DID YOU KNOW?........by Cerelle

In the south of France, in the region of the Camargue, there are COWBOYS!!

Being an Arizonian, I find that intriguing and somewhat amazing.

Here in the Camargue, they are called 'gardiens'. Still, herding cattle and horses is as "cowboy" as the name.
They live in a flat area of salt marshes and water where two branches of the Rhone River form a delta as they empty into the Mediterranean Sea.

If you know where Arles is located, you can visualize a triangle with Arles at the apex, and the area of the Camargue forming the rest of the triangle between the arms of the two branches of the Rhone River as it flows into the Mediterranean Sea.




It is full of steamy lakes
and a humidity of up to 100%
and inhabited by marsh birds
including huge flocks of flamingos!




Nothing could be more different from our Arizona desert of rugged mountains and cactus and cresote covered desert, and here it is dry..REALLY DRY.

The Camargue area was unfit for farming with all of the salt water, but it was found suitable for grazing the black bulls and handsome white horses for which the area is famous. These are both old breeds, and smaller than usual. Both bulls and horses live semi wild lives, and are strong breeds which survive well in the intense heat and chlling cold.

The Camargue horses are believed to be descended from the prehistoric horses of the Paleolithic period, 17,000 years ago, which are seen in the paintings on the walls of Lascaux and other caves. They seem to have been crossbred with the later Arabian horses left by the Moorish Invaders.
They are born black or dark brown, and by the age of four they have changed into a slightly mottled whitish gray, and are usually just called white.


The bulls are all black and used for their distinctively flavored meat, perhaps as a result of their diet of salt grass, and are also used in a form of bull running where the object is to pick a cockade from between the horns of the running bull...not such a clever thing to do, but a tradition.


The gardiens herd the cattle and horses with the aid of a trident, and are very much a part of the region's mystique and folklore.

The American cowboy, too, is certainly a character of mystique and folklore in the USA, and their romanticized lives live on in the popular culture, and still in actuality in some areas.




Like so many areas of France, there is a whole culture in the area which is different and specialized., partly due to the specialized way of life which evolved due to local conditions.

The heritage of these French gardiens has been commemorated in the faïence of Etienne Laget and the fabrication of Quimper. Laget created many designs to show the culture of the area of Arles, and there are some very handsome pieces featuring the gardien and also the ladies of the region, the Arlesienne.



You can find faïence pieces by Laget featuring other regions as well. I have seen plates featuring the costumes of the Basque region,Provence, and other areas from time to time.


This tureen is especially charming with the encircling band of dancing Arlésiennes.


This santon, which I consider quite special, is the only one which I have seen which features not only the gardien in his traditional black hat, but the Arlésienne along with him on the Camargue horse. You will note that the lady will always have a parasol with her to protect her from the blazing sun. The cypress tree and well is another ceramic piece done by Laget.

The Arlésienne is quite a subject in her own right, and the story by Alphonse Daudet which Bizet set to haunting music in L'Arléienne is likely familiar to many people. It is a joy to see her in a festival wearing her traditional costume with her ribbon coif upon the upswept hair style, and parasol against the sun.
It makes it easy to understand her allure.



The easiest place to see this culture is in Arles, or in Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer, which is 19 km east of Aigues-Mortes.

Finding the pieces of faïence is a quest which may take more searching, but are always rewarding when one is located.

For more information on the Camargue region of France click here.

PS....Did you recognize my cowboy, Bill?

Here he is in Arizona many years ago when we were much younger.

Cerelle

Likenesses and Differences.........by Cerelle

During the years between buying my first Quimper pieces, and having a chance to find more, other passions developed.

Meeting my husband, Bill, of course: our love of poodles came soon after, and we became interested in another artistic and cultural specialty, American Indian pottery. We are especially fond of that of the Hopi Indians in Arizona, and of our neighbors, the Pueblo Peoples of New Mexico.

We like visiting the Hopi Villages high on the mesas north of Winslow. The people live very simply, in a beautiful but harsh environment, yet have a rich cultural tradition, not unlike the Bretons in the Bretagne of the past.
The Hopis are friendly and hospitable, and soon we had many friends whom we enjoy very much.

On First Mesa, the women make pottery, while on Second Mesa the craft is coiled basketry, and on Third Mesa they make baskets of wicker that are woven in a different way.
We were especially attracted to the pottery and soon started buying, and as we began to collect, our friends began to educate us in the methods they used.

The clay is dug from locales belonging by heritage to specific families, sometimes near the ruins of an ancient village which was built by their ancestors. The pottery is handmade by coiling, sanded, and then polished with a smooth pebble which has often been handed down from mother to daughter (or now sometimes to a son). It is a surprise to most people to learn that the shiny surface of this pottery is not a glaze, but the result of hours of smoothing and polishing with that pebble.




Then, if they choose, it may be embellished with designs. The colors of the designs are all minerals; rocks found in the area and ground with a grinding stone to a powder and then moistened with water to make a thick paint. A strip of yucca is used as a brush to to paint the designs.

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Firing in an outdoor fire.

























Some potters, use a slip of white clay over the natural clay pot before polishing. This is the specialty of one extended family. To me, it is almost miraculous that with these materials of the earth, and the simple firing with the pots carefully stacked and covered with dried sheep dung as fuel, they produce these exquisite works of art.




















When we visited the Henriot faiencerie at Quimper, and the Faïenceries d'Art and Bourg-Joly in Malicorne, I saw basically the same process taking place: Soaking the clay, forming, and with the exception of the potters wheel and use of molds, all much the same. Glaze, of course, is much different, and they have the benefit of a controlled kiln, but still basically the same.




As impressed as I am with the skills of the French Faïence artists and seeing how they work, it has increased my respect for those Indian potters who do it all by hand, and after many hours of work, are at the mercy of a pot slipping in the fire, or the wind rising to blacken the pots with smoke. Many is the time we have gone with a friend to remove her pots from the cooled fire, only to see a beautiful bowl or pot in pieces.














It seems that people are more alike than they are different in the desire for not only utility, but also beauty in the expression of their culture..whether it be the gorse and bruyere, the costumes and coiffes of the Bretons...
or the thunderbird eagles and the water serpent, and the Kachinas and cloud steps of the Hopi.















It speaks to us of the people themselves, and we love it all.

Click here for the Heard Museum for more information about American Indian Art.

Cerelle.

BLUE has friends......................by Cerelle B

Blue with Red and White says "Homeland" to me, and to the French, "Patrie".

It brings forth feelings of Love of Country, as our flags and patriotic decorations are in this combination.

As we have recently seen in the World War I and World War II plates produced by Henriot, that combination of colors tells us to protect our country even before we read the rest of the message.

Click here and here to read more about these plates.

Let us all today remember and thank all of the men and women who fought to save our world and our freedom. We will not forget, and we salute you all on Veterans Day, November 11, 2009.
This faïence platter by Raymonde Pennanec'h shows the joy of the people on the day of liberation as they dance in the streets beyond the St. Corentin Cathedral in Quimper. (photo by Adela Meadows)


Blue with Yellow says Sea and Sunshine, and Sky and Sunflowers with their faces turned to the sun reflecting that yellow, cheery and happy...and is an oft used combination in the South of France.

This amusing jug with the fabulous flowers is by Delacourt...and the next, in the true intense sunlight yellow, is from Angouleme.


Blues with green says Peaceful and Cool, Meadows and Streams and fresh breezes.
These platters from Geo Martel say it all, do they not?



But blue has a special friend in the colors of Imari. Blue with the Rusty Red and sometimes highlighted with the glint of gold, are beloved and have been adopted in French Faïence.

Rouen, and later Desvres and other faïenceries including Quimper became enchanted with the combination. Many of the great chargers seen in museums are either blue and white or this great Imari inspired coloration, such as this one we saw at the museum in Rouen on our trip with the Quimper Club International in 2007.


I have a special old Imari charger that came to me from my grandmother. She was born in 1869, and I believe she received it no later than 1900. I imagine that it was already old then, but I do not know. It is another case of not being able to read the marks! My father always told me that it had been a gift to her that was brought back from Japan by a missionary friend. That too, was her proudly displayed treasure all her life long. Perhaps this love of hand painted ceramics is in the genes, do you think?




When I acquired two quite large Desvres chargers,
I found it very easy to display them with my Imari
plate and close to my de Porceleyne Fles Delft pieces.

They became immediate friends
and it pleases me to see them close together.


And well, you KNOW how one thing leads to another.

I love roosters, don't we all?
I once found this huge red glazed rooster, no mark at all, in an antique store in Springfield, Ohio...but he is wonderful and so he came home with us.

Then there was the Limoges tankard I saw in an antique store in Pasadena, California. It was SO beautifully painted in lovely reds and golds and some purples on the grapes...just a wonderful piece of art.

I DO NOT collect Limoges, I sternly told myself. But after we returned home, I weakened and wrote to the store and now here it sits among my Delft and my French faïence... my one example of Limoges, and he seems quite happy there, too.







It seems that so many styles of ceramics will be friendly, and the colors can make them very good companions.

I guess when it comes right down to it, my philosophy of collecting must be:
If you LOVE it, you LOVE it!