StudioChachere

Lafayette, Louisiana has been named the "happiest city in America" by the Wall Street Journal, and once a traveler visits this warm, easy-going city it's easy to see why. All summer long the fortunate residents of Acadiana stroll the tree-lined, old-fashioned downtown streets enjoying Jazz Festivals, music in the park, and dozens of City-sponsored art events. Every second Saturday during the warm parts of the year is 'Art Walk,' a special event during which local crafters and artisans simply set up a table somewhere on a sidewalk and sell art directly to passers-by. Smiling old ladies with hand-knitted caps and gloves share the shade with young excited artists, friendly face-painters, and a determined blacksmith working at a tiny portable forge as a musician plays and sings Zydeco nearby. Nearly every restaurant and bar a visitor might walk into is filled with local art for sale, and many also feature live music in the evenings. Culture is contagious, and with New Orleans just a couple of hours down the road the effect of the Big Easy's blues and jazz background can be distinctly felt in this quiet stress-free town.

This is the atmosphere that fuels the small art studio known as Studio Chachere. Situated under spreading oaks near a small coulee (the local French term for a small stream), local artist Adah Chachere works to infuse canvas with the spirit of restful ease and old-fashioned charm that fills the parish around her. She travels to small forgotten towns hidden behind the swamps and meadows of Acadiana's rich green landscape, photographing and painting an America that has vanished in most of the rest of the country. Old-time groceries, false-front shops, intricate Victorian homes, and serene all-wood antique chapels are hidden gems that deserve to grace the walls of those who appreciate country-elegant nostalgia.

Along with architectural images, Ms. Chachere enjoys working with portraiture, most especially working from old family photos to create portraits that will delight generations to come. She also dabbles in painting animals and abstract design now and again, following the creative muse wherever it might wander.

Over the years she's developed a distinct 'pen and ink' style of work which is complemented by watercolor or oil on canvas. Priming a stretched canvas with a special water-absorbing ground enables her to lay down layers of ink, watercolor, pastel, oil, and gold leaf together in the same piece. One painting might follow more traditional oil painting techniques, while another might stray into the realms of light-hearted pen and ink sketches, or even a marker-like graphic look achieved solely through layers of oil paint on absorbent surfaces.

Whatever the inspiration of the hour, Ms. Chachere is always seeking new inspiration from the quiet shaded streets of her home town, and if you give Lafayette a visit you might find her outdoors on a second Saturday's summer afternoon selling tiny little paintings made into magnets, or whatever else she's gotten her hands on to paint that week. Pay us a visit sometime, you're always welcome to sit downtown in the shade with a cool drink in hand and listen to the musicians play.