Local artists create water art in Houma’s Memorial Park

There isn’t a better way to express the value, uniqueness, and individuality of a community than placing artwork on the very streets residents walk everyday. Last Saturday, local organizations Luminate Houma, Lumiere Blues and Jazz Bistro, and Keep Terrebonne Beautiful partnered with artists Kassie Voisin and Hans Geist to create water art on the sidewalks of a park in downtown Houma.

Voisin and Geist, both natives of Houma, used pressure washers to create murals of water lilies and giant magnolia flowers on the sidewalks of Memorial Park. Daniel Babin, creator of Luminate Houma, said after attending a Revitalize or Die workshop, he was inspired to create a project that would give life to the community while providing a fun activity for children.

“The Houma Travel Center hosted a civic pride workshop about two months ago. We had a speaker that came in to talk about the different ways to revitalize your area. One of those things was beautification, creating a place where people would like to take pictures,” said Babin.

“A part of the idea was if we pressure wash something into the cement, we’re giving children or artists a canvases. With sidewalk chalk, they can color in the flower petals, color around the lines, or create whatever they’d like. Once the event is over we can pull a garden hose out and spray it off for the next event. Parents can take their kids out there to draw whenever they’d like,” Babin added.

After finalizing the idea and choosing a location, Babin reached out to both Voisin and Geist to help bring the project to life. As the two artists created the centerpieces, Keep Terrebonne Beautiful, a non-profit, anti-litter and beautification organization hosted a community clean-up at the park, retrieving litter and debris.

Voisin said she was honored to be chosen as an artist to help Babin’s vision come to life in the community she was born and raised in. “Daniel had the idea and we kind of just gave it our best shot. It was actually really fun to create; it’s beautiful and unique. I don’t think anyone is going to expect to see the art on the cement,” said Voisin. “We just went out there with our pressure washers and made beauty from the dirt. We also had a lot of people with Keep Terrebonne Beautiful just cleaning up, pulling weeds, fixing the fountain – just a day designated to cleaning the area.”

Geist expressed his excitement to work with local organizations to bring residents of Terrebonne together and create outdoor engagement. “This is something new for both myself and Kassie. It just sounded like a really fun opportunity and I’m always on board for a new challenge. We were really just looking to create something iconic, something to represent the beauty of our area. After talking about it with Kassie, we decided on the flower idea and it seemed to fit the area pretty well. We created water lilies, a giant magnolia, and a bunch of leaves and flowers flowing together.”

Both artists shared their optimism for the project’s expansion across the sidewalks of Terrebonne Parish and surrounding areas. Geist said his greatest accomplishment as an artist is having the opportunity to serve his community with his God-given gift, and hopes to continue to inspire others to take pride in the community they call home. “I’d love to place the art in more neighborhoods. Nothing builds community more than people cleaning and beautifying the neighborhood. In all of my years of doing art, my greatest pleasure has always come from serving others and serving the community. I believe that we were given these gifts and talents by God to bring love, hope, and light to those around us. I’m honored to be a part of this. Hopefully, it’ll inspire others to also take initiative and invest in their community and the places they like to hang out.”

“I’d love to expand to Main Street,” shared Voisin. “I know so many talented artists in our community who may not be creating full-time but can definitely do it to help out and clean up our area. Hopefully, it’ll open the door for us to meet other artists and come together as a community. I feel like the time now is greater than ever for us to come together and use our gifts to make our city look nice.”

She continued, “For people to enjoy your work and ask you to paint is the highest honor you can get, especially in a public setting like Main Street. Main Street is like the Grammy’s for me as an artist. If I can have a goal for the community to have art somewhere, it’ll be on Main Street. I’ve traveled to a lot of places and had the honor of cleaning other places, but it’s just something so special about being in your own town with your family, friends, and community.”

Babin said Luminate Houma is working diligently to create new experiences for residents of Terrebonne Parish, and attributes the success of the project to the outpouring of support from Main Street Manager Anne Picou, HDDC, Keep Terrebonne Beautiful, Lumiere Blues and Jazz Bistro, and many others. “This project was a small way to get people involved and we hope to see it grow bigger.”

The water art can be found on the sidewalks of Memorial Park, directly across the bayou from the Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum. Check it out during the upcoming White Boot Stroll on Saturday, May 28!