Shoes in this gallery are creations of LISA A. JOHNSON – Photos © LISA A. JOHNSON
Glittered Shoes – Mardi Gras Treasures
The All-Female Krewe of Muses Gives These Away During Parades in New Orleans
Editor’s note: I invited my wife, Lisa, to write an article about the artwork she creates for the yearly Krewe of Muses Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans. Countless individuals like her, across America and abroad, at dining room tables or anywhere they can find space, generously pour creative energy and talent into the culture of a great city, one colorful idea at a time.
By LISA A. JOHNSON
GUEST WRITER
Glittered shoes are distinctively New Orleans works of art. They are projects of love, given freely each year, handed downward by Mardi Gras float riders into a sea of parade-goers, an act intended to connect with a member of the crowd, waiting eagerly with hands reaching upward and voices calling hopefully, “Shoe! Shoe! Shoe!”
Hand-decorated shoes are the signature throw of the Krewe of Muses, an all-female Mardi Gras krewe founded in 2000 which rolls on the uptown parade route on the Thursday evening prior to Fat Tuesday. The krewe now consists of over 1,100 members. Although countless fabulous beads are thrown from the Muses floats each year, parade goers are most excited to be gifted a one-of-a-kind shoe.
When I joined the krewe in 2006, I had no idea how much I would enjoy the process of creating Muses shoes. Each Muse develops and expresses her own decorating style. I start by selecting old shoes carefully, depending on their structure. I’ve often said that each shoe seems to “tell” me how it wants to be decorated as I spend a few moments considering it.
My decorating tools and embellishments include lots of glue, glitter of all colors and of various textures, gemstones, ribbons, sequins, beads, feathers, and just about anything else small enough to be attached to a shoe. Inspiration comes from everywhere. If I am inspired by the shoe’s texture or shape or by an object I wish to use as embellishment, the shoe will become what I call a “theme shoe.” The theme could be something representing nature, or a local event, or the local football team (the Saints). On a rare occasion, I have made a personalized shoe: ballet slippers for a young girl taking pointe lessons; an Elvis shoe for a fan of the singer’s 1968 TV “Comeback Special.” On every shoe, I place the name of the krewe and the parade year during which the shoe was gifted to a parade-goer, with that information either on the side of the shoe in decorative text or on the sole in my own handwriting.
The act of giving freely, just to elicit joy in the receiver, is one of the many remarkable moments of any Mardi Gras season, and I’ve experienced many of those occasions during my Muses rides. Whether my shoe recipients take their new possession home and display it on a shelf or mantel, or they pass it on to another parade-goer in the spirit of giving, I am happy in the knowledge that my shoe decorating has become a personal form of artistic expression and a creative outlet through which I weave a little part of myself into the complex, colorful tapestry that is New Orleans Mardi Gras.
Lisa A. Johnson is a communications professional who has worked in the fields of journalism, video production, biodynamics, manned space flight and cancer research. She thrives in nerve centers of organizations whose missions are to change the world.
I have one of your shoes from the very first year. It gives me joy to look at it, and to see how far you have taken your art. Hail Muses!