• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Patricia Sands

Author

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
    • Can I visit your Book Club on Zoom?
  • Books
    • The Bridge Club
    • Love in Provence Series
      • The Promise of Provence
      • About Promises to Keep
      • I Promise You This
    • Drawing Lessons
    • Les Villa des Viollettes series
      • The First Noël at the Villa des Violettes
      • A Season of Surprises at the Villa des Violettes
      • Lavender, Loss & Love at the Villa des Violettes
    • The Secrets We Hide
  • Travel
    • Photography, France & d’Ailleurs
  • Instagram
  • If it’s Friday, it must be France…
  • Contact me

Jaume Plensa

La Grande Nomade …

May 18, 2012 by Patricia Sands Leave a Comment

If it’s Friday, it must be France …

Yes … I’m still hard at the WIP … so since I can’t get away from it, I thought I would bring you into the story with me for a moment. Oh come on! No eye rolls! It’s just for a moment …

By way of introduction – This sculpture was installed at the end of the ramparts in Antibes in 2007. It was taken into a private collection at one point and the outcry was so loud when it was gone that it was replaced. We overlooked it from our terrace last summer. Magic … day or night … just magic …

The setting for this scene in my story is at night. Of course in the WIP there are no photos … only the images created by my own letters …

Patricia Sands Photography

At the end of the ramparts, they stepped inside the white stainless steel sculpture that faced the sea and dominated the harbor of Port Vauban. Lit from the bottom in the unfolding darkness, there was a sense of a shimmering diaphanous embrace.

“I’ve been mesmerized by this from my terrace,” Katherine murmured. “It’s as if  he’s a guardian …  almost like a mirage from a distance.”

“This part of the ramparts is Bastion Saint-Jaume. Originally constructed in the 1700’s, it was blown up by the Germans when they retreated in 1944 and rebuilt according to the original plans,” Nick said, ever the historian.

Photo by http://www.casa-infos.fr/node/54

“It’s so unusual …  almost magical … ” Katherine studied the outline of a person squatting, arms around knees, constructed entirely of letters.

 “La Grande Nomade … but tourists refer to it as the Man of Letters … for obvious reasons,” Nick continued. “Oddly, the Spanish sculptor’s name is Jaume Plensa …”

 Katherine smiled at the coincidence.

Nick’s voice softened, reflecting the intimacy he craved. “His philosophy behind the work is that letters are like bricks. They help us to construct our thoughts. I read an interview where he expressed his feeling that our skin is permanently and invisibly tattooed with the text of our life experiences and then someone comes along … a friend, a lover … who is able to decipher these tattoos.”

 Biting her lip, Kat looked out over the calm sea. “The text of this year of my life would call for quite the tattoo.”

Photo by http://yaellecaplan.blogspot.ca/2011/08/la-grande-nomade.html
Patricia Sands Photography

Are you able to get a good enough sense of La Grande Nomade from these photos? What do you think of Plensa’s philosophy about letters?

It’s a long weekend in Canada and the weather is beautiful in Toronto – Victoria Day on Monday or, as it’s ‘fondly’ referred to up here “May two-four”. I’m taking tomorrow off from writing. Woohoo!  We’re going to Mosport with some of our children and grandchildren to watch our son, Sasha, compete in his auto racing division. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I wish you all a Bon Weekend!

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Print
  • Email

Filed Under: Blog, France, If it is France..., Photo blogs Tagged With: 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist, Antibes, Cote D'Azur, ForeWord 2010 Book Of The Year Finalist, France, French Riviera, iUniverse, Jaume Plensa, La Grande Nomade, living in the south of France, Patricia Sands, sculpture, self-publishing, The Bridge Club, writing

Primary Sidebar

Join Me Here!

RSS
Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Tweet
YouTube
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon
LinkedIn
LinkedIn
Share
Instagram

Follow Me on BookBub

Follow Me on BookBub

Follow me on Amazon

Follow me on Amazon

Available from Amazon!

Available from Amazon!

Available Now!

Available Now!

Available from Amazon

Available from Amazon

Join me and 9 of your favourite women’s fiction authors

Join me and 9 of your favourite women’s fiction authors

The Good Life France Magazine

The Good Life France Magazine

Categories

Archives

Footer

Copyright Disclaimer

© 2020 by Patricia Sands. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided a link back to this page and proper attribution is given to me as the original author. All photographs on this site are copyright of Patricia Sands

Follow Me!

RSS
Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Tweet
YouTube
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon
LinkedIn
LinkedIn
Share
Instagram
  • Privacy Policy

FTC DISCLOSURE

The Federal Trade Commission requires that I disclose any relationship I have between a product manufacturer or service provider when I write about a product or service. I may receive a small commission for purchases made via affiliate links on this site such as Amazon. The above does not affect my opinion of those products and services. I am committed to sharing the work of other authors with my friends and readers.

Copyright © 2023 By Patricia Sands · Theme created and maintained by Bakerview Consulting