New Orleans-born artist John Geldersma has assembled a body of work over his forty-year career, much of it based out of Lafayette, that can perhaps best be described as spiritually symbolic totems. His Spirit Poles are carved, smooth, minimalist, vertical, wooden poles with tapered ends, usually three or more feet long, some on bases. Made of aspen, many are banded with bright painted colors, suggesting an inherently potent but unarticulated meaning.