Red River Revel: Shreveport, Louisiana

Today, the arts festival started in Shreveport. It's called the Red River Revel, and it's been around for forty years! 

Before we got to the fun outside, Mom found a Quilt Show, and since quilting is her passion, we decided to check it out. 

Upon admission, you had the opportunity to vote for which quilt you believed deserved first place.

I decided to choose this one.

This was called Vortex, and the name fit.

This quilt reminded me of a fairytale: East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

This festival was where my parents had their first date, and since we needed a bit of fun, we headed down there to check it out. On the way, Mom pointed out these cool rose sculptures. 

There was lots to see, but my favorite booth would be the one where I met Belle from New York's Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast. 

Ana Maria Andrician worked for Broadway for years. Such a profession involved travel, practice and long hours of crafts backstage. 

She became interested in making jewlery when she watched an actress craft a pair of earrings. 

Over time, her hobby turned into a business called Jewel of Havana. 

I had to buy one of her pairs of earrings. They were beautiful!

Necklaces and earrings crafted by her can be found on this website: 

http://www.jewelofhavana.com

Another booth that we found belonged to Michael Gilbert, who took old rusty cars, wagons, tires, even old computers and made extrodinary, one of a kind creations. 

He had many unique and detailed works, including a manta ray made from the hood of a race car, a blowfish made from a hubcap, and a pelican 3d sculpture made from various parts of a car. 

One of his favorite pieces of art was this fish made from an old wheel barrel.

you can request anything, and he'll make it for you, any animal, from any metal part he can find. 

You can view more of his art at his website: 

http://www.mikesmetals.com

Another cool artist, Fred Conlon created a transformer in a similar fashion. But this was only one of their creative works, and it was not what he was known for.

Conlon has created these creatures called Gnomebegones, and they will protect gardens far more than any gnomes could.

You can find these creatures and more at his website: 

http://www.sugarpost.com

From recycled parts to recycled cans, the next booth belonged to Shao Lin and Sompit Xia. 

These creative artists take old cans and create, planes, animals and other unique garden decor. 

Hummingbirds lined the front of their booth.

The butterflies were my favorite.

You can find more of their creations at their website: 

http://www.candoplanes.com

In the spirit of halloween, Fete la Feme featured beautiful masks, one of a kind witch's hats and many other unique hair bands.

Kendall Morehart owns the creative gallery and she told us that she would be back around mardi gras to sell even more detailed and creative masks. Her booth was a unique and it featured bridal accessories, fascinators and hair accesories. She doesn't have a website, but you can contact her at

fetelafeme@gmail.com or call 318-564-7227. 

The next booth was a combination of two talented artists: Contina Pierson and Michael Graham.

Graham makes journals and leather work. His books were made from many different forms of hide, including hippo hide. His leather work was really cool, and we showed him the journal that Dad made me. (The journal in the title picture for this blog) He was impressed!

You can find more of his works at his website: 

http://www.studioofvisualarts.com

Contina is very creative with her jewelry, glass work and decor. Her gallery consisted of various stones, preserved flowers and even seeds!

She even had arrowheads and blue sandstone, which looked like the night sky.

Pierson is very social media savy. 

She has a facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BayouGlassArts

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/bayouglassarts/bayou-glass-arts/

and a website: http://www.bayouglassarts.com

The next booth belonged to  a creative artist with Lousiana pride.

Craig Routh is an illustrator and an artist. His creations are focused on the south, especially New Orleans. 

He had a whole collection of Christmas cards with his illustrations- from gators in santa suits to dancing crawfish. Each card had a recipe printed on the back for a variety of really good homemade southern food like gumbo, jambalaya and pralines.

You can find more of his works at these two websites: 

http://www.routhcollection.net

http://www.routhstudios.com

The next booth featured beautiful and clever paintings by Lane Kendrick. Some of the paintings had hidden horses, wolves and people in them. 

I recognised a painting that my friend's parents had in their house when they lived in Colorado, and after asking the owner, he said he used to go to an art show in Colorado Springs! 

The paintings were so clever, and it was fun to find all the hidden creatures in them. 

You can find more of Lane Kendrick's works at her website: 

http://www.lanekendrick.com

The last booth we saw had beautiful and whimsical fantasy paintings by Flemming. 

I bought two pieces: 

You can find more beautiful works at their website: 

http://www.flemingart.com

The Red River Revel was a lot of fun! 

They featured live bands, who played some great rock songs including the well known Cowboy Mouth who enjoyed getting the audience to participate.

After the fair, we had dinner at a place called The Blind Tiger. This place had a history and really good sea food.

In the menu, the last page told their story:

The Blind Tiger was created in 1992, and they chose the name based on Shreveport's history. 

A "Blind Tiger" was a name for an illegal bar or saloon during prohibition. Small toy tigers were often placed on the table of those places as a secret indication that the owner had a back room where customers could drink or gamble without worrying about the law. 

Loving the name, the owner had a logo drawn with a tiger playing piano with sunglasses like Ray Charles. They named the tiger Bushrod for Bushrod Jenkins who was assassinated on Texas Street, the first name they came by during their search on Shreveport's history. 

Now they serve great seafood and they have a bar featuring many tiger decorations. It was a cool place. 

Today was an amazing day!