My friend Marion spent 2 months in France recently, and her blogs reminded me of all the little things that make up the bigger reasons why I’m in France…again! Well, besides the fact that Wayne would spend half the year here if we could fly our family over every month!
One of those big reasons is the art. It’s everywhere in the little things, but the details add up to this vibrant contrast between the very, very old, and the very creative new.
This is what comes to mind when I think of Chartres.
But those faces up there are also the face of this ancient city 45 minutes SW of Paris. They form part of a display in an optical store’s display of glasses frames. And this?
Oh just a mural looming large over a tiny square on our way up an even tinier road leading up to that amazing 12th century cathedral.
Seen those before? Sure. Just visit Chemainus on Vancouver Island, or pretty much any city anywhere and you see giant wall murals. So what’s the big deal here, you say?
Well how about this…
Graffitti on hoarding walls enclosing a construction site. They’re decals. Random. No simple spray-can tagging here, done stealthily in the wee hours when the gaps between humans passing are longer. I mean, these you could almost stick on anytime. But who goes to all the thought and trouble to make these decals and do this? Of course, it’s possible they mean something quite different. But I like my explanation.
This is a rock. A rock in a little neighbourhood park. A park beside Maison Picassiette in Chartres. (Wait till you see what one Frenchman created his castle out of. Next post.)
But this one, well, you figure it out…
Till next time!
Lin
