Deanie’s French Quarter Showcases Glass Louisiana Wildlife Sculpture
NEW ORLEANS–Deanie’s Seafood French Quarter restaurant, 841 Iberville St., commissioned a custom-designed glass art installation highlighting the bounty of Louisiana’s waters that is a centerpiece of the main dining room. The intricate, lifelike art display was designed by Bywater artist James Vella and dedicated to Louisiana wetlands champion the America’s WETLAND Foundation.
During a special event last August, Deanie’s Seafood and the Chifici Family celebrated the 5-foot by 4-foot glass sculpture during an event that raised more than $10,000 for the Foundation’s efforts to preserve coastal Louisiana and its delicate wetlands.
The wildlife display is features two tall herons standing on a bank surrounded by marsh grass. In the water are small vignettes: A large catfish nestled close to the bank. A school of redfish in the shallows looking for blue crabs. In a deeper section of dark green grass, a school of speckled trout feeding on shrimp. Closer to the sandy bottom are sheephead, flounder and baitfish.
The Deanie’s art installation is the largest collective sculpture Vella-who describes himself as a “diehard fisherman who never gets to fish”-has created in his career thus far. The Bywater artist specializes in fine art glass creations, custom designs and large-scale installations.
In a town famous for great seafood, Deanie’s is in a class by itself. It was the first seafood marketplace to open in the quaint fishing village of Bucktown The original Deanie’s Seafood restaurant located at 1713 Lake Ave. is a local favorite and part of the fabric of the community. Its second restaurant in the French Quarter opened in 2001 and was immediately successful. After Hurricane Katrina delivered serious water damage to the restaurant, Deanie’s was completely renovated, adding private dining rooms and an expanded kitchen and reopened 18 months later. Today, the French Quarter location employs over 130 employees and serves more than 400,000 customers a year.
“New Orleans has given us so much and we wanted to take this opportunity to give back,” said Barbara Chifici, who is head of the family business. “The display is a tribute to the local fishing community and the diverse waterways that provide for it. We’re pleased to support the America’s WETLAND Foundation’s efforts to restore our wetlands and preserve a way of life.”
As part of its ongoing support of the foundation, Deanie’s will contribute a portion of the proceeds from Louisiana’s Alure, an original glass fishing lure ornament created by Vella Vetro Art Glass & Custom Designs available for purchase in both Deanie’s Seafood restaurants and online at www.shopdeanies.com. The hand-blown glass ornament is $45, with $5 going to support the America’s WETLAND Conservation Corps’ work protecting the coastline through hands-on restoration plantings.
“We’re honored and grateful for Deanie’s support of our efforts to save Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and to raise awareness of the importance of our threatened ecosystem,” America’s WETLAND Foundation Founder and Chairman R. King Milling said. “For Louisiana to maintain its seafood industry, the loss of its nurturing and protective wetlands on which 90 percent of Gulf of Mexico marine life depend must be reversed. Otherwise, this nation could stand to lose one-third of its seafood supply. We must not let that happen.”
Before he started working with glass, Vella was a wildlife painter who entered national competitions and went far in the federal duck stamp competition. His study of wildlife and love of fishing led him to produce smaller vignettes in glass, such as a pelican perched on a stump or individual fish on a log, following the rules of taxidermy. He also designed individual glass redfish, blue crabs, trout and shrimp.
After he was approached to design the display for Deanie’s, he decided to create a cross-section of the lake-going from marshy shallows to deeper lake bottom to a sandy section closer to the ocean bottom. This would require developing a base out of plaster that looks like the sand and dirt of the lake bottom and configuring and mounting the individual vignettes into a dynamic, cohesive three-dimensional piece.
“This is something I’ve always wanted to do but haven’t had a reason to,” Vella said. “It’s led me into some really interesting techniques that I’ve never gotten to do with glass before.”
The Louisiana Wildlife display is located at Deanie’s Seafood restaurant in the French Quarter, 841 Iberville St.
The Fishing Lure Ornament benefiting the America’s WETLAND Foundation is on sale at BOTH Deanie’s Seafood restaurants, the French Quarter restaurant located at the corner of Iberville and Dauphine streets, and the original Bucktown location, located at 1713 Lake Ave. in Metairie, and online at www.shopdeanies.com.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Karen Hales, Deanie’s Seafood
khales@markit360.com
(985)445-6022
John Hill, America’s WETLAND Foundation
talktojhill@aol.com
(504)756-0101