The Chauvin Sculpture Garden is open every day from dawn until dusk, and the art studio is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
by Emmalee Antill

Outsider art is a term used by the artistic community to describe works done by a person with no professional training. One such wondrous display of outsider art resides just down the road in Chauvin. The Chauvin Sculpture Garden and Nicholls State University Art Studio located on Bayouside Drive provide a brief glimpse into the mind and soul of the eccentric and talented outsider artist Kenny Hill.

Hill unexpectedly left his wife and three children in Arkansas, his home state, to lease a small plot of land in Chauvin in the late 1980s. Hill was a bricklayer and lived in a tent for his first few years. Eventually he gathered enough money and built a house with his own hands. After he built the house, his true work began. During the course of 14 years, Hill transformed his tiny plot of bayou land into a unique vision of the Bible and his own life. More than 100 large cement religious statues and a 45-foot lighthouse (visible from the highway across the bayou) stood on the land when Hill left in 2000.

There are many stories circulating about why Hill disappeared. Some say he went nuts. Others say he was lonely. But according to Rita Hermann, coordinator of the garden, “most of the stories have a grain of truth to them.”

Hill lived on the land for 10 years, creating his art. As his leaseholders got older, Hill wanted to purchase the land, but when he could not buy out his leaseholder, Hill stopped payment and stopped maintaining his lawn. The parish eventually had to fine Hill for not mowing his lawn.

With the mounting debt and the death of his mother and sister, Hill began walking back to Arkansas. Hill left his garden, never to return. Luckily for the citizens and visitors of Chauvin, the art restoration program of the Kohler Foundation found Hill’s inspiring yet tragic garden. The Kohler Foundation finds and restores displays of outsider art. Kohler restored Hill’s garden and gave it to Nicholls State to maintain and open to the public.

Hill’s garden cannot just be read about; it must be experienced. The moment a visitor walks into the garden, he or she can feel and see the personal pain Hill was going through. Hermann explains Hill’s mother was a very evangelical religious person. His relationship with his father was rocky, and he felt a deep sense of guilt for leaving his family behind. Observers can feel the personal struggle between good and evil. Hermann says, “It was probably just something he had to do.”

The theme of redemption and suffering seems to run throughout Hill’s work. His statues walk from sinfulness to an unfinished fountain which many assume represents baptism and cleansing. The large detailed figures walking to the fountain are flanked by large diving and sweeping angels leading the figures. Hill even makes an appearance in the garden several times, sometimes guiding the way to salvation and other times as a sinner.

The cement sculptures were not created with typical instruments of the trade, but with household utensils. The long flowing hair of the angels was created with a fork, and the large, detailed, feathery wings were molded with a wooden spoon. One angel along the path holds a lantern made from a salt and pepper shaker. Hermann says Hill improved his techniques with each statue he created. However, it will never be known how far he could have gone because he left an unfinished work. He made it back to Arkansas where he is now with his brother. Both Hill and his family refuse to talk about the garden or what Hill is doing currently. Hill offers no explanation of his work nor does he care what happens to the garden. He merely left it to the community. Chauvin plans to keep and expand Hill’s vision.

Hermann and the Nicholls State University Art Studio have made the garden a place where local artists can display their works. Nicholls’ goal is to show that art is accessible to anyone who wants to create something, after all Hill had no artistic training. PoV