Author’s Night at the Hubbell

Posted on August 27, 2007 by Varg

Fresh of his appearance at Rising Tide, Joshua Clark will be in Algiers on Tuesday…

From the Hubbell…

This Tuesday evening, August 28th, is a very special Author Night at the Hubbell Library in Algiers Point. To mark the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we are having Joshua Clark and his memoir, Heart Like Water: Surviving Katrina and Life in Its Disaster Zone. Josh stayed in town during the storm, never leaving the city until months afterward. The book is amazing!!

Books will be available on Tuesday starting at 6pm, or you can call Amy Hubbell at 504-473-3635 to buy yours in advance.

Please join us to talk with Josh, hear his stories, and enjoy wine, snacks and other refreshments. It’s this Tuesday, August 28th at 6:30pm. At The Hubbell Library, 725 Pelican Avenue, 504-596-2640. The event is free and open to everyone.

6 thoughts on “Author’s Night at the Hubbell”

Charlotte says:

August 27, 2007 at 1:51 pm

See ya there?

I’ve enjoyed him on TV and at RT2 but I think it will be great to hear more of his experiences relating to the book. 🙂
Varg says:

August 27, 2007 at 2:26 pm

I really should go but I actually have too much to wrap up before i leave for Destin on Thursday. Yes, a brotha’s going on vacation!
liprap says:

August 27, 2007 at 4:55 pm

Woohoo! Where in Destin? We’re headed to Florida ourselves for Labor Day…
Varg says:

August 27, 2007 at 5:30 pm

A lil place off 30A, where are you off to?
liprap says:

August 28, 2007 at 6:34 am

Actually, I just found out we’re gonna be closer to Pensacola…maybe we can drop by on the way! 😎
Varg says:

August 28, 2007 at 8:57 am

Well, if yer gonna be by Pensacola, let me know because I can recommend some places to go to…

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Rejoice!

I say that a lot. I sign many pieces with it. I do this because I believe our lives are a true happenstance. A brilliant occurence from nothingness. We are so rare. We are so unlikely. And simply being born isn’t enough. From there we must survive, endure. So each morning, after our Sun departs and is reborn again. Please, for the sake of your ancestors and the Universe in general, hoist that cup of joe up and say, “Rejoice.”

Ours is a soulful existence. No matter how many McMansions, polyester fabrics, auto-tunes, modified foods and social networks we surround ourselves with, we are all still native, passionate beings made of ancient matter. We are organic and we have soul.

Wood also has a warm, soulful quality. Wood has a memory. It retains smells, traumas, events. It even has a calendar. This is why I have chosen it as my medium, for its old soul. I like to think the wood in my work is in its third incarnation. First a tree, then a home and now art. If you have a room that needs a little soul, get a piece. A room can never have enough soul.

My inspiration and subject matter comes from many sources, among them: Humanism, old ballads, trickster tales, flora and fauna, science, myths and folklore, stringed instruments, brass bands, amber spirits, lady vocalists, general relativity and quantum mechanics. Some of my pieces are there just to make a short, simple statement about what’s important in life. Some are more diffuse and abstract in meaning. A personal drama, an enduring line from a poem or novel, a poignant song lyric, the legacy of an important person, a fleeting thought … these are the subjects of my art.

I use hearts often because they are a very abstract way of depicting the human soul without also employing the very subjective human form. The symbolic heart is an apt representation for a person’s experience and essence. A body can immediatly conjure happiness, sorrow, youth, age, anger, bliss. These emotions can get in the way. Sometimes it’s simply about the experience.

I am the son of a sailor and a social worker, the grandson of a gypsy, a dancer and a nurse. I spent my youth moving from port city to port city, watching a lot of road go by and reading World Book Encyclopedia. After my parents settled down on the Gulf Coast, I was a miscreant youth, destroying cars and taking the wrongs things too seriously and the right things not serious enough. Eventually I began replacing my imagination with experience.

I will use any salvaged wood but prefer swamp cypress and longleaf heartwood pine.

I despise waste. Particularly the waste of organic matter. Trees are magnificent. They were here before we arrived and they’ll be around after we are gone. I’m making an effort to save as much wood as possible. Creating art is fun too. But beyond communicating with folks, but beyond making money ad providing for myself, beyond rescuing flooded parts, beyond reveling in the ethereal aroma of heartpine that hasn’t seen the light of day in 400 years, beyond all that, I am trying to make a simple comment on waste.