Masks, chickens and beads.
All paying homage to a traditional Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras.
Many of the pieces in Louisiana Market Shops at 115 pay tribute to art curator Jennifer Casanova’s Courier de Mardi Gras in Eunice.
Casanova calls her gallery “funky and it features the works of 500 Louisiana artists and makers of local products. She said theres even more artists on a waitlist to have their products featured.
“We have everything from books, local books that are written here in Louisiana and they are signed by the authors,” Casanova said.
“We have a lot of original artwork, we have things from crocheted items to paintings to sculptures just a little bit of everything. Cards, prints and photographs.”
She said artists must be from Louisiana, and she personally picks the works up herself from those around the state.
“Artists are picked based on the uniqueness of the products they make,” Casanova said.
“We like things that are not formal. We like things that depict the country life here in Louisiana. We have artists from up in Monroe Shreveport along the I-20 corridor down into the Natchitoches area, Alexandria area. All the way from New Orleans to Lake Charles.”
Casanova said right after Christmas they get to work on their Mardi Gras displays.
“This Mardi Gras is quite early on the calendar this year so we set it up a little earlier this year,” Casanova said.
Casanonva who is from Cowley said she felt this building was the perfect lcoation for an art gallery.
“The location was wonderful,” Casanova said. “I fell in love with this building and decided it would be a great place for local art because it’s halfway between Houston and New Orleans.”
Former University of Lafayette Professor Barry Ancelette is the author of "From Behind The Mask: Essays on South Louisiana Mardi Gras runs."
He said he had no idea his book was being sold in the store until people he’d written about in his book came across it.
“It’s kinda cool you know,” Ancelette said. “On the one hand its stop for tourists to pick up stuff from here, but it also turns out to be a place where people here pick up stuff from here. Apparently a place for those to buy about the local culture.”
Casanova said what keeps her going is her customer’s appreciation of the store
“We have a lot of people who have traveled through this area on the way to MD Anderson for cancer treatments and they call this their happy place, they have to stop,” Casanova said. “I have Texas people that come in that say its like a Buckees you can’t pass by on I-10 and not stop.”
Louisiana Market Shops at 115 is open Thursday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
