Les Livres d'artiste

Écrire des livres a  été mon rêve pendant longtemps, j'ai écrit à sept ans pour raconter des histoires à mon frère et à ma soeur. Puis, j'ai tenu un journal. J'ai écrit, souvent ... mais rien n'a jamais aboutit, j'ai dû m'égarer en cours de route, je ne suis pas allée au bout du rêve. Aujourd'hui je réalise un peu de ce qu'il me manque toujours en fabriquant des livres d'artistes, en recyclant de petits livres pour enfant, en récupérant de vieilles feuilles de papier. Je bricole tout ça, je les peins, je les couds, je colle , j'arrache, je recolle , je peins. Les mots sont souvent là, la poésie aussi. Mon histoire s'écrit d'une autre façon.

 Passionate about literature and books since childhood, making notebooks and keeping a journal has always been my daily life.

The idea of recycling old paper bags came to me the day I realized that buying sketchbooks in an art store was expensive. I stored a whole bunch of paper bags of all sizes in an old moving box, neatly folded to save space. It was when I wanted to throw everything into the recycling bin that I felt their texture, the incredibly solid and flexible material, pleasant to the touch that this pile constituted. I just had to sew the whole thing and paint on it.

I have been painting on paper bags that have become “art journals” for almost fifteen years now. Besides the fact that they are inexpensive and that they are recycled, I experience a childlike joy in opening them, looking at them, caressing them, handling them. As inspiration is not there every morning (alas), my notebook is waiting for me on my work table, I then take my pencils, my paint or my collage paper and I oblige to paint, throw a few spots of color on the blank pages of old bags. These “books” allow me freedom, spontaneity, error (everything I probably couldn’t afford on a canvas), without fear of the result.

On an artist’s book, I have nothing to prove. Am I working on several artbooks or projects at once? Yes, each notebook collects a different style, a mood, a project. So I work on few different artbooks that accompany me day to day depending on my moods.

I run several art book exhibitions in libraries and bookstores in Toulouse, France.

Livre d'artiste sur sacs en papier recyclés. 80 pages recto/verso. Exposé au centre culturel Bellegarde à Toulouse et au centre culturel de Nailloux en 2023