Lucianne

I have been forgetting just how close it is getting to the

"Big Day",

and yet I still have so many pieces of art that I have been intending to show before Christmas so I had better start catching up, and fast.

There is one sculptor that I have been very long overdue to tell you about,

and for that I have no excuses as it is a lady that I met in the summer, which now seems so long ago.

Lucianne Lassalle.

As I do every year I visited a ceramic fair in the Lake District.

I always enjoy the visits but of course I never know if the journey and time away from the gallery will be justified.

I do get to meet up with old friends, but the same people I usually see several times a year

when I am visiting the various art events of interest around the country

so there is no real need to travel to see them so far north.

But, it has become something of a tradition for me, plus I enjoy sleeping beside the lakes and getting

the opportunity to stop overnight in Yorkshire on the way there.

I must confess that this summer I did question why I had taken so much trouble to fit in the trip.

Yes, the fair was good as always but this year it seemed that it was very much the same as last year,

and to be honest almost like every ceramic fair I visit.

Same face just a new location.

Still, I knew it wasn't time wasted as I got to meet and talk with one of my favourite ceramic sculptors,

Christy Keeney.

Christy is from Ireland and he only gets to visit a couple of times a year

so I know that whenever I meet him I will always come home with something exciting,

fresh and different.

He also has a good understanding of how I think and which sort of sculpture excites me,

so when he told me that before I left for home that I must go and look at the work of a certain sculptor

who was a friend of his, I knew that it would be interesting at the very least.

Which was how I first met Lucianne.

She was showing ceramics and ceramic sculpture, which at that time I assumed was the only medium

she worked with, now I know no better.

What first drew me to her work was the association that I felt some of the pieces had with the early work of Picasso.

Simple sketches of nudes, drawn with very few strokes and seemingly with no hesitancy,

I loved them, they were simple, honest and beautiful.

So all I had to do was approach her and ask would she let me show something in the gallery.

If it was only that simple.

Whenever I fall in love with an artist's work it becomes a nightmare for me.

I just don't know how to approach people, I understand that there are ways to go about these things but nobody has explained them to me.

So, I just try to be honest, and believe me if anybody has ever told you that 'honesty is the best policy' then they are "fibbing".

But I don't know another way, so lacking any charm

I just asked Lucianne could I show some of her work "just because I liked it so much"?

She explained to me that she was represented by many galleries and at that time wasn't looking for another.

OK,

it was time to re-think my approach.

I went back and asked "are you sure" [If that didn't work then what would]?

She was lovely and thanked me for my interest, but she couldn't at the moment as she was so committed with different exhibitions.

I accepted this but warned her  "you will regret this".

So like a spurned lover I returned home and got on with normal life.

Two days later I had a call from Lucianne.

"You told me that I would regret not letting you have some of my work,

I do.

Would you still like something"?

I was overcome.

That an artist was so generous and so lacking in any ego is a very rare thing.

How many people can bring themselves to say "I was wrong"?

Not me, that's for sure.

Since that day we have been fortunate to show the many varied creations by Lucianne.

Surprisingly only a few of them being ceramics

But what came as a complete surprise was to learn that although she lives in Scotland she was born in Paris, the daughter of artists, and her aunt was in fact a model for Picasso.

It all made sense.

Thank you Lucianne for having such an open heart,

plus thank you Christy for having the understanding that I would love her creations.

So for this years Christmas exhibition we have a few of her special pieces shown above.