Fire and ice. Oil and water. One would think the searing heat of a kiln has little to say to the delicate daisy. But for every flower there is a mass of tender roots, and what better shelter than a beautifully hand thrown pot, hardened in the finishing fire. That’s how the opposites, Lafayette Art Association’s Pyromania and the UL horticulture department’s Festival Des Fleurs come together this weekend, April 5-6, at Blackham Coliseum.
Pyromania, a celebration of all heat-generated art forms, is back for its 13th year. More than 125 artists will be creating works of glass, clay and metal on the grounds surrounding the coliseum. There will be demonstrations of stained and fused glass making, blown glass sculpture and a glass bead workshop. Earth works include Raku firing, clay sculpture, wheel throwing, and firing in all sorts of kilns — paper, woodfire and trash cans. Metalworkers will demonstrate bronze casting, metal smithing and cast iron pouring. There’s a chance to win a hands-on lab in glass bead making, and on Sunday afternoon, clay artists will compete in the Clay Olympics. “It’s a home-grown festival,” director Ty Devalcourt says, “an event for artist to artist collaboration and a great place for those who are fascinated by fire to exchange ideas.”
Meanwhile in the green shade under Blackham’s roof, 85 booths will offer growing things old, new, hybridized and native in the plant world. “Look for the unusual,” says Billy Welsh, horticultural center manager and Festival Des Fleur organizer. “There are always new hybrids of daylilies, and plumeria has become popular.” The plumeria, also known as the flower for making sweet smelling leis, is a native of tropical and subtropical areas of the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, South America and Mexico. Culinary herbs, Louisiana natives like rose marsh mallow and Turks cap, old fashioned roses and newfangled tools are all part of the flower festival.
Pyromania and Festival Des Fleurs will take place Saturday, April 5, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, April 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Blackham Coliseum, 2330 Johnston St. in Lafayette.
David Calhoun and Elizabeth “EB” Brooks are the first two employees of Lafayette Central Park Inc., the nonprofit charged with turning Lafayette Consolidated Government’s 100-acre Johnston Street Horse Farm property into a passive public park. Calhoun was named executive director, and Brooks is director of planning and design.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
Fire and ice. Oil and water. One would think the searing heat of a kiln has little to say to the delicate daisy. But for every flower there is a mass of tender roots, and what better shelter than a beautifully hand thrown pot, hardened in the finishing fire. That’s how the opposites, Lafayette Art Association’s Pyromania and the UL horticulture department’s Festival Des Fleurs come together this weekend, April 5-6, at Blackham Coliseum.
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