Haitian Steel Drum Art
In 1984 my grandmother and grand aunt took my cousin and me on a Caribbean cruise. Our first port of call after leaving Miami was Port-au-Prince, Haiti, during the administration of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. He was overthrown two years later.
Haiti is known for great art and crafts though perhaps their metal art is most famous. Most of which is made from the steel of abandoned 55-gallon oil drums. When we were there I purchased a wall sculpture of sea turtles. When we moved to Oakton, I hung it above the sliding glass door in our kitchen. We found another one in a gallery in Swansboro, North Carolina, for the sliding glass door in our family room.
I planned on hanging them over the two French doors in the great room in River House but those doors are 6 feet wide and will not have drapes. In Oakton the sliders were 5-feet wide with drapery panels covering parts of the windows. When we tried out the sculptures over our French doors, they looked puny and out of scale.
After ruminating about these lovely sculptures for a couple of days, we decided to hang them over the guest room doors which are opposite each other.
If you look closely at the sculpture on the left, you will note it is supposed to hang vertically. Don't tell!
Haiti is known for great art and crafts though perhaps their metal art is most famous. Most of which is made from the steel of abandoned 55-gallon oil drums. When we were there I purchased a wall sculpture of sea turtles. When we moved to Oakton, I hung it above the sliding glass door in our kitchen. We found another one in a gallery in Swansboro, North Carolina, for the sliding glass door in our family room.
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| Haitian metal art above sliding glass doors; courtesy MLIS |
I planned on hanging them over the two French doors in the great room in River House but those doors are 6 feet wide and will not have drapes. In Oakton the sliders were 5-feet wide with drapery panels covering parts of the windows. When we tried out the sculptures over our French doors, they looked puny and out of scale.
After ruminating about these lovely sculptures for a couple of days, we decided to hang them over the guest room doors which are opposite each other.
 |
| Guest bedroom doors adorned with their new art; personal collection |
If you look closely at the sculpture on the left, you will note it is supposed to hang vertically. Don't tell!
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