Lorraine Gendron knows what it’s like to be a well-known artist.
In the 1980s, Gendron, a Hahnville resident and self-taught artist, rocketed to national fame in the art world with her Mississippi mud dolls. Since then, she has traveled all over the country selling her art, written a book and gained international recognition.
But after digging for mud in the Mississippi River’s banks for close to 30 years, Gendron cannot do it anymore. The difficult work of digging and hauling the mud has forced her to undergo three back surgeries. But because she is so dedicated to her craft, Gendron will still make her famous dolls using a barrel of river mud that she now mixes with commercial clay.
Gendron’s unique artwork has been featured in museums and festivals all over the United States, including the 1984 World’s Fair. She even has one of her Cajun nativity scenes in a collection in Arles, France.
She has displayed her work at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for the past 26 years and has two paintings currently hanging in the Governor’s mansion.
In 1985, she was one of only 100 artists nationwide to be chosen to paint an Easter egg for the White House Easter Egg Roll. In 2001, she was invited to decorate at the White House again by designing a Christmas Ornament. In 2004, she returned to Washington D.C. for the Mystick Krewe of Louisianians’ Carnival Ball where her art adorned the entire ballroom.
Gendron said she knew she was an artist at a very young age.
“Art was something I always did. Even as a child, I was artistically inclined,” she said. “At (the age of) two, I could draw horses. My family was amazed…I guess that was unusual for a 2-year-old to be able to make representational drawings.”
As a teenager, Gendron painted artwork for her family using watercolors and shoe polish. She said she painted mainly landscapes and religious pictures before moving on to portraits.
“I really didn’t have money to buy canvas and paints so I just used whatever I could find around the house,” she said. “I often added paint stains to shoe polish to paint.”
Gendron said that the reason she started using river mud in the first place was because she couldn’t afford commercial clay.
Later in life after getting married and raising three children, Gendron finally found the time and funds to be an artist full-time, but she continued to use the river mud for her dolls because of its significance to the area.
While her mud dolls are what brought her artwork into the national spotlight, Gendron now focuses mainly on painted wood cut-outs and acrylic-on-wood paintings.
She and her husband, Louis, put a lot of work into the painted wood cut-outs, including drawing a design, cutting the wood themselves and painting them. Since her husband helps so much, she said she signs all of her pieces “L. Gendron” so that it will be attributed to them both. Their signature piece is the “watermelon angel,” a wooden cut-out of an angel eating a slice of watermelon.
Examples of her acrylic-on-wood paintings can be found throughout her home – she has used every wall in her house as a canvas throughout the years.
In one room, Gendron painted all of the walls and even the ceiling to resemble a swamp scene for her grandson.
And that’s one lucky grandson considering Gendron’s work can also be seen in local collections at the Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans Historical Collection, Madam John’s Legacy State Museum, Louisiana State of Art Exhibit and in a permanent exhibit at the St. Charles Parish Courthouse. She also did the artwork of the 1811 Slave Rebellion at Destrehan Plantation.
But Gendron isn’t just an artist. In 2009, she co-authored a self-titled book about her life, artwork and achievements.
Gendron is a River Region Arts and Humanities Council Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and she designs the council’s Angelus Award each year.
Gendron has also had the opportunity to meet many politicians and famous people during her long career. She has met First Lady Laura Bush, First Lady of Louisiana Supriya Jindal and singers Harry Connick Jr. and Aaron Neville.
Gendron’s artwork can be purchased at Judy’s at the Rink in New Orleans, Estella’s on Old Metairie Road, Rug Chic in Covington and Southern Folk Art Gallery in Henderson, N.C.
To order a copy of Gendron’s book, “Lorraine Gendron: Louisiana Folk Artist” by Gendron and Nancy Wilson, call (985)783-2173.
The book costs $40 for a hard cover and $25 for a paperback.
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