"The feeling is important, as in poetry. To create, you must put the intellect on hold. Things must be done with love, pleasure and in accordance with our deepest truth. This is what gives the soul and personality to the drawings of an artist. Art is the language of the soul......we realize with time that this is not so much the destination that is important as the path to get there."
When my friend Yvette described the artists of Sainte Flavie I knew I wanted to make it a stop on our journey. As we arrived in the village we saw that everything was closed . We passed artist gallery after gallery and I was thinking maybe we should stop and pull off the road until they opened in a few hours. As we passed a stone house, the mosaic art on the house caught my eye and I asked Jim to pull over and go back . I was never prepared for what we were going to experience.
As we pulled into the parking lot of the Centre d'Art M. Gagnon I could see the stone house and the detail of the artwork . As I walked up to the house I felt like Alice in Wonderland tumbling through the rabbit's hole. My breath was taken away and my heart was captured. I kept thinking I was in a dream but I felt as though I had come home. You know that peaceful complete feeling you get when arriving home after a long long trip ? That's what I felt . Crazy ? No I don't think so-it was one of those wonderful times when the artist captures your soul and you feel blessed and very special to experience that feeling.
I didn't know where to look, my head was spinning at the detail work, the statues, the mosaics, the tiles, the paintings, even the plants were beautiful. I felt like dancing in the street with joy at what we were seeing and experiencing.
What an artist, to have captured such magic, such spirit-my soul was literally singing with joy. I wanted to live here .
Being a mosaic artist, my heart was especially happy when I saw the colors and details of the work-I was in artist heaven.
And then, as I approached the little promenade area and the beach my heart started to do somersaults. His "Grand Rassemblement", his sculpture of life size statues is amazing. I wanted to sing and dance among his magical spirits. I looked each in the face, wondering what or who inspired him in each and crazy as it sounds, I felt each had their own story and were looking at me with knowing eyes.
When here, you feel so much a part of something very special. I will be forever grateful to Yvette for directing me to Sainte Flavie. The magic and inspiration I felt here will always be carried in my heart and soul.
The experience of walking down the stairs felt like walking into the ballroom of the sea-friends welcoming with their own stories to tell as they came out of the water. You know how much I love being near the water and this made me feel like I was with my people, with my tribe !
Someday I would like to return when the tide is out and meet the ones further out in the water. For now I am so grateful and feel so blessed to have been here in this true presence of magical art and the spirit and soul of the artist.
Please go to the web site to learn more: www.centredart.net. He and several family members and friends are in involved in new creations. You will learn that he fell in love with a little cottage by the sea in 1984 and settled in to create his labor of love. I know I've said it several times,sometimes maybe a little crazy, but it is a magical place and if you have a chance to experience it, don't pass up the opportunity. There are special places on this planet that fill your heart and soul with the magical spirit of the artist and this is one of them.
Thank you Marcel Gagnon, and all of the artists of the world who make this world so beautiful and special.
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