Biennale de l'estampe

  Well, guess what?    I did make it out yesterday to the opening of our collective exposition in Carces ...... which is almost as far as Toulon ,  a trek of about an hour and a half from Nice by "auto route."  I got to go with the teacher and my friend, Jacques who was also a participant.

In fact with a side visit to the immense and hard to find ( all the signs taken down for roadwork) Villa Tamaris Centre d'Art, I did get to finally pass through the city of Toulon and onto the other side of it to the beautiful seaside of La Seyne-sur-Mer.  

 The main interest for the first stop was to see the retrospective show of Marie-France Lejeune, a friend of my teacher , Sylvie Morris.   Ms. Lejeune had some intriguing work there but my camera was running out of juice.  

   Her paintings consist of pouring out gallons of acrylics, letting them dry, cutting them with the equivalent of a pasta machine into strips and then working with those strips to make targets,  hangings, and lace-works and big Pollack like discs which  she sands and polishes and hangs on the wall.  Then there is her photography and her woodwork as well.  Her art offerings are extremely varied which is unusual. 

  Everything was meticulously rendered and it was as the French say "un travail de fou"...roughly translated as "crazy-making work".   She seems super-humanly dedicated to what she does which is probably the definition of a good artist.   I was surprised not to find an official website but when you see the breadth of the expo.....when would she find the time, really. 

This work consists of yards, maybe miles of strips of acrylic wound tightly to form the rings.

This is a two dimensional work with computer manipulated photos

This is a hanging of paint strips that moves when you blow on it.   (Well of course, that's the first thing you do.)

 

this a sample of her woodworks, perspectives made real from photos she takes to get the angles right. 

Another surprise was to see at the Villa, a few works of Franta, the famous Czech artist who installed himself in France in 1958, and whom I talked to for a half hour or so at my expo at La Maison des Artistes in 2008. 

 Since I didn't know how famous he was until yesterday, I wasn't, at the time, intimidated.  He asked me a ton questions about my work and I just answered them. ... nice man,  unassuming and great artist.   http://www.franta.fr/

Me at my expo in Cagnes ( 2008) and Franta behind me. 

Next we got to our printmaking expo held as the "3eme rencontre des ateliers de gravure des ecole de Beauxs-Arts de Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur" held at the Chateau de Carces .  

Three other large schools besides EMAP de Nice participated : Digne-les-Bains, Seyne-sur-Mer and the Inter-communal School of the county of Provence.  Each instructor was there with a few carloads of students for the opening and the profs were asked to speak.... as is common with these things.  And then treats were served.... very civilized.

That is my red-headed teacher second from the right, Sylvie Morris.

 And yes,  I was very honored to be among the few participants from our school.  There was a ton of excellent work and as you might imagine, each one varied as to subjects, techniques and abilities.  

 After an hour or so of talking with the other artists and sharing tips,  I was brought home by some of the participants.... who went out of their way to get me home safe by 11pm.  

  It was a good day.... I'm grateful for the event and the camaraderie, not to mention the scenic route we took home through the Var, one of the most stunning areas to pass through at any time .  Today its RAIN again,  so we hit it just right.  What a piece of luck that was.      

  

                                  

That's me in front of my "'eggs"

The work of my friend Anne Marie Deligny