Untitled. This piece needs no name. It portrays what our home looked like for months after Katrina. 20" x 32" x 15" SOLD

Trivet Angel started with what is left of a trivet from my friend Brenda's kitchen. It serves as a frame for a purchased wooden angel I painted, and a pair of wooden wings. They are mounted on a fragment of a chess board. 7" x 11" SOLD

Top of the Morning makes me laugh. It is created from a crazy copper rooster mounted upon a decorative birdhouse embellished with a tarnished metal fleur de lis and a smashed copper colander. It is free standing. 12" x 17" x 9" SOLD

Shore Bird features a carved and painted wooden bird mounted upon a painted wood fragment, a rusty piece of metal, a fragment of a wicker dresser, and another piece of woven reed. 24" x 21". SOLD

Rain Deer starts with a metal deer which is layered upon another piece of metal and two pieces of wood. 16" x 16" SOLD

Merman starts with a metal drawer from a tool box, an aluminum platter which shows severe salt water damage, and a Mexican tin Merman from post-Katrina New Orleans. SOLD 7/08

Joyous Angel was formed from a broken ceramic angel, a metal lid to a decorative box, a smashed can, fragments of wood trim and a wooden tile. 16" x 16" SOLD

Isis is named after the Egyptian goddess who was often pictured with ram's horns. This piece is constructed from the leg to a piece of fine furniture and another semi-circular fragment of wood, two curved and formed pieces of metal, a polished glass orb, a gold painted corner embellishment from a picture frame, a copper bracelet, an eastern pendant on a copper chain, and a gothic-shaped arch from post-Katrina Louisiana. The support is another furniture fragment. 22" x 41" SOLD

Old World Cross is made from a fan blade, a silver platter, a sanding wheel, a fragment of a picture frame and a purchased metal cross. 22" x 24" SOLD

Heavy Metal Egret is created around what is left of a metal egret from a store in Bay St. Louis. It is layered upon a battered piece of plywood, a metal form and the lid to a barrel of some kind, and a piece of metal shelving. The "wings" are the supports for the shelf. 44" x 17" SOLD

Grace is made from a furniture leg, an abused silver trivet, a fine furniture fragment, and three pieces of decorative metal. SOLD

Good Dog Bad Dog IV consists of a wooden drawer front, an oval piece of metal and another of those wonderful metal pieces from a debris pile in Bay St. Louis. 29" x 12" SOLD

Found Again. My friend Maria had given me this plaster relief which had been made by her husband. I found it in the debris behind the remains of my studio, paired it with a piece of tile and part of a picture frame, and mounted it on a piece of wood. It has found its way back home to Maria. SOLD

East Wind is comprised of a fan blade, a tin tile, a metal sun face, a charger, and a circular wire rack. SOLD

Altar is a free standing piece which I put together from an iron stand, a purchased wooden angel with a head from the debris piles behind my studio, a fragment of a picture frame and a knob from a drawer. 15" x 13" x 3" deep. SOLD

Spring 2006 is about the relief we all felt when the foilage began returning and covering up all the ugliness left behind by Katrina. It is made from a mardi gras doll, some acrylic wings, nails, rusty wire and decorative mirrored shutter. SOLD

The Hand of Time is about the human desire to stop time, and nature's refusal to listen. The piece consists of a metal hand from India, mounted on a carved metal plate, which rests on a painted metal bowl. These elements are accompanied by a time worn sea shell, and all of the elements are mounted on a piece of building tin. SOLD

Complements is composed from a broken piece of pottery, an aluminum charger, and a painted piece of board. 13" x 19" SOLD

Fairy Rings is composed of a muslin doll body to which a small porcelain head has been attched, wings made of plaster, a rusted tin tray, a chair back, and two coasters adorned with cowrie shells. SOLD

Ancient Angel starts with a small print. It is envloped on gold ribbon and secured under a beveled piece of glass. Mounted on an acrylic charger and a piece of moulding, the piece is wrapped in more of the gauzy ribbon. 25" x 22" SOLD

Three Elements is put together from a broken glass vase, a door to a cabinet, the top and bottom of a candy dish, and pieces of building metal. SOLD

Rusty Garden is fashioned from some of my favorite pieces of debris. I was immediately captivated by the rusted screen which serves as the support for the piece, and fell in love with the flattened wastebasket the minute I laid eyes upon it. The square piece of wood acts as a physical support for the piece, and the battered gold frame is the perfect surround for the image of the Garden of Eden. 34" x 34" SOLD

Prayer is composed from two beautiful fragments of fine furniture, a Methodist hymnal, a wooden hand, and an old Italian rosary. 50" x 21" x10" deep. Sold

Silhouette is one of those pieces which took months to put together. I found the exquisite pottery sherd months ago, and could never find the right elements with which to pair it. I found the concave piece of acrylic in a parking lot of a destroyed gas station on the one year anniversary of the storm, as I was waiting for the CBS crew to drive over from New Orleans. A can of pink spray paint and a slver plated bowl completed the piece. 17" x 14" SOLD

Stained Glass Angel comprises a battered, painted wooden angel, a distressed piece of stained glass, and a metal container lid. 14" diameter SOLD

Lady, Waiting began with the unusually shaped fragment of a table which I found lying in the ditch near my home. The image from an old masters painting was gleaned from a magazine cover which somehow survived a 35 foot storm surge, and the piece is finished with a kitchen cupboard door, small decorative frames, beaded baskets, coins, metal, and faux “jewels” befitting a lady. 24" x 24" SOLD

Gabriel’s Butterfly features a mask by New Orleans mask maker Gabriel Q. It incorporates a handwritten story about the artist, as well as various pieces of metal, wood, fabric, mardi gras beads, and handmade paper. I don’t know when we will see butterflies around here again, but it will be a joy when they reappear. 17" x 50" SOLD

Asian Symphony is composed from parts to a violin, an antique Chinese panel, a bamboo platter, and two cupboard doors. SOLD

Twenty Nine is one of the first pieces completed, and symbolizes both the eye of the storm as it made its way up the Pearl River, and the date when our lives were shattered. It is comprised of a digital image of my eye, fragments from two different mixed media pieces, metal, a stone, building paper, and a cupboard door. 24" x 18" SOLD

Blossom Dance is built around two panels from an antique Chinese wedding bed. They are mounted on a piece of a chair, a gold charger and a panel of wood. 17" x 19" SOLD

Amonite Angel is an abstracted human form which features a fossilized ammonite, with its counter clockwise rotational scheme. I am not sure what the central piece of carved wood really is, or where I picked it up-as we approach the year anniversary of the storm, I am begining to forget the source of many of the pieces of debris. Polymer wings and a cowl made from a fragment of a wooden bowl and two battered pieces of plywood complete the piece. 13" x 20" SOLD

Reliquary Angel I 15" x 7". This is a piece in the Reliquary series which also incorporates storm debris. I purchased the angel and the glass, but all three of the wood elements are from debris piles. To see more pieces in the reliquary series, please follow the link above. SOLD

Voodoo is created around a couple of pieces of what is left of my mardi gras costume collection. After 20 years down here, I had accumulated some fine costumes, and I regret their loss. The voodoo doll is from a mardi gras necklace-the year I costumed as a voodoo queen, I had a great time, handing out handmade dolls and bits of gris gris to unsuspecting tourists on Fat Tuesday. The snake came from the Medusa costume I made another year. The rest of the piece consists of a piece of broken mirror, a battered picture frame and a small acrylic platter. 12" x 12" SOLD

There have been many wonderful things that have come out of my storm experience and the best of these are the connections I have made with beautiful, loving people all over the United States. Several of these new friends have shared their lives with me as well, and I would like to post two poems which were sent to me. The first is by DC area poet DJ Gaskin. She purchased a piece of mine and as we got to know each other through email, she wrote this poem. To read more about DJ please visit her site at http://www.lionesspress.com/. The second is from Jim Curry, who lives in Rome, GA. Jim and I became acquainted during my stay in Rome a couple of months ago. He does not have a web site, but was kind enough to share this poem with me. I thank both of these people for their generosity in sharing their lives with me and allowing me to post their work on this site.

Artist of the Waters

for Lori Gordon

When the rains stopped

crashing and the ocean stopped

ravaging and the tears began

to slow,

only then, she stepped over

the rubble that was her own—

from plates to canvas,

from paints to shoes—stepped

into the rest, and began

to look.

Looking past the waste

of each castaway artifact—family

photo, mantelpiece, the post

of a bed, the leg

of a chair, a book, a comb, a still

life, a salt shaker, a magazine

cover in a language unknown,

a dog collar, a dress, the arm

of a doll—she meant

to see

beyond the tattered and torn and

broken things, to gaze

into the pain

of the loss

of each and the whole

that wove together each quilt

of a life. And in the seeing she began

to heal.

© 2007 DJ Gaskin

The Stream of Life

How wondrous is the stream of life;
She mostly gently flows,
And with ease she takes the varied turns,
As if intuitively she knows.

Some obstacles of nature
She encounters along the way,
But she molds herself around them,
Enfolds them as she may.

But let the mighty rains begin
Creating swell on swell,
And the stream of life from gentle state
Becomes a raging hell.

The result will not be pleasant;
There may be damage from the swell
And a sense that life has betrayed itself,
For all will not seem well.

But when the mighty rains subside,
Just wait, and you will see;
In time, a pleasant, gentle flow
Once more the stream will be.

James L. Curry, Jr.

Crescent City Streetcar centers around the damaged metal building which I have had since very soon after the storm. I never knew what to do with it until I paired it with the wonderful old metal sign, and the stained baking pan. I added a strip of handmade paper on the left for balance, and adhered several pieces of glass from that wonderful old smashed disco ball I found on the beach in Waveland. More of the glass tiles, a fragment of fine furniture, and three wood fleur de lis complete the piece. SOLD

Broken Angel was composed from a damaged dragonfly candle holder I salvaged from some debris pile, a clump of feathers from a hat which I picked up out of the debris of an antique store, a purchased frame, a mardi gras face, an old earring, and a circular wood piece with a metal bracket. SOLD

Parrot and Palms is made from a neat painting of a parrot, a furniture fragment, and a painted bamboo platter. SOLD

Francis and Friends was made from one of those dashboard Saints I picked up in New Orleans. It is attached to a plastic mirror with a salvaged Mexican tile and a recovered silver platter, to which I have adhered pieces from a saints bracelet. SOLD

Minstrel Saint is created from a wonderful battered plaster saint and child, an old telephone box, a salvaged metal planter box, and the back to a chair I dug out of a debris pile on Waveland Avenue. Two candles fit in the box on either side of the box. 17" x 21" SOLD

Our Lady of Guadalupe is composed from a dark skinned Madonna and child-another of those wonderful little car statues from New Orleans-, a Mexican painted tin box with glass, a molded plastic section of cheap furniture, several glass pieces, two wooden chickens and a painted piece of salvaged plywood.17" x 18" (Those are reflections on the glass at the bottom of the statue) SOLD

Garden District Altar is about all those beautiful homes in the Garden District in this most Catholic of American cities. I have always been fascinated by religious belief, and New Orleans has such a unique religious flavor. SOLD
18" x 24"

Garden of Plenty starts with the central human figure. He is surrounded withceramic leaves and fruit as well as a bird, and is mounted on a plastic "frame" as well as a metal platter. A button, tiny glass beads and glass leaves complete the piece. 21" x 22" SOLD

Lovebirds is composed from the lid to a heart shaped box and a set of wings mounted upon a fragment of fine furniture. SOLD

Little Boy Blue began with the small cobbler's she I purchased from a friend. It is paired with three small brass legs which came off a damaged platter, a wood hoop, the cover of a Mississippi Power meter box, and a painted wood shingle. SOLD

Winged Heart starts with the small wood heart in the middle of a wood box. It has been paired with another half-circular piece of wood and some plastic wings. SOLD

A Cultured Life was an interesting piece to put together. It went through at least a dozen different forms before I decided on the final elements. It is composed of a furniture fragment with a drawer and a lazy susan, an autoharp, a small metal disc, a metal frame which I purchased sometime after the storm, and two pieces of fine silver. 16" x 28" x15" SOLD

The Written Word is a thank you to my parents for instilling in me a love of reading. One of the last memories I have of my father was a picnic we all took a few months before his death. We were in a park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and dad read us The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, one of his favorite poems. This piece is composed of a stone sculpture of a woman with an open text, a mirrored platter, a piece of moulding, a drawer and the cast brass piece on the top. 13" x 16" x 5" freestanding. SOLD

Carousel is made from a rusty piece of shelving, a decorative wood and metal piece from post-Katrina Louisiana, and a fragment of a carousel horse which came from the beach in Bay St. Louis. 30" x 16"

Emily's Stories is about my beautiful daughter, and the stories she loved as a child. this piece is composed of a ceramic face, a fragment of an earthenware pot, a rhinestone neckpiece from a Mardi gras ball gown, a piece of metal shelving, plaster wings, a metal hand, and a painted piece of plywood. Sold

Sitting Kitty is composed from an acrylic charger, a piece of wood, a grater, and a carved wooden cat. 14" x 14" SOLD