24814: Hermantin (news) French teacher channels passion through photography and kites

[sak-pase@bimini.ws]

leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, Apr. 17, 2005
HOMESTEAD HIGH
THE SKY AS A CANVAS
A FRENCH TEACHER AT HOMESTEAD HIGH CHANNELS HIS ARTISTIC PASSION THROUGH 
PHOTOGRAPHY AND KITES
BY ANAMIRELLA MARQUEZ
amarquez@herald.com

Most artists need a canvass, a brush and some paint to create a piece, but 
not Marc-Arthur Jean-Louis.

All he needs is a camera or a kite.

Art, it seems, is wherever the Homestead High School French teacher finds 
out -- and he is currently showcasing his latest work at the African 
Heritage Cultural Arts Center at 6161 NW 22nd Ave.

''Photography is the medium to which I express myself artistically,'' said 
Jean-Louis, a member of Kuumba artist collective, a club of African world 
artists who is paying homage to artist Oscar Thomas through May 21 at the 
art center.

But for Jean-Louis, photography started as a means to another end.

The first time he picked up a camera, it was to use the pictures as an 
inspiration for painting. But the brushes soon took a back seat.

''When I look through the view finder in my camera I have my brush and my 
canvas,'' Jean-Louis said.

Jean-Louis credits his short-lived art profession to a college professor who 
threatened to fail him for not completing an art project.

''I've always wanted to be an artist,'' he admitted. ``Just as long as 
[people] don't tell me what to do.''

But photography is not the only medium Jean-Louis chooses to express his 
craft.

Though it began as a pastime as a child in Haiti, kite making later took an 
artistic form and became another outlet.

''I make paint with the kites on the sky,'' said Jean-Louis who stores about 
six homemade kites in the trunk of his car -- just in case he feels like 
flying them.

By taking colorful tissue paper and sugar paper, known in Haiti as a sort of 
durable paper, Jean-Louis creates his designs.

He cuts the tissue paper into a shape, like the stickman kicking a soccer 
ball design, covers it with the Haitian sugar paper, and brings it together 
with bamboo wood.

''I'm into putting five or six kites in the air and just sitting back,'' 
said Jean-Louis who on any given Sunday can be found flying his kites at 
Haulover Beach Park Marina, adding some color to the sky.

Jean-Louis said that to this day he has not picked up a brush, yet he plays 
with the idea of someday returning to oil painting.

However, for now photography and kite making will remain his focus and 
passion.