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| The Can Can - ATC |
I love France. I love the French. The country and their people
intrigued me from the time I was a child. I guess you could say I was
born a Francophile.
Before I learned to read, my Mom and I would
walk to the Brooklyn Public Library six days a week. And there in the
children's section, was my treasure trove. I would run to the books with
the opening lines that set my imagination free...
"In an old house
in Paris, that was covered with vines, lived twelve little girls in two
straight lines... the smallest one was Madeline." How I adored Ludwig Bemelmans'
Madeline series!
And
that was just the beginning. I dreamed of France...of seeing for myself
the beautiful streets described in Bemelmans' books. I wanted to
experience the art, the culture, the sights, the smells, the food of
that wonderful country.
All those feeling came rushing back to me
when looking through my collection of ATCs. I found my homage to the
dance I performed at our "Christmas Around the World" school play.
Ah...The Can-Can! At last! The play that year was my chance to
experience Art Nouveau Paris and The Moulin Rouge. Visions of Lautrec
danced in my mind!
It was years later when living in England
that I made my pilgrimage France. With that first trip my feet were
finally planted in the country of my childhood dreams. And everything
was even better than I had hoped. The French could be "difficult", I was
warned, especially in Paris. I had also heard that about my home city,
New York. I knew it wasn't true about New York...could it be the same
for the City of Light?
With my extremely
basic hold on their lyrical language, I ventured into the streets of
Paris. I found a small bistro off the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and did
my best to order an omelette without the sausage. The waiter was
patient and wonderfully helpful. And he responded to me in his equally
basic English. What arrived at my table,
honestly, was the greatest meal
of my life. Imagine my surprise when the waiter said if I didn't like
it the chef could make me something else!
This exchange set
the tone of my first trip and for all the ones after. Regardless of
national origin, we are all the same...sharing the same hopes, dreams,
and desires. The French say it perfectly...
joie de vivre...a philosophy of life.
I used a standard manila ATC card for the
substrate. Text from travel brochures, and dictionary pages were
added. I found a vintage image of the dancers and finished the card
with rubber stamped images and acrylic paint.
As artists we have the unique opportunity to bridge the gap we sometimes
feel when taking a journey to somewhere new. Everyone, everywhere,
wants to be treated with respect. We
all want to feel that we
do matter. Our work says more about us than words can ever convey. What does your work say about you?
