Friendships and Culture

One can definitely lead to the other – and vice versa – but for the purposes of this blog they are more two separate entities.

Friendships: I have been blessed, I am blessed and I will be blessed in the future I hope with all my many friendships. Although there are only a few from “long, long ago”, those few are precious. There are those made in High School (also long, long ago) some of whom I have re-found thanks to FaceBook (I know – I too hate having to say something positive about a media that seems to have totally taken over our lives). Friendships often follow one’s status or job, never mind one’s various moves: single one tends to have more group friends or other singles; newly wed one tends to flock to other couples; have a child and there will be those met because of the children (one such group still meets 25 years after we first met in the car park of the local elementary school; another friend dates back just as far, but due to my younger child and another school – we still meet most Tuesdays for tea); those groups and friendships tend to change as the children grow older, allowing for new additions at another level; there are those based upon a common job or volunteer work; then there is the unfortunate friendships due to loss – the loss are unfortunate, the friendships some of the best; along the way there are the happenstance friendships, i.e. the renter who became my housemate; there are the truly random friendships – last year I literally picked up a woman who has since become a very dear friend (she was waiting at the bus stop – I was going past where I suspected she was headed, I stopped – another blessing in my life!); there are also those formed through the meeting of new people through other friends or acquaintances. It was one of these whom I visited for coffee yesterday. What a happy circumstance that I met her this winter through another friend and found out that she lives in Martigny.

I have surely missed some ways of meeting people and making friends, but in my own life I have had the rare privilege of meeting so many unique and interesting people, keeping many as friends and whether I see them once a year, once a month, once a week or only by e-mail and telephone, they are part of me and without them my life would be so much poorer.

Then there’s the culture. As I had wanted to go to the Giannada Museum (http://www.gianadda.ch/wq_pages/en/informations/) on this trip I blended the two, friendship and culture, first having coffee with S then going on to take in the current exhibition dedicated to Swiss artists Anker, Hodler and Vallotton. This collection belongs to the Foundation for Art, Culture and History, a foundation established by Bruno Stefanini, who over a half a century has collected more than 8’000 pieces of art (paintings, sketches, rare books, sculptures, furniture and other decorative arts) pertaining to the history, art and culture of the Swiss in between the end of the 18^th century and the beginning of the 20^th. 

Ferdinand Hodler:1904_ view of Lac Léman from Chexbres

Rudolf Koller: "lost in the snow", 1853

Albert Anker, 1887, Young girl doing her hair

Félis Vallotton, the River Risle near Berville, 1924

 Outside in the large park surrounding the museum are many sculptures, just a few of which I have chosen to show here.

Niki de Saint-Phalle "The Bathers",1984

George Segal "Woman on a Park bench with sunglasses" 1983

Jean Arp, Oriflamme wheel, 1962

Willem de Kooning, "Reclining Figure" 1969-1983

Nature's new growth - art in itself

one of the many exotic plants in the garden

along with a few unusual ducks

Reflection in the duck pond behind the "Bathers"

Same pond from a different angle

Then there was the side trip to the Protestant Chapel where all the stained glass windows were designed by Hans Erni, one of the longest-lived (he just passed away in his 106^th year) and my favorite of Swiss artists. Originally, in place of the requested stained glass window, he offered a choice in between three: Léonard couldn’t decide so had all three done by the Simon Marq workshop in Reims, France. The project grew from there and soon there were another 4. Eventually ending with all 17 openings in the temple being Hans Erni stained glass windows. Hans Erni offered the designs (at age 103) to Léonard Gianadda in honor of his friendship with Léonard’s wife Annette and Léonard had them executed.

One of the 17 stained glass windows in the Protestant Chapel in Martigny

Its reflection in a piano

Hans Erni's signature

The story goes that the local city authorities then said “why only the Protestant Temple” so Léonard Giannada also hired another artist, Father Kim En Joong, to realize a stained glass window for the Catholic Chapel of La Bâtiaz (that will necessitate another trip).

I returned up my mountain with a heart and mind full of the beauties of friendship and culture.

On the way to… or from

From various remarks over the past year or so, I realize that what I see as being totally normal  - to the point that I sometimes no longer even “see” it – is for others extraordinary. Today on my trip to the mountains I decided to consciously drive, to knowingly remark upon the beauty of my surroundings: not that it is all beautiful or even all interesting.

The drive is a very leisurely 2 hours from door to door, but today I stopped, took pictures, walked around, try to imagine seeing it all for the first time. It wasn’t a superb day, but also at least wasn’t raining either: a normal day in short.

Along this road (through France for about half of it), there are old wooden chalets, manor houses and small castles even, together with the 50s ugly and the box modern. Scenery is much more entertaining as I pass through fields of hay, corn, some with horses, some with cows then drive along the lake front for some 20 miles: small harbors, new parks, villages of all sizes (and interest). 

School & City hall Sciez

Fish fountain in Publier/Amphion

Evian is along this route and so scenes include the widest point of Lake Leman, the Olympic sized pool with a diving board into the lake that is higher than I ever want to stand on, the Casino, an old bell tower, the spa and the new Hilton (not on this particular road through Evian is the golf course and several very luxurious hotels).

They keep adding to their art work of old wood

The church tower behind an apartment building

There are parts, which are fairly wild, others entirely sleepy-little-village-in-the-sun and yet others new modern bungalows. There are the hidden beaches, the off-the-track churches (every time I drive through one small village I think someday I have to go see the Jean-Jacques Rousseau church – some almost 40 years later, still haven’t).

Fisherman off the "Petite Rive"

New lakefront park in Petite Rive

There is a difference in the feel – and even in the roads – in between France and Switzerland – only the trees, flowers and lake remain the same.

Looking across towards Montreux from St. Gingolph

At the end of the lake a sharp right turn brings me through a transitional valley with the French alps invisible behind the lower pre-alps on the right and the higher peaks of places such as Leysin, Les Diablerets and Villars in Switzerland to the left.  Here also there are winds so usually see hang gliders, real (airplane) gliders (there is a small airport), but today there were also a couple of military jets doing maneuvers. Plenty of water inland as well as I crossed the Rhone twice.

The vineyards at "Evouettes"

Left side mirror

Right side mirror

I had debated stopping off at the spa: Lavey-les-Bains, but in the end just wandered on to Martigny and went to the Giannada Museum instead to see the Renoir exhibition. From there I came across the newly renovated protestant temple where all the windows were changed into stained glass windows by a renowned Swiss artist: Hans Erni – the last of the windows he did at 105! He must be doing something right.

Up to my mountain abode and a short walk to see what’s new – just the setting sun bathing the mountaintop. I could actually see the Matterhorn from the farthest point, but my camera’s batteries decided that they had done enough for the day and quit on me: some memories are meant to just be mental.

End of the day

Art and culture

10 Julia (pronounce One oh Julia) as opposed to “Art and Culture 101”

Or the need to feed one’s “soul”, “inner being” or whatever-other-term-is-currently-popular.

Throughout the ages, man has – when not scrambling to survive, and sometimes even then as various drawings in caves (Lascaux) around the world show – shown the urge to both embellish his surroundings and to transmit his knowledge.

Slight diversion as I was trying to find out how the term “101” started: Wikipedia’s article is edifying – so for those of you who need more knowledge: mailto:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101_%2528number%2529

Anyway, there are many ways of embellishing our surroundings or transmitting our knowledge – way too many to enumerate here. So I’ll settle for “art” in terms of the visual arts and “culture” as it refers to my own preference: music.

Visual arts such as painting, sculpture and photography

I got my first camera, a Brownie, when I was 10 and have never stopped taking pictures. Not all are good so the new digital cameras are perfect for me – I can take a 100 pictures and erase 99 and still think that the 1 left isn’t really what I wanted as opposed to wasting rolls of film and finding nothing at the end.  Although I have never made a living with my camera, it has supplied many hours of true enjoyment: there is the odd prize won, the even odder photo sold –regardless, it is still a passion.

A passion my older son shares – here is the link to his latest postings: http://www.2slphotography.com/index.php/latest

My younger son shows talent in the areas of pen and ink drawings, sculpture and music. He obtained a B.A. in Art and we still fight over who should keep his polar bear. Only time will tell what becomes of all of his talents, he is currently working on musical clips and writing.

Growing up in a middle-class family in the mid-50s meant piano lessons: the teacher must have despaired as I hated having to give recitals and during one famous lesson simply left my piano bench and ran home (my mother didn’t take that well; I had to turn around, go back and apologize). Later in elementary school I started clarinet and was part of the school’s band. This was much more to my taste as it allowed me to join others and not have to be in the spotlight: I continued throughout high school – and my last school’s band eventually won the third prize for marching bands in San Francisco. This same band cut a record, which still languishes in my cupboard – lacking a turntable to play for many, many years.  In high school I found the love of my musical life: the organ. I took lessons even whilst in France as an exchange student, but “real” life and the necessity to earn a living saw that stop at the end of my studies.

Marriage, a family, work – I always intended attending concerts, but going back into town after a long day was not particularly attractive.  However, in recent years I have returned to classical concerts much to my enjoyment. I have become more eclectic in my tastes and can happily attend a classical concert one evening and a pop one the next.

I have been able to hear some of the greats and have attended concerts in many venues, including in a Museum.  One museum kind of brings together my love of music and the visual arts: the Giannada Museum in Martigny, Switzerland 

 http://www.giannada.ch. 

There I heard Joshua Bell; there I have seen the photos of Imsand (He and Ansel Adams are my all-time favorites). In addition to the changing exhibitions, there is an Auto Museum (used to always send my dad a note on the postcard of the Ford Model-T) and large grounds throughout which are to be found many sculptures (Moore and Rodin included!).  This is a do-able museum: one can spend 15 minutes or an hour or two. Together with the de Young in San Francisco, the Quai d’Orsay in Paris it is a personal favorite. 

Art and music - enough to cater to my mood-of-the-moment. That, my family, my friends, my travels = a richness of life that many never know: I enjoy every minute.