Portes Ouvertes des Ateliers d'artistes de Belleville.

[mossie]

I timed my recent visit to coincide with the open weekend held by the "Organisation AAB" in which some 120 studios and workshops are thrown open to the public. These were scattered through the ancient commune of Belleville and bounded roughly by Av Parmentier in the south to rue des Pyrenees in the north. And from Buttes Chaumont to rue de Menilmontant. There is a seperate section of the assciation for Menilmontant who hold their event later in the year. Some places host more than one artist so about 140 are represented. "Artist" covers a large field, one immediately thinks painter. But there were also many sculptors, photographers and other odds and ends, ranging from amateur to very talented.

Anyway here are a few snapshots which I was permitted to take



A typical lady artist and her friend, with her work being sculptural. Many pieces were as can be seen on the wall behind. Small boats with figures in them, made me think Noah and friends making recce trips from the Ark.



Her studio was one of several in this little enclave off rue Ramponeau



Nearby was an expert stone carver, one of whose pieces being typical



This shot was taken further in, the red balloon marks another studio. Incidentally all places taking part in this event flew these little red balloons. The theme being taken from the film of that name which was shot in this neighbourhood some 50 years ago, and which was to be shown on the Sunday night in a local venue, La Bellevilloise in rue Boyer



Now a selection of the weird and wonderful



This offering was by a lady I considered to be mentally disturbed



And these by Sarah Yasdani are from "a project of artistic research to make the invisible visible, an attempt to show the spirit beyond the body through the exploration of the nature of emotions" which left this Philistine completely unmoved.





Here as a contrast is something by a young man, who offered one a pair of 3D viewing glasses to see that there was a 3D image on an apparently flat painting.



Here is part of another display



and here is the interior of a workspace



All in all a very different experience that I really enjoyed over three afternoons involving a considerable amount of walking up and down the narrow back streets of Belleville including passing this lady outside another little collective





That concludes the event items, although I visited many more studios than illustrated here.

Later I'll devote another thread to the rest of my visit, which, you won't be surprised to learn, will include more art, of the street variety this time.

[mossie]

Photobucket is messing me about, there are a few more which I should have included above

Here is another rather strange piece by the first lady



Here some more impressive carved and polished stonework



and more



here the depths of another workshop



A nice little street to finish

[htmb]

Nice pictures, Mossie. I'm looking forward to seeing more and hope you had a fine trip!

[lugg]

Interesting post and photos , thanks Mossie. There is something about polished stone that entices me to touch it , I'd probably have been thrown out .

[Deleted]

Strangely enough, I have never been to any of the various artistic open houses around Paris, even though there are some in my neighbourhood. While I don't mind going to a gallery or a museum, I have an aversion to entering the private space of strangers. Some friends of mine who had a very large flat once made it available for a two-day art show, and I was aghast at the idea. It wasn't even their own art and all of these people were showing up at their door and walking in!

I of course have had artist friends and have visited their studios, sometimes in their dwellings, but that is different because we already knew each other. One place was particularly fascinating in the Montmartre aux Artistes building on rue Ordener. Every single flat is an artist's studio, so they all have very high windows and you can see inside most of them just by going to see somebody else.

In any case, your photos are excellent, Mossie, and it looks like the weather was cooperating as well. I am extremely intrigued by the suspended music boxes and am wondering if anybody was allowed to turn the cranks.

[nycgirl]

I think I liked the first artist you showed the best. Love those delicate, expressive figurines.

Belleville is a fun neighborhood. Thanks for sharing this interesting part of it.

[mossie]

The music boxes installation was suspended on wires and had been set in motion, so that it gently swung round and back and forth. Touching would be a definite no no.