See the Ville
Legendary decorator, baker and raconteur, Marc Charbonnet, discusses all things design and history with his beloved friends and neighbors in Saint Francisville, Louisiana.
See the Ville
Kevin Wiggs - STV: 1
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See the Ville is taking a short summer hiatus. While we’re away, Marc will be sharing some of our favorite episodes. We’ll be back this fall with new guests, new stories, and new conversations. Thank you for being part of the See the Ville family. Have a wonderful summer, and we’ll see you this fall!
Greetings, I'm Mark Charbonnet, legendary New York decorator, rock ontour, and baker extraordinaire. And this is Steve Ville, a podcast about antiques of JDR, jewels, history, and small town Louisiana life. Each episode, I invite a cherished friend and neighbor, and the occasional special guest to discuss that week's conversation stars. Be it a French 18th-century Louis the 16th Guiltwood dining chair or a necklace that changed the course of history. Jewelry Matters. Over time, you'll get to know these beloved friends, some of the smartest, funniest, and most curious people I know. As we learn together about how the past and function even enhances our daily lives, you'll be able to follow along at steel.com, where you'll also be able to order a batch of my delicious and coveted designer bread pudding, or book a walking tour in the beautiful and charming city of St. Francisco, my adopted hometown located on the banks of the Mississippi River. Oh, the fun we'll have and the things we'll learn together. So won't you please comment at see the bill? See the bill. And today we're visiting with Kevin Wiggs, an artist extraordinaire who does the most beautiful murals. As my line of work as a decorator in New York so many moons ago, I worked with Zoubert and Gracie, but there's nothing that can compare to an artist's touch. It's just amazing to see this man's work. And so let's say hello to Kevin. Hi, Kevin. Hi there. How are you doing today? I'm doing very well. I became acquainted with you when you did the mural at the dining room in the inn at St. Francisville. This is the St. Francisville Inn in the Saint Dining Room. What a magnificent mural. Can you tell me about how you came to that and how you met Brandon and Jim?
SPEAKER_00Sure. You know, it's kind of a funny story. Um I've always loved St. Francisville. I've been going to St. Francisville uh really since I was a child. And there's there's kind of a connection there too, because I was a little kid that was always getting in trouble for drawing on the walls. I was that I was the kid with the crayons. And I just I just thought that walls were supposed to have art on the wall. And um, oh, I'd get weapons and the whole thing. And I guess I was 12 years old, the first time I ever set foot into the grand foyer at Rosedown. And that was my first time seeing antique murales-esque wallpaper. And, you know, at Rosedown, which is now a state park uh in St. Francisville, they have the Dufour uh hand-blocked wallpaper, and it's a fantastic scene of, you know, kind of, I don't know, it looks like it's almost supposed to be like Mesopotamia, and they've got, you know, griffins flying in the air and and all this sort of thing. Well, anyway, at you know, the young age of 12 or however old I was, I knew at that moment that I had been right all along when I was drawing on the walls. Because suddenly, suddenly I'm seeing the art of the walls. So I already had this kind of St. Francisville connection, this love of the place, this uh realizing how special it was. You know, I mean, I I'd I'd grown up going to Natchez in Vicksburg, and I got to spend a summer in Charleston. You know, I'd been to all these really grand southern places, but I knew there was something very special about this small town. So it was always kind of filed away in my mental Rolodex, you know. I mean, I always knew it was a special place, it was kind of a secret, and uh periodically I'd get the joy of passing through, you know. So fast forward uh to Bay St. Louis, where um I had been doing some just kind of regular painting for a lady, and she had this room in the in the back portion of her house. She really had a beachfront estate, and the the the guest house in the back had this wonderful entry room, a very large, high-ceiling entry room, and it did have a Wainscot and it had nothing else. And it was just begging for a mural. And I had not painted a mural in years and years and years. And um, I just threw it out there. I said, you know what? I said, I am also a muralist. If you ever decide that you want something in that room back there, I can paint Old Town Bay St. Louis, I can paint the Gulf of Mexico, I can do whatever you want me to do back there. And she said, go for it. So I did it. And that led to uh to the DeBenn Sisters of Gulf Coast Home, uh, which are very familiar with the St. Francis plant. It led to them uh hearing about it because they sold a lot of beautiful furniture to this woman. And so they saw a video of it, and so they wanted one on the garage door of their old armory building, which is where they have their furniture store. So I did that. Well, that led to one of the sisters, uh Wendy, who is very close to Brandon Branch. Uh, she asked if I could do one by her pool. So I did screaming yellow lemon trees and egrets by her pool. And um, and that's all it was. Well, you know, Brandon, he wanted one for the end. So that's kind of how I did that. You know, Brandon and Jim had a home here for a while, and so that's kind of how all that came to be. But the very first time I ever met Brandon was the day that I walked into that dining room. And um, and so we were kind of feeling each other out, and then we realized that we were all cool, you know. And of course it was just such a joy. And I tell Brandon and Jim all the time that that mural, the one of the very first ones I did there at the St. Francisville Inn, that was the one that really put me on the map. And I tell Brandon and Jim constantly, I always say, you know, you boys really, you changed our lives. You know, just having it in that public space, that beautifully trafficked, beautifully curated, exactly high, high-end, you know, environment, uh, with the wonderful clientele that it attracts, uh, that was kind of all it took.
SPEAKER_01And from there, from there it's very elevated your career. You elevated therein. I have to say, the the change between that being a rather uh traditional dining room with a large, you know, pedestal table and and the chairs set around it and the sideboard, to remove everything, it all became about the mural. And it takes you on such a story because when people take any time, I've eaten in that room several times with guests, and they travel, they travel and they talk, and there's like a positive energy that emanates from it. It's just a remarkable work of art. It really is.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you. I appreciate that. And I also appreciate that you feel the energy because truly, uh, you know, I'm also a Reiki master, and so is my husband, and truly um I feel that's what I'm actually doing. You know, yes, I'm a mural designer, uh, yes, I'm an artist and a painter, but it really isn't about that. You know, I mean, getting the the color to where they're harmonious with the environment and all that, you know, that part's a given. It's the the journey that you're talking about, it's the fact that there seems to be some kind of an energy that gets placed on the wall and it's not static, it's always moving.
SPEAKER_01And totally totally get it. You know, because the room was a beautiful room before, but beauty is skin deep. That that energy comes into you, which is very unique, a very unique experience. And I have to say I've seen it happen many times, as I said. And I'll just interrupt and say one other thing. I finally was invited to Gary and Debs, and I mean their mural just blew me away. That's the mural you did on Catholic Hill, and that mural is just phenomenal. It's so much more than a wallpaper mural, even by Zoubert or Gracie, I have to say that's just the way I feel. It's just remarkable.
SPEAKER_00Well, I appreciate that too. You know, that was a very uh very special project. I mean, you know, it's such a special house to begin with, you know. Isn't it remarkable?
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00The cross hallway, I love that. It's so grand. Uh, you know, for the listeners, you know, Avondale was uh originally a home that sat down on the river. And the little community Bayoucera, yes. Bayou serra, and it got moved up, I guess, at the turn of the century, because of course Bayusera doesn't exist anymore, but they had a series of floods, and in between floods, they would actually move houses up to St. Francisville. So it had this really interesting history to begin with, and then that couple are so lovely. And, you know, they wanted me to sort of capture you know, their life examined, you know, the different places that they had lived and the different experiences that they had had. And when they started listing off these places, I mean, it was sort of like a a dream list, I believe, for any you know, I have to interrupt and say it slowly.
SPEAKER_01Tell everybody what your Instagram is because you took us on a journey when you were describing that space. It was remarkable. So tell everybody what your Instagram is.
SPEAKER_00So my Instagram is basically a portfolio page, it's got every mural that I've ever done, and it is Kevin Wiggs, W-I-G-G-S, Mural List. And technically it's Kevin underscore wigs underscore muralist. But my uh but and also TikTok is the same thing, by the way. Okay, but my husband insists that you don't actually have to put the underscores that if you just put Kevin Wiggs with two G's, it it comes up. Kevin Wiggs muralist. So, but yeah, that that Avondale house, which actually was two murals, because I did the the hallway as well. Yes, yes. But it was such a dream because you know, you know, they had you know been to Istanbul and they had been to uh Marrakesh, Morocco, and they had been, you know, all these wonderful Rome, and you know, he had spent part of his childhood in Naples, and you know, just this this this dream list of places, and he wanted me to paint them all.
SPEAKER_01I don't think we've ever had the opportunity to be in that room with guests. I was there and they had an open house for the Zalea Garden Party, and there must have been 30 people, and they were all just in awe. And when you talk about the energy, it was remarkable, and it was a beautiful sunny day. So the sun was pouring in the windows, they were all getting a tour of the room, and it was just a wonderful experience. Have you been in there when they've had people so you could see their reactions? I wish you could have seen that. Somebody should have videoed that so I could have sent it to you, but it was remarkable.
SPEAKER_00You know, I have not, and I I remember um when we were finishing up, it makes me so happy that you you you tell me that they've been utilizing it for things like that, because you know, I told them, I said, I don't think y'all realize with or without my murals, what a special property you have. I mean, they they love it, of course, but I said, You've got one of the more important properties in the St. Francisville Historic District. And uh I said, really, if you have the opportunity to share it, you know, with others, um, I would love to see y'all do that. So it makes me really happy that you tell me they've been doing some things there. Um and and I have not I have not been to an event there. Um, but you know, I feel like someday maybe I will, you know. I uh I I'm so happy that the the people that saw it love it. You know, it's so unique. And then of course it has the big orange tree that ended up kind of being the star of that mural. Um that's just kind of, you know, that's my guidance system. That's my energies that help me, you know, paint with my paintbrush. They kind of tell me what to do, and it was so funny because I get this whole room done and everything is sort of, you know, perfectly to scale and correct, so to speak. And and it just seemed like it needed one thing that was absurdly off. It needed something that was big, it needed something that had color because the rest of it is pretty sepia toned, and it it just it just screamed for something. And I looked at that hill and I thought, well, that's Andalusia, which is known for their oranges. Let's put a big, gigantically, oddly proportioned uh orange tree right there. And it ended up being like the focal point, you know.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. Absolutely. I I I you could almost smell the oranges, it's true. It's just remarkable. You know, they're so lovely. They talked me into doing a continuing education for seniors, uh, the Ollie, LSU, the Ollie courses, and I'm doing history of furniture this summer, and I'm just so dis delighted they're going to be in my class. So I'm just I love their company, so I'm really thrilled to know that they'll be, you know, we'll be exchanging, you know, thoughts and and ideas during this class that's coming up in the summer.
SPEAKER_00Well, they're a very sweet couple, and I think that you know they're a wonderful addition to the St. Francisville crew, for sure.
SPEAKER_01Totally, completely. Let me tell you something I if if you didn't know, you'll love this bit of minutiae. I learned that Margaret Mitchell visited, Margaret Mitchell is the author of Gone with the Wind. She visited Rosedown on her uh wedding uh uh honeymoon, and uh she was inspired to, in her imagination, to Twelve Oaks, because Rosedown was such a magnificent property that that was her t idea of what Twelve Oaks was in Gone with the Wind, and that's what started the whole gone with the Wind thought. Isn't that interesting?
SPEAKER_00Wow, wow. Well, you know, uh another connection with that is is later when Selznick made the film, you know, he had photographers go uh all throughout the south. And, you know, they I don't know if they utilized any of Rose Down in their set building, but you know, they were in our area. You know, the door at Linden and Natchez is the door of Terra. Absolutely. The staircase uh over at uh uh they pronounce it Cretan Point, but I think it's Cratian Point originally. Uh that staircase was the stair and terra. You know, so they they sort of you know mined the architecture of our part of the south.
SPEAKER_01Uh not only that, they did the cedar trees too, because the same people that were working on Gone with the Wind were also working on the Wizard of Oz. And when they went up the drive to Rosedown, you know, they have those ancient cedar trees that look like the apple trees in Oz. And the reason the Oz trees look like those trees is because they copied them for that scenery. Isn't that interesting? Because Gone with the Wind and the Wizard of Oz were made in the same uh year. So the set designers got photographs of those trees and they said, these are the apple trees. Isn't that interesting? I love that.
SPEAKER_00It's also remarkable to me that uh those two films are from the same year. I mean, think about it. These are films that are standard in film school. I mean, anybody who has been a student of film on the collegiate level is required to see both of these movies. And they were from the same year. It's kind of like, you know, when you know that Harperley and Truman Capote were best friends. Yes. You've got these these two people from from back well, I mean, Truman was originally from New Orleans, but these two people that are from, you know, uh backwater in Alabama, and they both, you know, were were two of the greatest writers of the 20th century. You know, it's just it's just so remarkable to me that those two films came out basically at the same time. And they were the two films that as as children, you know, you remember it was a really big deal because we had we had three stations, and you know, it was a big deal when The Wizard of Oz played once a year on TV. Yeah. And it was a big deal when Gone with the Wind played once a year on TV.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00I can't tell you how many times I just told people I'll think about it tomorrow. Oh, because tomorrow is another day. Exactly. I I I think about just the the levels of of grit that, you know, the good, the bad, and the ugly or whatever the era, it's just that level of southern grit that we all got from growing up watching that movie. You know, if you pull the character out of the scenario, I mean she wasn't necessarily the best person, but we learned a lot about just how to make it work.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, I was a teenager, and the ambassador, uh, the French ambassador happened to be in France, the French ambassador to the United States, and he gave our our Catholic Foreign Study League a lecture, and he told us that New Orleans and Paris assist to cities. And he said, uh, we're very fond of of New Orleans and its southern culture. As a matter of fact, Gone with the Wind was a must because uh we learned from Gone with the Wind one thing, and that was determination. Not that it not that she was good or bad or ugly or beautiful, but that she was so determined. Nobody's ever been as determined as she in any film. And I thought that's so true, you know?
SPEAKER_00It is true, and you know, I think that she was one of the first literary heroines who was almost like a an anti-hero. I mean, she was not a Disney princess. No, you know, she was horribly flawed, but at the same time, there was that thing that you're talking about that everybody admired so much about her. It's the very thing that Rhett admired about her, you know, that that that just unyielding gumption, unyielding gumption. And, you know, she said it. Look, she she, you know, threw up in the field and she stood up and she held her fist to the sky, and she said, as God is my witness, I'll never go hungry again, and neither will my kid. And you know what? She did it. She pulled it off. You know, she pulled it off.
SPEAKER_01She sure did. Speaking of pulling it off, you were telling me right before we started about your new project coming up in a little southern town in Mississippi. Would you take us through that again? Because I'd love people to hear the process, because you're not just somebody that paints a pretty picture. You evolve and the room evolves with you, and it becomes something because you work with the client, you work with your paints, you work with the energy, and all of that creates much more than just a pretty picture. So please describe that again because it's so interesting, I think.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, first the the universe really just brings people that are a vibrational match, you know. Um, I currently have a friend who's in kind of a and he's very talented, but he's in kind of a struggle uh because he hasn't quite tapped into how it works. And if you tap into how it works, the universe is only going to bring you clients that you're meant to work with. And you've been around enough, you you understand how that works. So, so you know, the universe brings the most wonderful people, and they're they're not looking for wallpaper, and they are looking for something that is specific, very specific. And in the case of this um family, um you know, in the beginning, and it usually starts out this way, in the beginning, they're they're geared a little more toward the designy kind of aspect of it, and they want to make sure that the colors are right, and they want to make sure that it sits in the environment correctly and all that. And they always want to hold back. They always believe that if they allow too much of themselves to be in it, it may not be tasteful or classy or whatever. And once I help them understand that the the class and the taste are in the color palette, that once you get the color palette right, you can almost paint anything. Once they understand that, that once we get the harmonious color palette for the environment, they can have their kids and they can have their dog, and they can have themselves as a little girl, and they can have their grandmother and all that. And I will do all of that to where it's it's tasteful and beautiful and it also sits in the mural correctly.
SPEAKER_01I've seen it, I've seen it in action. I'm not to interrupt, sorry, but it's true. I saw it in action in two different uh murals of the way you work people's experiences into your art.
SPEAKER_00And that's that's when the magic really starts. You know, it's interesting because you know I can I can paint and I can get the sky and the background, and I can really get that beautiful, almost kind of um twall, you know, kind of effect, you know, kind of going. And and everybody loves it. And I always I always laugh and I say this over and over again. Everybody loves it, and then they love it when when the kids show up, and then they love it when their childhood home shows up. They love all of that, but they don't really start crying until I put the family dog on there. You know? And and the family dog is always going to be in such a way to where he fits, you know. It's never it's never like a uh outlandish dog portrait on your dining room wall. You know, he fits it. I totally understand. I'm a canine lover, so I get that totally. And and it just it makes their day. So that's that's when the magic really starts. It's when they allow me to put them. In it. And um, but this this client's the same. You know, initially it was going to be much more streamlined and very, very simple, not a lot of personality. And, you know, once we had our consult and she got a feel for everything, and she's delightful, um, you know, she texted me, she said, you know, I've been actually writing things down, things that mean something to me, things that um, you know, if you can work, that would say if you can just, you know, if you can find a way to work them in, and I always do, you know, because I'm so happy. If I have a backstory, if I have something to build from, uh, that's when it just kind of launches off. And so that's what ends up happening is you end up with um something that is uniquely unique and specifically specific, and um and something that just brings them so much joy. You know, I don't do a lot of darkness, I don't do a lot of tension, I don't do any of that kind of stuff. That's not really it's not really what I do. You know, there's a lot of other people that do that, and that's great, but that isn't what I do. I mean, I want something that, you know, they may have a dining room that never gets used. And so I end up doing this this mural for them. And I I take the 10 or 11 days, and we all get to know each other, and we get close, and you know, the kids like to hang out and watch the process and all that wonderful stuff, you know, get to know the puppy and the kitty. And by the end of the 10 days, they actually have a dining room that, you know, the kid's got the homework, and he's sitting at the dining room table doing his homework, and the father's got his laptop, and he doesn't have it in the home office. He's actually moved it into the dining room, and he's sitting at the head of the table working in there instead. I want a space that they want to be in because they like how they feel when they're in the space.
SPEAKER_01I bet you bottomed all of that, it's the energy that draws people into the room to use it for more than just a dining room. It's just you feel good. Do you know? I've actually not been in the mood to go to brunch because I just had other things that I really wanted to take care of that people were visiting or guests were around, so I wound up going. And when I wind up in that room, I just start looking at everything. And I always make sure that I'm sitting in a different area of the table so I can see like more. I like to sit with my back to the windows, and normally you'd like to sit looking out, but there's such a marvelous scene to look at when you're looking at the murals in the inn. It's just remarkable. And I have to tell you, you can spend so much time. I'm very detail-oriented. I always love to see movies two or three times, not so much because I love the movie, but I wanted I want to get all the details. So every time I'm in the inn and I see your mural, I just see more that I had never seen before.
SPEAKER_00Well, I appreciate that. And coming from you especially, because you know, I've seen you know your work, you know, on Instagram and different things too. Uh, and I feel that you and I have a similar spirit in that way, because I think that your approach to design is that everything has a story. And everything that has a story is going to have an energy. You know, I've noticed that with your work. You don't just pull paint swatches out of a rug and you don't do the standard kind of thing. You know, everything is very, very, very special. So I I feel that we have a uh a mutual appreciation uh for the way that we approach uh design, you and I. And I like I said, coming from you, that's just the highest compliment. I appreciate you saying that so much.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you for the the compliments to my work. Um so where do you see this going? Since it's not really the paint, it's the energy. I mean, do you feel like you're evolving even more with your with your practice and your uh with Reinicke and all of that?
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely, no question. You know, it's um you know, there's never a finish line, you know, it's never over and you're never done, and that's the best part. You know, we're we're all here having this experience, and and um, you know, I look back at at just the work just in the last couple of years, how the work itself has evolved, and you know, the accumulation of stories, you know, from each project and the different energies that we have worked with, and the fact that we keep getting you know uh constantly uh uplifted by the people that that have these pieces in their environments. You know, they're always texting me and they're always just you know sending love, sending well wishes, miss you guys, loved you so much. Because you know, my husband is such a big part of all of this, too. Yes, of course. We don't want to forget him. He's really part of the team. He's absolutely he's my my total muse and my total inspiration, you know.
SPEAKER_01He was the one that got this podcast off the ground because I am not technical.
SPEAKER_00Well, and he's nine years younger, so he's he's a little bit he's laughing in the background. He's nine years younger, so he's better at all of that than I am. I mean, I can barely use my phone. But uh actually he I had a flip phone when we met, if that gives you any idea of where I was, you know. But um, but you know, it's uh I I'm excited to see where this ends up going. You know, ultimately what I would love, and this is just me putting it out to the ears of God in the universe, you know, ultimately, and I've told him this before. Yeah, I know you're familiar with Bob Christian. He's the greatest.
SPEAKER_01Oh Furlough Gatewood was my boyfriend once. I love that. Really? Well, I I looked at a I looked for a uh job in the New York Times when I just got to New York and it said Shop Boy, and I thought, what a name. That sounds like a movie. And I love Judy Garland. I was like, this sounds like something shop girl. So I went and I wound up getting a job at John Rosselli Antiques, and Furlow and John were partners. John is now married to Bunny Williams. I remember when I walked into his showroom and I said, Oh, how is Furlow? And someone said, Who's Furlow? And I said, Furlow Gatewood, John's partner. He said, John's married to Bunny Williams, and I let out such a scream. But at any rate, that's a whole nother story.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I love it. I love it, I love it, I love it.
SPEAKER_01I think Furlow just loved my enthusiasm, and we spent so much time together, and I'm so fortunate to have had that. As a matter of fact, if you ever go to the inn and you go into the bar, because across from the bar, I gave Brandon a pair of sconces. Those were designed and done by Furlow. We worked on that project together. That was something that was recreated, and these are reproductions of 18th-century Viennese uh sconces. And what they are is the hand of a black amore pinching a tassel, and from this from his sleeve come two branches or two arms, which uh hold candles. They are so magnificent. And I thought Brandon needed those in his life, so I gave them to him. I parted with them, which was hard to do, but I love the thought that they are in that place that has such high traffic. And whenever I'm there, I always tell somebody about the story because they're just so remarkable. So next time you're there, look at that. That's a little piece of furlough. I didn't mean to interrupt you though, Bob. It was brilliant.
SPEAKER_00And I know those, I know those sconces, and they are absolutely gorgeous. Those are furloughs, isn't that something? Those are great. Yeah, so Bob Christian actually, I've got um uh I have a mural in a a carriageway. Uh it's actually not really a carriageway. You know how Savannah has all those back alleyways? Yeah. So it it's not, it's it's really just a passageway. You couldn't have brought in a buggy through it, but um, but I think it's the carriage house is is the guest department back there now. But anyway, they had this beautiful pass-through from the alley um just off of Jones Street. It was on East Taylor Street, uh, from the alleyway into their courtyard. And so I did uh fantastic, gigantic, you know, kind of butterflies and enormous, you know, uh Japan A sort of sci-fi. I don't know, it's hard to explain. The couple was very contemporary. They were very like New York comes to Savannah, and um, he wanted me to do almost like graffiti on the old slave-made bricks, and the wife was flipping out, going, No, you're not doing that. And I said, Look, what do you want me to do? And they said, You figure it out. So I was like, Okay. So they they just kind of left me to it, and they both had very divergent views of what it should be. And so I ended up doing something that was completely neither, and it worked so beautifully, but that's not the point of the story. The point of the story is that that house had um an elevator and two uh faux mob mantles that Bob Christian had done for them. And so it was such an honor for me to do a project on a property that had three projects that he had done. Absolutely. He's remarkable. And the Bunny Williams connection. So and where where I actually was going with this is you know, Bunny, you know, you know, takes Bob to New York and takes Bob to Connecticut and takes, you know, and so he goes in and he does these long, or I not so much anymore, but you know, 20 years ago, these long, long, long projects where he, you know, he did the very famous um lattice interiored room for money. And you know, it's a sitting room, but it's like you're sitting inside of a uh a lattice gazebo or percola, you know, and he did the whole room. That sort of thing. And so my dream would be, and this is this is where the New Orleans connection comes in. So when I was uh a young, silly waiter in New Orleans, and and my landlord was actually M. S. Rao, I used to go into MS Rao to pay my rent every month. Oh, what a treat. Yeah, I lived on Royal Street. Uh I was the fourth floor apartment. When you're standing at Pirates Alley and you've got your back to the river, all the paintings have my dormer window at the end of the alley. That tall, skinny building with the dormer window at the top, that was me. I know that building, yeah. I was the attic apartment. And you know, it was it was hellacious getting up that spiral stair drunk, I can tell you.
SPEAKER_01It's only appropriate because you know Falcon lived on that row, and so did Helen Miren. So, I mean you're the third legend that I know about things coming threes, although I'm sure there were other people too.
SPEAKER_00I'm sure there were many, many, many, many other people in that alley. But um, but yeah, so I would go to MSRao and all this good stuff. But I was I was waiting tables, and um, I had this guy come in, fabulous gay man from New York, and he was just blowing in for a quick lunch, and he had to get back out to the airport and get on the plane, and I had to know what he did. I'm like, so what is it that you do? And he said, Well, he said, I don't know. This kind of just fell out of the sky for me. I don't even know how I got here, but he said, I'm a designer, and he said, I pretty much exclusively only work for Arab sheikhs, emirates, people from that part of the world. He said, I never meet them. He said, There is no budget, it's whatever. And he said, I usually get hired to do their private home in New York. He said, I get hired to do their, you know, parkside whatever, you know. And he said, it's just carte blanche, whatever I want to do. And he said, I I come down here, MS Raoult picks me up at the airport. I come down here, I go in, I pick out five million dollars worth of stuff, and they run me back out to the airport, I get on the plane and I fly back, and then I gotta get, you know, get it together and all this kind of stuff. And and I'm just listening to this, I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm like, wait a second. This is a thing. This is like such a this is a real thing. I mean, this is something that somebody can do.
SPEAKER_01I that's remarkable. I wonder what the dark side is, but it's it's what a gift to have such a job. Jeez.
SPEAKER_00Well, and it made me think, you know, I would love to get, because I thought about Bob, you know, I would love, this would be my ultimate dream as a muralist. I would love to get like a six-month gig somewhere doing, you know, and they can they could fly me to Dubai. I would have no issue with that. You know, like a six-month gig somewhere, just doing a house or doing uh a gigantic, beautiful apartment. Did you save that man's business card? You could send him a connection to your link. Well, you know, that was 25 years ago, and I I wasn't I wasn't I wasn't actually a full-time painter at the time. But you know, that would be something that I think I would really enjoy. I've not had I've done one house many, many years ago. I did a house in St. Charles Avenue. And um, like every room, you walked in the door, and from the mantle to the medallion, it was me. Uh and and I didn't get to finish that project. It was a long and sordid story with the homeowner. It had nothing to do with me. I mean, she and I were actually cool, but she had some other stuff going on, so I wasn't able to finish that project. But I've always thought it would be so fabulous just to have a big six-month-long project where I could just literally put my paintbrush to the foyer, to the dining room, you know, to the to the salon. You know, so that way it could almost have a theme or it could have a series of themes. I could really enjoy the work and just have that moment. I haven't had that moment yet. Um, and Bob Christian, you know, has inspired me in a lot of ways because, like I said, you know, Savannah is his base of operations, but you know, Bunny Williams has taken him to Virginia, Bunny Williams has taken him to Connecticut, uh, and he's he's gotten to have that experience of traveling around with his art outside of the region where he lives. So that's kind of I think the next thing I'm trying to manifest. Um we've done East Texas to Savannah. I always say that we work from Charleston to Houston. I love that. But you know, I would love to, you know, be the Southern artist that somebody in New York wants to fly up and just let me do what I do there, you know, or or or Europe or or you know, Asia. They love everything. You know what I mean? Like all kinds of aesthetic things there. So yeah, so that's kind of my next big thing as a as a muralist. But that is not to say that I don't adore what I'm doing already, because you know, what I do already is just It's a blessing.
SPEAKER_01It truly is a blessing. Yes. Well, listen, let me tell you one funny last thing that you might next time you come to town, or you might remember it, because I know you have an eye for detail. Have you ever been inside Grace Church? Oh yes. Oh, I love it. I love it. Do you know the chandelier? The gasolier? That was the the turnball gasoline, yeah. Yes. I didn't know if you knew that or not. I wanted to let you know that. I think that's so fascinating. Do you know the motif is Bacchus? I think it's funny that a Bacchus themed chandelier is in an Episcopal church. Wow. Well, Episcopalians love their cocktails.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, it's Catholic light, you know. So now, did you are you from New Orleans originally, Mark?
SPEAKER_01Originally I'm from New Orleans, and I lived there 30 years, and then I lived in New York 30 years as a designer, and then I moved here eight years ago, and this magical place just drew me here. Wow, yeah, I can tell by your accent you're from New Orleans. Yes, that's a kind of that yaddy thing, where you're at. Well, it's kind of yadi, but it's very graceful. I want to thank you so much for being my guest, and this is by far the most interesting conversation I've had in a while. So thank you so much and on being on See the Ville, and uh I hope to be meeting up with you one day soon.
SPEAKER_00Well, likewise, and I appreciate you uh thinking about me, and I appreciate you uh being so gracious to have us on. All right, Kevin. Thank you. Talk to you soon. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for listening to this episode of See the Bill. To follow us online, book a walking or driving tour of historic St. Francisville, order a batch of my coveted designer bread pudding, or find out more about this week's guest, won't you please visit us at see the Bill.com. See the Vill is produced by Brian Pearson and Mark Charbonnet. Thanks again, and see you next time on See the Vill, see the Vill, see the Village.