More Handmade Holidays
A handcrafted Christmas
Clementine Hunter (1886—1988), a self-taught folk artist who lived and worked on Natchitoches’ Melrose Plantation for most of her life, painted the world she knew: post-Civil War plantation life. The African American artist took up painting in her fifties, becoming a celebrated artist whose work appeared in many museums. New Orleans’ Gitter Gallery has arranged to have many of her iconic works reproduced on hand-painted dinnerware, decorative hand towels, and hand-embroidered pillows. The pillows, like “Pecan Picking” pictured here, are produced on 100% organic cotton. $288. See the entire collection at gittergallery.com.
Mia Kaplan is a painter, sculptor, and textile designer from Southeast Louisiana whose work illustrates a personal connection to the natural world. Kaplan has created sculptural wreaths that make unique holiday mantle adornments but can be kept on display all year round. Each wreath is built and hand-painted in her studio in Lacombe, Louisiana.
The wreaths are sold through new Baton Rouge holiday décor outlet Fig & Dove, which carries other handmade holiday items: ornaments, tree toppers, stockings, tree skirts, etc. Buy the wreath (from $300) and browse the rest of Fig & Dove’s collection at figanddove.com.
Have any expat Louisianans in your family? Help them represent the home state with a sweet little charm from Mimosa Handcrafted.
Madeline and Dawson Ellis, both LSU landscape architecture graduates turned full-time jewelry designer/makers, create locally inspired wares with a Deep South soul. Each piece is handcrafted using the lost wax casting method and represents unmistakable icons: the ‘tit fer (triangle), a swamp landscape, magnolias.
Mimosa Handcrafted jewelry is available at multiple retail shops in Baton Rouge, including Noelie Harmon, and in Lafayette at Red Arrow Workshop. These pieces are priced from $45–$60. See the entire collection at