Art, with a side of shrimp or crabs

Morgan City has a new piece of public art. And if you walk up close to see it, you can catch the peppery scent of crawfish and crab boil.

The Louvre was never like this.

The mural, by Houma-area artist Hans Geist, covers the front of Craws and Claws, 1601 La. 70 in Morgan City.

It features a fierce-looking crawfish and big blue crab on the right side of the block building, near the drive-up window. On the left side is the shrimp boat Spirit of Morgan City.

The background is a swamp scene. And it was all crowd-sourced.

Robert Conner owns the store, which sells crawfish, crabs, shrimp and a variety of seafood. Cashier Laura Franklin said the business was looking for a way to make a connection with the community.

“We all came up with ideas, maybe the idea of mural on the store since we had to close because of the pandemic,” Franklin said.

They found Geist, the area artist.

“We try to have as much local as we can,” Franklin said.

Three designs went on the Craws and Claws Facebook page Oct. 10. One had the swamp scene and the Spirit of Morgan City, but no big crawfish or crab. The second had the swamp scene with cartoon-character versions of the crawfish and crab.

Two posts asking for viewers to vote for their choice drew 199 comments. The realistic crab and crawfish version, No. 3 in your programs, was the winner.

The painting was complete Oct. 15, according to the Craws and Claws Facebook page.

“Everybody loved the idea,” Franklin said. “I’ve had people call me to tell me how beautiful it looks."