Musee Denys Puech and La Menuiserie, Rodez, France

Francisco Benitez, Sally Condon, Reginald Gammon, Deborah Gavel, Raphaelle Goethals, Keri Greeves, Janet Maher, Delilah Montoya, Laura Telander, John Tuccillo, Judith Scariano, Christine Wallers

 

 

 

In progress, sand labyrinth, La Menusiserie
©1998 Janet Maher

 

For the first two weeks of my residency at La Menuiserie I helped prepare the exhibition spaces while construction was still underway, and I began to plant a garden, which will be a work-in-progress as other artists continue to work there. Students from LycŽe Foch did a process-oriented art project with me based upon observation. We walked around Rodez finding intriguing debris and returned to La Menuiserie, where the students created personalized garden totems. These were installed in the open space of the area at garden level.

From materials I found at La Menuiserie and on my walk with the students, I created the artist's bookwork, Carnet de Croquis de La Menuiserie (page 2). A wooden box is the container (cover) for the 4" x 6" wooden assemblage and drawing "pages". A French-English dictionary refers to my inter-cultural experience in France with other artists and my new French friends.

Lessons in Traveling Light (page 2) is a piece I brought with me. Also an artist's bookwork, the suitcase may be considered the "cover" and the 60 2" sq. glass cubes containing personally symbolic assemblages are the "pages", which can be read/interpreted in any order. Relocating across the United States from New Mexico to Maryland last year taught me many lessons about letting go of attachments and traveling lightly in life. This piece contains the remainder of my specific-memory assemblage material which I have accumulated and saved over many years.

Before arriving in Rodez, I made a pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Chartres to see the powerful, newly rediscovered labyrinth on the floor there. This beautiful spiritual tool with its complex mystical geometry is of great interest to me. Walking a replica of this particular labyrinth (made by Dr. Lauren Artress of San Francisco) in 1995 became part of the process for me of letting go of my long life in New Mexico and become ready to make a great new change. I offered this replica of the Chartres labyrinth to the community of Rodez in the hope that it would become a beneficial walking meditation for others.

Labyrinth and found bottles, view from outside window, La Menusiserie
©1998 Janet Maher