ST. MARTIN PARISH — Chris Kingswell moved to Louisiana two years ago, and it didn’t take long for the state’s natural beauty and folklore to spark his creativity.
“Recently I’ve gotten very into visual art, especially diorama and sculpting,” Kingswell said.
Originally from Chicago, Kingswell said he has always had a creative streak that goes back to his childhood.
“I always was the type of kid that played with like Lego sets or Playmobil figures and like toy animals and I always liked to make little scenes with all the toys and stuff,” he said.
That same imagination led to his latest creation—an “Alligator Man” built entirely from repurposed materials.
“What is this made out of like what is this? Yea so this is Alligator Man, I don’t know if you can tell this or if the viewers can tell this but believe it or not the entire head here is made out of spray foam,” Kingswell said.
Kingswell said he loves working with recycled items, partly for the challenge and partly because it fits the mission of Atelier de la Nature.
“We often use a variety of different mediums, including a lot of recycled materials, used materials like clothes in thrift shops,” he said.
Founded in 2017, Atelier de la Nature—French for “Nature’s Workshop”—is a 25-acre nature reserve and sculpture garden in St. Martin Parish. It’s a place where art and ecology come together to inspire conservation through creativity.
This weekend, the center’s annual Halloween Arts Festival will bring that idea to life.
“Not just the tables to walk around, there’s gonna be face painting for kids, you can look at all the different art projects that people have made, there’s gonna be live music,” Kingswell said.
The theme for this year’s festival is The Enchanted Forest, a celebration of the connection between creativity and nature. And while Kingswell’s Alligator Man may look like something out of a fairytale, he said it’s rooted in the real magic that happens when art and the environment meet.
Kingswell said he’s excited to share his work with the community during the festival and hopes visitors walk away inspired to see beauty in the unexpected.
