from around the globe.
Many of his creations are both utilitarian – complete with a salad bowl finish – and art.
In the coming months, he intends to explore designs employed by Louisiana’s native Indians, incorporating those designs into cypress pieces. “My ultimate aim would be to build a series of cypress bowls that could have been used by our ancestors,” Picou explained.
In the meantime, Southdown Marketplace visitors at booth 98 will find a variety of one-of-a-kind pieces – some on sale for as little as $10 – all made with loving care.
“I’m very proud of these pieces and am reluctant to part with many of them,” Picou said. “But the irony is selling them is a way to sustain my hobby so I can keep building more.”
