The Weekly Croissant: Some Fun Art Hoe News

Reimagining Appalachia, Notre Dame, and Shakespeare

The ultimate Art Hoe and Righteous Babe Barbara Kingsolver is using her proceeds from “Demon Copperhead” to fund a women’s recovery home in Lee County, Virginia.

This NYT article explains: “To draw readers in, she knew she would have to ground the narrative in real stories and push against stereotypes about the region. So she traveled to Lee County, Va., a corner of Appalachia that’s been battered by drug abuse, and spoke to residents whose lives had been wrecked by opioids.

“I sat down and spent many hours with people talking about their addiction journey,” Kingsolver said. “There are stories that went straight into the book.”

Published in 2022, the novel was an instant success, in time selling three million copies and winning a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2023. But even before the novel came out, Kingsolver felt indebted to the people who shared their stories.”

In the era of JD Vance I also enjoyed this article from The Nation called “What Demon Copperhead Gets Right About Appalachia”

In other cool Art Hoe news, the restoration of Notre Dame post fire is incorporating the work of modern French/ LA Based artist Claire Tabouret:

Photo from this NYT article!

I cannot wait to see the cathedral one day when this is all finished— tragedy becomes an opportunity for new creation and a platform to showcase the work of new artists.

“One of the six windows she had sketched depicts “tongues of fire,” Tabouret said. It is the reason officials chose the Pentecost and the passages they did, she said. They wanted to tie the project to the fire that forced the restoration.

At this, Tabouret took a moment to consider the fires in Los Angeles that have burned not far from her studio and the life she has created here for herself and her family.” - NYT

Finally, I discovered the beautiful line drawing work of Manuja Waldia via the covers of the Pelican Shakespeare series. How gorgeous are these? I’m thinking TATTOO in my near future!!

The Tempest

Silvia’s Glove

You can find more of Waldia’s work on her Instagram, and at her website

Hope you all are finding some art to love this week!

XO
Rachel