Hiking in France 3: Goldsworthy Refuges d’Art
May 28, 2013
“There is this form I can’t stop making which is really snakelike, but I often think of it as a river. It’s the idea of fluidity that is the connection, but I’m not really talking about a river either. It’s the movement that interests me.”
— Andy Goldsworthy, Wall
On Days 3, 4 and 5 of our hike, we saw five Goldsworthy works installed in Refuges d’Art, small buildings or shelters, where individuals are allowed to camp overnight. Our hiking trails took us up and down mountains, across rivers and creeks, with some of the most spectacular scenery of my trip.
We returned to the wild valley of Vancon and hiked to the Church in the abandoned hamlet of Forest. The ruins of the church were restored to house a Goldsworthy wall sculpture, another recessed elliptical space. In contrast to the one at the Chapelle Saint Madeleine, this one was a light hole in a dark wall.
We hiked high in the mountains along an old “tax trail” to the abandoned village of Faissal. We seemed to climb ever higher, with grand views of the distant Alps and curious mountain goats watching us from the summit of an adjacent mountain. And then down, down again.
“Hill and valley followed valley and hill.” — Robert Louis Stevenson, from Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes
Hiking is much too absorbing to allow much thinking, I’ve found. I moved through the day, step by step, always alert to where I was planting my feet. I didn’t want to slip on a loose rock and fall or hurt myself. I was very much in the moment, a satisfying feeling.
The Refuge of Eschuichiere featured two rooms with wall art fashioned by Goldsworthy of rock with natural lines of contrasting color.
“Stretching out lines that already exist interests me more than imagining new ones. I have made lines that explore and follow the contours of a rock, the edge of a river, the growth of a branch, the junction between house and street . . . The intention is not just to make a line, but to draw the change, movement, growth and decay that flow through a place.”
— Andy Goldsworthy, Wall
At the end of Day 5, our guide Eric drove us in the van to the farm Belon, which was formerly owned by one of the leaders of the French Resistance in WWII. In the basement we found several of Goldsworthy’s stone arches. One of our hikers, Michele, mused about the significance of this “underground” space and its resonance with the “underground” resistance movement.
I found the entire five-day hiking experience very rewarding. Not only did I get to see some Goldsworthy art that I would never have been able to find on my own, I also enjoyed the company of some French natives on their home turf. It made me realize how difficult it is for me when travelling to spend ordinary time with local people. Typically I am staying in hotels, eating in restaurants, and going to tourist sites — with a bunch of other tourists. With this guided hike, I had the unusual (for me) opportunity to keep company with some interesting French people, share home-cooked meals at farm tables with them, and even sleep in shared rooms in auberges and gites. I found that they are great conversationalists (even though I could not understand or speak French, they made an effort to speak English from time to time, and I watched their lively conversations with interest), they were enthusiastic eaters and enjoyed leisurely meals together, they were well read, and they liked President Obama!
May 28, 2013 at 8:26 am
Ahh…I think I liked the last 4 words of your post the best!! 🙂
May 28, 2013 at 10:16 am
I had to go back and read the last four words. Yes, that was a nice thing to have as a common bond. They thought Obama had a big “cool” factor.
May 28, 2013 at 9:34 am
I was reading about Andy Goldsworthy (Wikipedia) and they make no mention of any of these sculpures in France, which I found quite odd…or maybe I missed it. Even the Cairns that you photographed in the second post they had listed as being located in Australia, which I’m sure he has probably made them in more than one place!
It is quite amazing work, nonetheless!! Again, thank-you for taking us along!
May 28, 2013 at 10:18 am
I have not met anyone in the U.S. who had heard of this hiking + art trail. Isn’t combining these two interests a wonderful idea? I will have to think about how to spread the word beyond my few blog readers!
May 28, 2013 at 11:19 pm
thank you for this very delicate diary, smells, sensations, images come to me from reading your blog and Rosemary is the strong sense of shared silence, laughter and chatter a great adventure around Goldsworthy but also a beautiful journey into the sublime landscapes
May 29, 2013 at 8:08 am
Brigitte, I cherish the connection we made on this hike. So good to hear from you again. I hope my photos brought to life good memories for you, too. Now we are settling back into our work and family lives. I wonder how your job interview went?
May 29, 2013 at 4:36 am
I’m rather sitting here with tears at having been able to get a glimpse of this. I soooo want to be able to smell it. What did it smell of? or like?
May 29, 2013 at 8:05 am
I don’t remember the smells specifically. The air was crisp and clean, very fresh.
May 29, 2013 at 6:44 am
I love Goldsworthy, what a magical hike! Wonderful.
May 29, 2013 at 8:10 am
Yes, I thought it was very odd indeed that it wasn’t mentioned at all in the Wikipedia description…they even have a photo of the egg shaped, Cairn, exactly like the one you photographed but put it’s location in Australia!
Maybe he wanted the trail to remain obsure, unknown, hmmm!
May 29, 2013 at 8:34 am
Rosemary you can edit Wikipedia. Add a link to your blog posts.
May 29, 2013 at 2:05 pm
Perfect idea!!
December 4, 2013 at 6:03 am
[…] Goldsworthy installations along the trail. (You can read about that experience here and here and here.) The $46 bus tour ticket to Storm King to see Goldsworthy’s walls was a much smaller […]