A Natural Celebration

The woods will come alive with the sound of music, artistic performances and an auction at FORESTival, a celebration of art and nature at A Studio in the Woods, an artists' retreat in Lower Coast Algiers, from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday (June 5).

A Studio in the Woods, located on the West Bank of Orleans Parish, opens its gates for a festival on Saturday (June 5) to raise funds for its cultural programs. (Photo from A Studio in the Woods)

The celebration, which will raise funds for the studio's efforts to preserve the bottomland hardwood forest and provide a sanctuary for artists, comes at a time when Louisiana's natural and built environments are endangered, says Ama Rogan, managing director for the studio.

“Once again here in South Louisiana we have become keenly aware of this with the oil leak in the Gulf that is not only damaging our physical landscape but our cultural and emotional one as well,” Rogan says. “Art, creativity and community are all antidotes to the frustration and hopelessness we experience.”

At Saturday's event, musical entertainment will be provided by Panorama Jazz Band and Beth Turner and Friends. Art Spot Productions, Mondo Bizarro and Raymond “Moose” Jackson will present an excerpt from the play Loup Garou, a tale about wetland loss. Sculptor Jane Hill will demonstrate her art, and Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts will read her poetry.

Botanist David Baker will provide tours of the woods, while Kids in the Woods summer camp instructors will lead art activities for children. Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

Bidding will get under way at an auction of items donated by more than 20 artists. Restaurants, jewelry makers, tour operators and the Crescent City Farmers Market also are among those groups that have donated auction items.

Barrios, Kingsdorf & Casteix is sponsoring FORESTival. Complete information and directions are online or call 504-392-5359.

The studio, a program of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, provides a retreat where visual, literary and performing artists can work uninterrupted. June 18 is the application deadline for its next series of six-week art residencies called “Changing Landscapes.”