Heather Mattingly

Heather Mattingly has lived in New Orleans all her life and has been a carpenter for 10 years. She takes great pride in helping to rebuild New Orleanians homes and lives. She has always enjoyed working with her hands, especially when it comes to creative projects. During the gutting process of a renovation, she thinks of uses for the old wood removed, and the scrap metal parts that seem to always fill her kitchen drawers.

Pre Katrina, Heather says that she took New Orleans for granted. “The old French Quarter buildings with their architectural ironwork and huge ferns hanging from their balconies, eating beignets at Cafe Du Monde while listening to live Jazz, and the calliope coming from the river. Jackson Square’s art, palm reading, and the ongoing talent of street performers, jugglers, magicians, and mimes. Oak trees that are centuries old with mossy limbs good for shade, and climbing on. Crossing the path of an alligator while hiking through the swamp, and seeing the sunset on the bayou. These are some of my favorite things, and I realize now what we almost lost.”

After Katrina, New Orleanians and people nationally embraced the fleur de lis. It is our symbol of strength, endurance, pride, and love for New Orleans. Heather came up with the idea to make a sculpture of the fleur de lis using all kinds of stuff she found after the storm. For three and a half years now, she has been composing “Fleur Debris” sculptures and it has become an obsession. “It’s a thrilling hunt to dig through garage sales, finding old costume jewelry, broken watches, vintage buttons, and other items deemed useless by their seller. What’s even more exciting is finding junk metal in the street, like bottle caps that have been rolled over a million times and are now flat and rusted.” Heather loves making art and loves New Orleans. “We have an extraordinary melting pot of culture, the best food in the world, and of course Mardi Gras!”