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Thursday 25 April 2013

European Art

While I was in Europe I realized that there is art everywhere. Every square has a sculpture, every town has a church which is ornately adorned, ceilings in buildings are painted with scenes. Even things as functional as a bus shelter have been turned into art. This isn't as apparent in Canada as I found in Europe. They have a much longer history than our young country so much of the architecture and sculpture is very old however they also have more modern works of art displayed as well. Their art is not just for Galleries but is very much a public expression of creativity. Often the public art serves to commemorate someone or some event.

A bus shelter in Holland. It did happen to be raining when we drove by.

 
This had no inscription but I found it really interesting. It is a more modern sculpture.



An interesting sculpture found in the square in front of the Sint Jan Cathedral in 's-Hertogenbosch. The inscription beneath the sculpture says "Europa laat zich niet ontvoeren" "Europe will not allow itself to be kidnapped".



I also met up with a cousin through marriage who is also an artist and works mainly in stained glass. His work is very beautiful. As many artists do, he dabbles in other media and had been working on renovating his bathroom. When we walked into it, it looked like something from an HGTV show. He had embedded beads and tiles into cement on the ceiling and walls and put a large round skylight into to ceiling. It was quite interesting and beautiful although not quite finished.


Paris is a very artisitic locale. It was here that we were overwhelmed by the artistic architecture and interior decors.


 








And of course there were artists everywhere.






 

This was a small watercolour I bought from one of the artists in Montmartre. It is the view from where we were  standing when we purchased the painting.
 
It was all quite inspiring!

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