Thank you for your interest! We are husband and wife team, John and Nancy Perilloux, both of whom are artists and blacksmiths with a mutual love of teaching, living in nature, creating art and sharing our interests. We have three children and live in Robert, Louisiana where we co-create a beautiful life together. 

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 Around the year 2000, the property that is now Chappapeela Crafts was a beautiful 12 acre tract of land full of beautiful old growth trees with an expansive canopy that shaded the beautiful Chappapeela Creek that runs through it.  Our home is less than a mile away and is also on the same creek and we have a particular love for the creeklands.  We admired the land every time we passed by it.  At the time, it was owned by a timber company who unfortunately harvested all of the gorgeous tree trunks on the property.  To us it was devastatingly destructive and senseless.  To them, it was profit.  They left the tops of the trees and their ruts and placed a for sale sign on the corner.   We knew the land needed nurturing.  We felt an immediate calling to be its caretaker and rehabilitate her.  It deserved reverence.  We purchased the land with the intention of returning it to it's original glory.  We spent the first several years cleaning up the debris that was left and planting over 6000 trees ourselves.  It was a labor of love and determination to heal the land and provide a beautiful oasis of nature for future generations to appreciate.   We did not know at the time that we would be creating a hub for knowledge sharing.  What we have now is a central sacred location that preserves nature and fosters creativity. 

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We have about 9-10 acres of wooded hills and creekbottom with 25 years of growth now.  Native plants, wildlife and wildflowers have returned.  We have hiking trails throughout the property which we enjoy sharing with others who are seeking solace and healing in nature, particularly children.  We have plans for a meditation/barefoot trail where individuals can retreat for a time and commune with nature's healing spirit and receive her grounding energy.   

We continue to honor the land and its resources taking only what she gives freely and reciprocate with our love and energy.  We harvest fallen trees for lumber, forage for wild medicinal and edible plants and grow our food in the soil.   We have a little over 2 acres that we left cleared​

John started off building a shed for our tractor in 2000.  Over time, it evolved.  We now have a wonderful space for classes and workshops where we teach and we invite instructors to teach their craft. We also have an 850 square foot classroom building that was donated to us years ago.  It was in rough shape, but we time renovating it when time allowed and it is a wonderful addition.  It has allowed us to offer indoor classes and workshops. 

 

Over the years we have had several large hurricanes and storms that have caused trees to fall.  John was able to salvage them and with his saw mill, cut beautiful cherry wood, oak, cypress and pine boards for his furniture creations as well as construction purposes.  John's resourcefulness allows him to see the potential in each tree that falls. Rather than an annoyance that needs discarding, he saw the potential in felled trees.  Our tiny gallery, classroom and metal arts shop building have siding from personally milling the trees on our buildings.  We find great joy in re-purposing materials that to most seem like waste.  We look at trees and scrap metal the way a collage artist sees an old newspaper and tin can... as creative fuel and materials! 

 

We hope to model to others a lifestyle that is resourceful, meaningful and satisfying by reducing the footprint of waste and enjoying the satisfaction of creating something out of repurposed materials.   

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And now, we hope to share these spaces by providing a place where educators, artists, healers, and creative entrepreneurs can meet with knowledge seekers, students and anyone seeking a safe creative environment to discover the artist within all of us.   If you are an educator, artist, healer, practitioner, etc, who could benefit from having an affordable space for workshops, private or group sessions, classes, meetings, etc., please contact us and consider our classroom.

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We invite artists who are experts in their field to collaborate with us. If you are an artist and would like a space to teach your craft, please reach out to discuss possible collaborations with us. 

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Please fill out our contact form to be placed on our email list.  We have exciting plans for this year. 

We plan to expand our facilities to include more workshops with a variety of mediums.