Grant will fund repairs to Nicholls sculpture garden

The Nicholls State University Foundation is a recipient of $75,000 from the Ruth DeYoung Kohler Legacy Fund to repair the Chauvin Sculpture Garden.

The landmark was damaged during Hurricane Ida with gusts as high as 150 miles per hour sweeping through the Chauvin area. The RDK Legacy Fund will help support the Garden’s restoration efforts.

“We are delighted to receive support from Ruth Arts with their generous and substantial donation. We plan to use the funds in on-going efforts to repair and restore the garden to its original state before it suffered damage due to Hurricane Ida. The funds will also be used for our continuous commitment to keep the garden open for visitors with alternating exhibits on display every weekend, and of course our annual Chauvin Folk Art Festival in April,” said R.E. Miller Endowed Professor of Honors Studies and director of the Center for Bayou Studies Dr. Gary LaFleur.

“This generous donation is a fervent reminder that Nicholls has an international reputation for helping rescue, restore and maintain the world-renown visionary art of Kenny Hill that can be viewed at the Chauvin Sculpture Garden.

The Chauvin Sculpture Garden has helped to put Nicholls on the map within Louisiana, across the nation and across the globe as a university that is committed to conservation and interpretation of visionary folk art.”

The garden was originally owned by Kenny Hill who began transforming his home’s bayou environment into a garden, housing more than 100 concrete sculptures with one of the most prominent pieces being a 45-foot-tall lighthouse composed of 7,000 bricks.

Hill never publicized his work and eventually abandoned his work in early 2000.

The site was then gifted to Nicholls.

Owned by Nicholls State University and open to the public since 2002, the Chauvin Sculpture Garden is home to the Nicholls State University Art Studio, gifted by the Kohler Foundation.

The studio and site preserves and protects the creative works of Kenny Hill and displays the work of contemporary artists in the 1,000 square foot exhibition space. Permanent collections of the Nicholls Art Studio include paintings, photographs, sculpture and pottery created by local artists. The studio also contains a functioning darkroom. Books, local artwork and other souvenirs are for sale on site.

The Chauvin Sculpture Garden is open Monday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Nicholls Art Studio is free and open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment. If you would like to make a donation, please contact the Nicholls State University Division of Art at (985) 448-4597. To learn more, visit https://www.nicholls.edu/folkartcenter/park.html.

Ruth Arts announced a new grant introducing the Ruth DeYoung Kohler Legacy Fund, mirroring the support Ruth DeYoung Kohler made to arts institutions throughout her lifetime. Ruth DeYoung Kohler II (1941-2020) was deeply committed to artists and consequently, broke down hierarchies and categories within the art world to center artists, support communities and engage with overlooked art forms.