Haitian Art in a Modern Decorative Scheme

October 30, 2015

Working in Haiti is great. It’s fun, it’s interesting, it’s mind-opening and mind-blowing all at once. It’s also steamy and sweaty and dusty and at the end of the day, you’re not opposed to taking in a bit of gracious ambiance with your hot shower and cold drink. We’ve stayed at some nice

Hot and sweaty in Haiti. It is the tropics, after all.

hotels over the years, nothing truly fancy, but consistently having good service, clean sheets, a solid in-house restaurant, and wonderful character. Having said that, Casey always has an eye out for the next best thing and is prone to experimentation. So when she announced that we were staying at the Best Western Premiere Hotel in Petionville, I wasn’t sure that I had heard her correctly.

Best Western? Well, check the box affirmative for clean sheets and decent service and restaurants of an adequate sort. I’ve never minded

staying at a Best Western, but in the wonderful character category, I haven’t ever thought of giving them high marks. Plain vanilla has pretty much been my over-riding impression and I am here to say THAT is very unCasey-like.

Design element from a Louis-Propere painting surrounds the elevator door. Mirror frame is Hatiain metal.

But she nailed it.

Let me pause to tell you this is not a Tripadvisor review that I’ve posted incorrectly to the It’s Cactus blog. The point is actually decorating with Haitian art, and how they did it at the Best Western Premiere Hotel so beautifully. The modern, somewhat minimalist design scheme is punctuated by GREAT local art. Rumor has it that Donna Karan had a hand in the interior design work, so saying that the designer had an eye is a bit of an understatement. Take, for example, the paintings by Pierre-Louis Prospere hanging in the hallway:  design elements from those paintings were appropriated to surround the elevator doors on every floor. How about the framed recycled tire art arranged near the lobby check-in desk by Eugene Andre? And check out the full barrel sculptures by the early metal art masters hanging near sparkling crystal chandeliers. All combined for a WOW factor that for me, was completely unexpected but very much appreciated.

I have written previously about different decorative schemes into which Haitian art can be incorporated. Clearly, I can add minimalist modern to that list. And how!

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

Imagine pairing Haitian iron and crystal. Magic!

Cut-out rubber artwork by Eugene Andre

Bringing Haiti Home

September 19, 2015

Meet Mary Ragsdale, who will be helping us bring Haiti home to you.

We’ve got an exciting few days ahead – another buying trip to Haiti! But this time, we are fortunate to have an additional intrepid traveller with us. Along with Casey and her mom Gigi and I, Mary Ragsdale will be joining us. And Mary’s got skills. I personally regard them as superpowers, for SHE does video….

Everybody knows that video tells a story that simple photos cannot. With Mary behind the camera, we will be able to share with you so much more of the Haitian experience than we’ve ever been able to before. We’ve had the “Visit Haiti” segment on our website for quite some time but now we’ll elevate the whole production, with a start-to-finish clip on how Haitian metal sculpture is made.

You will also see scenes of of Croix-des-Bouquets and daily life. We’ll do a video piece on pumping water and the women who head carry it back

Video will be another way for you to meet our artists and their families.

to their homes for washing, drinking and cooking. In a voodoo temple, we’ll take viewers on a “nickel tour” and interview practitioners on some of their rituals and observances. Another piece we’ve got in mind is on voodoo flags, how they are made and how they are sold on the “Voodoo Tree.” All in all, the newly shot videos will enable us to share our experiences and provide a glimpse into the lives and work of our artists and their families in Haiti.

It’s a pretty heady prospect! It is so helpful for people understand the art that they buy, where it comes from, what it takes to create it, and how their purchases helps the artists who produce it. Understanding takes the enthusiasm level from “I like it,” to “I love it!” And that’s just what we llke to hear!

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

Letting the Skeleton Out of the Closet

September 10, 2015

I wasn’t kidding about the skeleton in my closet! Sculpture by Jean Claude Soulouque

Labor Day has passed and suddenly, it’s fall. Of course, in the scientific sense, it is not fall until the autumnal equinox has occurred. This is when the sun shines directly on the Equator and the length of day and night are very nearly equal, happening this year on Sept. 23rd at 08:22 Universal Coordinated Time, according to timeanddate.com, just in case you were wondering. All of that is well and good – not to mention precise – but to me, fall has arrived already. The school busses are back in the neighborhhood, the temperatures are starting their blessed annual slide, and if I look very, very carefully, I can see the first signs that the leaves are starting to loosen their grip on the twigs and branches above me. That is all the proof I need.

So all of that reminds me that I have a skeleton in the closet that should come out. Maybe not right away, but at least I should start thinking about it. I might try carrying him around a little bit, give him some air, and see if if I can’t find a fresh, new spot for him to while away the hours. Yes, it is time to generate some new decorating ideas for the Day of the Dead and Halloween next month!

I have had my skeleton for a couple of years now, and I tell you, I love it. But every year it is the same. I put it on one of my two front porch pillars and there it hangs, like a macabre sentinel, guarding the Door of Dread. It looks good – great, in fact, if I may say so. But still, it’s got other possibilities. I just need to find them.

Should I dress him up? Hang him elsewhere? Use him in some other manner? The first two below are my favorites. What do you think?

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

3….2….1…..Countdown to Launch!

August 20, 2015

Just to let you know how hip and progressive we are, let me announce that we are launching a new website by way of a little story:

In April, Google announced that it would give organic ranking advantage to websites that are “responsive” to various user platforms. In plain English, this means that websites that can be viewed with equal easy on smartphones, pad, and laptops will have better placement in Google searches, though paid ads will remain at the top. Since It’s Cactus is now an online-only retailer and since our old – but beautiful! – website is not of equal viewing ease from phone to laptop, this spurred us to action! We have been working feverishly for months and we are now close, so close, to our new and improved look.

Should I go into detail about the work that this involves? No. Just consider it to be monsterous. It has included reading, learning, shopping, comparing, calling customer service, and spending hours on the phone with our guru, Dennis, of Clever Concepts. It has included trial, error, thinking and re-thinking, organizing and re-organizing, shooting hundreds upon hundreds of photos, writing copy, and inputting it all. Did I mention a significant cash investment? That too.

But it’s all going to be worth it. Soon you will be able browse “It’s Cactus” easily, whether at home in your jammies or on the go. There will be Haitian iron by the virtual (and veritable) ton, of course, but there will also be an incredible amount of other types of folk art – more than ever before. We have added a product zoom feature, lots of style photos and greater product search capability. There’s also a “Wish List” where you can save items that morph from “want” to “need.” And there are tools that we can use behind the scenes that will help us do an even better job of making great folk art available to you. It’s very exciting!

Even with the launch date now in sight, the new website will still be a work in progress. If there is something about a piece that you need to know, something that we have overlooked, or simply haven’t gotten to yet, PLEASE don’t hesitate to call or email. We’d love to hear from you. That NEVER changes!

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

A Poet’s Vision of Croix-des-Bouquets

July 16, 2015

While doing some research online, I stumbled across a poem entitled “Ode to Croix-des-Bouquets” on a website coincidentally called, “Beyond Borders.” This is not the wholesale Haitian metal art company owned by Janet and Joel Ross, but a charitable organization in Washington, D.C. that is working in Haiti to end child slavery. (They are beyondborders.net, while Janet and Joel are beyondbordersfairtrade.com) The author of the poem, Marcus Ellsworth of Chattanooga, TN, visited Haiti as part of an artist’s pilgrimage a couple of years ago. While in Haiti, the group ventured out to Croix-des-Bouquet and Ellsworth was moved to jot down his impressions in verse. So instead of writing my usual blog, I thought sharing his poem with you would be a pleasant change of pace. His evocative words quickly bring me back to Haiti in my mind….

“Ode to Croix-des-Bouquets”  By Marcus Ellsworth

There are secrets one can only reveal
with a hammer, a chisel, and skill.

Kneeling at the edge of the steel sheet,
like a fisherman in his boat
on deep still waters
breaking the surface
to catch the truth of the heart
and bring it up into the sun.

Hammers pounding as thunder
Chisels falling as rain
Hands summoning patient storms
that awaken life
from the quiet metal

Angels come to dance
Flowers bloom immortal
Spirits gather
to laugh, and rage, and teach,
and be made solid for our eyes and hands

Such is the gift of steel and those who mold it like clay
Listen to the sounds of Croix Des Bouquets
This is the sound of dreamers bending the world to their will.

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

Haitian Metal Can Be A Perfect “Fit”

July 9, 2015

A primitive sculpture, such as this “Tree of Hope” by Jean Carlo Brutus is a surprisingly versatile decorative piece.

Not infrequently, I have heard comments from customers to the effect that, while they like the concept of recycled metal art, and they like that it is completely handcrafted, and that they appreciate the culture from which it originates, they are concerned that it won’t “fit” into their decorative style. I get that. Not all art that I admire “fits” in my home either. But my response, though it may sound like a blatant sales pitch, comes from a true heart: “There are so many styles and themes within this art form, I bet you can find something that fits perfectly.”

Shall we assume that Haitian metal works well in a “Caribbean” style, since that’s where it comes from? And shall we also assume “Folk Art Funk” and “Ecletic” are fairly obvious “fits” as well? In a recent blog post “Create Your Own Peacock Room,” I talked about how peacocks were used as a decorative motif for a room filled to the brim with Chinese antiques and suggested that our exquisitely detailed Haitian metal peacocks could assume a role within Asian style . Maybe a little unexpectedly, but surprise, surprise – it works! Okay, so there’s four. What else? Shall we go with another style that’s not exactly obvious?  How about “American Traditional”?

Haitian metal can be a beautiful “fit” in an American Traditional decorative style.

Many of our sculptures are done with primative lines, not unlike those you might associate with quilt patterns, needlepoint canvases, and Shaker furniture. So yes, they are works of Haitian origin, but their inherent simplicity is well-suited to the “American Traditional” style. So, for example, consider this piece above (REC132 Tree of Hope) The sculpture is nicely executed, possessing fine detail without being ornate. The birds in the tree are universal design elements, easily translatable.

Now consider this same sculpture in an American Traditional setting. (See photo, right) The sculpture is complimentary to the total look, in sync with the spindle rocker, the cross-stitched sampler, the stacked books, the Amish print, and the black and white family photo. The colors are subtle, the sizes are proportionate, the design elements are cohesive, the theme works, and the folk art aspect they share bind them together as a grouping.

How about that! Shall we go for five decorative styles? Six? (I think we can!)

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

Going Big

July 2, 2015

A Haitian version of Lady Godiva created by John Sylvestre using and entire 55-gallon barrel.

When I am in Haiti looking at sculptures, I have to admit that sometimes, I get overwhelmed. There are so many, everywhere! Each workshop has them on the walls both inside and out, there are sculptures stacked on tables, on the floor, in the rafters – virtually every available space is fair game for display or storage. At the end of the day, it is a bit like not seeing the forest for all of those trees.

And yet, even at the end of the day, sometimes the scope and mastery of a piece will jump out and grab me. The forest becomes visible again. It happened to me most notably in the workshop of John Sylvestre, one of the first artists with whom we collaborated and, indeed, one of the proverbial “Old Masters.”

John, now in his late fifties, learned from Janvier Louisjuste, who learned from the orignal metal art master, Georges Liataud. Starting as a laborer at the age of twelve, John was a quick study. He soon headed his own atelier and began forming his own style, with a body of work that is tender, sensual and otherworldly. The piece that stopped me in my tracks was a tropical version of Lady Godiva. (above) The execution of detail was superb, but the design element that got me and held me fast was its size. The whole barrel had been used in its creation.

There is something to the old adage that “bigger is better.” To use a movie analogy, “Avatar” is entertaining on a 46″ diagonal flat-screen, but in the theater, it’s AMAZING. It needs to be big. It’s richness is fully realized only when it is projected on a grand scale.

So it is with Haitian metal art. Some design images are sweet and cute and need to be expressed as a suggestion or a hint, rather than a statement. Others crave to be boldly expressed or they lose their intrinsic intensity and their power is lost. An entire barrel, when completely utilized, gives the artist a “canvas” that is 34″ x 72″. A hummingbird that size would be weird and ridiculous and possibly scary, for whatever fineness there may be in texture and line. But Lady Godiva, champion of the poor, executed in near life-size is stunning. Her pride and her elegant bearing are fully communicated. Similarly, the Angel Couple on our website seem as divine, projecting the grandeur and infinity of Heaven. With them in large scale, you are drawn there too. A slice of Heaven is yours.

How great is that?

Contributed by Linda for it’s Cactus

Bend It???

June 25, 2015

Whenever I sell a Haitian metal sculpture, whether at a show or a street fair or holiday bazaar, I am always pleased when our customers walk away happy and confident with their purchase. But sometimes I have to chuckle at the process. When something is brand new and shiny and wonderful, the ready instinct is to be careful with it. And it’s a good instinct to follow, usually. On the continuum of action between cautious and bold there are times when one should be exercised over the other. Sometimes being cautious is the right choice. And sometimes you have to be bold and bend your sculpture.

“Bend it?” you say. Yes, bend it. Many of our sculptures have a three dimensional element and sometimes you have to bend that element out to make it “pop” to give it the depth that it deserves. For instance, in the photos at the left, you will see a great little daisy sculpture by Caleb Belony. In the first photo, the petals are all flush with each other. Completely flat. That’s how we pack them to be shipped, whether to The Flower Show in Philadelphia or to your Great Aunt Tilly in Tuscaloosa. It’s more compact, takes up less bulk and all of that good stuff.

However, when you go to hang that sculpture, you need to bend those petals out a little bit. Go ahead. Do it boldly, with grit and determination. You’ll see the difference immediately. It’s got more pizzazz, more life. It looks more like a daisy. The same is true of most of our winged sculptures, such as our birds, dragonflies, butterflies, and angels. A big clue on wings is if they are attached with a rivet. If so, go ahead and bend it out.

Of course I will tell you that bending is not limited to elements that are riveted. Case in point, the flower at the left. Some dragonflies don’t have rivets, but the wings look better bent out a little bit anyway. Same with some of our curly haired girls and masks. If you think your sculpture might look more lively that way, give it a try. (You can always bend it boldly back!)

  Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

Weird You Say?

June 4, 2015

“Lid Tree of Life” by Charles Luthene.

“Fish Lid” by Evenson Thenor

Does this sculpture on the left look funny to you? Do you wonder about that hole in the trunk of the tree? How about this one on the right? What about those eyes? Are they a little weird?

Well, maybe they look funny to you and if so, that’s fine. You know what you like. No argument there. But if you bear with me just a bit and I’ll tell you why they look amazing and clever to us. The hole in the tree and the eyes of the fish are barrel spouts. What was old has been made new again! The old spouts for pumping fluid in or out of the drum have been incorporated into the design of the new sculpture. The recycled lid is in clear evidence in the revised form.

Artist discussing his idea for a new lid design.

Barrels stuffed with leaves, ready for burning. The first stage of recycling the metal and preparing the metal to become art.

The first artist to integrate the spouts into his sculptures was Evenson Thenor.  A couple of

years ago, It’s Cactus sponsored his visit to California to do artist demonstrations throughout the Central Coast.  When he arrived at the airport in San Francisco, he came off the plane with an inspired idea in his head and a gleam in his eye.  When we asked him what he had in mind for his work he said, “I have an idea in here,” as he pointed to his head, “I don’t know if you are going to like it.  But I think you will.”  Over the next several days we watched in amazement as the idea took form on the metal.  Slowly, the features of the fish took shape around the spouts of the oil drum lid.  When it was finished, he presented it as a gift to Casey, saying, “I can make more – a little bit different, if you like.”  Yes!  We like!   His new design is “Fish Lid” pictured above right.

Weird or clever?  You decide…

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

Hanging Your Haitian Metal Sculpture

May 28, 2015

Use your thumb to find the approximate middle of the piece where two design elements are joined. It has become apparent that I have put the cart before the horse with regard to decorating with Haitian metal. I have posted numerous blogs in which I have offered lots and lots of ideas for WHERE to display our sculptures, (On the fence, on the wall, above the doorway, on the fireplace, etc.) but most of them require knowing HOW to hang them first. So let’s back up a bit and I’ll do a little show and tell. Some of our recycled metal sculptures come with a hanger riveted to the back of the piece, making it pretty obvious how to get the job of hanging done. If it doesn’t have a hanger, it’s because it doesn’t need one. The job is still a snap and all you have to do is follow these 3 simple steps: 1. Looking at the front of the sculpture and find the approximate middle where design elements are joined or closed. In this tree of life, it is where two leaves meet. Hammer the first nail in there. 2. Then, find another place where design elements are joined or closed. Use this point to straighten and secure the piece. If the sculpture is large, you may want to use another nail or two, but for most sculptures (23″ round or smaller) 1-2 nails are sufficient. ” When you step back to admire your work, you’ll see that the nails have “disappeared” into the sculpture. 3. If your sculpture has a “face” such as that of a bird or mermaid, for instance, make sure you DO NOT put the nails in the eyes or mouth. A viewer’s attention will go right to those elements and therefore, straight to your nail. That is exactly what you don’t want. Now, didn’t I tell you? It’s a snap. Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

Pound the first nail into the spot you’ve identified..

See? The nails disappear right into the sculpture.