Courtesy Acadiana Center for the Arts and ArtSpark.
Hannah Thibodeaux's vibrant 75' x 21' mural in downtown Eunice was funded by the Acadiana Center for the Arts and the Lafayette Economic Development Authority's ArtSpark Program.
If you choose to spend weeks on a scissor lift painting a mural on the side of a prominent, small-town building, you’ll draw a crowd. That’s what Acadiana artist Hannah Thibodeaux (aka Hannah Gumbo) learned when she was awarded a grant by the Acadiana Center for the Arts to create a large-scale piece of public art in Eunice—her adopted hometown. “Every morning, people would stop and ask ‘All right, cher … what you gonna put on there today?’” she laughed. “They would say, ‘That’s BIG … What is it?’ I would ask them, ‘Well, tell me what you see.’ It was interesting to hear their answers.”
Thibodeaux, twenty-nine and a University of Louisiana at Lafayette fine arts graduate, is clearly a people person. She got the $5,000 grant from the Acadiana Center for the Arts and the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, whose ArtSpark program challenges Acadiana artists to stretch themselves creatively in ways that enrich their local communities. She applied for the grant after moving to Eunice—her husband’s hometown—and meeting a group of creative folks through a short-lived community gallery. “The gallery didn’t last long,” she said, “but there were so many creative people here! We did a lot of brainstorming, and I thought, ‘How great if we could take this energy outside the building and do something for the whole community.’”
Aiming to bring new color and energy to Eunice’s historic downtown while motivating younger citizens like herself to take pride in where they live, Thibodeaux spent spring hatching a design for a 75’ x 21’ section of century-old wall, with input from locals young and old alike. “The grant required me to do some community service,” she observed, “so I met with local school classes and asked them, ‘What do you like about here? What do you not like?’ They told me ‘Let’s stay away from crawfish!’” The resulting design—a pop-art-inspired visual puzzle of letters and symbols, manages to reflect the distinctive sights, sounds, and flavors of the Cajun prairie, and simultaneously scream EUNICE! without bringing a single mudbug to the party. The mural is at the intersection of South Second and West Walnut streets. Drive through downtown and just try not to smile. More of Thibodeaux’s work is at HannahGumbo.com.
