| What do you think of when you hear "Haitian art"? | | | | and go into business themselves. Peters provided |
| Depending on your level of familiarity with Haitian art, | | | | exhibition as well as instruction space. |
| you may think of folk art paintings on canvas. Or you | | | | To create these works of art, the artist first |
| may think of nothing at all. | | | | removes the top and bottom of the drum and places |
| If you haven't heard of Haitian metal drum art, you're | | | | them inside the cylinder along with dried banana or |
| in for a delight. Metal drums, the 55-gallon ones used | | | | sugar cane leaves. He sets the leaves on fire to burn |
| for transporting oil or other products, are | | | | away any paint or other residue from the drum. |
| transformed into fanciful designs ranging from trees | | | | After the metal has cooled, the artist cuts the |
| and flowers, birds and animals, to people, angels, and | | | | cylindrical drum from top to bottom, then pounds it |
| Biblical scenes. | | | | into a flattened rectangle of approximately three by |
| Although some pieces are made from new oil drums, | | | | six feet. |
| usually they are recycled ones purchased near the | | | | The artist draws the design onto the metal sheet |
| port in the capital city of Port-au-Prince and brought | | | | with chalk, then cuts it out with a mallet and chisel. |
| to the neighboring town of Croix-des-Bouquets by | | | | Using these and other simple tools, he pounds the |
| handcart or on top of a "tap-tap" (taxi). | | | | various decorative patterns into the metal, including |
| Croix-des-Bouquets is the center of the Haitian | | | | areas that are concave and convex; he creates |
| metalwork movement, and many metal drum artists | | | | intricate patterns by hammering in bumps of different |
| have their workshops there. | | | | heights. Some pieces have three-dimensional designs. |
| Metal drum art in Haiti began in the early 1950s with | | | | Some are very colorful, while others remain metallic in |
| blacksmith Georges Liautaud. In his humble shop, | | | | appearance. |
| Liautaud had been making and repairing tools and | | | | The detail on these works of art must be seen and |
| creating simple metal crosses for the graves in the | | | | touched to be appreciated. |
| Croix-des-Bouquets cemetery. | | | | The artist signs the finished design and coats it with |
| American teacher DeWitt Peters, who opened Le | | | | a protective varnish. Many art lovers prefer the art |
| Centre d'Art in Port-au-Prince in 1944, encouraged | | | | to be aged with rust, then sealed afterward. In either |
| Liautaud to expand into the creation of decorative | | | | case, the pieces can be displayed indoors or out. |
| metal sculptures. A few talented men apprenticed | | | | Used oil drums made into beautiful works of art. |
| under him, and the tradition has continued; a metal | | | | Who'd have thought? |
| drum artist will apprentice others, who will branch out | | | | |