Chauvin Sculpture Garden

Kenny Hill rented a 60,000 square foot plot of land in Chauvin, Louisiana in the early 1988. He was originally a squatter on the property and was finally able to strike a deal with the landowner for a cheap annual lease. He lived in a tent until he built his cabin. Hill was a bricklayer by trade and would travel out of state for work in the summer and would return to Chauvin during the winter to work on his garden. Hill proclaimed that his sculptures were a story of salvation. He began by creating a 45-foot tall brick lighthouse. He later filled his yard with concrete statues of angels representing different religious lessons. There are over 100 sculptures. Often times Hill inserted himself into his works, sometimes being lifted to heaven or with his face painted Black and white to represent his internal struggles. At the entrance to the garden there is a wooden bridge with concrete planks to cross. Along the path one will be met by statues of angels that will either invite visitors inside or block their path.

Hill was a recluse and refused to let visitors onto his property. After a decade of working on the site, Hill suffered a crisis of faith and abandoned the religious message of the garden. He stopped paying rent, let the grass grow up, and knocked the head off a statue of Jesus. He left the property never to return. After its abandonment, the property was donated to Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana.

NSU former art professor Dennis Sipiorski and NSU Biology professor Gary Lefleur petitioned the Kohler Foundation which agreed to purchase the land and restore it. It was later gifted to NSU for permanent care. Architects, metallurgists, sculptors, and conservators worked with the army Corps of Engineers to reclaim some of the land from the bayou and building bulkheads to prevent further land erosion on the property. Chauvin Sculpture Garden is now overseen by the Faculty of the Art Department at NSU. There has been a small gift shop and gallery that were built by the Kohler Foundation. 

B, Matt. Kenny Hill Sculpture Garden, Atlas Obscura. Accessed October 29th 2020. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kenny-hill-sculpture-garden.

Sculpture Garden a Folk-Art Gem in Chauvin, Louisiana. Accessed October 29th 2020. https://www.louisianatravel.com/articles/sculpture-garden-folk-art-gem-chauvin.

McCollum, Christina. CHAUVIN SCULPTURE GARDEN, Spaces. Accessed October 29th 2020. http://spacesarchives.org/explore/search-the-online-collection/kenny-hill-garden-of-salvation/.