Some Puppet Work In Progress

The cage-like skirt of the largest marionette becomes a miniature theatre for smaller puppets or with a draping of sheer fabric, a screen for shadow projections that revolve or interact with the grid in various ways.

On An Island Beach

Amid the fog and surf on a French Atlantic island I made mandalas of shells and seaweed and tide turned pebbles nestled in the sand. Black and white spiraled out together, expanding back to back, like matter and anti-matter, two faces of the same energy made manifest. Nearby a tree of life mosaic grew from ochre stones and kelp while time stood still...

By the next morning the tide had erased all signs of my work. I found my way down the beach to a place where a cluster of World War II bunkers jutted from the sand like the remains of a forgotten civilization. In contrast to the natural beauty of the site or the calm, meditative state of creating ephemeral art here was something bulky and intrusive, built by fellow human beings for purposes outside my emotional ken... Yet, in a transformation accomplished by intensely colored graffiti symbology, this particular group had become a monument vastly removed from its sinister gray counterparts in Normandy or along the mainland coast nearby. Take a walk with me...

 

 

 

A Short Walk to the Jardin des Plantes

When I am not traveling I live in the old medieval center of Nantes, part of a busy city very near the west coast of France. I will save a more careful profile of Nantes and its history for another day. For tonight I would just like to share with you a few of the sights along the way when I walk to the nearby Nantes botanical garden (jardin des plantes) and arboretum--a lovely park that has been in existence since the early nineteenth century, with many varieties of plants and mature trees from around the world ranged along its winding paths and rock bordered water courses. On our way you can spot glimpses of the neighbourhood's ancient architecture including Nantes' Gothic cathedral and the medieval era chateau of the Dukes of Bretagne (Brittany).