Greetings!

A MESSAGE FROM GEORGE RODRIGUE

"Before we had Walmart, iPods, and interstates, we shopped at corner stores, listened to one or two radio stations, and drove along small country roads. The Louisiana Live Oak was the heart of it all, standing as a strong witness to our history, culture and progress --- the very progress that threatens today the 250-year old Youngsville Heritage Oak in the vicinity of Lafayette, Louisiana, standing in the way of a city's planned (but temporary) road, servicing traffic while they build a roundabout.

At one time this tree sheltered a quiet dirt road, a corridor for horses and buggies traveling to an Acadian village. Eventually big highways and modern cars replaced the old way of life.

This painting is typical of my classic oak tree style. I first started painting these trees in the late 1960s and early 1970s, after returning from art school in California and realizing Louisiana's unique culture and landscape compared to the rest of the country. I cut the shape of the oak off at the top of my canvas so that we see the sky from beneath the tree, just as one sees it while standing in the shade of the Youngsville Heritage Oak. The house in the painting stands today near this magnificent tree, and the horse and buggy (not as bygone as one might think) come from a photograph I shot outside of a country store in Arnaudville in 1967, when farmers in the area still used this form of transportation.

Please help us, along with 'Guardian of the Oaks,' save this Acadiana treasure. Both time and diligence are of the essence."