Minnesota Museum of the Mississippi - Chauvin Sculpture Garden

Minnesota Museum of the Mississippi and other Natural Wonders

Chauvin Sculpture Garden - Chauvin, Louisiana

Chauvin Sculpture Garden

Kenny Hill came to the small Cajun town of Chavin around 1988 and made his living as a bricklayer. There he rented a strip of land along a bayou crowded with shrimp boats. After putting up a small house he began building a 45-foot tall brick lighthouse, then covered it with sculptures made from concrete over wire armatures and bas reliefs. Cowboys and jazz musicians, Native Americans and soldiers parade around the tower in a tableau of American history. At the center, a man seems to struggle with and be supported by angels.

Arrayed in a semicircle to the left and right of the lighthouse are other Biblical scenes of angels and humans. Some angels fly weightlessly high above, defying their heavy concrete construction. Others seem to want to warn visitors which way to avoid or follow on a spiritual journey through the garden. Many incorporate round flourescent lights as halos, which must have been magical to see in the twighlight. The journey through the garden seems to tell the story of the artist's life. Numerous self-portraits show Hill in a baseball cap, with a bleeding heart, carrying a cross or lifted up by angels.

While working on the garden, the artist shunned publicity and forbid photographs. He answered questions about the meaning of the artwork vaguely, stating only that its purpose was to inspire young people. In 2000, after a decade of working on the site, Hill seems to have changed his mind about the religious message of the garden. He stopped paying rent, knocked off the head of the statue of Jesus and left town without a trace. In 2002 the site was donated to Nicholls State University and restored in partnership with the Kohler Foundation. Some statues were damaged or toppled by 150-mile-per-hour winds of Hurricane Ida in 2021 but the majority withstood the storm, a testament to Hill's skillful construction.

The garden is open during daylight hours. An art studio building across the road is open on weekends and has photos and information about the artist.