Mardi Gras Tiger Youth T-Shirt

The powerful tiger is painted in 2 of the three colors of Mardi Gras. Painting the screen is my favorite part of Courir de Mardi Gras mask making. My Creole grandmother who would be about 130 years old if she were alive taught me to make the mask. She told me her mother taught her. My father taught me to paint the mask. My father would be in his 90's.
The Courir de Mardi Gras is the Cajun /Creole celebration for the day before Ash Wednesday and the 40 Days of fasting of Lent. The Courir de Mardi Gras involves the collection of ingredients by costumed horseback riders through rural towns and communities in the south central to south western region of Louisiana referred to as Acadiana. The Mardi Gras participants go house to house collecting ingredients for a community gumbo. The prize ingredient is live chickens which participants must capture themselves after participants entertained the farmers/homeowners with Cajun/Creole French music, dances often done on the backs of horses,...

I am a Cajun-Creole grandmother who was raised in South Central Louisiana and I am trying to preserve my culture as well as the things I imagine. My Primitive Folk Art preserves the simple way of life that I love. I love my culture and the place where I live and I want to share it!! Watching over my father's shoulder is how I learned to paint. He did primitive folk art for local shops. I took several art classes in college as well as private lessons from some of Acadiana's finest artist beginning when my oldest child was in kindergarten. I learned several techniques and styles. I am now grandmother to ten grandchildren. I have been selling my folk art for almost as many years as I have been a mother. When capturing the culture of the...