Tuesday 11 May 2010

Sidewalk Arts Festival

LacosteIf for you the name Lacoste conjures up images of a polo shirt with a crocodile logo, it's time to switch to another dimension: in Provence, Lacoste refers to a tiny perched village of the Luberon whose castle once was inhabited by the Marquis de Sade (after whom the word sadism was created). Today Lacoste hosts a branch of the Savannah College of Art & Design. Hosted in this beautiful 15th & 16th century village, American students come & study here for a term. Created in the early seventies, the art school has now become the biggest estate owner in the village and generates an active regional artistic life, mostly around English speaking artists. This is a village where you'll probably hear American spoken more often than French.
Last Sunday 9th May, in conjuction with the Mairie and several local organisations, the Savannah College of Art and Design hosted a Sidewalk Arts Festival ("Festival de Craie sur Trottoir"). The public was invited to participate from 11:00 am-3:00 pm ; a EUR 2 contribution was requested for the chalk. Judges toured the streets at 3:15 pm and awarded prizes for adult, children and art students categories.
I was curious to go and see it but when rain started pouring at midday I was almost certain the event had been cancelled. However the rain stopped at 2:30 pm so I decided to try my luck and drive out there anyway. I'm glad I did : the rain had actually been far less intense in Lacoste than in Avignon ; participants were only forced to cover up their artworks for a short time during the shower and were able to resume their work after that. At 3:00 pm the village's tiny medieval streets were alive with colourful works of art. What a treat!Si quand je vous dis Lacoste vous pensez chemise à crocodile, il est temps de changer de références : ici Lacoste est un des petits villages perchés du Luberon dont le château eut à la fin du XVIIIe siècle un résident célèbre : le divin Marquis de Sade dont les sulfureux écrits ont donné naissance au mot sadisme. Aujourd'hui, Lacoste accueille une antenne d'une célèbre université américaine, le Savannah College of Art & Design. Hébergés dans les vieilles maisons de ce spectaculaire village provençal, des étudiants américains viennent ici passer un trimestre de leurs études. Créee au début des années soixante-dix, l'école est aujourd'hui le plus gros propriétaire foncier du village et génère dans la région une importante vie artistique à dominante anglophone. En se promenant ici on entend plus souvent parler américain que français.
En association avec la mairie et diverses associations locales, le Savannah College of Art & Design organisait dimanche dernier 9 mai un Festival de dessin à la craie sur le trottoir. De 11h à 15h, enfants et adultes étaient invités à participer, avec remise des prix à 15h15. Participation : 2 euros, boite de craies fournie. J'avais très envie d'aller admirer ça mais en voyant chez moi la pluie tomber à verse à midi, j'ai pensé que l'événement avait dû être annulé. Toutefois devant une belle éclaircie à 14h30, j'ai décidé d'aller voir à tout hasard. Bien m'en a pris : il avait beaucoup moins plu à Lacoste qu'à Avignon, à peine une courte averse pendant laquelle les oeuvres avaient été bâchées, et les ruelles médiévales du village fleurissaient de couleurs vives. Un vrai régal !
Several American students and many children used the chalk as face paint too. Ugh!
The event was very family-oriented, there were kids playing everywhere.

Plusieurs étudiants américans et pas mal d'enfants se sont aussi servi de la craie comme maquillage. Ugh! La journée, co-organisée par les parents d'élèves, était aussi faite pour le bonheur des enfants : ils étaient nombreux à zigzaguer entre les oeuvres en trottinette ou en skate.
Some of the most creative entries in the contest. The chalks had beautiful bright colours but the surface was very grainy, making fine drawing quite difficult. I remember the Chalk the Walk contest in Sydney: artists had four full days to complete their works so the quality was far superior of course - see St George killing the dragon here and a great portrait of Gandhi there.

Voici quelques-unes des plus belles oeuvres du jour. Les craies fournies avaient des couleurs bien lumineuses mais la surface était très granuleuse, rendant difficile tout dessin fin. Cela m'a rappelé le concours Chalk the Walk de Sydney : là-bas les artistes avaient quatre jours entiers pour réaliser leurs oeuvres ; le niveau était évidemment bien plus élevé qu'ici : retrouvez St Georges terrassant le dragon ici et un magnifique portrait de Gandhi là.

30 comments:

Ténèbres à la lumière... said...

Bonjour! Nathalie,
All of your photograph are beautiful...I can almost smell the air...or at least imagine the smell of the air on that 09th of May Day.

I also like the off the beaten path...
...area in which the paintings are exhibited in Provence, Lacoste "which refers to a tiny perched village of the Luberon."

By the way, all of the paintings are unique and I especially like the fact, that one artist, created a painting of Macaroons.

Merci, for sharing the links too!
DeeDee ;-D

Owen said...

Sympa !

And I'll bet Virginia is going to like those macaroons, in light of her latest post today... they look almost good enough to bite into...

Brigetoun said...

quand respecter l'art demande un effort

chri said...

Comment transformer du gris en couleurs! Lacoste, bien sûr! Parfois on a raison de se bouger!

Nathalie H.D. said...

DeeDee, Owen - I was sure that the macaroons would strike a chord with many of my readers!

Chri - On a TOUJOURS raison de se bouger!

Olivier said...

c'est une très belle idée, bien mise en valeur par ta promenade photographique et puis ils me donnent envie les macarons ;o)

Babzy.B said...

c'est super joi ces dessins à la craie !

claude said...

J'aime aussi les macarons et le couple d'indiens. Cela me rappelle mon enfance et ma jeunesse à Paris. Certains faisaient de vrais chefs-d'oeuvres sur les trottoirs.
Chez moi, c'est Thermomix today !

Michel Benoit said...

Intéressant et inattendu...

Sciarada said...

Hallo Nathalie I don't know Lacoste like village, a real surprise, very very beautiful the corners of your photos

Jilly said...

How great! Love all the art stuff that goes on in Avignon and around andyou show it to us so well. Some super paintings and yes, I noticed the macaroons - wonder why! Lacoste is a beautiful village.

Parisbreakfasts said...

macaron art works!
I love how everyone is hugging the walls for fear of stepping on the pastels..
merci
carolg

PeterParis said...

I did not know about the Savannah College. I thought Cardin was today's owner of the castle and organiser of a yearly music festival. But I presume Savannah College and Cardin manage to live together!

Elettra said...

Hi Nathalie,I am very impressed by
explosion of colours.

Thérèse said...

Pour certains j'espère qu'ils ont pu en tirer une bonne note!
En tous les cas, un bon moment de détente.

bv said...

exactement t'as raison, ça me rappelle "chalk the walk" sur Pyrmont Bridge, je l'avais oublié celui-là ;-))
baci bv

Lynne with an e said...

Gee, if only I'd have realized that I could major in Sidewalk Chalk Drawing when I was at art school!

Nathalie said...

Yes Peter, Pierre Cardin still owns the castle and organises an annual music festival there in the summer but the art school owns many village houses.I'm not sure how much contact they have with each other.

Louciao - You made me burst with laughter. Some kids have it tough, eh?

Louis la Vache said...

The city of Albany, California (home to «Louis» et Mme la Vache) has a sidewalk art festival like this each year. It draws people from all over the San Francisco Bay Area.

AnneduSud said...

Les macarons même crayeux me mettent l'eau à la bouche.
Bravo d'avoir tenter la sortie, ça en valait la peine!
Ai voté!

Thérése said...

Super chouette ces dessins qui permet de ce promener dans les petites rues ! génial !
Thérése .

Michel Benoit said...

C'est de la craieation !

Café ?

Nathalie H.D. said...

Avignon, que serais-je sans toi? On rirait moins! Café remis, c'est la faute à Edouard (Leclerc).

jeandler said...

Superbe!
Le marquis aurait aimé et serait descendu de son château en ville, faire un tour

Kim said...

So glad you did head out there for this fun event, Nathalie. It is a treat for me to see all that color amidst the passageways and to learn of this village. I like that you said folks might hear more "American" spoken in the village than French. Although we don't think of ourselves as speaking American, there are enough differences in our use of language and spelling from the English to differentiate us from their language. :-). I adore the four drawings you feature. Thank you for this lovely little tour!
-Kim

NYC Bicycle Accident Lawyer said...

Excellent art. Thanks for posting this.

Festival de Lacoste said...

Nice photos :)

Des informations sur le festival de Lacoste 2010 sont disponibles sur :
http://www.artistikrezo.com/theatre/Dossiers/festival-de-lacoste-2010.html

Madeleine Vedel said...

beautiful! I hadn't seen your posts in a while, and goodness, you've a slew of interesting ones these past couple of weeks! bravo!

jb said...

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt!

louis vuitton said...

Nice post nice pic !

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