The Amateur Garden

"I live in a small southern town in Russia. I found my connection with the American South, and especially with New Orleans, through music, as this city is undoubtedly one of the most musical cities on the planet. Creole architecture and Spanish colonial architecture soon found me exploring the French Quarter, the heart of New Orleans. The simplicity and conciseness of the forms of the Creole cottages, as well as the pretentiousness of the cast-iron balconies of the Quarter and the carved beauty of the small shotguns, made it clear to me that this is the art I want to work on. I love to draw these buildings on paper, using various techniques, I enjoy making models of the mansions of the city; I like their shapes and elegance, as well as the taste and love with which their residents treat their homes. New Orleans is like a separate small world that is remote from the rest of the country and lives according to its own traditions. Even now, after so many years, local people deeply respect their history and culture, trying to preserve it in its original form. This is how it looks to me. And I love it." -- Valerie Khodakovskaya