"Le Vent des Forêts is a vast sculpture park which consists of more than 5000 hectares of forest and is situated in the heart of the area La Meuse in the Lorraine in France. The park accommodates more than 100 works of art. Supported by the residents of 6 farming and forestry villages each year 7 contemporary artists are invited to realize an outdoor project during the first two weeks of July. In 2013, the Association Le Vent des Forêts invited me to participate. With 20 tons of clay I have sculpted the walls of the middle 10 meters of a 50 meter long trench, dug out in the limestone ground on a hilltop in the forest near the village of Pierrefitte-sur-Aire. A kiln has been constructed enclosing this work and it has been fired day and night during a week. The finished work is now part of Le Vent des Forêts sculpture park which is open to the public from March through September. The realization of this work would have been impossible without the help, support and participation of many people from the nearby villages and people coming from farther away to participate in the firing. A special thanks goes to the director of the Association Le Vent des Forêts, Pascal Yonet and his production assistant Romain Barré, for their support and trust and for making this project possible. Tuilerie Royer (Soulaines-Dhuys), Chaudronnerie Renneson (St-Mihiel), the Association Expression (Bar-le-Duc) and the volunteers of Le Vent de Forêts have provided materials, craftsmanship and indispensable help. Marc Higgin should be mentioned, for his unrelenting and energetic assistance during the realization of the sculpture, and Thiébaut Chagué, whose counsel for the construction of the kiln and the firing process has been of great value."

 

Photo: Christophe Beurrier, Estelle Chrétien and Guillaume Ramon. A film of the process of making has been made by Estelle Chrétien, see under Film. Le Vent des Forêts, Mairie, 21 rue des Tassons, 55260 Fresnes-au-Mont, Tél. +33 (0)3 29 71 01 95, E-mail : leventdesforets@mcom.fr, More information : www.leventdesforets.com