Mardi Gras Art for All

“Art for the Masses.” What better way to create meaningful and affordable art for the greatest number of people than to produce posters and prints celebrating Southwest Louisiana’s symbolic and ubiquitous “fleur-de-lis” and Mardi Gras revelry. And that’s been Lake Charles artist Candice Alexander’s mission.

Alexander’s “fleur-de-lis” prints and paintings are not the typical fleur-de-lis that one sees across the state from New Orleans to Lafayette and Lake Charles. Over the years, she has created more than 800 superbly-designed renditions of the old standard with images of bees and butterflies, Louisiana wildlife, spiritual moments, sports, colleges and military organizations. Her colorful Mardi Gras paintings and posters clearly capture the pageantry of Carnival and, at times, take a not to subtle shot at political issues such as COVID-19.

Born in Jennings and raised in nearby Hathaway, La., not far from Bayou Nezpique, the 44-year-old Alexander is a remarkable and successful self-made artist with a keen head for business, production and marketing. After graduating from McNeese State University in 2002 with a degree in art, Alexander had no idea how to make a living in art.

“I was 22 and clueless,” she said. “I rented a little studio in the old Central School building. I didn’t have money for a gallery, but they did have little festivals during the year. But that wasn’t enough to make a living. I picked up an artist magazine that listed art shows across the country. I came upon Renaissance Festivals, and I said this would be perfect.”

For several years, Alexander worked the Renaissance circuit in Florida, Pennsylvania and New York with her small printing press, selling prints. In New York, she ended up on the sidewalk in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Still wondering about what direction to take, she wrote in a small notebook about her desire to create “art for the masses.” Little did she know it was about to happen. During a festival in Pennsylvania, a woman wanted to buy Alexander’s copper fleur-de-lis printing plate along with twelve prints, but the woman didn’t call back. Eventually, the cold weather up north got to Alexander, so she returned to Lake Charles.

Back home, she was invited to sell her work at the Acadiana Mall in Lafayette. There, she displayed her fleur-de-lis prints.

“Every time I put up a fleur-de-lis,” she says, “some Acadian person bought it. These were nothing spectacular like the 800 I’ve gone on to make. I went from not knowing what to do, to thinking, my God, this is the body of work that’s going to reach the masses. That moment in Acadiana Mall kicked off my success.”

Mardi Gras posters and paintings were the next step in her remarkable career. In 2018, the City of Lake Charles asked Alexander to create the city’s official Mardi Gras poster. And she’s been making “unofficial” Mardi Gras posters ever since. In 2019, she did one to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Mardi Gras in Lake Charles, and in 2020, Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins asked her to make a special poster for the popular Mardi Gras party in Washington, D.C. Then came COVID-19 and the cancellation of Carnival 2021. She made a poster anyway.

“I did one with Rosie the Riveter, saying ‘You Can Do It,’” Alexander says. “I put all kinds of COVID symbolisms in it. That was my way of being sarcastic.”

In 2022 her thoughts about COVID were again obvious. The imagery in that poster is based on a trip she made to New Orleans during the epidemic. Because she didn’t have a COVID vaccine card, she was barred from entering a Saints game and restaurants.

“That poster includes the mayor of New Orleans holding a syringe,” she says. “It has all kinds of symbols in there. The puppet master pulling the strings, those are my hands, my feet. Some people thought the jester looked like Trump, but I try to stay out of religion and politics. I have fans on both sides. This one struck some nerves, and that was the point. If it makes you feel something, that’s good.”

In addition to the fleur-de-lis and Mardi Gras paintings and posters, Alexander has spent the last few years “embracing the roots” of Louisiana.

“I’m from the bayou,” she says. “My mother was a Landry and my grandfather spoke French. I’ve started visiting places like Lake Martin where I truly fell in love with the Louisiana landscape. I’m going back to where my mind was after college. I don’t have to hustle so hard and take every commission. I’m in a different place now.”

Why then does she continue to create art? “Because I have to,” she says. But there is a deeper purpose. She mentions a conversation she had with a visitor to her studio on Ryan Street in downtown Lake Charles.

“Two people came in and started talking about my art,” she says. “One talked about how my art related to her son who had just committed suicide. It makes people feel something. It’s almost like I need to keep doing this for people. And to think that I have thousands of those pieces all around is a real cool thought.”

And it is cool.

MEET THE ARTIST

Illustration by S.E. George

Candice Alexander

Born
1979, Jennings, La., grew up in Hathaway, La.
Residence
Lake Charles
Inspiration
Southwest Louisiana Carnival, Pageantry, Nature
Media
Paintings, prints, posters, murals
Favorite Imagery
The “Fleur-de-lis and Mardi Gras, Louisiana landscape
Web
candice-alexander.com