Au Revoir Ruthie

Posted on September 13, 2008 by Varg

Ruthie the Duck Girl dies of cancer at 74

I dressed up as Ruthi this past year for Halloween and, after only skating a few short blocks in the Quarter I parked my ass on Molly’s bar stool in fear of busting my ass. Many rounds later, I was trying to skate to the bathroom and ended up doing just that, in front of groups of people who commented on my stupidity.

I don’t know how that little lady did it but she managed to spend a generation or two doing what I couldn’t do for one night – skating a diminutive frame around the crooked sidewalks and streets of the French Quarter wearing a wedding dress with ducks in tow. Everyone who has spent any time down there has a story about her it seems.

Eccentric New Orleans has a great page on Ruthie with detailed links along the side. They also have several pages on other Quarter characters over the years. I don’t see that crazy Hulk Hogan guy in there though. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him since before Katrina.

Erster’s got some more words and thoughts on Ruthie.

Again, adieu Duck Girl.

2 thoughts on “Au Revoir Ruthie”

jeffrey says:

September 13, 2008 at 1:00 pm

I can’t remember the last time I saw the Hulkster either… but I’m pretty sure it was post-flood. I’m looking around on that site for the stuffed animal man and the pie lady but I’m not sure she counts since she’s just a vendor. And I guess he is too…. sort of.
Varg says:

September 13, 2008 at 2:18 pm

You mean the lady thats says, and I’m not sure I can get this in words, “Sweet Potato Piiie!” with a high note on the “pie”?

Selling art down there I have discovered there are many micro-characters, folks who don’t have the longevity of a Ruthie but perhaps if they stick around for a few decades might be regarded as a bonafide character. Nothing like Ruthie though, she was Elvis.

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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.