June trip to France!!

On June 1 I will be flying to France with my artist buddy Jessica Straus who has been invited to be an artist in residence in Normandy. She has asked me to give her a hand, keep her company and collaborate on her project there which will be a site specific sculpture. She has been given an old chapel for the installation and it is already well under way. My part of it, as of today anyway, will be an artist book of sorts that will make use of the walls while her piece will cover the floor with parts suspended from the ceiling. I don't want to give too much away! The town is Athis de l'Orne which is between Paris and Rennes, close to Brittany where I spent a year as a high school student. In addition to this town being in the country and looking like (online anyway) a sweet place to spend the month the directors of the residency have created a public garden over the last six or so years called Le Ciel Ouvert. You can see a great short video online on youtube (it's in French of course but you'll see a beautiful garden with numerous different "rooms." In preparation for the trip I am taking a French conversation class in Rockland, two hours each week. It is so much fun and the teacher is great. Jessica speaks French, too, and has extended family in France (her mother was French and came to America as a young newly wed) so we will visit with them as well. I hope to see some of the French family with whom I lived as a student with School Year Abroad. It will take some sleuthing to be back in touch with them. That's enough for now, I guess. I am posting an image of a current project that has nothing to do with the trip to France but everything to do with how much I enjoy making abstract collage. These were inspired by the colors of the blueberry barrens here on Appleton Ridge in the fall. Exquisite range of reds. I made a total of 52, have given some away. A bientot!