Saintes and Seas

For more than fifteen years I carried a small black and white photocopy among my belongings as I moved from one part of the US to another. It was the image of a dark faced saint surrounded by tall, glimmering tapers within a barrel vaulted crypt. For me it held a certain undeniable pull---romantic and mystical, more the stuff of dreams than reality. So was I then surprised in May, 2007 to find myself experiencing the magic of the festival of Sainte Sarah, patron saint of the Rom people, for myself? Yes and no. Maybe it was in the back of my mind all along, something inevitable, as dreams sometimes really do become reality.

I have experienced the phenomena twice now and it hasn't lost any of its fascination for me. Although this year and last I wasn't able to attend the fete, I have felt the attraction pulling at my mind and heart and so wanted to share some photos from 2007.

On her feast day of May 24 after receiving throngs of visitors who kiss her feet and face, petition her for miracles and leave tokens of gratitude for answered requests, Sarah leaves the low ceilinged crypt of the Romanesque church in Saintes Maries de la Mer to travel the brief distance to the sea. Accompanying her are the horseback mounted Camargue guardians and a stream of visitors from across the globe. Small girls in the ruffled red polka dot dresses worn by Flamenco dancers play in the gentle surf as the adults jostle and try to anticipate Sarah's exact path into the water. She is carried out to the horses' chest height in the sea, through a narrow pathway that opens through the human crush and then as quickly closes behind. Nearby my daughter and I stand in warm, ankle deep water among the crowd. I feel surprisingly safe (despite being packed in like sardines), at peace, and part of something larger than myself. The beach and stone breakwaters are lined with spectators and the cries go up as the figure of Sarah, held high, advances. Then it is just as quickly over---she is paraded back to the crypt and around the church a long night of music and dance commences.

Sadly for those of us of a romantic bent, the traditional caravans of travelers have been all but replaced by the bland white of Ford transit vans. A few of the craftspeople bring traditional style wagons but a bit of the magic is lost in the likely possibility that the vardos exist chiefly to enhance commerce. But sometimes even the dog gets to have a special day...

And the organ grinder's cart still yields a moment of baroque pleasure...

So I think I will have to create my own magic if magic is to be made...

(My fairy travelers' wagon of all natural materials from field and forest.)

If you would like to learn more about the legend of Sainte Sarah, a quick internet search yields numerous references, with Wikipedia a good starting point...

Shadows and Travels

 I have spent the past two days moving paper bits around and capturing the results on camera. Soon I hope to have a video of shadow puppet stop motion to post, but until then I am including an overview of some of the bits and pieces used. (The soundtrack is the jazz standard "Fly Me to the Moon" )

Recently I spent a few days in Sete, on the Mediterranean coast of France. Sete is a city with water on all sides--- a grid of canals criss-crosses the urban area, with the sea on one side and a large salt water lake on the other. The canals are used for commercial shipping as well as pleasure craft, so some are quite wide and deep. At other places there are small impasses where looking down from the hewn stone sides is rather like observing a large salt water aquarium. Oysters and dark red sea urchins cling to the sides, small fish dart past and clusters of transparent medusa jellyfish perform their pulsing dance. I found the latter fascinating and deeply calming to watch---the sea is truly an alien world full of magic and mystery.

There are other more raucous inhabitants in the salt water basin outside the city. The brilliant rose flamingos are a sight to see flying en masse to land along the shallow water by the shore. Their voices sound something like the croaking of huge, tuneless frogs but their dances are an amazing synchronized choreography of aligned long legs and nodding heads that sweep forward and back again. They also seem to have little fear of humans, so I was able to observe them at quite close range.

May is also the season for the beautiful papery petalled red-orange poppies that line the roadsides and pastures throughout France.

Until next we meet...

The Merry Month of May

May has been a month of travel thus far---with internet connections few and far between. I feel the frustration of not being able to share as easily as I would like all the fascinating places I have had the privilege to see, yet who could be really unhappy in the midst of so much beauty? I am currently in the mountains of the South working out of our van on the property of friends who have created a truly charming home in an old water mill (more about that later, along with photos). During this stop I have designed and cut more paper shadow puppets and have almost completed a bevy of papier-mache heads for marionettes. Sometime in the next few days, in order to meet my schedule I must begin filming a stop motion paper animation (ready or not!) at another friend's apartment.

In the meantime, I would like to show you a few late afternoon photos of the lovely Chateau of Chambord, happily happened upon in the midst of travel. It deserves much more attention than I have time to give at present---it is a noteworthy site among the many lovely chateaux France has to offer. As you can see, Chambord is massive in size and has a truly memorable roof line of ornate windows, domes and lovely chimneys. So, until next we meet, enjoy...

P.S.

Since the naughty blog gremlin stole in and wouldn't let me complete my post as planned I will use this post script to share the almost finished puppet I previewed yesterday. She is designed to be worn over one extended hand and arm while the operator's other hand controls the rods to the puppet's hands and articulated arms. (At this point she still lacks finished hands and rods for manipulation). If the body appears a bit flat it is because it's designed to be "fleshed out" so to speak, by the operator's arm and hand---and since no one was around to model and my own arm not long enough you'll have to use your imagination to provide her rightful form. (Whew!!! There were an awful lot of "hands" and "arms" in there!!!).

And lastly, the mystery flower from the front yard of our borrowed house finally showed itself to be a lovely iris. Happy May Day to all !!!

April Travels

As promised, I have begun to sort through all the recent photos and have some to share, beginning with the town of Die (French pronunciation takes away the bad associations we have for this spelling in English, creating a sound more like "dee"), nestled among mountains in the south eastern quadrant of France.

In the old city the buildings block the intense, pure light and seen to lean out to each other, like neighbors chatting across a fence. There are frequent stone supports that look like narrow arched bridges at second story level, presumably to prevent this leaning from becoming more disastrous. (They don't seem to be placed in a manner that could be easily used as an actual bridge between houses since they seldom have window or balcony access reasonably close at hand).

A window full of vintage lace and one with a Picasso poster. If you look closely you can see me reflected in the upper left behind Pablo, with my obligatory morning baguette in hand.

The cathedral with its Romanesque bell tower...

Architectural details...

More views..

Enchanted April

Spring has been really lovely here in France and was a magical first experience for me of March and April in this country. My recent travels have taken me from intense heat one day to a high elevation blizzard in the glorious Alps, back to picnics beside the turquoise waters of southern rivers in short sleeves and finally to the west coast again. On the drive across the country it seemed there was a wonderfully romantic looking castle ruin on every hilltop and I wish I could have stopped to photograph all of them! As it stands I have an alarming number of interesting photos I want to share with you--- but they will have to wait for a bit of sorting and selecting---soon, I promise! Meanwhile I'd like to show you what else I've been doing with my time besides snapping pix.
A sampling of cut paper shadow puppets for upcoming performance works...

Another sort of  puppet---a hand held rod version in process--with recycled newsprint papier mache head, faux fur hair and the beginning of rag wrapping to give her body and arms shape. I wasn't initially certain how I felt about creating a more standard, doll like face than my usually fantasy, but it seems to be called for in the particular production for which it is destined. I think the clothes and final touches will help to make her more memorable. To give you some idea of the proportions, the head and neck measure 15 centimeters. Below her are three older creations in my more "normal" fantasy style for comparison.

               And a lovely, merry month of May to all from my house of faes...until next we meet!!!

Travel back in time with me, just a short distance to the final days of February when I actually signed up for this blog whilst visiting the city of Metz, in the north east of France. Metz is a beautiful and ancient city that carries the architectural mark of both German and French creativity along its integral waterways. It boasts legends of a saint banished dragon that can still be seen in a 16th century papier-mache effigy in the cathedral crypt and in a more recent likeness dangling over a street lined with fashionable shops.

Then there is the cathedral itself, a Gothic marvel rising up to neck craning heights in the interior as well as exterior. And everywhere there is the presence of the stone masons and sculptors who fashioned this city and peopled it with a plethora of fantastic personages---foliate heads, gargoyles and mermaids cohabiting with saints and madonnas.

I took a walk one late winter day under leaden skies, past lingering remnants of snow and wet cobblestones and discovered a park near the medieval German gate (pictured at the beginning of this post). The path is lined with stonework of a more melancholy nature--- ancient sarcophagi with interiors shaped to hold human cargo now home to reflecting pools of leaf filled water. There was one tiny child sized coffin among many larger ones.

And so I will leave you for now with the image of a heraldic lion from the facade of a renaissance hotel near where we stayed. A passerby told me the poet Verlaine had lived there for a period, but I have yet to verify this tidbit, preferring to keep it alive as an interesting possibility.